'Central Asia. Part V. A contribution towards the better knowledge of the History, Ethnography, Topography, and resources of part of Asiatic Turkey and Caucasia' [‎96] (111/360)

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fisheries between Salian, Siphitourinsk and AstrSbad. Many thousand
persons are employed in the Russian Upper Caspian hshenes ; and the
annual amount of caviare or female roes obtained may betaken at1(1 ,,s -'
besides 20,00011 *3. of isinglass, the produce of upwards ot 700,00U stur
geons of various kinds, large and small. The number of seals annually
taken is nearly 100,000. . A , „
The only ports at all worthy the name on the Caspian are Astva-
khan, Baku, Salian, and Astarabad. The navigationis at all times difh-
cult, and often perilous. Steam packets on it have recently been established.
The basin of the Caspian is most extensive on the north and west trom
which it receives the Ural, the Volga, the Terek, the KQr and numerous
other streams of less note. By means of a canal cut near Iver in Kussia,
between the head streams of the Volga, and the Rivers Ivertza and Schilina,
water communication is established between the Caspian and the Baltic Seas.
The basin of the sea is limited on the south by the ElbOrz Mountains, and
on the east the sandy wastes of Khiva send to it only short streams, and ot
no grreat volume; though on this side it evidently at one time received the
Oxus or Amoo, now an affluent of the Sea of Aral. Indeed, the Caspian and
Lake Aral were doubtless at one period united. They are apparently on t he
same level; and though the plateau of Vst-Vrt (see Aral) might at first sight
appear to present an insuperable obstacle to the idea of a junction ev or
having existed, yet south of that plateau, and in the course which the Oxus
probably followed, is a low tract leading into the bend of what was at one
time the estuary of the Oxus, but now is a sandy waste, east and south ot
Kara Bughaz Gulf, which formed its termination. Abbott says that precisely
the same shells are found in the shell lime-stone in the neighbourhood ot
Khiva to the shores of the Caspian. Both lakes belong to the great depres
sion of West Asia—a depression at one time supposed to be much greater than
it is believed to be now, though whether a rise in the land has taken place,
it is difficult to determine. The exact amount of the depression has not yet
been satisfactorily settled, the most trustworthy data we possess being at
variance. The last two levellings between the Caspian and the Black Sea,
both trigonometrical, were executed, the one in 1887 by Messrs. h uss,
Sabler and Sawitch, under the auspices of the Academie Impenale de -SV.
Petersburg and the other in 1838-39, by M. Hommaire de Hell. Accord
ing to the former measurement, the Caspian is 81-4 feet below the level o
the Black Sea; but according to the latter it is only 11-6 metres, about
38^ feet. Should the latter measurement be ultimately found to be correct,
what has hitherto been supposed to be the depression of \V estern Asia may
turn out to be actually above the level of the ocean. Ihe sandmg-up or
streams lessening the accession of water, and contracting the shoies, with
the great evaporation constantly going on, in addition to other causes m
operation, are gradually reducing the size of the inland sea. It has been
supposed to increase and decrease in size at certain times, but this pheno
mena is now believed to be explained by the fact that strong winds beating
for anv length of time upon the flat shore sometimes drive the waters up
over a great extent of land. M. Hommaire de Hell alleges that a rise ot
even 10 feet would flood the steppes of the Kuma for a vast distance
beyond the route between Astrakhan and the Terek, and submerge every
post-house and military station along the line. It may consequently be
taken for granted that no such rise has taken place; at all events since the