The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

LACUSTRINE AND SALT STEPPES OF THE CASPIAN BASIN. 873shallow waters of the northern section, and in the vast sedgy tracts along the banksof the Lower Volga and other streams flowing to this basin. The language of•former and even of contemporary travellers touches on the marvellous whendescribing the fisheries in these waters, where the annual yield amounts to from800,000 to 1,000,000 tons, valued at £3,000,000 to £4,000,000.* But the highprice of salt, on which there is a heavy excise duty, prevents the fishers fromcuring the smaller species, and forwarding them to the rest of Russia.The Lacustrine and Salt Steppes of the Caspian Basin.The numerous brackish lakes of the Novo-Uzensk and Nikolayevsk districtsmust also be regarded as remnants of the old Caspian basin. Shells characteristicof this sea have been found as far north as Sizran and Samara, near the greatFig. 198.Salt Steppes and Lake Yeltox.Scale 1 : 4,640.000.bend of the Volga, and even in the Bolgar plain south of the Kama junctionYazikov, who discovered these fossils, supposes that the Sizran plain was formerlyan inlet of the Caspian, possibly communicating with a more northern sea, whoseancient bed is now traversed by the Volga, Kama, and their tributaries. In anycase there can be no doubt so far as regards the steppes, whose level is at presentbelow those of the Mediterranean and Manich valley. These are undoubtedlyold marine beds, still studded with miniature Caspians, and crossed by recentwater-courses, or rather wadies, such as the Great and Little Uzen, flowing northwestand south-east, and preserving in their windings a remarkable parallelismwith the Volga. These are evidently channels formed in the alluvial tractsimmediately after the subsidence of the Caspian waters.Of the innumerable little steppe lakes the most remarkable is the salt Lake* Fishing craft, Astrakhan district (1872), 2,780 ; steamers, 19 ;hands employed, 23,000 ;yield,18,490,500 roubles.VOL. V. c c