Astrakhan

as-tra-kan, a chief city of the Volga basin. It is situated about thirty miles above the entrance of that river into the Caspian Sea. It is a dirty, ill-smelling city, with crooked, broad streets and irregular rows of houses. A cathedral is the only edifice of importance. A number of bridges span the river. Astrakhan carries on an immense trade in fish, caviare, and isinglass. The number of people engaged in the Caspian fisheries which have their center at Astrakhan is variously estimated at from fifteen to thirty thousand persons. There are also important manufactures of silks, woolens, cottons, soap, morocco leather, and shagreen. The curly, woolly sheepskins of Persia and Syria are called astrakhan from the fact that the pelts, tanned and ready for making overcoats and other garments, were obtained originally from this city, Population, 113,000. See Caspian; Sturgeon