VERNAL JOURNEY TO ASTRAKHAN.

125

advantageoufly fold, fo as to produce annually from fix to eightthoufand rubles.

Krafnoi Yar was built in the reign of the Tzar Alexi Mi-ch ailovitsh, and feems to have been intended to check the ex-cefTes of the hordes of pillaging Kozaks, who make inroads fromthe Bufan to the Cafpian Sea; while it alfo ferves as a barrier toAftrakhan, againft the Kalmuks, efpecially in winter, whenthey may proceed over the ice from every quarter towards thatcity. Even at the prefent day, as the Kirghis have, fince theyear 1774, obtained permiffion to winter annually in the ileppeon this fide of the river Ural, as far as the Volga, it would beadvifable to eftablifh fome fortifications for the fecurity of thisplace. The inhabitants, however, fuppofe themfelves perfe&lyfafe, and have built a fmall fuburb even on Mayafhnoi Bugor:the only accefs to which is by narrow footpaths of planks,which have from neceflity been fubftituted for bridges.

On the 7th of May the weather was fine, with a mild andconftant breeze from the South-Weil. On the morning ofthat day we failed a fmall way up the Bufan, and entered theAkhtouba, which flows into it. We then proceeded up thatriver, and paffed the mouth of the Algara to KrafennayaProrva, a narrow canal, the dry banks of which were coveredwith beautiful willows and poplars. From this place we con-tinued our courfe to the vaft lake of Tfhernoi Umeen, thatextends farther than the eye can reach, though its depth in nopart exceeds three ells. We failed over this lake principallyN. E. and E. tili we entered the Karduvanka, and thence paffedinto the Kigatlh, which flows along the more elevated oppoüteneppe, and forms the eafterly arm of the Volga. When we

landed