The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-09-02
Caviar and Cholera

| tS ~ 5HtPPihS POilI TUT CdFidI anu because 1t has given its name to the fine fur which Is made from the skin of unborn or newborn Persian lamb, Astrakhan now faces destruc- tion by fire because nothing less than fire seems to promise relief from a cholera epidemic which Is sweeping the ailuviai plain at the mouth of the volga."
 | A bulletin from the Washington, D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic society says:
 Although it is more than 60 miles from the deep waters of the Caspian, the Volga having built up shelving bottom which makes the northern portion of the Caspian very shallow, Astrakhan is regarded by many the main Caspian port and actually has but one rival for that honor, the oil city of Baku.
 Tt is at Astrakhan that the trav- eler from Russia first feels that he i is in the near east. From kazan south there have been Tatar hamals loading the comfortable passenger beats which long since made the mo- notonous Volga a pleasure route. But in Astrakhan the number of Per- sians, Tatars. Armenians and Kal- mucks that one meets gives dis tinctly oriental and Asiatic touch to the Russian city.
 The burning of Astrakhan, if it takes place, will not be a new ex- perience. Time and again the city sites which correspond to the present city have been razed. Originally 1t was prominent Tatar capital, all though the ancient site is seven miles farther up the river than the pres cnt sprawling city. This city was destroyed by Timur, the lame Tatar chief. In the early eighteenth cen tury it was partially destroyed by fires and ravages of cholera have demic in 1880 wiping out, thousands of It's people. In the spring of 1918 large portion of the city was again burned in fighting between the bol- enemies, who advanced over the flat alluvial plains that are threaded by the various mouths of the Volga.
 "A white-walled Kremlin, domi- mated by a bell tower which the bol- sheviks used as an observation point and viper nest for snipers, oc- cupies the center of the city and out side the principal gate there was held one of the picturesque thieves markets for which Russia is famous. Only junk dealer could enthuse over such a collection of odds and ends. to which only those in dire state of poverty could ascribe a value.
 More interesting than this market I of cast-off goods or of the rich shops of the real bazar, where many an Austrian war prisoner captured the simple hearts of the Russian girls with uniforms which were frequently exchanged for new ones from Vienna. is the river front where the fishing boats line up after the days catch, Many of these contained deep tanks and the custom was for purchasers to pick out their fish according to their agility and color. There was also a large tank in which live stur- geon swan around as peacefully as the strutting globbler on the eve of Thanksgiving.
 some of the fish secured are huge specimens several hundred pounds in weight, but the main profits were from the roe or caviar from the stur- geon That of Astrakhan was us- ually of the coarse red variety, al though there was enough of the deli cate black kind to spice the zakushka which formed the preface to the huge volume of Russian eating from Kie1 to Kiakhta. But in general only a small portion of the worlds cavial land almost none of the Astrakhar fur, actually come from Astrakhan ' To the traveller who lands in this lower volga city in autumn tho charm of hors d'oeuvres and Persian lamb is likely to be subordinated t1 the delight that one experiences from
 sampiing the delicious grapes fol . te vai : port, Petrovsk, are famed.
 During the war the market il caviar declined sharply since the fas,
 at Nijnl Novgorod. nearly 1,5oo mile' 1 up the volga, where most of tn'
 caviar was sold. rapidly declined ; with the breakdown of transporta ; ton which preceded by many months
 the triumph of the bolsheviks. Al 3 though Astrakhan is a center fol ! much crude cattle raising by exoti' n Kalmuck and Kirghiz breeders. Il has had to depend for much of it upon the North Caucasus o the black earth belt higher up th' lvolga. Astrakhan is one of thos
 cities whose approximate location Hare determined by geographica ' forces, and if the city which is nov : endangerSA by famine and choler' Is destroyed by fire. there is ever. treason to feel that another monde i, script. polygiot river city with 1t packing houses and cold storag II plants and fshing fleets will ris \ above the low w-lying flat upon whicl the present city stands.''