million units*). The buffalo, known among the common people under the name of a simple herring, is in essence nothing more than a herring, but the fish got its name from the fact that it comes to the Volga in a completely different way from other fish, but in general especially: the movement of the buffalo occurs in continuous stripes; she walks in a whole school, frolicking like a real idiot; falls on the oars of the rowers, jumps out of the water onto the shore, walks, to say the least, awkwardly, just like a madwoman, walks as if amused, despite the serious goal of his journey - the methane of caviar. Of course, when fish accidentally land on the shore, they become prey for dogs and, moreover, a lot of them are fed directly from the water into the beaks of fishermen, monkey gulls, cormorants and ospreys. Cormorants act especially characteristically and cunningly in this case, which usually snatches fish from a school and begins to drive it to the shore, flapping their wings on the water itself with all their might, and then, driving the frivolous mercury ashore, swallows it whole. During the period, when the herring and roach are in, the hottest fishing time begins; then people work day and night and everyone who has even a small boat participates in fishing. Now let's move on to the inhabitants of the Astrakhan region, which we consider
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*) In 1895, the catch was over 600 millunes.
An interesting study on this topic is the work of P. Nebolsin “Essays on the Volga Lower Reaches”, p.
Since ancient times, the Astrakhan steppes have been inhabited by nomadic peoples, living here and there in their mobile tents called wagons. These tents are made of tall poles connected to each other like a folding lattice; a series of such spread-out gratings forms a wide cylinder, the top of which is covered by a cone-shaped lid. PTater from the outside is covered along the bars with large sheets of special felt,
called kotima. This peculiar dwelling, very cheap in its design and the material from which it is made, is, in essence, highly adapted to the needs of the nomad: it perfectly protects him from heat, cold, rain and wind and at the same time can be assembled into porridge in about half an hour; disassembled even more quickly and folded, it takes up so little space that it costs nothing to put it on the back of a pack animal.
The food for nomads is the products of their herds, and mainly milk in simple form, in form of kumis and other dairy products; It must be noted that mare's milk is the most popular, followed by sheep's and, finally, cow's - the order of things was established in accordance with the nature of the herds of nomads. Richer nomads eat meat and meat from the same animals; The less rich put meat on sale with the goal of raising money both for household expenses in general and for the purchase of a product necessary in nomadic life, namely brick tea; This tea was enjoyed with the greatest pleasure by literally all the inhabitants of the steppes, all the nomads and even the Russians, and not only in the Astrakhan region, but also outside it; meat has the quality of a fairly valuable product and serves as a sales item for making money, part of which necessarily goes to the production of the cheap tea product. The most common nomads, who do not have the means to have even a small herd of livestock, go to work or to fish gangs, or to salt lakes, involuntarily turning at least partly into osfdlyh inhabitants, they reason as much as moving from one gang to another can be called settledness.
In winter, nomads stop at one previously chosen place; tents are set up and surrounded by a corral, which somewhat protects the housing from strong winds and snowstorms and at the same time serves as protection for livestock. At this time, the large cattle graze nearby, while the small ones are carefully guarded near the tent, feeding on the hay that has been prepared for them.
As soon as young grass appears in the spring, the nomads leave their wintering grounds, leaving them in groups of families connected either by kinship or unity of interests. All household belongings, and with it the wagons, are loaded on camels, and when there are no camels, on oxen or horses, and the nomadic group moves from place to place.
hundred, always choosing the same direction, which
Kalmyk woman.
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