Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/505

 RUSSIA 481 rubles has been produced annually. Rein- deer are kept K of lat. 66, and camels in the south, many being found near Orenburg. Among the wild animals are the aurochs (in the forest of Bialovitza in Lithuania), elks, deer, bears, wild hogs, gluttons, wolves, fox- es, and saiga antelopes. Furs are an impor- tant article of export. Fish is very abun- dant in the Polar sea and in the rivers, and some tribes, especially in the northeast, live entirely by fishing. The most important fish- eries are those of the Volga, the Ural, and the sea of Azov. Nearly all the metals are found in Russia, most of them of excellent quality. The principal mines are in the Ural and Altai mountains, and near Nertchiusk in Siberia. The produce of gold increased from 18,900 Ibs. avoirdupois in 1839 to 49,800 in 1845, and 65,700 in 1847, since which it has again decreased, being 61,700 Ibs. in 1869. Silver is also found in the Ural and Altai mountains ; the produce in 1869 amounted to 39,300 Ibs. Platinum is found almost exclusively in the neighborhood of Yekaterinburg. It was first discovered in 1823; in 1861 the produce was 8,060 Ibs. Copper is found in the Ural, but much more copiously (though as yet but lit- tle worked) in E. Siberia. The produce was 3,555 tons (of 2,240 Ibs.) in 1852, 5,441 in 1857, and 4,310 in 1868. The iron mines fur- nish more than enough for the wants of the empire. The works in the Ural mountains alone are said to employ above 50,000 labor- ers. The total produce was 167,214 tons in 1852, 205,822 in 1857, and 319,000 in 1868. Rich coal mines have been discovered in near- ly all the southern provinces of the empire, and the annual produce is rapidly increasing, amounting in 1868 to 402,300 tons. The coun- try is very rich in salt and brine springs, the most important of which are in the govern- ment of Taurida, which alone furnishes annu- ally about 250,000 tons, while the total produce in 1868 was 538,800 tons. Manufactures are increasing with wonderful rapidity. Their in- troduction into Russia began in the 15th cen- tury, but very little was done until the time of Peter the Great. Catharine II., Alexander I., Nicholas I., and Alexander II. have all distin- guished themselves by zeal in encouraging man- ufactures. At the death of Peter the Great there were 21 large imperial manufactories, and several smaller ones; in 1820 their num- ber had risen to 3,724, in 1837 to 6,450, in 1845 to 7,315, and in 1854 to 18,100. Later statements vary widely. According to Sarauw (Das Russische Reich in seiner finanziellen und okonomischen Entwiclcelung, &c., Leipsic, 1873) and Lengenfeldt, the total number of factories in 1866, inclusive of distilleries and breweries, large and small, was 84,944, which employed 919,025 workmen, and the value of their pro- ducts was 650,000,000 rubles. The chief .seat of manufactures is Moscow, and next the gov- ernments of Vladimir, Nizhegorod, and Sara- tov, and St. Petersburg and Poland. Among the most important products are woollen goods, silk, cotton, linen of all kinds, leather, tallow, candles, soap, and metallic wares. Cot- ton spinning is developing rapidly; in 1870 about 122,000,000 Ibs. of raw cotton were im- ported, while 106 spinning mills yielded about 8,000,000 Ibs. of yarn, not sufficient, however, for the domestic looms, which in 1,508 manu- factories produced about 220,000,000 rubles worth of cotton goods. The manufacture of woollen goods is likewise rapidly gaining. In 1866, 1,831 manufactories employed 105,135 workmen, and produced goods valued at 63,- 000,000 rubles. The manufacture of mixed woollen goods began in 1840, and in 1845 Mos- cow alone had 22 establishments ; the number of manufactories in 1870 was 33, and the aggre- gate value of the goods produced was 1,500,- 000 rubles. The chief seat of the silk manu- facture is the government of Moscow ; alto- gether there are 518 establishments, employ- ing 12,000 workmen. The number of beet- sugar manufactories in 1871 was 325, which employed 70,000 persons ; the produce was valued at 30,000,000 rubles. The seaports are few, being almost confined to Archangel on the White sea, St. Petersburg and Riga on the gulfs of the Baltic, Odessa, Nikolayev, and a few others on the Black sea, Taganrog on the sea of Azov, Astrakhan, Baku, and Kizliar on or near the Caspian, and Nikolayevsk at the mouth of the Amoor. The principal articles of the foreign commerce for 1871-'2 were: EXPORTS. Rubles. IMPORTS. Rubles. Cereals .... 184,600,000 87,900,000 22,800,000 14,500,000 2,900,000 22,400,000 11,900,000 5,700,000 10,200,000 2.800.000 8,800,000 1.500,000 8,200,000 Ba Ha Ma Te Ba Dy (Ml Lie W< Fr W< Co To Ba Sil w cotton rdware . chines.. a 46,900,000 20,400,000 29,500,000 85,200,000 24,600,000 14,900,000 12,600,000 14,800.000 15,200,000 11,800,000 14,200,000 12,600,000 9,900,000 6,500,000 7,100,000 Flax Flax seed Wool Tallow w metals estufl's . . s Timber Hos-s 1 bristles . . Cattle [uors >ol lit.: >ollen goods. bacco Tow Hides Cordage w silk c goods The value of Russian commerce for 1872 was : EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN TRADE. Imports, rubles. Exports, rubles. 171,828.000 120,067,000 18,890,000 28,786,000 18,709,000 5,251,000 5,888,000 12,778,000 1,548,000 4,423,000 404,000 2,111,000 4,092.000 485.000 12,295.000 12,878,000 77,819.000 143,806,000 22,881,000 19,559.000 6,028,000 6,907,000 7,487,000 8,980,000 100,000 6,442.000 6,802,000 1.285.000 2,868,000 570,000 1,078,000 1,582,000 Great Britain Austro-Hungarian monarchy Italy Spain Sweden and No United States Other countries Total 414,678,000 811,558,000
 * ton yarn....