Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/200

194 all the way from five hundred to five thousand dollars, depending upon the excellence of the skins. Another fur, that of the black fox, is still more costly; but as it is worn only by the Imperial family and the highest nobility, it does not come into our category.

"Coats lined with astrachan (the soft wool of very young lambs) are fashionable, and bring high prices. I have known of coats of this kind selling for six or eight hundred dollars each. I took to America a cap of astrachan wool; it cost me about three dollars, and with my inexperienced eye I could not distinguish it from one that sold for ten times as much.

My Russian friends could readily detect the difference; but as I was buying the cap for American and not for Russian use, I was quite content with my purchase."

"Why is this fur or wool called 'astrachan? one of the youths asked.

"It comes here from Astrachan, at the mouth of the Volga," said the Doctor. "Its preparation is one of the industries of Central Asia, for which Astrachan is the great market. This fur is black, and remarkably soft and silky. The lamb is killed immediately after he sees the light, and the younger he is at the time of his death the finer and more valuable is the skin. Persia supplies large quantities of this fur, and it varies from black to gray or white.