Page:Morgan Philips Price - Siberia (1912).djvu/280

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SIBERIA

are used in the far north by the natives, where conditions are favourable. The total head of live stock numbers 1,967,393, of which nearly 1,000,000 is situated in the Minusinsk and the Abakansk steppes. There are nearly 500,000 sheep in this one district alone, and the native Abakansk Tartars make stock rearing on the steppe their sole occupation. There are excellent summer-grazing areas all over the open steppe, and the winter is so mild that there is no necessity for artificial feeding or haymaking. Most of the surplus stock from these steppes goes to the urban markets as meat supply, and some of the skins find their way to European Russia.

Fishing Industry

The output of the fishing industry is of the annual value of about 130,000 roubles (£14,444). More than three-quarters of this comes from the northern district of Turukhansk, bordering the Arctic. Practically the whole of the fish output is locally consumed.

Fur Industry

The fur industry is valued at 445,000 roubles per annum. Three-quarters of the output comes from the Turukhansk district in the north, where the native Samoyedes trap and hunt in the winter, exchanging furs for the bare necessaries of life with the Russian traders. A limited amount of black sable comes from this district and also from the Upper Yenisei on the Mongolian frontier. The fur dealers, many of whom are Jews, reside at Minusinsk, Krasnoyarsk and Yeniseisk, and buy the furs from the Russian fur