392 MURSINSK. 



Arriving at last at Bogoslowsk, the travellers pro- 

 ceeded to visit the mines in its vicinity. The scenery 

 here was magnificent. To the east was a broad unbroken 

 plain, stretching away like the sea : to the west and north, 

 forty or fifty miles distant, a range of magnetic moun- 

 tains. The peaks of these mountains, clad with snow, 

 loomed over the dark forests of pine and fir that covered 

 the intervening heights. 



From Bogoslowsk they returned to Jekatharinenburg, 

 stopping on their way at Mursinsk. This district was 

 rich in precious stones, topazes, beryls, amethysts, and 

 the like. Eighty-five versts from Jekatharinenburg, 

 near the granite rocks on the right bank of the Teko- 

 waja, emeralds were found in abundance. The presence 

 of emeralds in this neighbourhood was first detected by 

 a peasant, who was attracted one day as he was cutting 

 wood by their lustrous sparkling in the mica, where the 

 ground was opened around the roots of a tree which had 

 been blown down by the wind. He collected a quantity, 

 and took them on sale to Jekatharinenburg. They were 

 tested, fresh excavations were made, and specimens were 

 sent to St. Petersburg. These emeralds were remarkable 

 for their extraordinary size, one in the mineralogical col- 

 lections of St. Petersburg being no less than eight inches 

 in length, and five inches in diameter. 



The travellers arrived at Jekatharinenburg on the 11th, 

 afi;er an absence of sixteen days. They spent a week 

 there preparing and arranging their collections, and then 

 set out for Tobolsk, where they arrived on the 21st. 



Tobolsk had been originally laid down as the eastern 

 limit of their journey, but their speedy and easy pro- 

 gress through the northern Ural induced Humboldt to 



