TIN, MERCURY AND SULPHUR. 175 



Lastly it shouW be niontioned that iron ore deposits are kuowii in many parts ol' the 

 Yakutsk province, and that the Tanginsk iron works were erected at 30 versts distance from 

 the town of Yakutsk as early as the XYII century, and continued in work until the end of 

 the XVIII century. Besides, the preparation of iron direct from the ore was carried ou 

 at other places, and there was also an iron works near lake Baikal on the river Anga. At 

 the present day the exploitation of the ore and its conversion into iron is only carried on by 

 the Yakuts as a village industry. The inost important deposits occur on the river Batoma, 

 wliicli falls from the right side, into the Lena. The ore, a brown hematite, here lies in 

 a bed up to three feet thick and has been under exploitation since 1750. Other deposits of 

 iron ore, including red and brow)i hematite and spathic iron ore, are also worked by the 

 Yakuts in this province but have not been subject to any detailed exploration. The spathic 

 iron ore deposits occur on the river Vilua. 



Apparently a rather rich deposit of iron ores occurs in the southern portion of the 

 Littoral province at 20 versts distance from the gulf of St. Oiga along the system of the 

 river Avvakoumovka which falls into this gulf. 



Tin, Mercury and Sulphur. 



The presence of tin ores was discovered in the Transbaikal province along the river 

 Onona in the year 1811. These ores had long been exploited and smelted by the native Bou- 

 liata. These first discoveries gave rise to a search for tin ores in other localities along a 

 distance of 100 versts, along both banks of the Onona. A mine was started, the tin ore 

 was exploited from time to time and the ore smelted on a small scale during a period of 

 about thirty years. In 1843 this mine was ultimately closed, but this does not argue that 

 the deposit is unfit for working, and there is reason for thinking that if it were more thoroughly 

 explored it would be possible to reestablish the exploitation of the ore. 



The Ildikansk or cinnabar deposits in the Nerchinsk region lie in the mountains on 

 the right side of the river Sernyi Ildekan. The cinnabar occurs in a vein passing 

 through limestone, but its thickness rarely exceeds two inches. The exploitation of this 

 vein was started in 1759 and was subsequently renewed several times, but without success. 

 It may also be mentioned that the Yakuts living along the upper courses of the river Amga 

 which falls into the river Aldan, a right tributary of the Lena, employ cinnabar found 

 by them in the system of this river, as a medicine. 



A deposit of native sulphur occurs in a limestone mountain at a distance of l'/^ versts 

 from the above mentioned Ildikansk mercury deposit. Between 1789 and 1797, 425 pouds of 

 sulphur were extracted from this deposit. Sulphur in the form of sulphur pyrites is extremely 

 common in the metamorphic schists, covering vast areas in Eastern Siberia. The pyrites 

 are disseminated in the schists, or occur in (juartz veins intersecting the schists, or also form 

 cross veins. Besides this, spheroidal concretions of sulphur pyrites are frequently found in the 

 brown coal deposits along the river Kempendzyai, a right tributary of the Viluya. The 

 exploitation of pyrites has not yet been carried on in any part of Eastern Siberia. In "Western 



