COAL. 183 



and its mode of occurrence are exactly similar to those of the Doue coal. Several coal depos- 

 its are also known in the interior of the island. 



In the region of the Kirghiz steppes, the search for coal formed the special care of 

 the Government for a very long time. The prospectings were carried on in the Orenburg re- 

 gion, adjacent to the Kirghiz steppes; and the chief inducement for this search was the entire 

 impoverishment of the forests in this region, necessitating the abandonment of all its mineral 

 wealth for want of fuel. The vast area of the Obschyi Syrt, which 80 or 100 years ago was 

 covered with forest, is now transformed into a bare steppe without a single twig, and where 

 the only fuel is dried dung. The vast Bashkir forests, which according to the general survey, com- 

 prised four million dessiatines, have been more than half felled. The search for coal in different 

 parts of the Orenburg steppes was not however crowned with success. Prospectings conducted 

 in the Obschyi Syrt only showed the presence of combustible schist of medium quality, be- 

 longing to the Jurassic system. The deposits of brown coal discovered in the Troitsk and 

 Cheliabinsk districts have up to now been considered unworthy of attention, but appar- 

 ently other deposits have recently been discovered which might receive a practical 

 application. 



Two vast coal fields have been discovered further in the Kirghiz steppes, in its western 

 portion in the Tourgai province. The first of these is situated at a 170 versts distance to 

 the south-east of the town of Tourgai, formerly an Orenburg fortress, on the upper courses 

 of the river Dzhilanchik, near Maidam Tal. Two horizontal seams of brown coal are known 

 there. The thickness of the upper seam is from one to S'/sfeet, and the lower seam is about 

 1 foot thick; they are separated by seam of soft, blue clay 1 foot thick. The coal of these 

 seams is of two kinds, one a dense bitumenous coal with a bright couchoidal fracture and 

 the other a slate coal. This deposit has been followed up by exploratory workings for a dis- 

 tance of five versts in length up the river Dzhilanchik and for a width of 100 to 2C0 

 sagenes. Taking the mean thickness of the upper seam only as 2 feet and the weight of a 

 cubic sageue of the coal as 3-40 pouds the explored portion of the upper seam would con- 

 tain about 40 million pouds. 



The second deposit of brown coal is situated at 100 versts to the east-north-east of 

 the town of Tourgai, at the Yar-Koue wells, on the declivity of a height which forms, as 

 it were, the mountain shore of the valley of the river Tourgai. Some ancient wells were found 

 on the declivity of this height at 5 versts distance from the above mentioned wells, and in 

 clearing them out, traces of coal were found in them. They were then deepened and a seam 

 of coal about one sagene thick was encountered. This discovery was followed up by extensive 

 exploratory workings, which embraced an area of SV-* square versts of coal field. As the 

 average thickness of the coal seam is one sagene, and a cubic sagene of coal was found by 

 experiment to weigh nearly 340 pouds, the area explored contains over 275 million pouds of 

 coal. The coal of this deposit is dark brown, has a laminar structure and a conchoidal 

 fracture. It burns with a bright flame and gives from 4 to 7 per cent of ash; some portions 

 contain sulphur pyrites. It has been proved by experiment that this coal is quite suitable 

 both for ordinary heating and for steam purposes, as on the steamers of the Syr-Daria. and also 

 for treating metals in reverberatory furnaces. 



