GKAPHITE, NAPTHA AND SALT. 137 



this spot and obtained a graphite of excellent quality, and samples exhibited at the London 

 Exhibition of 1862 proved it to be in many respects better than the English. Aliber 

 entered into relations with the well known pencil maker Faber and began to supply him 

 with considerable amounts of graphite. At the present day however this mine is only worked 

 to supply graphite for making crucibles at the Irkutsk gold melting house. 



Naphtha. 



The occurrence of naphtha has long been known on the northern extremity of the island 

 of Saghalin, and it has now also been found near the gulf of Xabilsk, which is accessible 

 to the largest ocean vessels. According to the researches of Mr. A. Batsevich, mining engi- 

 neer, the naphtha deposits of this island extend in a meridional direction, towards the Sea of 

 Okhotsk, where they occur at a distance of 5 to 25 versts from the shore. The specific 

 gravity of the naphtha extracted from wells up to 3 sagenes deep over various areas, varies 

 from 0.890 to 0.895, and the daily yield is several ponds. Judging from the specific gravity 

 and the results obtained by distillation, the Saghalin naphtha resembles the Caucasian. 

 The occurrence of naphtha springs over a considerable area, and their abundance, com- 

 bined with the thickness of the superficial and subterranean deposits of bitumen (asphalt 

 of recent formation) and the daily flow of naphtha in the wells, made Batsevich conclude 

 that there must be more or less considerable stores of naphtha at a certain depth below the 

 surface. 



Salt. 



In Western Siberia salt is exclusively extracted from the self-depositing lakes, which 

 occur in considerable numbers in the southern portion of the region, namely in the 

 southern regions of the government of Tobolsk, in the south-western portion of the govern- 

 ment of Tomsk, and in the Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk provinces. This area, which is in- 

 cluded between 47'' and 55" north latitude and 63" and 73° eastern longitude (from Paris) is 

 a low lying plane, which was once the bottom of a sea basin. In the northern portion of this 

 salt basin, which embraces the Barabinsk and Kouloundinsk steppes, the salt lakes always 

 contain a more or less considerable amount of other salts than common salt, the chief 

 being sulphate of sodium. There is no lake in the region of these steppes, which gives pure 

 chloride of sodium, and on the contrary, there are many which contain rich layers of glauber 

 salt only. But in the southern and south-western portion of this salt basin which embraces 

 the arid steppes of the Akmolinsk and Semipalatinsk provinces the deposited salt is in the 

 majority of cases distinguished for purity of its chloride of sodium, and these lakes are the 

 chief sources of its production. 



The salt lakes of Western Siberia may be divided into four groups according to their 

 characteristics: 1. The lakes which contain more or less considerable beds of chloride of 



