]92 SIBERIA. 



f'inin the Crown of l/XM"! roubles per annura. Foreign sail i> iinjtorted duty free into the 

 Siberian ports of the Eastern Ocean. The total expenditure of the Crown upon this operation 



ariKiiirils unniially U> about ](y»,0(y» njubles. 



Precious minerals and building materials. 



The best known place in all Siberia where precious minerals are found is the Truns- 

 baikal temtory. Hero between the rivers Onon an^l Onon-lJorza rises the f.Tanitic moun- 

 tain Adun-Chilon, celebrated for the frequent discovery there of precious coloured stones, 

 such as topaz, beryl, aquamarine, Siberian topaz and others. On the Onon, eighty-five versts 

 from Nerchinsk are found garnets in small crystals. 



Lapis lazuli occurs in the Baikal mountains along the rivers Talaya and Sliu- 

 dianka, flowing into Baikal, and along the stream Malaya Bystraya, a tributary, of the 

 Irkut. In the last locality lapis lazuli of good quality forms pockets in the large crystalled 

 dolomitic limestone, near its junction with the syenitic granite. In the sixties pieces of la- 

 pis were worked here three pouds in weight. From these deposits was obtained the lapis 

 lazuli which served for the veneering of the columns in the St. Isaac Cathedral in St.-Pe- 

 tersburg. and lor the execution of a mass of artistic productions placed in the Imperial pa- 

 laces. In the same locality where occur the deposits of lapis lazuli, dark red garnets 

 are met with in crystals attaining two inches in diameter, along the Bolshaya Bystraya 

 amazon stone, sphene and feldspar of a crimson colour are found; along the 

 Talaya, mica, serpentine, talc and other minerals; along the Sliudianka, blue calca- 

 reous spar, white marble, rose coloured quartz, garnet, asphanite and 

 others; in the valley of the Uluntui, black mica in plates two feet in diameter. This kind 

 of mica was formerly worked here. 



Pebbles of nephrite are found along the river Bielaya falling into the Angara 

 fifty versts below Irkutsk, and along the Iret and Onon, tributaries of the Bielaya. Here 

 pebbles of this mineral used to be found weighing as much as 30 pouds. 



The Altai mountains on the other hand, have become celebrated for their porphyry 

 and j a s p e r of various colours, forwarded from the Korgon ridge, from the banks of the 

 Charysh and Alei and from the vicinity of the Ridder mine to the Kolyvan polishing works, 

 whence manufactured articles are despatched over four thousand versts to the Imperial 

 Court at St, Petersburg. At these works a mass of remarkable works of art have been 

 turned out, which now embellish many of the Imperial palaces. Among them is the jasper 

 vase placed in the Imperial Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the oval cup of which has a long 

 diameter of twenty feet. 'At the present time not less than eight quarries are being worked 

 in the Altai, producing porphyi'y, blue and green jasper, granite, white and coloured marbles 

 breccia, smoky topaz, red, rose-coloured and blue quartz, agate and chalcedony. 



Besides lime, building stone of various kinds, mill stones and common clays, got in many 

 parts of Siberia, it should be mentioned that in the neighbourhood of the Nicholas cast-iron 



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