364 FUTURE SUPPLIES. CHAP. XXIX. 



The mines which Russia is now working are 

 under circumstances materially different from those 

 of America. Our details of the workings are too 

 imperfect to enable us to judge how far the benefit 

 derived from them is likely to induce any great 

 extension of their operations. The government 

 of Russia and numerous individuals have an almost 

 unlimited command of labour. The Cerfs who 

 are destined to perform it are accustomed to sub- 

 sist on the coarsest kinds of food, and to be sup- 

 plied with other necessaries in a much more par- 

 simonious manner than the workmen under other 

 European governments. They may thus be enabled 

 to yield a greater profit to their masters by the 

 extraction of the precious metals than they could 

 by employment in agriculture, in situations far re- 

 moved from any market for agricultural produce. 

 The easy transfer of the metals may alone make the 

 search for them a more beneficial application of 

 labour than the cultivation of hemp, flax, or rye, 

 which are too heavy to defray the expense of a 

 long land carriage, or even a conveyance by inland 

 river navigation. 



On a review of the several countries which 

 yield gold and silver, no very sanguine hopes can 

 or will be indulged that a great or material increase 

 in their production is likely to take place in the 

 course of a few years. 



