38 MINES OF 



CHAP. II. 



weight, have been found. The 1 height and 

 breadth of these furnaces were about two feet, 

 and the length three feet. There were holes on 

 both the front and back sides, but which of them 

 was appropriated for the bellows could not be 

 discovered by any marks. In the neighbour- 

 hood of these furnaces there are large heaps 

 of scoriae ; but no one has had the curiosity to 

 ascertain what metals, if any, they contain. 

 It may be presumed that a long period must 

 have elapsed since the works were in activity, 

 for the roots of large fir trees have spread them- 

 selves among the stones that are heaped against 

 the sides of the furnaces. 



It appears strange that the ancient inhabitants 

 of this country, with their imperfect means, 

 should have been able to melt so hard a metal 

 as copper, and should have acquired the art of 

 separating the gold from it. It is now impossi- 

 ble to form any judgment of the portion of gold 

 which the copper contained ; but the fact of some 

 being found is sufficiently proved, and it may 

 have given rise to the puerile tales that have 

 been noticed, and which Herodotus nas trans- 

 mitted to the ages that have succeeded to his. 



Gmelin found in the eastern parts of Si- 

 beria remains of works which had belonged to 

 silver mines, and remarked that the lead with 



1 Gmelin, vol. 3. sect. 299. 



