44 QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OP THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



In 187G tlie Hey of Tunis exhibited a collection of ores illnstrative of 

 the resources of liis dominions. The chief minei'al products of Tunis in- 

 clude lead and mercury.' 



ASIA. 



Southwestern Asia. — Ncar Suiyma Mr. Fischbach (loc. cit.) found a rich 

 vein of cinnabar accompanied by antimony ore. This is the onlv i-ecord of 

 quicksilver in Asia Minor in my possession. Ibn Mohelhel, an Arabian 

 author of the ninth century, reported quicksilver as occurring in the western 

 portion of Zendjan, in Persia. General A. Houtum Schindler, of the Persian 

 army, found cinnabar and native quicksilver in the district indicated by 

 Mohelhel.- Cinnabar occurs with gold in alluvial washings. Furthermore, 

 cinnabar and native quicksilver are found in considerable abundance in the 

 basalt of the district, which also carries realgar. Sulphur, too, is plentiful 

 and lead and silver are mined near by. This locality would appear to be a 

 solfataric one, not dissimilar to those of California. 



In Afghanistan Captain Hutton^ reports that quicksilver is mined at 

 latitude 31° 18', longitude G2° 18' 30". 



Globules of the metal are also said to occur in a cellular lava at Aden.^ 



Siberia. — Cinnabar is found in various secondary deposits in the gold- 

 mining districts of the Ural Mountains; for example, near the Beresowsk 

 smelting works, near Miask, and near Bogoslowsk. At the last locality pieces 

 of cinnabar weigliing a pound and a half have been found, but the original 

 deposits of ore have never l)een detected in this region.* In the auriferous 

 sands of Olem-Trawiansk cinnabar occui-s in large pieces, an examination 

 of which is said to justify the conclusion that the original deposits were 

 quartz veins.^ It is hard to see how such fragments can justify any positive 

 conclusion as to the form of the deposits, but it is something to know the 

 nature of the gangue. Professor Arzruni informs me that to the south of 

 the district in which ]\Iiask is situated no cinnabar has been found, while to 

 the north it occurs in rolled fragments in most of the gold placers. 



Cinnabar also occurs at the Ildekansk quicksilver mine, in the district 



'J. M. Safford: R.'>pt Phila. luternat. Exh. 187G to Parliament, vol. 3, London, 1878, p. 481. 



•Jahrbuch k. k gool. ReicUsaustalt, Wieii, vol. :U, 1881, p. IS-i. 



'V. Ball: Economic Geology of India, p. 170. 



■•N. von Kokscbaiow: Matcrialen zur Miuoral. Russlands, vol. (!, 1h70, p. a.jH. 



»C. Zincken: Rcrg- iind Iiilttrmii. Zeitmig, vol. :«», 1880, p. :iOO. 



