﻿Pro/. Milne — Across Europe and Asia. 391 



lively water-wagtails, and an occasional woodpecker were the chief 

 birds we saw. A few flowers still remained in bloom ; a pretty 

 yellow Snap-Dragon (Linaria vulgaris) and the white heads of the 

 monopetalous Chrysanthemum inodorum were common. The bell- 

 shaped heads of a few Campanula3, a purple Pansy (Viola tricolor), 

 the spike-like purple heads of Veronica spuria, and a few other 

 plants, including a Melgedium hispodum, which I believe is rare, 

 were also to be seen. But about the few plants I collected I will 

 say more farther on. Above the flowers a few butterflies were 

 flying, — the heavy flutter of a Camberwell Beauty, some brown 

 Fritillaries and a white Pieris, all reminding me of the fauna 

 I had left at home. Notwithstanding the cheering aspect of 

 these bright relics of a fading summer, a yellow tinge upon the 

 drooping birches told me that the "fall" was near. During the 

 night — for we rattled along in our springless carriage continuously, 

 as is customary when travelling in Russia — it was now cold, and 

 in the morning everything had a coating of hoar frost. After 

 crossing the River Chesovoi, we passed through a gap in some high 

 hills, which had for some time been before us, and which in fact 

 formed the central hard granitic core of this portion of the Urals, 

 and then descended rapidly towards Ekaterinburg. We were now 

 fairly over the borders. Just before we reached the town, we 

 crossed an undulating expanse of ground, where I collected, almost 

 for the last time upon my journey, a few more flowers. This undu- 

 lation is a boss of crystalline rocks, partly dioritic. These are 

 apparently traversed in a north and south direction by numerous 

 veins of quartz. Near some of these veins the rock had quite 

 a fissile structure, and looked as if shales had been turned on 

 end parallel with the veins of quartz. All the surface soil appears 

 to be derived from the disintegration of the subjacent rocks. It is 

 not more than 1^ feet in thickness, and is filled with angular frag- 

 ments of stone. The town of Ekaterinburg, which we reached late 

 in the afternoon of September 9th, is one of the finest towns in 

 Siberia. It appears to have been built in a shallow saucer-like 

 hollow. One of the employments of its inhabitants is the cutting 

 of various minerals for ornamental purposes. The minerals chiefly 

 used are malachite and rock crystal. This latter, when of a smoky 

 tinge and often when clear, is called by its vendors topaz. One 

 thing that is striking, not only in Ekaterinburg, but also in most of 

 the Siberian towns, is the green colour of the roofs, especially the 

 churches. This, I believe, is made from crushed malachite. 



When in England, and during the greater portion of my journey 

 across Russia, I had the impression that on reaching Ekaterinburg 

 I should find myself in the centre of the Ural Mining District. 

 The grass-grown heaps of rubbish, long-forgotten " dumps," which 

 are dotted over the surrounding country, told me that Ekaterinburg 

 at one time might perhaps have realized my expectations. Except- 

 ing one or two small alluvial workings carried on in search of gold, 

 the mining days of Ekaterinburg are for the present past. The 

 nearest works of any consequence are those of Beresovsk, which 



