-16 The Hon. Mr. Strang ways on the Geology of Russia. 



Immediately above this spot the river widens, and then contracts itself be- 

 tween wooded banks which afford no geological sections. About three versts 

 above the lower fall is placed the village of Ouglova, probably so called from 

 the coal^ such as it is, which re-appears in the bank of the upper fall situated 

 just below it *. 



At the upper fall, the banks of the river are not so high as at the lower ; 

 nevertheless, as they afford sections of the limestone containing chert in situ, 

 a circumstance of rare occurrence in general in Russia, they cannot fail to be 

 interesting. Both the limestone and chert are varied with yellow and red 

 patches, and pass gradually into each other. The limestone contains here 

 not only the large terebratulites which I have before mentioned, but also frag- 

 ments of encrini&c. like those of the Hmestone of the rivers Sas and Shelon. 

 These also occur in the chert ; but I could see no large or perfect fossils in 

 the beds of that substance at this spot, although they are so common in the 

 loose masses south of the Valday Hills. Below these beds the coal shale and 

 pyrites re-appear at the water's edge. I found one flint in the bed of the 

 river, slightly rolled, much resembling those of the English chalk, and con- 

 taining a finger-shaped alcyonite. 



The Msta is a river very important in the inland navigation of Russia, as it 

 is not only the largest stream of these parts, but also cuts through the greatest 

 part of the whole breadth of the Valday Hills, in the line where their height is 

 greatest, and where it would have been extremely difficult to form a canal. It 

 is also fortunate, that the Tvertza, which flows southward, and joins the Volga 

 at Tver, rises not far from the source of the Msta; so that by a short canal 

 which passes through Vishney Volochok, the communication between the Bal- 

 tic and Caspian Seas has been easily effected. This is the principal line of 

 water communication : but as the Msta is extremely shallow and much ob- 

 structed by rocks, and the Tvertza, though less impeded in its course, does not 

 at all times of the year contain sufficient water for barks, it was necessary to 

 supply it by artificial means. Locks, in the time of Peter the Great, to whom 

 the opening of this navigation is due, were too expensive; especially as the 

 declivity of the Tvertza is so rapid, that it would have required a vast number 

 of them to keep up the water of that river between Vishney Volochok and 

 Tver. This rapidity of the Tvertza is probably owing to its source being so 

 near to the southern slope of the hills ; although their slope on this side is 

 less than on the north. The Msta, on the contrary, by its long course through 

 a deep valley, is less rapid than might have been expected: and although the 



* See Plate 1. fig. 2. 



