26 The Hon. Mr. Strangways on the Geology of Russia. 



the Oca has deposited at its mouth. Of this_, large portions are carried away 

 annually by the current^ which throws it upon the left bank, where it has 

 formed an extensive sandy plain, intersected by small branches of the river. 

 The islands which they surround are covered with low brushwood, and are 

 still flooded annually. This plain therefore is not cultivated; and as the land 

 behind has but little elevation, it is not immediately perceived that it is as 

 fertile and as much inhabited as the high grounds on the south bank of the 

 river. The Oca in like manner deposits on its left bank all that it brings 

 down from the right : so that this alluvial triangle is annually gaining on one 

 side, while it is losing on the other ; a considerable deposit being left also on 

 the surface of the plain itself. It has been necessary however to raise the 

 surface many feet, in order to keep the water out of the bazaar; the necessary 

 quantity of earth being supplied from the excavation of a canal which is in- 

 tended to surround the whole; and a protection is also required against the ra- 

 vages on the side of the Volga. It may be asked why this weak and perishable 

 angle between the two rivers was chosen, in preference to the more solid one 

 on the opposite bank ? The fact is, that there is not room at the foot of the 

 hill to place any thing like requisite buildings for the merchandise accumulated 

 at the fair : also, that the little space there is, is annually lessened or endanger- 

 ed by the action of the Volga on the north, and of the Oca on the west, — ^both 

 rivers here conspiring to destroy the hill. On the summit of the hill the 

 ground is too uneven to admit of regular buildings of such a size, without 

 being endangered by the ravines, whose banks are nearly as insecure as those 

 of the river ; besides the labour and risk of bringing heavy goods up a steep 

 of four hundred feet in height, which must all descend again to be trans-shipped. 

 The only good situation is already occupied by the Kreml, which completely 

 covers the lofty angle between the Volga and Oca. 



The stone used in the new constructions, is partly the hard tuf of Pechersk, 

 which is blasted by gunpowder, — a method newly introduced there ; a white 

 limestone from the upper Oca, which will hereafter be mentioned; and in part 

 a red sandstone, containing numerous glassy concretions of sulphate of lime, 

 which is quarried at Novinski, about sixteen versts up the Oca. This sand- 

 stone, though not much resembling the young red sandstone of England, is 

 probably allied to it, as occurring in company with gypsum, interstratified 

 with a sahne red marl. There is also at Novinski another species of white 

 limestone, much intersected with small veins of glassy gypsum, but containing 

 shells, which are in general of rare occurrence in any form of sulphate of lime. 

 Specimens are in the collection of the Geological Society, and in the Museum 

 at Oxford. 



