34 



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



fossils in abundance and good preseiTation. Further eastward it appears in 

 the south part of the government of Simbirsk, and it is seen on the banks of the 

 Volga for a great distance both above and below the town of Cinghyley : it 

 forms the lofty ridge which diverts the course of the river between Stairopol 

 and Syzran, and is called by the name of the Markvashky and Shigoulefsky 

 Hills. These are the highest banks of the Volga. The hill called Tzaref 

 Kourgan, or King's Barrow, at the mouth of the Sok near Samara, is not arti- 

 ficial, but is composed of strata of grey limestone, with minute madrepores, 

 which in shape and size resemble grains of wheat*. 



The limestone at Sernoi Gorodok contains sulphur mines, no longer 

 worked ; they are in the hills called Sokoly Gory. The banks of the Volga, 

 in what is called the reach of Samaraarc, are wild, and possess an interesting- 

 character. I must refer to Pallas as an authority for the vultures, chalk, 

 gypsum and sulphur, and other wonders of the place. 



OuRAL Mountains. 



This primitive chain, running from the Icy Sea to the steppe north of the 

 Caspian Sea, forms the natural boundary between Asiatic and European 

 Russia : and I must include in this district a certain portion of country on 

 each side the chain f. 



A rich and extensive tract of red marl, salt, and gypsum, stretches down the 

 course of the Kama, and is probably connected on the south with the salt 

 district of the Volga, and on the north with that of Vologda. The principal 

 salt works are in the neighbourhood of Solikamsk ; and the alabaster grottos 

 of Koungour, in the government of Perm, exceed in size and magnificence 

 the cave of Barnoucova. At intervals along this line appear springs of 

 naphtha, every where considered as a sign of coal, which however has only as 

 yet been found on the Ousva, nine versts from Alexandrovsk, where it occurs 

 with a rich argillaceous ironstone, manufactured at the latter place, the esta- 

 blishment of Mr. Vscvoloshsky. 



But on both sides of this salt country is a vast tract of what is commonly 

 called copper sand, which extends through a great part of the governments of 

 Viatka, Perm and Oufa, and completely skirts the south and west sides of the 



* A specimen is in the Museum at Oxford. 



+ A secondary tract appears on the side of the Oural Mountains, forming the western or low 

 division of Siberia ; but I am not able to state with certainty whether its rocks resemble the for- 

 matjons on the European side. 



