AMBER: WINNING ON THE PRUSSIAN COAST 543 



stratum of Lower Tertiary age, which at the present day is the most important source of 

 the material. 



The surface alluvial deposits were first worked for amber in the south-east of 

 East Prussia, south of the railway line between Ortelsburg and Johannesburg (on the 

 Allenstein and Lyk railway), in a district bordered on the east by the Pissek and on the 

 west by the Omulew river, and extending into Poland as far as the neighbourhood of 

 Ostrolenka on the Narew. A large amount of amber has been found in former centuries in 

 the surface diggings here and elsewhere in Poland, and in West Prussia, especially at 

 Steegen on the Danzig Nehrung. At the last named place and at Prokuls, where are 

 situated the most important of these alluvial deposits, the firm of Stantien and Becker 

 commenced their digging operations ; these workings were at first on quite a small scale, 

 but have, although at other places, now developed to an enormous extent, the whole world 

 being supplied with amber from the diggings of this firm. Prokuls is situated on the 

 mainland and on the railway line between Memel and Tilsit, to the south of Memel and 

 opposite Schwarzort. The deposit is identical with that which lies beneath the Kurisches 

 HafF, which was formerly dredged for amber in the neighbourhood of Schwarzort. The 

 diggings at this spot did not, however, yield nearly the amount of amber obtained by 

 dredging, and have therefore long been abandoned. 



In glacial deposits amber is present everywhere in the North German lowlands, 

 but usually in small amount. At places where the glacial deposits overlie " blue earth " in 

 situ amber occurs in greater abundance, but since the discovery of these richer deposits 

 depends upon chance or accident the occurrence has no economic importance. Such 

 deposits may be met with in the excavations necessitated by alterations and improvements, 

 in the digging of sand and gravel pits, or in peat cutting. Small deposits and pockets of 

 amber occur and are worked at many places in East and West Prussia, Pomerania, 

 Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark, and fui'ther to the west, also in the province 

 and kingdom of Saxony, in Silesia, and further eastward in Russia. A few examples of the 

 richness of the deposits in East and West Prussia and Pomerania are given below. From a 

 small pocket at Krebswalde, near Elbing, 700 pounds of amber was obtained. As rent for 

 the diggings at Schillehnen, near Braunsberg, 400 ducats was formerly paid. The deposits 

 at Gluckau, near Danzig, have been worked for at least 170 years, and as late as 1858 a 

 fine piece of amber weighing 11 pounds 13 ounces was found there. At Karthaus, a large 

 amount of amber was met with in pockets in loam, and at Berent, Konitz, Czersk, Tuchel, 

 and Polnisch-Crone in West Prussia, and Treten and Rohr, north of Rummelsburg in 

 Pomerania, amber has been obtained for more than 100 years from loamy veins, which 

 penetrate the glacial sand to a depth of 23 metres. 



The total amount of amber obtained from alluvial and glacial deposits is as nothing 

 compared with that derived from Tertiary strata, namely, the banded sands of the 

 lignite formation, and especially the " blue earth." Practically the whole of the genuine 

 amber which now comes into the market is obtained from these deposits. The workings of 

 the latter, both surface and underground, are confined to the coast east and south of Briisterort 

 on the north-west corner of Samland, and are entirely absent from the interior of the country, 

 from the remaining portion of the Baltic coast, and from the coast of the North Sea. 



Wherever the amber-bearing Tertiary beds are accessible, whether above or below 

 sea-level, they have been worked for many centuries in open workings. Important 

 workings are situated at Kraxtepellen, Gross-Kuhren, Klein-Kuhren, Georgswalde, 

 Rauschen, Sassen, Wannenkrug, &c. A great wealth of material was found in the " blue 

 earth " at Loppehnen, four-horsed waggons being required for its removal. 



