128 SIBERIA 



having a population of 521,000 inhabitants. This 

 is a rough and desolate district, scarcely fit for 

 colonisation, owing to the absence of fertile land. 

 It is a favourite haunt of the nomadic tribes from 

 the Central Asiatic steppes, and may be described 

 as the Klondyke of Siberia. It is, moreover, part 

 of the coldest district of that country, and therefore 

 of the world. 



Gold is obtained by two different processes : 

 either by working the deposit after first removing 

 the covering of turf to the depth of from 3 to 20 feet, 

 or by washing the gold from auriferous gravel taken 

 from the bottom of rivers, which are first diverted 

 into new channels with the aid of dams and other 

 contrivances. The metal is also obtained by under- 

 ground mining, sometimes at considerable depths. 

 The gravel is brought to the surface by shafts with 

 the aid of a horse winch. The work in the mines 

 is carried on notwithstanding that the soil is per- 

 petually frozen, wood fuel being employed to melt 

 it. In these mines the underground works are 

 usually conducted on the pillar system, the spaces 

 worked out being faced with stone. The mines that 

 are now being worked are situated at a distance 

 of 1,150 miles north-east of Irkutsk, in the Olek- 

 minsk district, and are divided into the Olekminsk 

 and Vitim groups, under the management of the 

 Irkutsk mining department. The working of these 

 mines dates from 1851, the annual output of gold 

 during thirty years having been from 136 to 

 313 cwts. The best yield is sometimes half a pound 

 to every ton and a half of ore, an ounce to a ton 

 and a half being considered good. The richest mines 

 in Siberia, or for that matter in the Russian Empire, 

 are worked by the Vitim Company, and produce 

 from 56 to 76 cwts. per annum. It is not remark- 

 able that English, French, and American syndicates 



