SIBERIA— FUR-TRADE AND GOLD-DIGGINGS. 



219 



while thousands were lavished on vanity and sensual enjoyments, not a rouble 

 was devoted to the improvement of the mind. 



Less rich in gold than the province of Jeniseisk, but richer in copper and 

 iron, and above all in platina, is the Ural, v/here mining industry was first intro- 

 duced by Peter the Great, in the last years of the seventeenth century, and has 

 since acquired a colossal development. Though gold was discovered in the Ura- 

 lian province of Permia as early as 1745, yet its production on a large scale is of 

 more modern date. In the year 1816 the whole quantity of gold furnished by 

 the Ural amounted only to 5 pouds 35 lbs., while in 1834 it had increased to 

 405 pouds. 



The discovery of the precious metals on the estates of the large mine-propri- 

 etors of the Ural, who already before that time were among the wealthiest men 

 of the empire, has increased their riches to an enormous extent, and given a 

 European celebrity to the names of Jakowlew and Demidoff. Werch Issetsk 

 and Werchne Tagilsk, in the province of Permia, belonging to the Jakowlew 

 family, have an extent of more than three miUions of acres, with a population 

 of 11,000 souls. Besides iron and copper, their chief produce, these estates 

 yielded, in 1834, 58 pouds of gold. 



Nishne-Tagilsk, belonging, since 1725, to the Demidoffs, is a still more mag- 

 nificent possession ; for it may truly be said, that perhaps nowhere in the world 

 are greater mineral riches congregated in one spot than here, w^here, besides 

 vast quantities of iron and copper, the washing of the sands produced, in 1834 

 no less than 29 pouds of gold, and 113 pouds 3 lbs. of platina. The estate ex- 

 tends over four millions of acres, and its population, in 1834, amounted to 

 20,000 souls. 



The town of Nishne-Tagilsk has about 15,000 inhabitants, and Helmersen 

 (" Travels in the Ural ") praises the Demidoffs for their zeal in carrying the 

 civilization of Europe to the w^ilds of the Ural. In an excellent elementary 

 school, 150 boys are clothed, fed, and educated at their expense. Those pupils 

 who distinguish themselves by their abilities are then sent to a higher school, 

 such as the Demidoff Lyceum in Jaroslaw, or the University of Moscow, and 

 after the termination of their studies obtain a situation on the estates of the 

 family. The palace of the Demidoffs has a fine collection of paintings by the 

 first Italian masters ; but it is seldom if ever inhabited by the proprietors, w^ho 

 prefer Florence and Paris to the Ural. The founder of the family was an em- 

 inent gunsmith of the town of Tula, whose abilities gained him the favor of 

 Peter the Great, and the gift of the mines on which the colossal fortune of his 

 descendants has been raised. 



