398 
Prof. Milne — Across Europe and Ada. 
The iron mines of Tagil lie in a small hill upon the north side 
of the town. This hill appears to form a portion of a more or 
less metalliferous band, running north and south parallel with the 
Urals. This band consists mainly of felspathic rocks. On the 
east it is bounded by rocks similar to those of which it is composed, 
and on the west by a white highly crystalline slightly magnesian 
limestone. Throughout this band there are isolated patches of 
limestone slate and magnetic iron-ore. The small hill which I 
have mentioned is a mass of this ore, and in it are situated the 
mines or rather quarries of iron. 
The form of this hill is somewhat ellipsoidal. Its height is about 
280 feet, and its length about two miles. The ore is in many places 
coloured green, with stains of copper. 
Penetrating through this huge mass of ore are small bands or 
strips of felsite, which run north and south ; but, with these excep- 
tions, the remainder is pure magnetite. An east and west section, 
at right angles to the length. of this mass of ore, would seem 
to indicate that it probably thins out as you descend in depth. 
The hill is divided into five properties, each of which is worked 
in large open quarries. The face of one of these quarries upon 
the S.W. side of the hill is about 150 feet in height, and is 
worked in a series of horizontal benches or steps. "Whilst walking 
about these quarries, I was much struck with the appearance of 
many large slickensides. The Scratches on some of these were half 
an inch broad, and long and regulär, covering patches two yards 
square ; in many cases not at all unlike the effects of glaciation. 
Some of these surfaces gave evidence of movements having taken 
place at different periods. The metalliferous band in which this 
magnetic iron-ore occurs has a breadth of about two miles ; but if 
we include isolated patches of ore as indicating the same band, it 
may in places have a breadth of nearly ten miles. About ten miles 
to the south a similar deposit has been found, whilst towards the 
north, for a distance of 230 miles, several large masses have also 
been met with, some of which, as at Kuschwa and Pawda, are being 
worked. One of the limestones which I have spoken of as occur- 
ring in the metalliferous bands has near Tagil been found to contain 
manganese. This occurs in huge pipes or fissures, which thin out 
as you descend. 
The valleys and low ground of the whole of this metalliferous 
district are covered with a considerable thickness of alluvium, in 
which large lumps, and sometimes even boulders, of magnetite are 
found. In one place near Tagil this alluvium was 105 feet in 
thickness. The greater part of it is plastic clay. Where this has 
been produced from decomposing felspar, it has been used for the 
manufacture of the bricks required in building furnaces. Very often, 
however, it contains a certain quantity of lime, which deteriorates 
its quality. The general colour of this clay is yellow. There are 
places where I saw the colour considerably intensified, as might be 
expected from the immense quantity of iron in the neighbourhood. 
