RELATIVE VALUE OF THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THIS REGION. 117 
a strike from north-north-east to south-south-west (almost at right angles to the 
prevailing direction of the great adjacent coal tracts), and with a dip to the north- 
west; which inclination, if continued, would occasion them to be soon buried at 
unattainable depths beneath the younger rocks on the north. But should this 
prove to be the case, and that the coal near Petrofskaya is merely at the surface 
through local upcasts, still the area over which it has been already seen, and its 
good quality, may induce the Imperial Government to prosecute the works imme- 
diately around Petrofskaya in a scientific and vigorous manner. 
General relations and economical importance of the Southern Carboniferous Tracts. 
In taking leave of the southern coal country, we may be permitted to offer a few 
observations as to the relative produce of its different parts, and of the capabilities 
which it seems to afford of future economical development. 
The crystalline and granitic rocks which form the nucleus of the whole region 
being well exposed between the Dnieper and the Kalmiuss, on the banks of the 
river Voltchia, we have the clearest proofs that the carbonaceous strata, in their 
extension to the west and north-west, dwindle to thin zones which rest upon these 
older rocks. In these tracts the limestones and shales disappear and the few traces 
of coal are associated with sandstone and grit. All endeavours, therefore, to find 
coal in the drainage of the Dnieper, or within portable distances of that great 
river, so as to be of use to the manufacturers of Odessa or conveyed at small ex- 
pense to the Black Sea, must be futile. 
Towards the south-east, however, the Kalmiuss, as previously stated, exposes 
a succession of limestones, grits, shales, with some coal. As no works worthy 
of notice have yet been opened in this tract, it may seem presumptuous in us to 
offer any opinion respecting its mercantile value, but judging from the few traces 
which there occur of any considerable quantity of vegetable remains, and also from 
the very small developement of the seams, as well as from the nature of the coal 
itself (with the single exception of Alexandrofsk), we should be disposed to think, 
that few portions of the tracts watered by the Kalmiuss or its tributary brooks, will 
be found to contain sufficient carbonaceous matter to lead to works of any utility, 
beyond the mere supply of the adjacent inhabitants. 
We have heard that the researches undertaken by the Russian engineers, and 
particularly those made under the auspices of M. Anatole Demidoff and conducted 
by M. Le Play, have afforded a similar conclusion, drawn not merely like our 
own, from what could be detected in natural outcrops and a few artificial openings, 
R 
