are sent to the fair at Irbit every year in February. An immense number of rifles are also turned out by them, the iron manufactured here being considered good for the purpose; the barrels are bored out of the solid metal, and rifled with five grooves, having one and a quarter turn in the length of the barrel: they are usually made very heavy. The stocks are of birch-wood; the locks obtained from Nijne-Novgorod, and are exceedingly rough; nevertheless, this is a most deadly weapon. No rifle made by Purday will

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carry its ball with more certainty than these: each is sold for 31s. 8d.

Two were manufactured especially for me, by order of the director, with more care than is usually bestowed on them, and the barrels were made lighter, and better stocked. One was a small bore or pea-rifle, carrying balls sixty-four to the pound: this was for the feathered race and small animals; the other was a large bore, carrying balls thirty-two to the pound, for deer, stags, elks, wolves, bears, or even the tiger: with both of these I could shoot with perfect accuracy, and I seldom failed procuring game for a dinner when once within range of bird or beast. These two rifles cost me, complete, with cases and all the necessary apparatus, £4 158.

The Zavod and mines of Neviansk have been the property of Yakovlif for about a century: the population amounts to near 18,000, a great number of whom are free. A dispute arose between Yakovlif and the Demidoffs about the boundary of this property, the former claiming the iron mines in Nijne Tagilsk. It ended in a lawsuit, and as both parties were rich, it has, of course, been carried on for a great number of years. On my visit to Nijne Tagilsk in 1847, a new boundary was being formed between the two estates. Formerly stone pillars had been set up to mark the division of the property, but these were found insecure, as the strict injunction laid down in Scripture touching "thy neighbor's land-mark" was unknown in these regions. A most excellent plan has now been adopted-a deep trench has been dug along the boundary, and filled up with small charcoal; this is almost indestructible, and to move it without immediate detection impossible.

On leaving Neviansk my route was southward, nearly parallel to the high ridge of the Oural, about thirty or forty versts distant, and through what was once a densely-wooded country, but the forests have long been cut down for the use of the adjacent Zavods. The woods are in various stages of growth, according to the years in which each division fell under the woodman's axe; they are now springing up again from a sapling of one year to trees of sixty years' standing, which will soon be swept away to smelt the ores under them. The first village on the road is Shaidurikha. Here there is a little open country, also occasional

PRECIOUS STONES.-VERKNE ISSETZSKOI.

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patches as far as Mostovaia; from hence to Ekaterineburg it is one continued forest, affording no points of interest to the artist. To the geologist, mineralogist, and miner, the case is different; gold alluvium has been found on the little streams in most, if not in all the valleys, and extensively worked, in many instances most profitably. To the east of the road around Mursinsk lies the region in which the following precious stones of the Oural are found-emerald, amethyst, beryl, christoberyl, topaz, rose tourmaline, and garnets, all highly interesting to the crystallographer in their natural state, and much more so to the ladies when cut

into gems.

Ekaterineburg is the capital of the Oural, and on entering the town from the north a church and some large mansions are seen on a high hill to the left overlooking the lake, a beautiful sheet of water, which extends several versts in a westerly direction, until hid behind the woods of Issetzskoi. One of these mansions, built by a very rich man who accumulated his immense wealth from gold mines, is of enormous dimensions, and from its elevated situation has a most imposing effect, commanding views of the Oural far to the north and west, until lost in distant haze. The Zavod of Verkne Issetzskoï, with its churches and public buildings, stands out beautifully in the centre of the view, while in the foreground and beneath is the lake, with several public and private edifices on its shores. The gardens belonging to this mansion, with the green-houses and hot-houses, are extensive and well laid out: they are open to the public in summer, and form a pleasant promenade. Formerly there was a splendid and choice collection of plants in the green-houses, but for many years past they have been neglected. The owner, notwithstanding his enormous wealth and elegant mansion, was banished and punished for flogging some of his people to death; another man implicated in this crime shared the same fate. Both had risen from peasants.

There are many honorable exceptions to these men in Ekaterineburg-merchants and owners of mines who would do credit to any country. They have accumulated very large fortunes, and have built themselves mansions equal to any found in the best European towns; the rooms are spacious, lofty, and beautifully finished; their decorations executed with excellent taste; they are also splendidly furnished—indeed, supplied with almost every

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luxury as well as comfort. With many of these fortunate persons, their mode of living equals the splendor of their habitations. Attached to most of their dwellings are large conservatories, in some of which are very choice collections of tropical plants and flowers, such as few would expect to find in so severe a climate. There is a charming view of the town from the lake; the towers, spires, and domes of its eight churches, a monastery, and a convent, rising over the numerous public and private buildings, produce a most pleasing effect. The ground on which Ekaterineburg is built is thrown up into hills, on the crests of which are several good edifices. These are again overtopped by a rocky mount, clothed with dark green foliage, and on its summit stands the observatory, used mostly for magnetic observations. The churches, convents, public buildings, and large houses are all built of brick, covered with cement, and, when seen among the pineclad hills of the Oural, have a very imposing appearance.

Nearly in the centre of the town a high embankment is carried across the valley of the Issetz, and at this point stand the mechanical works belonging to government. They are built upon an enormous scale, and fitted up with machinery and tools from the best makers in England. Here are found Nasmyth's steamhammer, large lathes, planing machines, with punching, drilling, grooving, and slotting machines for every purpose. The entire arrangement of this establishment has been carried out, regardless of expense, under the superintendence of a good practical English mechanic, who has served the government for about fifteen years. He executed the whole of the excellent machinery of the Mint, in which copper money to a large amount is coined annually and sent into Russia. The furnace for smelting gold is in a building connected with the Mint, to which all the precious metals found in the Oural are brought. Here they are smelted and cast into bars, and sent to St. Petersburg.

Near these works stands the Granilnoï Fabric, the building in which the jaspers, porphyries, aventurine, and other stones found in the Oural are made into columns, pedestals, vases, and tables, unrivaled in workmanship either in ancient or modern times; the lathes, saws, and polishing machines used are turned by waterpower. The whole establishment belongs to the crown, and is worked by peasants.

WORKS ENRICHED WITH PRECIOUS STONES.

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The jaspers are found in a great variety of colors—the most beautiful a deep green, dark purple, dark violet, gray, and creamcolor; also a ribbon jasper with stripes of reddish-brown and green. The porphyries are equally fine and varied, some of most brilliant colors. Orlite is also a splendid stone of a deep pink color, with veins of yellow and black; when made into vases it is semi-transparent. Malachite is also used in making tables and various other articles. The vases are usually of a most classic design: this, with the rich materials in which they are executed, gives them a most magnificent effect; but to be able fully to appreciate such works, they must be seen in the splendid collections at the imperial palaces in St. Petersburg. I have frequently found and painted huge masses of these splendid rocks, of which I have now seventy-two varieties.

Most magnificent jasper tables are made in this Zavod, inlaid with different colored stones in imitation of birds, flowers, and foliage. In 1853 I saw one of them in Ekaterineburg on which four or five men had been employed for six years-not an uncommon circumstance; indeed, some examples have occupied a longer period. The cost of labor alone in England (provided the material were found there) would effectually prevent such work ever being executed in our country. Here wages are almost nothing. I have seen a man engaged carving foliage on some of the jasper vases, in a style not excelled any where in Europe, whose wages were three shillings and eightpence per month, with two poods, or thirty-six pounds of rye flour per month to make into bread; meat he is never supposed to eat. I have seen another man cutting a head of Ajax, after the antique, in jasper of two colorsthe ground a dark green, and the head a yellowish cream-colorin very high relief, and intended for a brooch. It was a splendid production of art, and would have raised the man to a high position in any country in Europe except Russia. He also, poor man! received his three shillings and eightpence per month, and his bread! There are many men employed in these productions possessing great genius; were they free to use their talents for their own benefit, this country might send into civilized Europe numerous works of vast merit. A married man with a family receives two poods of black flour for his wife and one pood for each child, on which they live and look stout.