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892 COXE’s TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
Cuap. XXVIN.—Mines of Ruffia.—Gold and Silver.—Copper and Iron.— Average
; Profits which Government draws from the Mines, Foundries, and Duties.
THE mines of the Ruffian empire may be divided into thofe which belong to the
crown; and thoie which are the property of individuals. The former comprize all the
gold and filver, and a few copper and iron works :
1. The moft ancient gold mine in the Ruffian empire is that of Voetfk, near Olonetz,
between the lake Onega and the WhiteSea. Its chief produce is a violet pyritical cop-
per ore, mixed with quartz, and containing rich pieces of gold, but not in fufficient
quantity to defray the charges. From 1744 to 1676, the mine yielded only fifty-feven
pounds of gold, and about nine thoufand pood* of copper, and as the expences amounted
to 16,000]. more than the profits, it was neglected until 1772, when it was again work-
ed. Since that time it has furnifhed annually two hundred and fifty poods of copper,
and two or three pounds of gold-duft, which is wathed from the mine; befides acci-
dental pieces that have been fent to Peterfburgh as fpecimens, which may amount to five
or fix pounds more.
2. The next gold mines difcovered in the empire were thofe near Catharinenburgh :
the ore is very martial, commonly of a cubic form in a quartz matrix; and the gold is
extracted by wafhing. The annual produce of pure gold never exceeded two hundred
pounds, and was commonly much lefs: in 1772, it was only one hundred and one
ounds.
rs 3. The moft important filver mines are thofe of Kolyvan, between the rivers Oby
and Irtifh, near the mountains which feparate Siberia from the Chinefe empire, or rather
from the territory of the Calmucs dependent on the Chinefe. ‘Ihefe mines, difcovered
in 1728, by Akinfi Nikitich Demidof, were for fome years worked for his own private
emolument, as copper mines. It is fufpected, that he privately extraéted the nobler
metals, but prudently concealed the fecret until :744, when he made the difcovery to
the Emprefs Elizabeth, who appropriated them to the crown t. ‘Thefe mines, fituated
near Voikrefenfk, in the Smeyefkaia Gora, or Mountain of Serpents, are known by the
general appellation of Kolyvan, from a village on the rivulet Bielaia, in the diftri&t of
Kufnetz, where the ore was formerly fmelted. But as the adjacent country is {cantily
provided with wood, new foundries have been conftructed at Barnaul, Novopaulofsk,
and Sufunfk, to the north eaft of Kolyvan, in a diftrict abounding with trees t.
Thefe mines, which may juftly be ftyled the Potofi of the Ruffians produced annu-
ally, between 1749 and 1762, from eight thoufand to fixteen thoufand pounds of filver;.
between 1763 and 1769, from twenty thoufand to 32 thoufand; and fince that period’
to 1778, from forty thoufand to forty-eight thoufand. The filver contains upwards of
received an antient Greek appellations: Caffa was called Theodofia; Koflof, Apotoria; and AGiar,
Sebaftopol.
But this humiliating conduct on-the fide of the Porte, did not prevent further demands from the eourt of
St. Peterfburgh, which terminated in a rupture; and the Turks were happy to purchafe a peace in 1791,
by ceding the important fortrefs and diftrié of Otchakof, by which the Dniefter is now the boundary of
the Ruffian empire. ;
* A pood = 4o Ruffian or 36 Englifh pounds. The pound ufed in this chapter is the Ruffian, whichis,
to the Englifh as 9 to 10.
+ Pallas Reife, part i, p. 582. $ Ibid.-p. 579.
three
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