URAL MOUNTAINS (probably the Tartar word ural, belt), the Hyperborean moun tains, or Rhipad montes, of the ancients, form part of the boundary between Europe and Asia, and separate European Russia on the w. horn Siberia on the east. The chain extends s. from the Kara sea, an arm of the Arctic ocean, to the middle course of the Ural river, or from lat. 70° to that of 50° n., and is 1333 in. in length, with a breadth varying from 16 to 66 miles. Although the Ural mountains form really a single uninter rupted chain, geographers have agreed to consider them as divided into three sections— the northern, middle, and southern Ural. The northern Ural separates the basins of the rivers Petchora and Oh, is for the Most part rocky, does not rise higher than 3,000 ft., and is commonly called Poustoi (empty), because it is extremely poor in ore. The Middle Ural, commonly called Roudnoi (metalliferous), the principal seat of the mineral riches of the whole chain, comprises the highest peaks, as the Kanjakovski Kamen, rising to 5,000 ft.; but in some places the height is so insignificant, and the slope so gentle, that travelers can scarcely distinguish it from the lowlands. The southern Ural divides itself into three branches, two of which exthai to the e. of the Ural river, and gradually disappear iu the Uralo-Caspian deserts, while the third branch extends along the right— the western—bank of the Ural. The chain is composed chiefly of crystalline and meta morphic rocks, granite, gneiss. porphyry, ehloritie, and micaceous schists. The Ural mountains, especially the middle and the nfpart of the southern Ural (the governments of Perm and Orenburg), abound in mines of gold, platinum, copper, and iron. 'These
mines, or zacods, are partly the property of the state, partly that of private individuals. Of the latter, the chief are the Nijni-TagMsk, belonging to the Demidoff family; the Verehisetsk and Neviansk, belonging to the Takosleff family. The gold diggings occur on both slopes of the mountains, and gold is sometimes found in nuggets of considerable weight—the heaviest ever found in the chain being about 80 English lbs. in weight. In 1862 the amount of gold extracted from the Ural mountains was 185 poods 57 lbs. (6,660 English lbs.). The platinum found is chiefly obtained from the Nijni-Tagilsk mines, and the amount obtained was 148 poods (3,328 English lbs.). The richest copper ores in the Ural mountains are malachite and azurite; but the metal is extracted also from pyrites. The total amount found in 1862 was 248,865 poods (8,959,140 English lbs.). The amount of iron extracted in 1862 was 4,365,848 cwts., of which 2,778,400 cwts. were made into steel. In 1874 the smelting establishments of the Ural mountains pro duced 13,200,000 poods of bronze, 69,000 poods of steel, and 100,000 poods of copper. Among precious stones the most notable arc the emerald, found on the eastern slope in the district of Ekaterinburg, awl some of which weigh 13 dwts. 9 grains. ether precious stones are found, as the beryl, topaz, amethyst, and diamond, the last discovered in accordance with the prediction of Humboldt, but of small value. Malachite and jaspar also occur. The pop. inhabiting the Ural mountains and supported by the mines, is 133,000 inhabitants.