Siberia is very rich in metals. Them are three extensive mining districts. The most western comprehends the mines of the Ural Mountains. On the eastern declivity of that range the mines occur between 56' and 60° N. lat., where they occupy a tract of land about 40 miles in width. These mines yield great quantities of gold, silver, and copper; there is also some iron and platinum. The second mining district is that of BernauL The mines yield much silver and copper, but less gold and lead. The mines from which these metals are obtained lie mostly in the Altai Mountains, and in those valleys which open to the Irtiah River. The third mining district is that of Nertahinak, which is situated on the east of the Yablonoi Khrebet, in the basin of the river Amur. The mines contain gold, silver, iron, lead, zinc, antimony, and arsenic. [ALTAI Mouseama, voL col 262; Ruffin, voL iv., col 373.] The western parts of Siberia get the salt which is required for their consumption from the salt-lakes in the steppes of !shim and Barabinsk, in some of which the salt crystallise' spontanconaly. Two lakes of this kind occur also la the vale of the Yenesei, on the western declivity of the Teletzkoi Mountains; one of them gives an annual produce of 130,000 pooch. The countries bordering on the river Lena obtain salt partly from some saltepringe which occur in the vicinity of the town of Ust Kutak, and partly from the river Vilul, where, according to Erman, there are some lakes in which the salt crystallises, and he adds that from the same country rock.salt is brought to Yakutsk. Da-uria obtains its salt from one of the lakes of the Gobi, called Dabaaeunei Lake, not far from that of Khara. Several kinds of precious stones occur in Siberia, and diamonds have been found along the eastern declivity of the Uralian range. The amethyst., topazes, emeralds, and red turmalines are of great beauty; stream of extraordinary size have been found near Misak, south of Ekaterinburg. Several precious stones are bronght from the Altai Mountains, the most valuable of which are jasper and porphyry of great beauty. The mountains of Da-aria contain beryls, topazes, emeralds, and some other stones of less value. In the Baikal Mountains, especially towards the western extremity of the lake, lapis-lazuli of a very fine quality is found. The meet important mineral for domestic economy is a kind of mica, which divides into flat pieces like glee, and is extensively used all over Siberia, and even in European Ramie, for windows.
The tusks of the fossil elephant constitute an article of commerce, and many persona make the discovery of them the business of their life. They are deposited In immense manes, which occur more fre quently and are of larger extent as we proceed from south to north. The greatest number of these bones are brought from the Laikhovian Islands, but they are also numerous in the north-eastern part of Siberia., east of the river Lena. They are generally found at a certain depth, mostly in hills of clay, rarely in mould, and never in sand. The harder and more consistent the clay is, the better the bones are preserved.
inhabitania—When the Russians first entered Siberia, they found the country in possession of numerous tribes more or less addicted to a nomadic life ; none of them cultivated the ground, and they had no permanent places of abode, with the exception of some Tartars in the vicinity of Tobolsk. Some of these tnbes belonged to widely spread nations, but others, often consisting of a small number of families, constituted separate nations. Tho small number of indi viduals in the several tribes rendered them unable to make effectual resistance to the Russians, who gradually subjugated this immense country. In this struggle some of the smaller tribes seem to have entirely disappeared, or perhaps a remnant of them united itself to some neighbouring tribe, and was gradually incorporated. Though it is certain that several tribes or nations have disappeared, there aro still about forty tribes, differing more or less in physical character and in language. Some of them belong to the Caucasian race, and others are akin to the Mongols. In noticing these tribes we begin from the Ural Mountains and proceed eastward.
The most north-western part of Siberia is occupied by the Samo yedes. South of the Samoyedes are the Ostiaks, who occupy both banks of the river Obi from Obdursk upwards to the confluence of that river with the Irtish, and even south of this place there are some families. They also occupy the northern districts of the steppe of Barabinza, as far south as 60° N. lat. Eastward they are spread over the whole of the wooded region to the banks of the Yenesei. The Vogules live to the west of the °stinks, occupying the woods, and the mountains, valleys, and plains included within the Ural range and its declivities; they are even in possession of a narrow level tract along their base. In the plain they are found as far southward as tho Toora. In the agricultural district which extends south of the country occupied by the Vogules and Ostiaks, the population consists of Russians and Tartars, and in most parts the latter are more numerous. The Tartara who live east of the river Tobol as far as tho banks of the Irtish, are known by the name of Tartars of Tobolak. They are distinguished from their western neighbours by having adhered to the Islam, and by their fondness for travelling : hardly a caravan goes to Bokhara of which they are not the leaders. The Barabinzes, another tribe of Tartars, inhabit the steppe which bears their name. The most eastern of their tribes inhabit the mountains of Kooznesk, and are called Koosnezi, that is, smiths, on account of their occupation. They nuite agriculture with mining, and produce annually a large quantity of iron, though in a very clumsy way. A considerable number of Bokharians have settled among the Russians and Tartars. The liaahkirs are noticed under Russia (voL iv., col 375). We shall here only observe that this tribe is not found north of Ekaterin burg, but that between this place and, Slatoust they constitute the bulk of the population. The Khirghis Cossaks, commonly called
Kirghiaes, are one of the widest-spread nations in Asia, nearly the whole of the Caspian Desert being in their possession. Though a considerable portion of this nation is in some degree dependent ou Russia, and another portion on China, their dependence is rather nominal than real, and their country is considered a part of Tunic's VIII. The interior of the Altai Mountains is inhabited by a tribe of Calmucks, who are called the Calmuck mountaineers. Those who inhabit the eastern districts, namely, the valleys of the Chooya, Bashkaus, and Choolyshman, pay tribute both to the emperor of China and of Russia. Between the lakes of Teletakoi and the neigh. bourhood of Irkutsk there is a number of small tribes. Ou the eastern declivities of the mountains of Teletakoi there are four nations of Turkish origin—the Biryuaaes, the Beltirea, the Sage, and the Katehinzes. These tribes are in possession of the mountains and adjacent country as far east as the banks of the river Abakan, an affluent of the YeneseL Between the rivet Abakan and the Yenesei are the Koibales, and many families belonging to this tribe are found east of the last-mentioned river, under the name of Diotores and Kandym. In the mountains which divide the valley of the Yenesei from the plain of the Lower Angara there are several tribes allied to the Koibales in origin and language. Tho most northern, on the banks of the river Kam, are called Kamashes, and south-east of them, on the Uda, are the Karakas and Kangut. In the undulating country which lies between the lower course of the river Choona, an affluent of the Upper Toonguaka, and the Yenesei, are the Yarinzes. Nearly contiguous to this country, but on the western side of the river Yenesei, and north of the town of Yeniseisk, are the Kaauimskio Oatiake, also called the Ostiaks of the Yeneset The most populous of all the nations that inhabit Siberia, next to the Russians, are the Buriates, who occupy the country on both sides of the Lake of Baikal, and extend towards the east as far as the western banks of the river Onon. Their priests have a very.rich literature, mostly on the subjects of Buddhism, which a great part of the Buriates have embraced, but the classical sacred books are written in Sannerit. South of the Buriatee, along the very boundary-line of the Chinese empire, between the rivers Selenga and Onon, a small number of Khalkas Mongols are settled. The most widely dispersed of the native nations of Siberia are the Toonguses. They occur even in Da-uria, particularly between the Orton and the Argun, and the northern districts of Mandahooria are also peopled with them. In these parts they unite agriculture with the keeping of animals, espe cially the reindeer. Farther north they are in possession of the country that incloses the Lake of Baikal ou the north, and hence they extend to the Polar Sea. They are also found along the banks of the river YeneseL Tho Toonguses are considered as the best formed of the native tribes of Siberia. They are generally of middling size, of a fine shape, and slender. Their face is less flat than that of the Mongols, their eyes small and lively, and their nose well formed, though rather small. Many of them have no beard, and the rest have very little. Their hair is black and lank, and rarely grows gray hi old age. They are most accomplished herseuien. Though widely — spread over an immense country, the language of the most distant tribes of the Toonguses is said to agree very nearly with that of the Mandshoo. The Yakutat, the moat populous of the nations of Eastern Siberia, except the Buriatee, are a Turkish tribe, who are almost entirely occupied with the of their herds of cattle and horses and the dairy. They appear also to have attained a considerable degree of skill in tanning, and in working iron, which they get from the mines ou the upper course of the river Vilui. The Yookaldree are only found north of tho Polar Circle, and mostly in parte where the wooded regions border on the tundras. They only live east of the Lena, and as far as the vicinity of Choun Bay. The Tahooktshes occupy the most north-eastern peninsula of Asia. To the west this tribe 11 met with as far as Chouu Bay, and southward they are in possession of the whole basin of the Anadyr River. The Russians do not consider them as subjects of their emperor, and the Tshooktsbes are very jealous of their independence. On this account they do not easily permit Europeans to enter their country. The Koriakes inhabit tho northern part of the peninsula of Kamtchatka and the country about the gulfs of Ponshinsk and Ishiginsk, as well as the mountains of Stamnovoi Khrebet. The peninsula of Kamtchatka is inhabited by Kamtchatdales. [KAMTCHATKA.] J'apalatiow.—The population of Siberia is now estimated at more than three millions and a half, exclusive of the Middle Horde, or Orda, of the Khirghis Cossaks, which is computed at more than a million of individuals. [Russia vol. iv. col. 378.] But this popula tion is very unequally distributed over the surface of the country. Even the most populous districts, namely, the agricultural region in Western Siberia, the vale of the river Yenead in Central Siberia, and the plain of the Lower Angara, would be considered very thinly peopled in any part of Europe, but they are thickly inhabited when compared with other parts of Siberia, where several tracts occur extending over a surface of from 20,000 to 30,000 square miles, which are entirely uninhabited, as for instance the country south and north of the Verkhnei Yank Mountains. In other places a few families live at the distance of one or two days' journey from one another. The majority of the present inhabitants are Russians; all the other tribes do not much exceed one million.