Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/403

Rh spirit that bears its name, Naples for coral, or Benares for brassware. More than a thousand workmen are engaged by private employers or by the Government in this industry. The Granilnoi Fabric, or Government Lapidary Establishment, was closed at the time of my visit, which happened during Christmas week. I understand it has since been sold, and is now in private hands.

"Itinerant dealers in the streets offer the cut crystals to strangers, and the waiters at the hotels have stocks of them for sale. The collections at the dealers are a bewildering array of amethyst, beryl, topaz, tourmaline, chalcedony, jasper, aquamarine, malachite, quartz, and other stones. There are seals, paper-weights, beads, vases, statuettes, brooches, buttons, charms, and an endless variety of ornamental things.

"There were imitations of leaves, flowers, and grapes tastefully arranged together, and formed of differently colored stones; there were miniature caves and grottos in which the stones were artistically grouped; and there were busts of the Emperor of Russia and other high personages in the Empire, together with busts of the reigning sovereigns of Europe. Learning that I was an American, the proprietor of one establishment showed me a half-finished bust of President Lincoln cut in topaz and about six inches high.

"We left Ekaterineburg one evening, and about midnight passed the ridge of the Ural Mountains and entered European Russia. The Urals at this point are a succession of low hills covered with fir-trees, and as you look at the range from Ekaterineburg you would not suspect you were in the neighborhood of mountains. North and south of this point the mountains become more steep, but they