But Russia has the advantage over all the countries previously mentioned of possessing inexhaustible deposits of magnetic iron ore (magnetic loadstone—magnetite) which affords bar-iron of the very best quality; and though hitherto the immense distances which separate the mines from the larger centres of consumption have retarded the progress of the iron manufacture, the construction of railroads is gradually overcoming these obstacles, and possibly even the now unworked Siberian mines of the Altaï and of Transbaikalia, where coal is found along with iron, may acquire importance at a not far distant time. At present the chain of the Oural (Permia and Orenburg) furnishes nine-tenths of all the iron produced in the empire. The most remarkable of the Ouralian mines is the famous magnetic mountain Wissokaja Gora, in the neighbourhood of Nishne- Tagilsk, which Peter the Great bestowed in 1702 on the armourer Nikita Demidoff of Tula, along with a vast extent of forests and arable land. This magnetic mountain or hill, which is 300 fathoms long, 250 broad, and 240 feet high, rises from the midst of a plain, in the form of a broad, flat eminence. It consists almost entirely of _pure magnetic iron ore_, and is worked like an open quarry; but, on account of its hardness, the ore requires to be blasted with powder. Although many millions of tons have been extracted from it since it first came into the possession of the Demidoff family, it may easily be imagined that a mass of at least 600,000,000 cubic feet of iron-ore is not easily removed, and will outlast the labours of many generations. The quantity of cast-iron annually produced amounts to 25,500 tons, which is converted, partly at Nishne-Tagilsk and partly in the neighbouring forges, into bar-iron, anchors, kettles, scythes, nails, wire, &c. The excellent quality of the iron allows it to be rolled into very thin plates, which are frequently made use of in Russia for the roofing of houses, and are also manufactured at Nishne-Tagilsk into lacquered wares, which find a ready sale throughout the whole of European and Asiatic Russia. The iron-working industry of Austria has its chief seats in Styria, Carinthia, Transylvania, and Bohemia, and, though out of proportion with the vast natural resources of the empire, has of late made rapid progress. The ores, which are of an excellent quality, are mostly smelted with charcoal, as they are generally situated at a great distance from the coal mines. The Noric or Styrian iron has enjoyed an excellent reputation ever since the time of the Romans, when the imperial manufactory of Laureacum on the Danube supplied the legions with swords and javelins.