Show OF meerschaum where exime klch lepolt lepi lt nf the queer are I 1 mr cumberbatch british consul at angora in his latest report says that rich deposits of meerschaum are found twenty miles to the southeast of eski an important station of the anatolian railway the belgian consul in constantinople who recently visited the place states that it would he to determine the exact arena in which the meerschaum is to be found judging from the number of pits at considerable distances from each other it must toe extensive the meerschaum ii i i extracted in the same way as coal pits from to one hundred and two ity feet deep are dug and as soon as fie vein is struck horizontal cill eries so of considerable length are made but more than two galleries arc seldom to be found in one pit tiie atone as extracted is called ham ansh or rough block and is soft enough to be easily cut with a knife it is white with a yellowish tint and is covered with a red clayey soil of about one thick in this state tho blocks are purchased by dealers on the spot not by weight or measurement but according to approximate quantity cither per load of three sacks or per cart load the price varying from five to thirty pounds sterling per lead according to quality these blocks are dried and subjected to certain preparations before being conveyed to eski shahir some of them arc as small as a walnut while others attain alie size of a cubic foot those which combine regularity of surface and size arc the best the manipulation required before ahey aro ready for exportation is long and coat ly the clayey soil is removed and the meerschaum dried in summer exposure for five or six days to alie suns rays suffices but in winter a room heated to alie required temperature is necessary and the drying process takes eight or ten days when dried the blocks are well cleaned and polished then they are sorted into about twelve classes each class being packed with great care in separate cases and each block being wrapped in cotton wool the bulk of the meerschaum is sent to vienna where it is worked and dispersed all over the world most of the finest specimens are sent direct to paris certain american dealers leave visited eski with the object of obtaining the raw material matei ial direct instead of through vienna thereby saving the higher custom aliouse duty payable on the worked meerschaum the quantity annually exported is put down at eight thousand to ten cases alie various taxes levied by the turkish government amount to about thirty seven per cent act va lorem |