Show production OF meerschaum where sour rich deposits f afao queer Suka tance ar I 1 cunil 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 be difficult 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 de extensive the meerschaum is extracted in the same way as coal pits from to one hundred and twenty feet deep are dug and as soon as the vein is struck horizontal galleries sometimes of considerable length are made but more than two galleries are seldom to be found in one pit the stone as extracted is calle dham tash 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 inch thick in this state the 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 load according to quality these blocks are dried and subjected to certain preparations before being conveyed to eski some of them are as small as a walnut while others attain the size of a cubic foot those which combine regularity of surface and size are the best the manipulation required before they are ready for exportation is long and costly the clayey soil is removed and the meerschaum dried in summer exposure for five or six days to the suns rays suffices but in winter a room heated to the 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 have visited eski with the object of obtaining the raw material direct instead of through vienna thereby saving the higher custom house duty payable on the worked meerschaum the quantity annually exported is put down at eight thousand to ten thousand cases the various taxes levied by the turkish government amount to about thirty aaben per cent ad valoree valorem va |