Note on the Compagnie Soufrière of the Red Sea.
Schweinfurth (“Heart of Africa”), when passing down the Red Sea, speaks of the Sulphur Company at Guirsah. Its concession extends over 160 miles of coast southwards from Cape Seid. The ore is obtained from gypseous schiste; and all the fresh water for the workmen, of whom there are over 300, must be brought from the Nile.
I need hardly remark that if sulphur is found to pay under these circumstances, we may expect great things from Iceland.
SECTION VII.
Sulphur in Transylvania.
According to Mr Charles Boner (p. 312, “Transylvania: its Products and its People,” London: Longmans, 1865), the whole district round Büdös contains rich deposits of sulphur; and yet Hungary draws her supplies from the Papal States and Sicily; yielding, as the latter has hitherto done, a million and a half hundredweights per annum. So with sulphuric acid which has played so important a part in raising the industry of Europe to its present state. A single commercial house in Kronstadt employs nearly 300 cwts., and would probably use more were its price not so high. The sulphuric acid factory at Hermannstadt, the only one in the province, uses 300 to 400 cwts. annually. The custom-house returns for Transylvania vary from 300 cwts. to 3000 cwts., as the article comes sometimes from Trieste, sometimes from Vienna, where the duty has already been paid. In 1863, the amount of sulphur produced in the Austrian monarchy was 35,085 cwts., at an average price of 6fl. 44kr. per cwt. The consumption has regularly augmented owing to the increase in the number of soda factories: in 1858, the import from foreign states was 71,337 cwts.; in 1859, it was 86,673. Mr Boner has profited in the following remarks by two reports made by M. Brem, director of a chemical factory at Hermannstadt, and by Dr F. Schur, professor at Kronstadt:
“The sulphur-deposits are situated at the south and west of Büdös,[217] and not on the mountain itself. The places are Kis Soosmezö, also Vontala Feje Búlványos, and a little above the chalet Gál András. Thirty different diggings were undertaken in a circuit of at least eighteen miles; but the extent of the ground where the deposits are, is more than three times this size. The deposits run in unequal strata of from one to nine inches under the mould, which varies in thickness from one to three feet. The soil was everywhere saturated with sulphur, and in this permeated earth pieces of pure sulphur were found. They were of pale-yellow colour, fine-grained, and with a strong smell of sulphuretted hydrogen. Here and there only was a sort found with a certain hardness (cohesion), and even this, when dried, became brittle and ticturable. All this shows that the mineral is a true volcanic sulphur, and that the deposits will continue as long as the inner activity of Mount Büdös lasts. A careful analysis gives as result, in the earth taken in one place, 63·96 per cent.; in a second spot, 61·00 per cent; and in a third, 41·01 per cent. of sulphur.” [218]
“The district whence the earth was taken is a space of 16,000,000 square fathoms. Allowing for interruptions in the deposits, and taking these at an average thickness of three inches instead of nine, 200 lbs. of sulphur might be obtained from every square fathom, even if we suppose the earth to contain only 50 per cent. of the mineral. But we have seen that it has 61 per cent., and, in some cases, nearly 64 per cent. of sulphur. Continuing the calculation, the district would contain 16,000,000 cwts. of the precious commodity. Ten years ago, raw sulphur from Sicily and the Papal States (viâ Trieste) cost, in Hermannstadt, 9½ florins per cwt. Competent authorities are of opinion that it might be produced here for 5 florins per cwt., inclusive of the carriage from Büdös to Kronstadt. Sulphur costs more than this in the places where it is produced in Poland, Slavonia, and Bohemia. Every year the demand for the article increases, for almost each year brings with it new appliances, and shows how indispensably necessary it is in the daily life of civilised communities. We all know what are the profits arising from chemical fabrications; and I think the facts here given will hardly fail to attract the attention of those who are willing to turn their knowledge and spirit of enterprise to account. For Transylvania at large, but for Kronstadt especially, it would be of the greatest advantage to obtain the article in question at a cheaper rate; for not only might undertakings, which, as yet, are but projects, be called into existence, but others already thriving be considerably enlarged.”
SECTION VIII.
Extracted from “Adventures and Researches among the Andaman Islanders.” By Frederic J. Mouat, M.D., F.R.C.S., etc., etc., etc. Hurst & Blackett, Publishers, London, 1863.