304 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



reposing on old red sandstone and gray compact limestone, in close 

 connection with deposits of iron ore. Those in. the valleys of the Siang, 

 Tsz', and Yuen in Hunan, the western slope of the terminal ridges of 

 the Yun-ling, and the southern aspect of the same range in Kwang- 

 tung, all present analogous geological relations. This vast carbonifer- 

 ous tract appears to be continuous in a measure with that of Assam 

 and Burmah. The coal mosi in demand in central China is called " the 

 Kwang coal." It is brought from various districts in Hunan. It is 

 black, very compact, specific gravity 1.34, columnar structure, occa- 

 sionally iridescent, and, from the large quantity of carbon it contains, 

 is analogous, though inferior to the American anthracite : it burns in- 

 tensely with a small blue flame, its ashy residuum being of a reddish 

 color. That in use at Shanghai is of this description. It is brought 

 from Suchau to Ningpo, where it costs $12 per ton, about one third 

 more (the dealers say) than at Shanghai. Its consumption is very 

 limited, being almost wholly confined to the manufacture of brass 

 tobacco pipes. In a number of the provinces, coal, iron,, and lime occur 

 most advantageously for the manufacture of iron. The coal measures 

 in other places are in close proximity to the disintegrated granite of 

 which the celebrated porcelain is fabricated". The furnaces at Kingteh- 

 chin, the great seat of this branch of industry, are chiefly heated by 

 coal from adjacent mines. 



A variety of coal called the " wood coal " is much valued, and is in 

 extensive use. This "wood coal' is generally reduced to powder, 

 formed into cakes with mud, and employed in furnaces for culinary 

 purposes, and in chafing-dishes for warming public offices. It is used 

 to some extent by blacksmiths. Coal cakes are much used at Hang- 

 chau, in the liquor shops, in order to keep warm rice-whiskey on hand 

 at all hours of the day ; and in the tea shops, where boiling water is 

 in constant requisition. The furnaces are certainly primitive, consist- 

 ing of a few bricks, making a close square or circular chamber, gen- 

 erally about four inches in diameter, with a small grate below, and 

 inclosed above. When the cakes are perfectly ignited by a few chips, 

 and the smoke ceases to rise, the top is covered over with mud, through 

 which, before drying, an orifice is pierced, half an inch in diameter. 

 The vessel containing whiskey is then placed over the hole, and is thus 

 kept hot all day without further care, at a cost of a cent and a half. 

 The same rude apparatus, with slight modifications, is in general use, 

 wherever coal from its proximity is not expensive. Sometimes the brick- 

 work is enclosed in boards, elaborately carved and varnished. Were 

 grates or fireplaces constructed with suitable flues and chimneys, coal 

 would be found a more useful article, be in greater demand, and the 

 mines consequently be better worked. Even the miners find it more 

 convenient and cheaper to burn the shrubs and grass of their sterile 

 hills, than the coal they dig from their bowels. 



The wood coal referred to exhibits, where it is laminated with the 

 fibres of the bituininated vegetable, a distinct, bright, conchoidal frac- 

 ture ; at all other points it presents a dull, coarse-grained, segregated 

 texture. Specific gravity, 1.29. It burns with some smoke, and 

 cakes ; emitting a small quantity of hydrogen gas, leaving light colored 



