and Bituminous Coal-fields in China. 205 



notes reached me, of an interesting character, which are not 

 generally accessible to the majority of readers, with relation to 

 the Chinese coal-fields, it has struck me that a portion of these 

 details, in an abridged form, might be just now acceptable, 

 particularly as the intercourse with that country is on the in- 

 crease. I venture even to omit, for the present, the author- 

 ities for the facts I shall have to communicate ; reserving 

 them in detail for the volume adverted to. It must, neverthe- 

 less, be premised that to the Jesuit Fathers, the French Mis- 

 sionaries who were permitted to reside at Pekin during the 

 18th and preceding centuries, we are indebted for details of the 

 highest interest, not alone on this subject, but on many other 

 objects of philosophical inquiry in that little-known region. 



It is probable that coal was discovered, and was in common 

 use in China, long before it was known in the western world. 

 It is mentioned by a noble traveller of the 13th century, as 

 abounding throughout the whole province of " Cathay " of 

 which Pekin is the capital, " where certain black stones are 

 dug out of the mountains, which stones burn when kindled, 

 and keep alive for a long time, and are used by many persons, 

 notwithstanding the abundance of wood." 



The good missionaries were fully capable of describing the 

 coals which were supplied to Pekin, since they there erected 

 a furnace or stove, in which they experimented on the proper- 

 ties of those combustibles ; particularly with reference to the 

 ordinary domestic uses, and for the warming of apartments 

 and the purposes of their laboratory. 



Among the people of Pekin three kinds are in use. 



1 . That employed by the blacksmiths. It yields more flame 

 than the other qualities ; is more fierce, but is subject to de- 

 crepitate in the fire ; on which account, probably, the black- 

 smiths use it pounded in minute particles. 



2. A harder and stronger coal, used for culinary purposes, 

 giving out more flame than the other sorts so employed ; it is 

 less quickly consumed, and leaves a residuum of gray ashes. 

 There are several gradations of these. The best are hard to 

 break, of a fine grain, a deep black colour, soiling the hands 

 less than the others. It sometimes is sufficiently siliceous to 

 give fire with steel. Others have a very coarse grain, are 

 easily broken and make a bright fire, leaving a reddish ash. 

 Another species crackles or decrepitates when first placed on 

 the fire, and falls down, almost entirely, in scales, which close 

 the passage of the air, and stifle the fire. 



3. A soft, feebly burning coal, giving out less heat than the 

 2nd class ; consuming more quickly, it breaks with greater fa- 

 cility, and in general is of deeper black than the sorts previ- 



