208 Mr. R. C. Taylor on the Anthracite 



nearly all the brown coal deposits, the beds were horizontal, 

 and at no great depth. A sulphurous coal, interstratified 

 with slate, and in the vicinity of red sandstone, also prevails 

 towards Canton. 



Thus, therefore, we possess evidence, the main object which 

 this communication was designed to exhibit, that extending 

 over large areas in China, are beds of tertiary or brown coal, 

 of cannel coal, a dozen varieties of bituminous coal, of anthra- 

 cite, glance coal, and graphitic anthracite; all of which, for 

 ages, have been in common use in this remarkable country, 

 and have been there employed for every domestic purpose 

 known to civilized nations of all times ; including gas lighting, 

 and the manufacture of iron, copper, and other metals. 



Mode of Mining Coal in China. — It might be expected that 

 in China, where most of the practical arts have from time im- 

 memorial been carried on with all the perseverance of that 

 industrious people, the operations of mining coal would be 

 conducted with some regard to science, in relation to sinking, 

 draining, and extraction. We have, however, good authority, 

 especially in regard to the environs of Pekin, for stating that 

 the process is still in a very imperfect state. Machinery to 

 lighten labour is there unknown. They have not even an idea 

 of the pumps indispensable to draw off the water. . If local 

 circumstances allow, they cut drainage galleries ; if hot, they 

 abandon the work whenever the inundation has gained too 

 far upon them. The mattock and shovel, the pick and the 

 hammer, are the mining instruments — the only ones, in fact, 

 which the Chinese employ in working the coal. The water 

 of the mine is emptied by the slow process of filling small 

 casks, which are brought up to the surface by manual labour. 

 Vertical shafts are not used. In working horizontal coal 

 seams, the timbering is expensive, and the materials cost about 

 two copecs per poud, = ^8,50 per ton, English wood being 

 sold by weight in China. 



The coal, when mined, is put into baskets and drawn upon 

 sledges, which are raised to the surface by manual strength. 

 Each basket contains about three pouds of coal, and one man 

 can raise about eight baskets in a day. This is equivalent to 

 1032 Russian pounds, or to 12 cwt. English per day. The 

 miners' wages are at the rate of 30 copecs a basket ; which is 

 equal to 240 copecs (copper currency), or 46 cents of United 

 States currency, per day ; being ^0,76 U. S. per ton. 



Prices at Pekin. — At the pit's mouth, this coal is sold for 

 60 copecs per poud, = ^4,63 per ton of 20 cwt. It is then 

 conveyed on the backs of mules, through the mountains, and 

 thence on camels to Pekin, where the price is 1^ rouble, 



