244 ANNT7AL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



Coal and iron arc the most important minerals observod. 

 China, being mostly bare of forests, is dependent on coal for fuel ; 

 but this is very dear, on account of imperfect mining, and the 

 best coal yet lies undisturbed, as, for hiek of pumping machinery, 

 they can mine but little below water level. Trolessor B. thinks 

 the coal interior, however, to ours. The Chinese burned coal in 

 the time of Marco Polo, A.D., 121)0, before it was used in 

 Europe. 



There is an important mine at Mun-ti-kau, 35 miles south-west 

 of the capital, whieh he visited. An inclined shaft has been sunk 

 to a very great depth below the surface of the earth, following 

 the drift of the coal, by which the coal is brought up on sleds, by 

 man-power, one man for each sled, the capacity of which is one 

 bushel and a half. No machinery of any kind is in use. No ar- 

 tificial means of ventilation are employed. By reason of the 

 fact that the Chinese do not go below the water line, fire-damp is 

 alniosi unknown. 



In the north of China coal is ground to dust and mixed with 

 clay, that it may burn more slowly. 



The quantity of coal in China is immense and the supply inex- 

 haustible. 



Petroleum also was found IGO years ago in the province of 

 Shensi. Du llalde, in his work on China, compiled from I he dia- 

 ries of Jesuit priests, as long ago as 1725, says: "Its mountains 

 distil a bituminous liquor, which they call * oil of stone,'' and use 

 for lamps.'''' A kind of petroleum is also found in the Island of 

 Formosa. 



The iron yield of China is large, but the best ore comes from 

 the beds of Sungan, in the southern part of the province of 

 Shensi. From this the Chinese razors and other cutlery are 

 manufactured. 



Gold is found in nearly all the Chinese rivers in the mountain- 

 ous districts, and the Yangste is called the "Golden Sanded 

 River." Professor Bickmore thinks Shensi to be the mo>t prom- 

 ising gold field in the empire. It is difiieult, however, to dctcM-mine 

 where gold and silver exist in Chuia, for the law is liar^hly re- 

 pressive of all discoveries of their deposit. 



There is lead near Tungehan, in Shantung, but exorbitant de- 

 mands for permission to work it have eflectually prohibited its 

 development. 



Silver and copper are found in many parts of China, the former 

 being employed mostly in the payment of taxes to the govern- 

 miMit, and the latter in the manufacture of coin, bells, idols, and 

 articles in bronze. 



There are in China extensive deposits of cinnabar, from which 

 the Chinese manufacture mercury, under the name of " water 

 silver," but since the development of the cinnabar mines of Cali- 

 fornia, the cities on the sea-coast of China are supplied with 

 quicksilver chiefiy from that source. 



Tin has not yet been found in situ in China, but the great 

 numbers of bronze idols make it very probable ihat the tin used 

 was not all imported from Malacca. If tin shall be found in 



