196 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



official exactions had resulted in the closing down of certain 

 copper-workings ; the same story could be told of silver and 

 gold mining in various places throughout the Chino-Thibetan 

 borderland. In several instances Chinese capital has been 

 invested in mines and work commenced, but after a few months 

 the whole thing has been abandoned for reasons usually 

 connected with peculation official and otherwise. 



The districts supposed to be rich in precious metals are 

 zealously guarded by official eyes, and foreigners are less 

 welcome guests in such places than elsewhere in China. My 

 business had nothing to do with mines or mining, and it was 

 politic to keep away from any gold or silver workings. I 

 never exhibited any curiosity in this direction, although both 

 in Yunnan and Szechuan I have passed within close range 

 of several mines reported rich in one or other of these metals. 

 But without being obtrusive it is possible to gather information 

 of all sorts, yet this short chapter is written with great reluct- 

 ance, and only because of its necessity in order to complete 

 the account of these little-known regions. 



In earlier chapters mention is made of the rude placer- 

 mining carried on by the unemployed peasantry on the fore- 

 shores of all the larger streams throughout Szechuan. The 

 returns are most insignificant, and the industry would never 

 be attempted in lands less overpopulated than China. In 

 the district of An Hsien and in the prefecture of Lungan Fu, 

 both situated in the north-west of the province, gold-bearing 

 quartz occurs and is worked and crushed, but the industry 

 is only on a small scale. In the district of Mienning Hsien, 

 in the Chiench'ang Valley, there is a Government gold mine 

 fitted out with foreign machinery. This Moha mine, as it is 

 named, a few years ago received a development grant of 

 100,000 taels from the provincial treasury, and intermittent 

 attempts at working it have been made without, however, 

 any substantial returns. 



Most of the gold used in, and exported from, Szechuan 

 comes from the western limits of the Chino-Thibetan border- 

 land and from Thibet proper. The district of Litang is one 

 of the principal sources of supply, and there, as elsewhere, it is 

 obtained by placer-mining. In the Chiarung state of Badi- 



