M. Kovanko’s General. View of the Environs of Pekin. 253 
tical : the compact diorite (greenstone) which is intruded into 
this slate in subordinate beds, appears to have been the cause 
of the irregularity of those which overlie them. The slate- 
clay alternates with beds of fine-grained sandstone traversed 
by veins of white quartz, which render it very hard. Beds of 
coal lie between the slate and the sandstone. 
The slate-clay is, as it were, pounded on the surface, and 
forms a kind of alluvium which covers its flanks. Thick beds 
of coal are likewise found in this rock, but their quality is 
very inferior to that of the coal which lies under the sand- 
stone. The coal which the pounded slate covers varies in 
its properties. It is often decomposed, and its particles have 
so little cohesion between them, that they are almost reduced 
to a state of powder. 
Beds of ferruginous sandstone, of little hardness, under which 
are sometimes found rich beds of coal, lie under the slate-clay. 
Thus the Western Mountains abound so much with coal, that 
two or three versts cannot be passed over without meeting with 
outcrops indicating the presence of a great quantity of this 
combustible substance, which has never as yet been touched 
by the hand of man. 
The coal used for fuel in Pekin, where wood is very dear, is 
worked on a great scale; but whether in consequence of the 
abundance of this mineral, or of the obstinacy of the Chinese 
in rejecting improvements, the result is, that the process of 
mining is still in its infancy with them, while the preparation 
of charcoal is carried on there with more success and economy 
than any where else. 
Generally speaking, we may consider that the art of mining 
is still in its infancy in China. They know nothing of the 
machines which give facility to the work; they have not even 
a notion of the pumps which are indispensable for the ex- 
haustion of the water. Vertical shafts are not used by them. 
The imperfection of the works renders the air very dense in 
the mines, often to such a degree that itis necessary to make 
openings above on that account, in which are placed ventilat- 
ing wheels put in motion by the hand. This wheel, although 
turning incessantly, introduces very little fresh air into the 
VOL. XXXII.—NO. LXIY,—APRIL 1842. s 
