Salt Wells and Springs of Inflammable Gas in China. 109 

 these salt wells in a space of ten leagues by five * Every per- 

 son who is tolerably rich, takes a few associates with him, and 

 dio-s one or more wells. The expense of digging a well is from 

 seven to eight thousand francs. These wells are commonly 

 from fifteen to eighteen hundred French feet in depth, while 

 they are only five or at the most six inches in diameter. They 

 are almost always bored in the solid rock. 



The process employed by the Chinese, in forming them, al- 

 though very simple, is not described by M. Imbert so clearly as 

 might be wished ; it will be understood, however, on reading 

 what follows. This people accompUsh the most difficult un- 

 dertakings with time and patience. There is sunk vertically 

 into the bed of earth, which is commonly met with at the sur- 

 face, a wooden pipe crowned with a hewn stone, perforated with 

 a hole, which, like the pipe, has the same diameter as it is in- 

 tended to give the well, that is, five or six inches. In this tube 

 there is made to work a steel head of three or four hundred 

 pounds weight. This steel head, the author says, is notched at 

 the end, and is a little concave above and round beneath. A 

 workman, by leaping upon the extremity of a balance or lever, 

 the other extremity of which is attached to the steel head, lifts 

 it to the height of two feet, and lets it fall again by its own 

 weight. Some pails of water are thrown in from time to time, 

 to assist the trituration of the substances. The spur or steel 

 head is suspended by a good corde de rotin, of the diameter of 

 the finger, but as strong as a cord of gut. A triangular piece 

 of wood is attached to the cord, and each time that the lever 

 raises the cord, a second workman seated near the tube, makes 

 the triangle perform a half revolution, that the steel head may 

 fall in a'diff'erent direction. At noon, the second workman as- 

 cends upon the lever to take the place of his companion. At 



• According to M. Klaproth, the town of Ou-Tliouang-Kiao, is four 

 leagues to the east of the city of Tang-Kian, at the foot of the great moun- 

 tain of Ou-Lhoung-Chan, which covers the whole country situated between 

 the rivers Foung-Khi and Fou-kia-Ho. The following are the geographical 

 positions of the places mentioned above :— 



Kia-Tin-Fou, . • . 101' 28' 45" L. E._29° 27' 26" L. N. 

 Young-Hian, ... 112 7 -29 33 



Ou-Thoung-Khiao, . 112 11 , -29 33 



Wci-Yuan-Hian, . . 112 12 -29 3R 



