RAMBLES IN CORNWALL. 39 



Friend, who has resided in China, recently sent 

 me a note on this point, in which he observed that 

 " a learned Jesuit missionary, P. Dentrecolles, tells 

 us that the matter of chinaware is composed of two 

 sorts of earth, one called Pe-tun-tse, and the other 

 Kao-lin ; this latter is mixed with shining particles, 

 the other is simply white and very fine to the touch." 

 The Pe-tun-tse is the China stone and the Kao-lin 

 is the China clay. 



It is rather more than a century since China clay 

 works were originated in Cornwall. About that 

 time a Mr. W. Cookworthy, who had given con- 

 siderable attention to porcelain-making, received 

 some specimens of Kao-lin and of ware made there- 

 from. Not long afterwards he was fortunate enough 

 to discover a large quantity of the substance in its 

 natural state at St. Stephen's, in Cornwall. Very 

 soon several works were established, and now that 

 the secret was out the material was found abun- 

 dantly in many other places. It seemed as if the 

 declining industries connected with copper and tin 

 had at length met with a successor which was to 

 provide employment for some, at least, of those 

 whose occupation was going. At the beginning of 

 this century there were about half-a-dozen China 

 clay works in operation, and nearly 2,000 tons were 

 annually shipped from the county. Now, however, 

 so rapid has been the development of the industry, 

 nearly half-a-million tons are exported every year. 



The next matter I ought to try to explain is the 

 mode in which China stone and China clay occur 

 in nature. One of the most convenient places for 



