294 MINING. 



and three years later, Netto estimated it at 75,423 cwts., not quite 

 4,000 tons. The production, however, has much increased since 

 then. In 1855 the old copper works of Ashivvo alone yielded about 

 3,000 tons. 



Before entering further into the present condition of Japanese 

 mining, a short retrospective glance at the earlier methods of work- 

 ing, and also the manner of preparing and smelting the ores may be 

 in place. Here, as almost everywhere, the mining of metals and coal 

 was conducted on the plundering principle, which was carried on as 

 long as the water in the shafts permitted, and the ore yielded a small 

 amount of gain. The development of the mine and the excavation 

 of ore were accomplished solely by means of galleries or Ogiri, which 

 went up or down, according to the direction of the lode, but were 

 also run across the strata to effect an opening. The hauling out took 

 place partly through these passages, and partly through the so-called 

 chimneys or Kemuri-dashi, which, however, are not to be confounded 

 with shafts, these being then unknown to them. These Kemuri- 

 dashi are not simple, smooth holes, leading directly to the depths 

 below, but a peculiar arrangement of galleries, which rise and fall, 

 twist about, grow wide or narrow, according as they encounter hard 

 rock or non-metallic soil, or productive lodes and deposits which 

 may be excavated. In many respects this resembles the clumsy, 

 unscientific method of mining among the Romans. But these em- 

 ployed captives and slaves, whereas in Japan, even to the present 

 day, one part of this difficult labour, the hauling out, is done by 

 women and half-grown children. In the Roman and Carthaginian 

 mines, windlasses at least lightened the labour ; but in Japan, all the 

 material, ore or coal and waste earth, is carried to the surface in 

 baskets or straw sacks on the back. The name, Kemuri-dashi 

 (chimney) for these upper exit galleries, indicates also that they 

 are used for ventilation. In like manner the lowest gallery serves 

 principally to carry off the water of the mine, w^herefore it is 

 commonly called Midzu-nuki, water drain. In these mining oper- 

 ations no machines were employed, except very inadequate hand 

 pumps ; and the tools and other appliances were i^^ in number. 

 It is therefore surprising that they reached a depth of from 700- 

 800 feet (2I2-3-242-6 m.), and that the galleries had a length of 

 10,000 feet, or 3,033 m. 



In these operations, proper sledge hammers were altogether 

 wanting. The work had to be done almost entirely with the help 

 of the pick-axe, crowbar and steel wedge, and, in the absence of 

 explosives, was necessarily carried on in a very limited space. Most 

 of the galleries and short passages are therefore very narrow and 

 low. In former times, when the vicinity of the mines furnished 

 wood in abundance, the excavation was furthered by setting fire 

 to piles of wood in the pits, as was still done twenty years ago 

 in the Norwegian mines, e.g., in Kongsberg. According to Netto, 

 gunpowder has now become general as an explosive in Japanese 



