300 MINING. 



Gold, Jap. Kin, Ko-gane and Ogon, according to Kaempfer came 

 principally from Sado and Suruga. In its original deposits it is 

 now only found in such very small quantities that the yield, even 

 by the most practical methods of working, would not cover the 

 cost. The gold also from the river-beds of Yezo, Suruga and Kai 

 are said to be so insignificant in amount that it scarcely pays the 

 humblest wages. 



The celebrated old gold and silver mines of the island of Sado 

 were formerly in the possession of the Tokugawa-Shogun. They 

 were worked by criminals, and yielded rich returns. These mines 

 are situated in the western part of the island, not far from the 

 capital Aikawa, in a narrow, steep-walled valley (see map) 220 

 meters above the sea-level. The ore, says Reh, is found in 

 quartz lodes which lie in quartzite rock and extend from west to 

 east. Their thickness varies from 60 centimeters to 6 meters. They 

 contain fine sprinklings of the sulphides of silver, copper and lead, 

 and small quantities of native gold and silver. In 1874, when the 

 Engineer Reh undertook the management of the mines, they were 

 opened up, to a large extent, but yielded that year only about 

 83,365 yen of gold and silver. 



In Kofu I was shown some beautiful specimens of gold-bearing 

 quartz from the district of the Haya-gawa in Kai (tributary of 

 the Fuji-kawa), but I do not know of any gold-mining in that 

 neighbourhood. 



I found in 1875, at Serigano, 2\ ri from Sendai in Satsuma, a 

 similar appearance of gold and silver-bearing quartz, like that of 

 Sado. The lodes contain also some quicksilver, but are very poor 

 as a whole. It is said, however, that the Daimios of Satsuma 

 drew a great deal of gold from them in earlier times. The gold 

 and silver works of Yamagano in Osumi, whose product so far is 

 very unimportant, were thought for a long time to be the richest 

 gold mines in the country. 



Silver, Jap. Gin or Shiro-gane (white metal), is much more 

 frequent in appearance and in much larger quantity than its 

 nobler associate. It is usually found in sulphides like argentite, 

 stephanite, and red silver ore. It is worked off in different ways, 

 as a rule however after an old fashion of melting up the roasted 

 ore with lead (verbleiern) and fining off the raw lead. The best 

 silver mines of Japan are thought to be those of Ikuno, Sado, 

 Kosaka, Innai, Mandokoro, and Ani. In the following list, they 

 are arranged according to their yield in 1882. 



a. Kamioka in Hida, bears copper also. The yield of the mine 

 in 1882, of 351,701 yen, is higher than ten years before, when, 

 according to another estimate, two mines of the province yielded 

 29,760 ounces of silver, and three others 156 tons of copper. 



b. Sado, already mentioned under " gold." 



c. Kosaka, in the province of Ugo (Akita-ken), in the vicinity 

 of the Upper Noshiro-gawa, and of the frontier of Rikuchiu and 



