SILVER AND COPPER. 301 



Mutsu, lying about 40° N. lat has an old mine in a very remote 

 district. The silver is auriferous. 



d. Ani, also in Ugo, somewhat south of the preceding, 39° 55' 

 N. lat. and 140° 30' East from Greenwich (according to C. von 

 Weyhe, 39 Heft der Mittheil, der deutsch. Gesellsch. Ostasiens) 

 yields more copper than silver. 



e. Handa in the north-eastern part of Iwashiro, north of the 

 city Fukushima. 



f. Ikuno in the northern part of the province of Tajima, con- 

 tains with its silver a considerable amount of gold and copper, and 

 is situated on the water-shed between the Japan Sea and Seto-uchi. 

 Nine years ago it was excellently managed by the Frenchman 

 Coignet, so that it belonged to the few mines under governmental 

 control which yielded a surplus. In I'^'jJ-'jZ its nett yield was 

 70,000 yen, but none of the following years show a like favourable 

 result. At that time there were a thousand men, a dozen French- 

 men among them, employed in the works. The place, formerly 

 a village with scarcely 1,000 inhabitants, had become a town of six 

 times that population. According to Coignet, the mines are 360 

 meters above the level of the sea, and the temperature occasionally 

 sinks to —14° C. 



g. The mine of Kuratoko in the province of Harima yields some 

 gold with the silver. 



h. Innai, in Ugo. According to the above-mentioned highly- 

 interesting treatise of Rosing upon this mining district, the prin- 

 cipal place Gin-san-machi (Silver-mine town) in the district Okatsu 

 (Oka-tsu-gori) of the Akita-ken, is situated 38° 57' N. lat. and 

 140° 36' East from Greenwich, northward from Yamagata, 235 

 meters above sea level. Here for nearly 300 years (according to 

 Rosing the mine was opened in 1599), silver, some gold, and lead 

 have been mined. Argentite is the principal ore, then stephanite 

 and dark red silver ore. They are found in lodes which appear in 

 tufa as quartz lodes and calcareous spar, and in some places are 

 several meters thick. The most common and often associated 

 sulphides, pyrites, copper pyrites, sulphuret of zinc and galena are 

 found here, but only in small quantities. The silver ores contain 

 from o*i-io per cent. ; on the average, however, 2\ per cent, 

 silver and 1 per cent. lead. The silver product contains i per cent, 

 of gold.i 



i. Omodani. This silver and copper mine is situated in the 

 province of Echizen, near the frontiers of Mimo and Kaga. The 

 remaining silver mines yield a very insignificant amount. 



Copper, Do or Aka-gane (red metal) has formed a prominent 

 article of export from Japan since 1642. It is especially valued 

 for its purity. The amount of its annual yield is next to that 



^ The mines of Innai were sold by the government a few years since to a 

 private individual in Tokio, for the low price of 75,000 yen, and the great copper 

 mine at Ani, for a double amount. 



