COAL. 307 



What I could learn from other sources however, and could gather 

 also in part from the export statistics, does not agree very well 

 with this enthusiastic description of its wealth of coal. From all 

 investigations it seems to be evident that the coal of Yezo is no 

 exception to the before-mentioned universal rule, either in age or 

 character, and that in its value and use it will not compare at 

 all favourably with the older English and German coal. 



Only a small portion of the coal of Yezo, and indeed of all Japan, 

 is adapted to the production of good compact and pure coke, 

 with a metallic lustre, such as has become so important in metal- 

 lurgy and so necessary in the modern furnace processes. There 

 are, however, a number of other important uses for their coal, and 

 there is scarcely a doubt that its possession promises much for the 

 future development of Japanese industry and national prosperity. 



The best of the already discovered coal strata of the island of 

 Yezo are found in the provinces Shiribeshi and Ishikari. From 

 the latter come the coal of Sorachi, and of Poronai, Horumui, and 

 other places in the Ishikari valley. The shipping of a part of this 

 coal has been rendered possible by a railway from Poronai, via 

 Sapporo, to the roadstead of Otaru. In the province of Shiribeshi 

 is the coal district of Kayanoma, to which the Honshiki coal be- 

 longs also. The thickness of the workable coal strata of the island 

 appears from the reports of Munroe and Lyman to vary from 

 15 cm. to 2\ m. There are thicker seams in Japan proper also 

 that have not yet been opened. Owing to the more recent geo- 

 logical age of Japanese coal, deep mining, with its costly timber- 

 ing and ventilation, is not necessary. All existing coal mines 

 begin with coal lying near the surface, and proceed by means of 

 galleries through the running and trending of the stratum. 



According to our tables, the coal mine at Aburato, in the province 

 of Uzen, on the Japan Sea southward from Sakata, yields the largest 

 amount of all the mines of Hondo, the chief island. Then follow 

 those of Akadami, Ube and Takatomari in Nagato, lying east of 

 Shimonoseki on the Seto-uchi, opposite the coal district of Chiku- 

 zen. This latter embraces a considerable territory on the island of 

 Kiushiu, not only Chikuzen, but Buzen bordering it on the east, 

 and the northern part of the island. Table B places the produc- 

 tion of one of its mines, that of Katsuki, after that of Miike. This 

 last very notable mine is situated in the vicinity of the flat eastern 

 coast of the bay of Shimabara, in the province of Chikugo, not far 

 from the boundary towards Higo. When I visited it ten years 

 ago it was still worked by the government. Below the red argil- 

 laceous sand lies a thin layer of earthy coal, then follows a stratum 

 of clay schist (slaty clay pebbles) of half a meter thickness. It is 

 full of leaf impressions of dicotyledonous trees, but very much 

 crumbled and broken. Now follows the coal stratum of 2 meters 

 thickness in places, then again the mixed coal and clay schist, and 

 then sandstone. These strata lean at an angle of 20-25° toward 



