SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 



was even contemplated, and described the coal- 

 fields and iron-mines in glowing terms. Sub- 

 sequently his descriptions were revised and an- 

 notated by the late Rev. Herbert Dixon, of Shansi, 

 for the Pekin Syndicate. Further investigations 

 and reports were made for the Syndicate by their 

 engineer, Mr. J. G. H. Glass. Nevertheless there 

 yet remains much to be done in the geology of 

 the district, as the last two explorers confined 

 their attentions chiefly to its mineral resources. 



The journey should be very instructive to any 

 one wishing to study the geology of Shansi, for, 

 owing to the general westerly dip of the strata, 

 one passes through the v>^hole series of the sedimen- 

 tary rocks, from the Hu-t'o series (pre-Cambrian 

 limestones, etc.), through the Sinian system (Cam- 

 bro-Ordovician limestones, etc.), through the entire 

 Shansi formation (shale and sandstone coal 

 measures and overlying red sandstones of the 

 Red Beds) to the Huang-t'u formation (loess 

 and other quaternary deposits). 



On leaving Shih-chiah-chuang, the junction 

 of the Chen-T'ai and Pe-Han Railways, one soon 

 passes from the great alluvial plains of Chihli into 

 rugged mountains, which are composed of the 

 dark massive siliceous limestone belonging to the 

 Hu-t'o or Nank'ou series.^ 



^ This limestone occurs also in the Wu-t'ai Hsien district 

 of Shansi, besides forming a large mass of the mountains at 

 the famous Nank'ou pass north of Peking, at which point 



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