Ch. VI.] COAL MINES AT KE-LUNG. 93 



stood at the entrance of the workings, which consisted of two 

 small caverns at right angles to one another, hewn directly 

 into the coal seam, which was 2| feet in thickness at its 

 outcrop. The seam rested upon a thin hed of stiff, whitish 

 clay, and was covered by a bank 40 or 50 feet high com- 

 posed of rubbly clay with stones, on the face of which small 

 bushes were growing. Out of these caverns a dirty stream 

 of water was flowing, ankle deep. The working was nearly 

 level, and the roof so low that one could only get along by 

 bending nearly double. There was nothing remarkable in the 

 interior ; the workmen, all Chinese, were in a state of per- 

 fect nudity, and after a painful and very dirty walk of about 

 a quarter of a mile, we emerged at another part of the hill. 



These mines appear, therefore, to be worked in a very 

 primitive manner. No shafts are sunk, nor is any machinery 

 employed, but the coolies pick the coal and convey it out of 

 the working in smaU baskets, and in almost infinitesimal 

 quantities at a time. It is placed in boats and conveyed to 

 the harbour, where it is deposited in the coal-stores situated 

 upon the solithern side — mere accumulations of coal pur- 

 chased by English and other merchants, and from which 

 ships are Jhostly supplied. These stores have no covering, 

 nor any protection whatever from the weather, and the coal 

 therefore is apt to deteriorate if kept there long. The mines 

 themselves are exclusively worked under the Chinese autho- 

 rities, and by Chinese coolies, foreign interference or pos- 

 session being jealously guarded against : the consequence 

 is, that their resources are both undeveloped and unknown. 

 It is impossible to judge of their extent beneath the soil, 

 because no shafts have been sunk, and no tentative efforts in 

 the shape of borings appear to have been made. The 

 wonder is rather that so much is produced by the industry 



