130 



PROCEEDJNGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [DeC. 23, 



of the village of Tungiiu, twelve miles outside the Taiping gate, to 

 the Chung-shan, where it attains a height of about 1700 feet, and 

 thence descends again, forming a range of low hills running through 

 the city from the Taiping-men, under the Kulow, and ending in some 

 low hiUs outside the west wall, near the old Tsingliang-men. The 

 dip is towards the S.E., at an angle of about 30° in the Chung-shan, 

 but gradually decreasing at each extremity. The bed No. 3, as 

 being composed of harder and more compact materials than the 

 others, forms the summits of the hills, and in the Chung-shan pre- 

 sents a steep escarpment to the N.W., on the S.E. face gradually 

 dipping under the later beds. Towards the east the upper beds 

 (No. 4) run up into a small valley formed in the earlier rocks, where, 

 close by a village called Pah-hwei-miau (see section, fig. 3, p. 124), 

 they gradually thin out. Here some shafts have been sunk by the 

 Chinese, and a small portion of coal extracted from a seam which 

 approaches the surface. Coal-mines are also said to have been 

 worked on the upper outcrop of the beds on the S.E. face of the 

 Chung-shan, though when going over the country (previously, how- 

 ever, to receiving the information) I did not notice them. This 

 upper outcrop is covered to a slight depth with the superficial 

 deposits, which mask the sequence. 



Fig. 5. — Section of Chung-slian near Nanking, 

 (Scale 4 miles to 1 inch.) 



Plain of 

 ^Nanking. 



Said to be 

 Coal. 



Chung- 

 ehan. 



Taiping 

 Gate. 



Chung-shan series. Tungting Eocka. 



1. Red Grits. 2. Dark-red Flagstones. 3. Quartzose Conglomerate. 



4. Coal-bearing Rocks, overlain by later formations. 5. Htematite-bed. 



From the Chung-shan, easterly and southerly, these rocks dip 

 under the more modern deposits of the plain of Nanking, and appear 

 in parts to have undergone considerable denudation. At Pah-hwei- 

 miau I searched for some time for the outcrop of the coal-beds; 

 but, owing to the manner in which the strata died out against the 

 older rocks, it was not visible. The mines have been closed for 

 some years, although partially worked during the siege of Nanking. 

 Water and foul air have accumulated in the pits so as to render 

 descent impossible, while most of the old inhabitants have lost their 

 lives during the rebellion, or been dispersed over the country. From 

 these circumstances, I have been unable to obtain a definite idea of 

 the value of this coal-field, or of how many workable seams exist. 

 Of the seam worked by the Chinese I could learn but little : some 

 said it was 3 feet thick, some 8 ; but none of the actual miners could 

 be found, they having all left the country. I was able to obtain a 

 few specimens of the coal, which was of a bituminous slightly caking 



