1856,] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 367 



its importation unnecessary. From this and from other circumstances 

 it is certain that the works which we shall now describe have not been 

 long in operation. They are in the Sung-yang hills bordering on Foh- 

 kien in the district of Ping-yang, Wan-chau prefecture, and in close prox- 

 imity to Peh-kwan harbor (2/° 9' 10" N., 120° 32' 6" E.) 



" The locality has been visited by one foreigner only, to whom we are 

 indebted for most of the following particulars. About two months ago 

 he started from Chih-k'i bight in Lannai harbor to which Ningpo boats 

 resort for this commodity to the Northward of Peh-kwan. Three 

 hours' hard walking over a succession of precipitous hills crossed by stone 

 steps and pathways brought him to the mines. Ten Alum-making estab- 

 lishments were in operation, which, with the exception of one on a hill 

 opposite, occupied about a mile of the side of a lofty hill. The works 

 were adjacent to the quarries from which the Alum-stone seemed to crop 

 out of decomposed rock of the same lithological character. The stones 

 were thrown into a fire of brushwood where they burnt with a slight 

 lambent flame and as they cracked, the fragments were raked out broken 

 into small pieces, and macerated in vats. Subsequently the disintegrated 

 mineral was thrown with water into a vessel having an iron bottom and 

 sides of wood and boiled for a short time. The lixivium was then poured 

 into large reservoirs where it crystallized into a solid mass. Blocks of 

 alum weighing about fifty catties each were hewn out of the reservoir 

 and carried in this state in bamboo frames, one on each end of a porter's 

 pole to the place of shipment, where it is broken into fragments. When 

 not designed for immediate exportation, the blocks are stored away for 

 drying. On reaching the depot the alum is found charged with a double 

 quantity of moisture, the porters being obliged to deliver a certain weight, 

 they slip their burdens in the mountain streams which they pass in the 

 journey. Judging from the number of labourers engaged in transporting 

 the mineral on the day of our informant's visit, the quantity brought 

 from the works could not be less than eighteen tons. This was repre- 

 sented as less than an average day's work, as labour was in such demand 

 just then for agricultural purposes that double pay was given ; — and aged 

 men, and women, with boys and girls were pressed into the service. 

 Assuming that day's product as a basis for calculation and making an 

 allowance for rainy days, we may safely estimate the annual supply as 

 between five and six thousand tons. The quantity consumed by the dyers 

 of JNmgpo prefecture alone, being nearly twenty -two tons per annum, is 

 corroborative of this estimate. The supply is literally inexhaustible. 

 Five dollars-and-a-quarter a ton at the landing would afford the nianu- 



