HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 2l 



from which the view was taken ; it lies a little to the south of well 

 No. 594 (Berne) on the top of the hill, the spectator looking towards 

 west, that is to say, towards Yenangyoung. In this view the pagoda 

 to right represents the big pagoda just west of Berne, the village in 

 the centre is Beme and the hill right in the centre of the background 

 is Minlindoung, the highest hill in this part of the country. There is 

 therefore no doubt that the view of the " oil-wells at Yenangyoung " 

 represents the view of the southern part of the Beme oil-tract, seen 

 from the east ; and we may therefore assume that the party certainly 

 visited Beme, but whether they also went to Twingon is difficult 

 to say. From the above description one might be led to believe 

 that Twingon only was visited, but the picture of the landscape agrees 

 with the natural aspect of the Beme tract. As regards the number of 

 wells, Captain Yule states in the beginning of the description that 

 they are " about a hundred in number, " but whether this applies to 

 the total or only to the wells of a single group cannot be made out. 

 He afterwards states that there are 80 wells in the northern and 50 in 

 the southern group, that is to say, 130 in the aggregate. His estimate 

 of the annual production seems to be fairly correct, although it is 

 astonishing that 36 years ago the average daily production, of the 

 Beme wells should not have been more than 40 viss, while in 1888 it 

 was 50*77 viss. 



I now give Dr. Oldham's account of the oil-fields (pp. 316 — 318) : 



" This may be a suitable place to make a few remarks on the abundance of 

 the supply of the valuable product, earth-oil or petroleum. No absolute section 

 of any of these wells could be obtained. In all cases they are carefully timbered 

 up as the sinking proceeds, and this is continued from the top to the very bottom, 

 so that no examination of the sides of a well or pit could be made. The soft 

 and yielding nature of the materials through which the sinkings are made renders 

 this necessary. And where they have not been successful in their adventure, or 

 when the well or pit seems to be exhausted, all the timbering is removed again, 

 and the whole allowed to fall in. 



" According to the natives, after passing through the sandstones and shales, 

 visible at the surface and in the ravines adjoining, they sink through what they 

 call a ' black soil ' or ' black rock. ' 



" This, they say, is about 10 feet in thickness, and is obviously their name for 

 the dark bluish-grey or blackish shales, or clunchy clay. 



( 67 ) 



