48 COGGIN BROWN : MINES & MINKHAI. RESOT ROES OF YUNNAN. 



actual workings progress is made according to the conditions of the 

 deposit, for no more unproductive material is removed than is 

 absolutely necessary to allow room for a man to squeeze or crawl 

 through. In the salt mines of Ho-ching, I was especially impressed 

 by the height of the roads and the careful way in which pillars of 

 rock salt were left to support the roof. When timbering is not 

 considered necessary a rounded arch- shape is given to the top of the 

 roads and in bad ground the bottom is often rounded too, so that 

 in section the roads' arc oval-shaped. The number of men em- 

 ployed in one mine depends on circumstances, such as the richness 

 of the deposit, its structure and the demand for the material it 

 supplies. Less than 20 men and boys win all the orpiment which 

 enters Burma from Yunnan, while some of the copper mines find 

 employment for hundreds of men. Every important field draws 

 its labour from a particular district. The Ko-chiu tin-miners come 

 from Lin-an Fu and Lu-nan. I once questioned a large number of 

 Yunnanese coolies returning from the Ruby Mines ; with few ex- 

 ceptions these men were natives of Chen-nan Cliou. The Bawdwin 

 mines draw their supplies from Hohsa or La-hsa and the surrounding 

 Chinese Shan States and it deserves to be better known what excel- 

 lent mining coolies these men make, under sympathetic management. 

 The isolation of China, her immense population and her large 



T , . .. internal demand for metals, has resulted in a 



Future prospecting. . 



state of aflairs which is unparalleled in any 

 other Eastern country and which has a very important bearing on 

 the future mineral industry. I refer to the fact that the greater 

 proportion of the surface of the land has been thoroughly prospected. 

 It is doubtful if there is a single accessible valley in the Chinese 

 parts of Yunnan which has not been minutely examined for the 

 least traces of copper ores. It is no exaggeration to state that to 

 all intents and purposes, the deposits of metallic ores, with the 

 extraction and uses of which the Chinese are acquainted, or which 

 can be treated successfully by their own methods, are known, re- 

 corded and in most instances located. In other words, the mining 

 engineer of the future, be he Chinese or European, will not be 

 concerned with the search for new and unknown deposits of the 

 commoner metals so much as in proving the extension and value of 

 the deep-seated portions of those already worked. The theodolite 

 and diamond drill will be more useful instruments in the future 

 than the prospector's hammer and blowpipe outfit. 



