86 COGGIN BROWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



apart as the crow flies. These mountains bordering the T'ien- 

 t'ang-kuan on the east, meet with the western boundary range 

 at the head of the valley, in the peak Chien-shan, which is over 

 11,000 feet high, and about 15 miles north of Ying-pan-kai and 

 quite close to the Burma-China border. I have given these 

 geographical details because I have noticed that recent writers 

 have only a hazy idea of the correct position of these valleys. 

 From Teng-yiieh to Ying-pan-kai, the centre of the iron industry 



of T'ien-t'ang-kuan, is a journey of three 

 days. The first stage is at Ma-chan-kai, a 

 large village 14 miles to the north of the city. The second stage 

 is at the market village of Ku-tung-kai, 23 miles from Teng-yiieh. 

 Two roads leave this place, one in a north-easterly direction to 

 the Ming-kuang, and the other in a north-north-westerly direction 

 to the T'ien-t'ang-kuan. The latter road is nearly level and keeps 

 to the spurs of the hills for 7 or 8 miles and then crosses the paddy 

 lands of the plain. Continuing along this, still in a northerly direc- 

 tion, Ying-pan-kai is reached at 34 miles and Ma-li-pa at 37 miles 

 from Teng-yiieh. 



The village of Wan-yao, where iron bowls and pottery are made, is 

 in the Hsi-lien district and about half-way between Ma-chan-kai and 

 Ku-tung-kai ; it lies some 2 mile to the west of the main northern route. 



On my journey to the T'ien-t'ang-kuan, I found that the volcanic 



rocks already noticed by Anderson and Loczy, 

 have a considerable extension to the north 

 and I was fortunate in discovering a number of ancient cones from 

 which these rocks have come. A full account of them has already 

 been given. (C. B. I). The T'ien-t'ang-kuan plain consists of 

 a 1 hi vium , underlain by lacustrine deposits of late Tertiary age . 

 These are made up of yellow friable sandstones, clays with carbonace- 

 ous bands. In the eastern boundary range, granite is the principal 

 rock. Two groups of hot springs were found near the village of 

 A-hsin-kai, which is half way between Ku-tung-kai and Ying-pan- 

 kai. One group is just below the spur on which the village is built, 

 and the other 600 yards to the south-west. Old deposits of sinter 

 exist near. The water from the spring is intensely hot and the 

 hand cannot be placed in it. 



The mines lie at the head of a small valley formed by a tributary 



of the Hsiao-pa Ho, which is entered to the 



A I i i i <_' s . 



east, just to the north of Ying-pan-kai. The 



