COPPER. ill 



stage is at Pan-hai-tzu, a small hamlet on the shores of the lake 

 Ker-wu llai, 14 miles from Man-kuan. Yung-pei T'ing is reached 

 at the next stage, 15| miles from Pan-hai-tzu and 100 miles from 

 Ta-li Fu. After leaving the village the road continues along the 

 east bank of the lake for a few miles before making a steep ascent 

 over a ridge, the summit of which is crossed at the guard house of 

 Ho-ting-tang. 8,150 feet above sea-level. After this there is a steep 

 descent to the alluvial ground of the Yung-pei T'ing plain, and 

 the road is almost level up to the city, a distance of 3 miles. The 

 city is small, but possesses the usual walls. It is situated in a 

 plain about 10 miles long and 4 miles wide at the broadest part. 

 It has an elevation of 7,300 feet above the sea. It is under the 

 civil jurisdiction of a second class officer subordinate to the " Fu- 

 kuan " of Ta-li Fu. It is the headquarters of a regiment, and is 

 the residence of the delegate from the Bureau of Minos in charge 

 of the copper monopoly. Permission to visit the copper mines was 

 courteously granted to me. 



Between Ta-li Fu and the Yangtze, the country is almost entirely 



built up of igneous strata of Permo-Carboni- 



ferous age, surmounted here and there by 



small outliers of Permo-Carboniferous limestone. The igneous 



strata appear to be mainly volcanic rocks, many of which belong 



to the andesite group. 



From a limestone outcrop overlying the lavas and found in 

 situ just beyond Chin-chiang-kai, I collected numerous fossils, 

 consisting of corals, and brachiopoda, but, unfortunately, they 

 have not been detei mined yet. 



Alluvial benches of considerable thickness are developed in 

 the Yangtze valley. They are made up of sand, pebble and conglo- 

 merate banks, and are auriferous. The benches are well stratified 

 above the level of the river, and dip down stream at low angles. 

 The valley north of Chin-chiang-kai contains a good deal of al- 

 luvium, but it appeared to me that the limestones were unconform- 

 ably overlain by red shales and sandstones of the Red Beds series. 

 There is a well-marked conglomerate band seen in more than one 

 place, which may mark the junction. 



The ridge separating the valley of the Ker-wu lake and the 

 Yung-pei T'ing plain, is made up of the Red Beds which here consist 

 of rapid alternations of " pepper and salt " sandstones, red shales, 

 fine-grained red sandstones, greyish sandstones, greenish and reddish 



