112 COGGIN BROWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



shales and soft bright-red shales. The Yung-pei T'ing valley seems 

 to have been a former lake basin some 30 or 40 square miles in 

 extent ; it is bounded by the rocks of the Red Beds series or 

 by the limestones. 



The Pao-p'ing-ch'ang mines lie to the west of the city towards 



the Yangtze. After crossing the alluvial 

 the miL. Yung " pci fc ° deposits of the plain, the road ascends the 



ridge separating the Yung-pei Ting valley from 

 that of the San-ch'uan-pa. Here fosfiiliferous limestones were 

 discovered similar to those found near Chin-chiang-kai. After 

 descending and traversing the San-ch'uan-pa plain, a sharp turn 

 is taken to the west through the large market village of Chung- 

 chu-kai, and the first stage is reached at Sin-cheng, 8 miles from 

 Yung-pei Ting. Near this place there are a lew old levels still 

 worked for copper ores in a desultory fashion. Leaving Sin-cheng 

 the road continues west up the valley of a small stream, where 

 outcrops of decomposed volcanic rocks are seen. Crossing the 

 stream the road ascends very steeply to 7,300 feet near the small 

 village of Ta-wa-ssu. From here it continues, still ascending to 

 the west, but winding round the heads of some of the smaller 

 tributary ravines, until the small stream which forms the Pao- 

 p'ing-ch'ang valley is reached, 8 miles from Sin-cheng. Just at this 

 point, a magnificent view of the great snowy range to the west of 

 Li-chiang Fu is obtained. 



The Yangtze, which lies six or seven miles further west, here 

 flows in a north and south course, between two well-marked though 

 short ranges running parallel to the river. Between these ranges 

 there is a series of lower cross spurs separating the drainages of 

 the smaller tributaries. Pao-p'ing-ch'ang is situated almost on the 

 crest of one of these, dividing the watersheds of the Wu-lang Ho 

 and the next stream, which joins the Yangtze 20 or 30 miles further 

 south. 



The country is built up of contemporaneous igneous strata of 

 Permo-Carboniferous age, the decomposed outcrops of the flows 

 being seen in the gullies where the watercourses have removed the 

 overburden, but, as a rule, a red clayey soil covers the ground and 

 forms the smooth outlines of the rounded mountain tops. There 

 is a little pine forest, but most of the trees have been cut down 

 for charcoal manufacture. Some of the bare slopes are culti- 

 vated by Lisus and Mosos. 



