LEAD AND SILVER. !37 



the blowing the temperature decreases, the men therefore stop 

 blowing, the fire is recharged and when the metal is fluid enough 

 again, the blowing is recommenced. The master workman judges 

 when the silver has reached the necessary standard of purity. 

 The ingot moulds for the refined metal have various forms, some- 

 times oval for one or two fcaels of silver and rectangular for 

 larger amounts. 



Other localities. 



Galena is mined on a very small scale on the hills' at the eastern 

 extremity of the Pu-piao valley, Yung-ch'ang Fu prefecture (lat. 

 25° 6' : long. 99° 10'). Sufficient ore was being won in 1909 to 

 keep a small blast furnace and a cupel in operation. The ore 

 seemed to occur in a narrow vein in Permo-Carboniferous limestone 

 and was worked by an adit driven into the hill-side. 



In Cheng-kung Hsien (lat, 21° 53' : long. 102° 50') I was 

 shown specimens of galena which were said to come from Yang- 

 wan-shan, a locality in the hilly country to the south-west of the 

 city. 



In Ching-tung T'ing (lat. 24° 26' : long. 100° 53') I saw poor 

 specimens of galena reported as coming from the Chang-sa region. 



The two following mines are said to produce silver in the Yung- 

 pei T'ing district : — Pei-nin-ch'ang and Erh-p'ing-clrang. 



In the prefecture of Li-chiang Fu, the mine of Lo-mi-cha is 

 said to produce silver. 



In a side valley at the head of the Mong-lai plain, passed by the 

 road descending from Pang-wa in the Yun Chou district, there 

 is an old lead mine. It was being worked in 1908, but I could 

 not reach it owing to an unfordable stream. The mine is not a 

 large one. 



In the Chinese Shan States of Keng-ma and Meng-hsa, on the 

 Kunlon ferry route to Yun Chou, there are said to be three lar^e 

 lead mines which were abandoned eighty or ninety years ago. 

 Great quantities of slag are said to exist near them and specimens 

 were shown to me by the Shans. In appearance these slags were 

 indistinguishable from those of Bawd win. The two mines in 

 Keng-ma are called Man-pien-clrang and Herh-shan-clrang. The 

 one in Meng-hsa is said to be only six li from the town of 



K 



