142 C0GG1N BROWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



ARSENIC. 

 The following table gives the production of metallic tin in 

 Yunnan from 1891 to 1908 :— 



Year. Lon fi Tons ' 



1891 • W« 



1892 2,063 



1893 WW 



1894 • 2 ,343 



1895 2,423 



1890 2,013 



1897 2,476 



1898 .... 2,733 



• 1899 2,568 



1900 2,898 



1901 3,062 



1902 .... 3,788 



1903 . • - 2,443 



1904 2,979 



1905 4,463 



1906 3,984 



1907 3,480 



1908 4,558 



Davies states that tin is found in the Tung-ch'uan Fu prefec- 

 ture and probably in other places, but he gives no authority for 

 the statement which requires confirmation. (D., p. 314) :— 



ORPIMENT. 



The importation into Burma, from Yunnan, of orpiment, the 

 fcrisulphide of arsenic, has been going on for a considerable number 

 of years. The mineral is mentioned by those early writers who 

 visited Upper Burma long before the annexation of the country 

 and later still by Clement Williams (Resident at the Court of 

 Mandalay), and Anderson (Naturalist to Sladen's and Browne's 

 missions), in their respective works. Of later years the traffic 

 in the ore has increased and the traveller by the main trade route 

 cannot fail to be struck by the number of mule caravans met with, 

 laden solely with orpiment, and carrying it down from Western 

 Yunnan to Bhamo, whence it reaches Mandalay and Rangoon. Owing, 

 however, to the inaccessibility of the country, and to the secrecy 

 of the merchants engaged in the trade, no one, as far as I am aware, 

 has ever discovered the exact locality whence the ores are obtained, 

 nor have the mines ever been visited by a European before. In 

 my earlier attempts to reach the mines I encountered some oppoai* 



