152 COGGIN BROWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



for some reason which I am ignorant of, that certain of these ter- 

 races are of miocene age. T have shown that the excavation of 

 the Yangtze valley only commenced during the Quaternary). I 

 have seen gold-washers at various places along the river, especially 

 at Mo-lou-tchang ; they are very wretched people and oan hardly 

 produce more than 2 decagrammes of gold per day. ll would 

 only be possible to obtain belter results by using less rudimentary 

 methods.*' 



It is beyond question that the sands of the present river-beds 



Logan Jack (1900). an<1 of tho raised terrace8 in the <*pper courses 

 of the Sal ween, Mekong and Yang-tze and their 

 tributaries contain gold. Every traveller who has" been in those 

 parts of Yunnan has commented on the fact. Dr. Logan Jack 

 in 1900 saw gold-washing between Wu-lu-t'ien and Wu-lu-pu villages 

 on the Yangtze a few miles below Chi-t'ien which is about 25 miles 

 east-north-east of Wei-hsi T'ing. He heard of mines and alluvial 

 workings at Chin-sha on the Mekong, 30 miles north-west of the 

 same city. A few miles above Shih-ku, which is situated at the 

 Yang-tze bend, he saw 10 men washing for gold. (Logan Jack : 

 "The Back Blocks of China/ ? pp. 163, 171, 179). 



Major Davies states that washing for gold is carried on in manv 



Daviee (19001 parts ° f thc "^P 6 * Van -*" ze and its tributaries"; 



that gold has always been an export from 

 the country, chiefly in the form of gold leaf to gild the Burmese 

 pagodas and that gold is an important article of trade at Tali Fu, 

 where the gold-beating trade is carried on (D., pp. 314, 317, f>7). 

 He saw extensive gold-washing in a tributary of the Li-tang, itself 

 an affluent of the Ya-lung between the town of Li-t'ang and a 

 village named Ho-ch'u-k'a, one stage to the east. These places 

 are in Ssu-chuanese Tibet, but belong to the same geological region 

 (D. p. 290). 



Major Davies believes that the Midi country is probably rich 

 in gold. It is situated in and about the junction of the Li-tang 

 with the Ya-lung. The state seems to be entirely Tibetan and 

 Mi-Ii itself, which is only about 20 miles beyond the Yunnan border, 

 near the second bend of the Yangtze, is described as practically 

 nothing but a big monastery inhabited almost entirely by lamas 

 and by men who work for them. Major Davies and his party 

 encountered a certain amount of opposition in entering the terri- 

 tory as the lamas thought they had come to prospect for gold. 



