GOLD. 15 g 



The Swedish missionary Amundsen who was either the first or second 

 European to visit the place, relates, according to Major Davies, 

 that a few years ago some Chinese came to wash for gold in Mi-li 

 territory, but the Tibetan inhabitants in their zeal for the preser- 

 vation of the native industries, took the extreme protectionist 

 measure of killing the intruders by rolling stones down the hill- 

 side on them: :t Now," Mr. Amundsen remarks, « none but Milians 

 wash for gold." 



In March 1900, Major Davies, either the second or third 

 European to traverse this r ;ute, arrived at the Tibetan village 

 of Ku-lu in the Mi-li state. He found the lamas very suspicious 

 and goes on to relate that, " The next morning my interpreter 

 went to the village to see about a guide, and was asked into the 

 monastery by the head lama, He found that dignitary having an 

 early breakfast and using a gold plate to eat off. Here was 'then 

 the reason for the suspiciousness with which strangers are looked 

 on in Mi-li. The country is probably rich in this metal and the 

 Mi-li lamas are determined to keep it for themselves. ' What 

 have you really come for ? Have you not come to dig for gold ? ' 

 was the first question the lama put." (D., pp. 239, 240). 



Neither the Rev. Mr. Amundsen nor Major Davies are geologists 

 Gold in Mi-li. or minin £ engineers, but their views have been 



confirmed by specialists like Mr. Herbert W. 

 L Way who, in June 1916, wrote, "From the Chien Chang valley 

 through which flows the An Ning river on the east, to the Tibetan 

 frontier on the west, and from Ta Chien Lu on the north to the Kin 

 Sha river (or " river of golden sand ") on the south, there is a stretch 

 of country having an area of 40,000 square miles that is without 

 doubt richer in mineral wealth than any other part of China, and 

 one of the most highly mineralized spots in the whole world. This 

 is a region of great disturbance geologically, and it is full of lodes 

 and veins carrying gold and metallic ores. The streams and rivers 

 contain many deposits of alluvial gold. Evidences of mining 

 activity are seen on all sides, and mule trains are seen carrying 

 copper metal and matte, lead bullion, iron, and other metals! 

 The lodes are worked in a primitive way in the oxidized zones 

 by the aboriginal tribes, some under the supervision of Chinamen. 

 The sulphides are left behind as too refractory. The principal 

 gold mine worked by the Lolos under the Imperial Government 

 and Merchants of Szechuan is the Maha. This contains a wide 



