SALT. 159 



Salt in the Ting-Yuan Hsien district. 

 Although the existence of salt in the province of Yunnan has 



The salt industry of been known for a lon g time, no detailed 

 the Ting-yuan Hsien account either of its occurrence, or of the im- 



fonrioiai')' 25020 " P ° rtant indust ^ t0 wh ich it has given rise, 

 appears to have been recorded by any of the 

 earlier travellers who have visited this particular district. 



The salt wells are all situated in rocks belonging to the series 

 of probable Permo-Trias age, which attains such an enormous' 

 development in this part of Yunnan and to which I have given 

 the name of the Red Bed series. It has proved quite imfossi- 

 hferous. In the neighbourhood of Ting-yuan Hsien, reddish and 

 reddish-violet shales with thin quartzitic bands strike N.N.W.-S.S.B. 

 and dip at from 45° to 50° in a westerly direction. Between this 

 place and Lan-ching there are many exposures of red shales and 

 further on in an easterly direction, hard red sandstones of consider- 

 able thickness are found dipping east. 



Ting-yuan Hsien is a prosperous walled city of the fourth class, 

 situated two stages to the north of C'hu-hsiung Fu, in the fertile 

 plain of a tributary of the Tsoling Ho, itself a tributary of the 

 Yang-tze Chiang. C'hu-hsiung Fu itself lies on the main trade 

 route from Ta-li Fu to Yunnan Fu, the capital of the province, 

 and is some eight stages from the former, and six stages from the 

 latter city. From Ting-yuan Hsien a good road runs in a south- 

 easterly direction, by which the main route may be rejoined after 

 four stages at Lu-feng Hsien, three marches from Yunnan Fu. 



The three localities, Lan-ching, Hei-ching and Hou-ching, at 

 which salt is prepared, are situated along this road. (The termina- 

 tion " ching " means a well.) 



Lan-ching is a large village situated at an altitude of 5,600 



The salt wells of ^ ^ ^ J*"^ ° f * tr ibutary of the TsO- 



Lan-ching. lm g «Q, about eight miles to the east of 



Ting-yuan II si en. The salt here is made en- 

 tirely from the brine of five underground wells, all of which exist 

 in the neighbourhood of the village. The two wells I have inspected 

 are on the south side of the river, about half a mile to the west 

 of Lan-ching. 



A steep incline— constructed with steps to facilitate ascent and 

 descent,— usually about eight feet in height, six feet in breadth and 

 some twenty or thirty yards long, is driven down into the salt- 



