SALT. 163 



stone is attacked in a methodical manner by driving large galleries 

 into it, only sufficiently large " pillars " being left to keep up the 

 arched roof of the working. It is customary for the miners to 

 work in pairs ; their tools consist of chisel and hammer, one man 

 holding the short wedge-shaped chisel whilst the other man strikes 

 with a heavy sledge-hammer. In this mine alone over 80 miners 

 and more than 120 coolies find employment. Two miners can 

 produce 25 coolies' loads per diem. The salt-bearing rock is 

 carried out in oval buckets, fastened on the back of the 

 coolie by means of a shoulder-piece, grooved for the neck, and a 

 head band. The mine is singularly free from water ; what little 

 there is drains into a deep well and is thence raised to the surface 

 by means of the usual bamboo pumps. 



The rock containing the salt is smashed up and then leached 

 with water, the brine so produced being boiled down in the usual 

 manner. 



Some of the furnaces in Hou-ching are much larger than those 

 at the other places, and are constructed to take over 40 small 

 pans. The salt in all the localities is taken to the Government 

 stores after being cleaned and weighed. It is there officially 

 stamped with red paint which, covering practically the whole 

 surface, would instantly show any attempt at pilfering by breaking 

 off salt from the larger pieces. From the stores it is distributed 

 mainly to the capital, Yunnan Fa, but it is no uncommon occur- 

 rence to meet mule-trains on the roads far from this centre, engaged 

 in the transportation of salt from the Ting-yuan Hsien district. 



The output of the Hou-ching mines is said to be just over 

 1,000,000 catties per mensem, i.e., 12,000,000 catties per annum. 

 The price of salt here is the same as in Hei-ching, viz., i taels 

 5 mace per 100 catties. 



I am unable to go into the costs of working the salt mines and 

 Total output and welIs and to compare them with the returns for 

 value of salt from mines the salt produced, owing to the incompleteness 

 of the data at my disposal, a consequence of 

 the short time which I was able to devote to the investigation 

 of the question. But from rough calculations and on the 

 general impressions of my visit, I have no hesitation in saying 

 that large profits are obtained by the Chinese Government from 

 their salt manufacture. 



