SALT. 1G9 



be composed of groups of capitalists or even of a whole municipality. 

 Cases are known in which the miners and drillers work wells on a 

 kind of co-operative basis. It is not safe to take any district or 

 any well and set it up as a type of all others. Conditions which 

 vary a great deal are also introduced in the systems of payments 

 for evaporation of the brine and also in trading in the finished 

 salt. These, coupled with the natural Chinese suspicion, exaggera- 

 tion and unwillingness to give true information, often make the task 

 of the investigator anything but a light one. 



The highest official in the salt gabelle dealing with the Yiin- 

 lung Cliou area is the " Yen-ta-shu " who resides at Tien-erh- 

 ching and who is responsible for the collection of revenue in the 

 whole of this district. He is subordinate to the "Yen-ti-ki" 

 who resides in Pe-ching and is in charge of several salt-producing 

 areas. Deputy officials or " Wei-yuans " of small rank are usually 

 stationed at each well. It is their duty to keep accounts of brine 

 extracted, and of the people who take it away for evaporation. 

 Other minor officials are in charge at the weighing stations and 

 storehouses. 



The Pao-fung-ching well is situated on the mountain side above 



the town of Ytin-lung Chou. — indeed the town 

 Description of wells. t , , . _ . 



Pao-fung-ching. appears to have grown up round this brine 



well, which in former times was of some 



importance and yielded large quantities of salt. At present it 



is in an impoverished condition. The methods used by the 



Chinese in drilling the well and obtaining the brine are exactly the 



same as those in vogue in the Ting-yuan Hsien district of Central 



Yunnan, which I have already described in some detail. It is 



therefore unnecessary to recapitulate here. The brine is conducted 



down from the well to a storage tank in the middle of the town 



by open wooden water-boxes. The storage tanks are made of 



wood. From them the brine is baled out as required and taken 



away to be evaporated. A writer keeps an account of the various 



amounts taken away by different people. The brine is very 



weak and the output from this well has declined rapidly in recent 



years. The actual working is in the hands of a small company, 



who pay a license fee of 18 taels per mensem to the local official, 



to whom they are compelled to sell all the salt produced. There 



are only 10 coolies employed in carrying brine ; they are paid at 



the rate of -,-V tael per day each. Most of the evaporation is 



M 



