SALT. 171 



raised by four hand-worked bamboo pumps. The brine is of 

 good quality and the total yield is said to be about 80,000 catties 

 per mensem. The fiscal system of the Shih-men-ching well is 

 somewhat complicated. Brine is won under the direction and 

 control of the " Yen-ta-shu," but the people have to pay a monthly 

 license of 64 taels to Government. This is an increase of 24 taels 

 on the amount demanded for the license last year (1908), and 

 is one little incident in the wholesale increase which the provin- 

 cial mineral duties are being burdened with this year in order to 

 find funds for the military, educational, and railway schemes of 

 the late Viceroy. The contractors who undertake the evaporation 

 of the brine have to find their own fuel and to pay for the 

 carriage of the brine from the storage tanks to the evaporation 

 sheds. Fuel is fairly cheap, as the unsurveyed areas to the 

 north are full of forest and advantage is taken of the swift current 

 of the Lo-ma Ho to float the logs down to the salt-producing places. 

 Large numbers of coolies are engaged in carrying wood from the 

 river to the yard whence it is retailed as required. Owing to 

 deforestation in bygone days there is very little fuel in the 

 immediate neighbourhood of these places. There are about 30 

 batteries of evaporating pans in Shih-men-ching, each consisting 

 of batches of 12 or 14 pans. On an average it takes three days 

 for one battery to produce 100 catties of salt. The total produc- 

 tion must be sent to the stores of the " Yen-ta-shu," who pays for 

 it at the rate of Tls. *9 per 100 catties. The duty amounted 

 to Tls. 2*35 per 100 catties and the local selling price is Tls. 4 

 per 100 catties. The local official is left therefore with a balance 

 of Tls. 4— (2*35+ -9)= Tls. "75. Out of this he has to keep the 

 wells in repair, pay the wages of pump-men and writers and 

 meet all other incidental expenses. There is another small well 

 to the east of the village, but its production is unimportant and 

 I have classed it under Shih-men-ching. 



Two miles further up the Shih-men-ching valley in an easterly 



™ ,. direction, the village of Ta-ching is found. 



la-oning. . " . ° 



It is a large place with about 120 houses, the 



inhabitants being mainly dependent for a livelihood on the salt- 

 well situated just outside the village. There are very few rock 

 exposures, but there is much scree and rock debris on the hillsides 

 owing to the excessive denudation of the slopes. I made an inspec- 

 tion of the Ta-ching well and have never seen a better engineered 



m 2 



