172 COGGIN BROWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNN.VSL 



or cleaner kept underground excavation in Yunnan. The drifts 

 going into the ground are very steep, their mouths being protected 

 by stone-roofed buildings and the roads were carefully gated. 

 For the first few yards the mouth of the main drift is arched, but 

 beyond this it is supported by timber arranged in a systematic 

 manner. The drift extends steeply down for 72 paces, when the 

 brine is readied. Steps are constructed to facilitate ascent and 

 descent. The brine is pumped out by the usual methods, the 

 relay cisterns being of solid wood-work and not of clay, as is so 

 often the case. Stone conduits take the brine to the storage 

 tanks, which are well built and covered. Pumping is carried 

 on in the evening and early morning, with an interval of rest 

 during the greater part of the day. 



The Ta-ching well produces 70,000 catties of Salt per mensem, 

 but it is not equal in quality to the Shih-men-ching salt and only 

 brings Tls. 3*8 per 100 catties. The fiscal organization is the 

 same as at Shih-men-ching, the mandarin buying in the salt at 

 Tls. -9 per 100 catties. There are 30 batteries of evaporating 

 pans in the village. I observed here a curious method of finishing 

 the salt which is" not adopted on the other salt-fields of Yunnan 

 as far as I know. Generally, the brine is evaporated and the 

 salt dried in *he pan, fresh liquor being added from time to time 

 until a solid hemispherical mass of salt — the cast of the pan — is 

 obtained. At Ta-ching and other places in this valley, however, 

 the salt is removed from the pan when it is still wet, and firmly 

 pressed into small cylindrical moulds, so that instead of the large 

 masses made on the other salt fields, which form a heavy load 

 for a man, the salt comes on to the market in the shape of small 

 cylinders each of about 3 lbs. or so in weight. 



The large village of Tien-erh-ching is built on the steep northern 

 „. . . . slopes two miles further up the valley. 



Tien-crh-clung. x r J 



1 here are here good exposures of the salt- 

 bearing, massive reddish sandstones of Permo-Trias age, which have 

 a strike of north 30° west and a steep dip towards the south- 

 west. There is nevertheless considerable confusion in the dips 

 along the road, and a good deal of folding appears to have taken 

 place. I here saw the ' Yen-ta-shu," a Chinese official of about 

 40 years of age, who received me in a friendly manner and 

 accompanied me on a visit to the Tien-erh-ching well. I found him 

 ery anxious for advice as to how the outputs of brine might 



