176 COGGIN IJHoWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



and tallied. The material is broken up in the shed and then 

 taken in baskets to the town. Here it is placed in small wicker- 

 work baskets suspended in large wooden tanks idled with water. 

 The baskets are hung from cross pieces placed over the tank in 

 such a way that they can be raised and lowered. One tank 

 takes about 20 baskets. The salt dissolves and the mud settles 

 down. From time to time the baskets are examined and the 

 material broken up until a salt-free red silt is left. The brine 

 is then raised by a pump and flows down a bamboo pipe into 

 a stone-lined storage tank. Both tank and well are often in 

 the furnace house. The boiling-down process is identical with 

 the practice on other fields and need not be described again. If 

 anything, conditions are dirtier and more insanitary here than 

 elsewhere. The furnace houses are the homes of large families 

 and the gutters carrying the brine run along the village streets 

 alongside the sewers. A great deal of the boiling is done by 

 Shans and a Shan official is in charge. About 200 coolies find 

 employment in mining and brine- boiling here. Miners receive 

 7 candareens per 100 catties of crude Salt mined and carriers 

 5 candareens for bringing out the same amount. There are 30 

 batteries of 6 to 10 pans each. The monthly production was given 

 at 250.000 patties or 140 tons approximately. The official price 

 paid for the salt was Tls. 1'8 per 100 catties. Its official selling 

 price was Tls. 482. The tax per 100 catties was Tls. 318. Pre- 

 ventive work is performed by an armed guard of 30 men under 

 the control of the local Shan chief. 



Ho-ti-tang is a small village 12 miles to the south-south-west 

 of Hsiang-ycn-ehing. The road ascends quickly 

 out of the first valley and then descends 

 into another at miles. Both streams are tributaries of the 

 "Wei-yiian-chiang. The second stream is crossed and re-crossed 

 many times. Numerous exposures of red shales and sandstones 

 are seen, the former weathering down into irregular fragments. 

 The country is dissected up by small tributary streams and 

 there is much vegetation. At 8 miles thin oolitic limestone bands 

 are interbedded in the red shales. The exposed parts of the 

 bands simulate an organic structure but this is due to the weathering 

 out of the oolites. I found no fossils. The road now leaves the 

 valley and stil keeping south-south-west rises to 5,400 feet at 

 <J miles, followed by a steep descent of 2 miles and then winds 



