180 COGGIN BROWN : MINES & MINERAL RESOURCES OF YUNNAN. 



as possible and so favour evaporation. Beds of dried earth 

 are systematically arranged near these pools and are periodically 

 drenched by the salt liquors which are baled out and thrown over 

 them. Aided by the sun and the wind the water evaporates, 

 and the operation is repeated until the earth will lake up no more 

 salt. It is then leached out with water in other tanks, and the 

 dirty salt liquors so obtained, after being filtered through beds 

 of charcoal, ashes and sand, give a clear brine of much greater 

 concentration than the original liquid from the wells. The treat- 

 ment of the brine after this is precisely the same as that carried 

 out at other places. The small amounts of salt so produced are 

 taken by the officials of the Salt Monopoly and doubtless find 

 their way into the open market by way of Yunnan Pa. 



MISCELLANEOUS MINERALS. 



Mercury. 



Cinnabar probably occurs in Yunnan, several specimens were 

 shown to me at various places though some of them may have 

 come from the well-known mines in the neighbouring province of 

 Kuei Chou. At Y^un-lung Chou. I heard of a mercury mine 3 or 

 4 days' journey towards the north but I was unable to spare the 

 time necessary to verify the information. According to Rocher, 

 (K., p. 247), several cinnabar deposits were worked in the 

 Ta-li prefecture before the rebellion. This would include the 

 Yun-lung Chou locality, in all probability. Eocher describes 

 the treatment of the ore, which consists of roasting in a furnace ; 

 the vapours are condensed in a kind of jar, three or four of which 

 are placed on each side of the furnace and connected by tubes 

 of glazed earthenware. Water is placed at the bottom of the 

 jars to aid the condensation of the vapours. Near Ta-chuang 

 there was a deposit containing native mercury ; after removing 

 the metal, the ores were subjected to a high temperature in a 

 retort and the vapour condensed in receivers with water. This 

 mine was abandoned during the rebellion and has not been re-opened. 

 When Logan Jack was travelling from Hsiao-wei-shi to Wei-hsi- 

 T'ing he was informed by a member of his escort that there 

 was a quicksilver (cinnabar) mine beyond the right walls of the 

 valley below Ta-pien-ta. " He so minutely described the process 



