520 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



without the aid of machine ry, and the mode of working coal through vertical 

 shafts, which may be considered as the second stage in the art of mining, 

 appears little known. In this respect, as in almost every other, the Chinese 

 are far behind their neighbours the Japanese. Probably, if am inhabitant of the 

 Celestial empire were shown some of the largest collieries of Newcastle or 

 Wigan, he would scarcely deign to look at them, or would gravely inform you 

 that they had similar or better machinery, and deepermines, in " Pekin side." 



Mr. Oliphant, in his narrative of Lord Elgin's mission, states that coal is 

 procured from a mine about five miles distant from the important city of 

 " Whang-sheh-Kang," or " Yellow Stone," on the river Yang4se-Kiang, about 

 four hundred miles from its mouth. He also states that coal is raised in 

 Japan somewhat extensively, but as a government monopoly. " One mine, at 

 a place called Wakamoto, in the interior of the main island of Niphon, was 

 visited by some of the Dutch mission. They describe the mine as being well 

 and judiciously worked, and the coal as bituminous in its nature, and made 

 into coke for use. That the coal is worked by means of vertical shafts, appears 

 from the fact that the Prince of Fizen once ordered a steam-engine from 

 Europe for pumping the water out of his mines ; but, through the native 

 jealousy of the presence of foreigners in the country, refused to allow the 

 Dutch engineer to erect the machinery upon the spot. The Japanese, how- 

 ever, are quite independent of European aid for such an object, as they 

 thoroughly understand the construction and management of the steam-engine. 

 Kaempfer, in his ' History of Japan,' also refers to the abundance of this 

 mineral, stating that it is dug in great quantity in the province of Tsekusen, 

 and in most of the northern provinces. The rich and productive empire also 

 yields abundance of gold, silver, copper, and iron, and the Japanese armourers 

 excel the Europeans, and perhaps any other nation, in tempering steel." 



Short and brief as are these references, and introduced more even as matters 

 of curiosity than anything else, and brief as is the chapter on the Coal-fields of 

 the "World, we are still glad that there is even this little mark of attention 

 shown to the subject of foreign coal-fields, for hereafter will it not be only the 

 question of how long our coal-fields will last, but we shall have to consider, as 

 our coal-mines get deeper, how far foreign countries can compete with us in 

 setting their cost of carriage against our cost of uplift and deep-mine draining ; 

 whether they will bring their coal-produce to our market, or carry it to 

 other markets where material and machinery can be worked together. 



We must not, however, consider that we have anything like a perfect know- 

 ledge of the stores of fossil fuel laid up in the crust of the earth. The con- 

 stant finding of coals and lignites, usable as fuel, of other ages than the car- 

 boniferous, leads us to conceive the idea that future discoveries of most 

 valuable beds may from time to time be made in deposits of various ages, 

 although none of these are likely to equal the veritable coal-seams of the car- 

 boniferous age. 



