ft. above the neighbouring
plain the coal-seams crop out in all directions. Mining is thus
carried on by adits driven into the face of the formation, rendering
the mining of the coal extremely easy. The coalfield is divided into
two by a mountain range of ancient granitic formation running
north-east and south-west, termed the Ho-shan. It is of anterior date
to the limestone and coal formations, and has not affected the
uniformity of the stratification, but it has this peculiarity, that
the coal on the east side is anthracite, and that on the west side is
bituminous. A concession to work coal and iron in certain specified
districts in this area was granted to a British company, the Peking
Syndicate, together with the right to connect the mines by railway
with water navigation. The syndicate built a railway in Shan-si from
P'ingyang to Tsi-chow-fu, the centre of a vast coalfield, and
connected with the main Peking-Hankow line; lines to serve coal mines
have also been built in Hu-nan and other provinces. The earliest in
date was that to the K'aip'ing collieries in the east of the province
of Chih-li, the railway connecting the mines with the seaport of Taku.
The coal at K'aip'ing is a soft bituminous coal with a large
proportion of dust. The output is about 1,500,000 tons per annum. A
mine has also been opened in the province of Hu-peh, about 60 m. below
Hankow, and near the Yangtsze, in connexion with iron-works.

Iron.

Iron ore of various qualities is found almost as widely diffused as
coal. The districts where it is most worked at present lie within the
coalfield of Shan-si, viz. at Tsi-chow-fu and P'ing-ting-chow. The ore
is a mixture of clay iron ore and spathic ore, together with limonite
and hematite. It is found abundantly in irregular deposits in the Coal
Measures, and is easily smelted by the natives in crucibles laid in
open furnaces. This region supplies nearly the whole of north China
with the iron required for agricultural and domestic use. The out-turn
must be very considerable, but no data are available for forming an
accurate estimate. The province of Sze-ch'uen also yields an abundance
of iron ores of various kinds. They are worked by the natives in
numerous places, but always on a small scale and for local consumption
only. The ores occur in the Coal Measures, predominant among them
being a clay iron ore. Hu-nan, Fu-kien, Che