CHAPTER XXX.

CONCERNING THE BLACK STONES THAT ARE DUG IN CATHAY, AND ARE

BURNT FOR FUEL.

It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of

black stones existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out

and burn like firewood. If you supply the fire with them at night,

and see that they are well kindled, you will find them still alight

in the morning; and they make such capital fuel that no other is used

throughout the country. It is true that they have plenty of wood also,

but they do not burn it, because those stones burn better and cost

less.{1}

[Moreover with that vast number of people, and the number of hot baths

that they maintain—for every one has such a bath at least three times

a week, and in winter if possible every day, whilst every nobleman and

man of wealth has a private bath for his own use—the wood would not

suffice for the purpose.]

NOTE 1.—There is a great consumption of coal in Northern China,

especially in the brick stoves, which are universal, even in poor

houses. Coal seems to exist in every one of the eighteen provinces

of China, which in this respect is justly pronounced to be one

of the most favoured countries in the world. Near the capital

coal is mined at Yuen-ming-yuen, and in a variety of isolated

deposits among the hills in the direction of the Kalgan road, and

in the district round Siuen-hwa-fu. (_Sindachu_ of Polo, _ante_

ch. lix.) But the most important coal-fields in relation to the

future are those of Shan-tung Hu-nan, Ho-nan, and Shan-si. The

last is eminently _the_ coal and iron province of China, and its

coal-field, as described by Baron Richthofen, combines, in an

extraordinary manner, all the advantages that can enhance the

value of such a field except (at present) that of facile export;

whilst the quantity available is so great that from Southern

Shan-si alone he estimates the whole world could be supplied,

at the present rate of consumption, for several thousand years.

“Adits, miles in length, could be driven within the body of the

coal.... These extraordinary conditions ... will eventually give

rise to some curious features in mining ... if a railroad should

ever be built from the plain to this region ... branches of it will

be constructed within the body of one or other of these beds of

anthracite.” Baron Richthofen, in the paper which we quote from,

indicates the revolution in the deposit of the world’s wealth and

power, to which such facts, combined with other characteristics

of China, point as probable; a revolution so vast that its

contemplation seems like that of a planetary catastrophe.

In the coal-fields of Hu-nan “the mines are chiefly opened where

the rivers intersect the inclined strata of the coal-measures and

allow the coal-beds to be attacked by the miner immediately at

their out-croppings.”

At the highest point of the Great Kiang, reached by Sarel and

Blakiston, they found mines on the cliffs over the river, from

which the coal was sent down by long bamboo cables, the loaded

baskets drawing up the empty ones.

[Many coal-fields have been explored since; one of the most

important is the coal-field of the Yun-nan province; the finest

deposits are perhaps those found in the bend of the Kiang; coal

is found also at Mong-Tzŭ, Lin-ngan, etc.; this rich coal region

has been explored in 1898 by the French engineer A. Leclère. (See

_Congrès int. Géog._, Paris, 1900, pp. 178–184.)—H. C.]

In various parts of China, as in Che-kiang, Sze-ch’wan, and at

Peking, they form powdered coal, mixed with mud, into bricks,

somewhat like our “patent fuel.” This practice is noticed by Ibn

Batuta, as well as the use of coal in making porcelain, though

this he seems to have misunderstood. Rashiduddin also mentions the

use of coal in China. It was in use, according to citations of

Pauthier’s, before the Christian era. It is a popular belief in

China, that every provincial capital is bound to be established

over a coal-field, so as to have a provision in case of siege. It

is said that during the British siege of Canton mines were opened

to the north of the city.

(_The Distribution of Coal in China_, by Baron Richthofen, in

_Ocean Highways_, N.S., I. 311; _Macgowan_ in _Ch. Repos._ xix.

385–387; _Blakiston_, 133, 265; _Mid. Kingdom_, I. 73, 78; _Amyot_,

xi. 334; _Cathay_, 261, 478, 482; _Notes by Rev. A. Williamson_ in

_J. N. Ch. Br. R. A. S._, December, 1867; _Hedde and Rondot_, p.

63.)

Æneas Sylvius relates as a miracle that took place before his eyes

in Scotland, that poor and almost naked beggars, when _stones_ were

given them as alms at the church doors, went away quite delighted;

for stones of that kind were imbued either with brimstone or with

some oily matter, so that they could be burnt instead of wood,

of which the country was destitute. (Quoted by _Jos. Robertson,

Statuta Eccles. Scotic._ I. xciii.)