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Show I'leiilr ot l'..4l In Clilnn. Abundance of coal nnd Iron exists In every province In China, tho coal field of Shantl alono being probably Ihe largest which It yet known In tho world, white each ot tbe other valuable minerals, except platinum, Invite profitable work In many parti ot the empire. The use of most of theie earth products, aa well as certain methods of obtaining them, has Indeed been known to tho Chinese for thousands of years. The tradition Hint coal waa the chief fuel ot tbe people- many centuries before Its value was known In Kurono. it n period anterlur to the Christian era, Is lo a certain extent confirmed by Marco Polo, whose remarks on the sub-Ject sub-Ject Indicate that the tiso of It observed ob-served by him as being genoral must havo begun lung before his time. "It Is a fsct that all over the country ol Cathay there Is n kind of black stons existing In beds In the mountains which they dig out and burn like firewood fire-wood It Is trus that they have plenty ot firewood also, but they do not burn II, because these stone burn better and cost less," Yule's "Marco Polo," Vol, I., p, 195. Hut though this long-continued ussge ot cool by hundreds ot millions ot poplimmy4lulto,rndr Undoubtful whethcr'any considerable quantity Is lefl, It Is, on Ihe contrary, practically certain that this residue Immeasurably Im-measurably exceeds nil that In msny ages baa yet been recovered. Partly awing to the superstitious fear ot letting let-ting out the "earth dragon," and chiefly, chief-ly, I Imagine, from Ignorance of efficient ef-ficient measures of pumping, tbe soil has nowhere been pierced below water level, and 1 bellove thst no shaft srs deeper than 100 feet In fact, not only coal, but other minerals have been liken merely from the surftee, and, according to all experience, therefore what remain below mutt be In vastly greater quanllllei. Tho Contemporary Review. |
