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.)