Some years ago, His Excellency Li Hung-chang, seeing the poverty of the province of Chibli, which owing to ils unhappy ty to alternate floods and droughts, directed that explorations should be made to ascertain whether the -considerablo mineral wealth of certain districts was of such a nature as to be fitted to be turned to account by Western science.
Tt ind always been known that the eastern and western hills, which overlook Peking, contained vast stores of the finest iron ores, and that in the ndalating country to the west and north of Tientsin there were immense beds of coal and lime-stone, Nor do the Iurge stores we refer to comprise the whole mineral riches of the province, In various parts, notably those near to the Yellow River, there are very many coal and iron mines, some of which have been worked for hundreds of years, to supply Tocal demands, We may say that Chibli is eminently o country of minerals, and deserves n careful and complete survey, for although the principal coal and iron fields are fairly well-known, country people from time to time bring to Tientsin, or to the capital, fine specimens of copper, lead, manganese, and silver ores, all of which deposits j might well repay mining enterprise, The first systematic exploration of the coal and iron districts of Obibli was made by Mr. James Henderson, a gentleman who has since the year 1860 lived in Tientsin. He made many journeys, obtained nambeness samples, Procared many analyses, and, finally, he drew up a series of topographical reports, that are to this day both full and trustworthy. At the present however, the direction of the Viceregal mining enterprise has boon given to Mr. Tong King-sing, who has under his orders a full staff of mivers and mining engineers. The field chosen for the firet mining operations is a wide tract of undulating ground, whose main direction is to the north and west of Tientsin, Enormous beds of coal of old formation have been found, mostly between lime-stone layers, so that working will be inexpensive, safe and easy. In the same districts, there are inexhaustible beds of ironstone, and iron ores of the better kinds such as spathose, limonite, hematite, are also found in rich deposits. At n0 great distance from the chief coal mines, and in country easy of access, copper ore of abnormal richness has
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.