devoted to the military sphere. What there is in the way of defence existed before, for the greater part.
A good deal has already been done towards fulfilling the third point of the programme, though so far everything is in the nature of preparatory work A Belgian chemist, Rob. Geerst, who has been in the service of the Viceroy for about a year, has made some investigations, both during a couple of short expeditions, one to the south of Sining, the other towards Lianchow, and by means of testing samples of minerals supplied by the authorities. These investigations are said to confirm the view that large mineral wealth lies stored in the mountains of Kan Su. Abundant supplies of coal are reported to have been found in the neighbourhood of Lanchow along the Yellow River as far as Ning siafu. It is said to be of excellent quality and to produce not more than 1 % of ash. N of Ning siafu there are very large salt deposits in Alashan. About 13o li north of Lanchow lead, iron and sulphate of copper up to to-15 % are reported. The deposit, the depth of which is unknown, covers a circumference of 20 li. 4 days' journey W of Bayenyung »native» copper is found in veins of 20-50 %. There is graphite in all the veins of coal and silver in all the lead deposits. At Hasitan there are veins of copper near Ping fan, also containing 20-50 % of pure copper. S of Sining there are whole mountains of gypsum. There is naphtha (45 % good oil and 15 % kerosene) near Yumen hsien, nephrite near the Tibetan frontier and mica (?) to the south of Sining. There is a gold mine SW of Sining about 8 days' journey from Lanchow. It is estimated to yield 1 ounce (1 oz. = 28.35 gr) per ton. Gold is found, by the way, in almost all the rivers. Near Tsapa, S of Sining, about 5,000 workmen are employed in gold washing. It is said that in the bed of the Tatung ho 20 workmen wash 8 ounces of pure gold daily by their primitive methods and with primitive tools.
To start the exploitation of this wealth it has been decided to establish a copper mine at Hasitan near Ping fan and a gold mine SW of Sining. The machinery has been ordered in Belgium and is said to have arrived already at the western terminus of the railway.
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