Page:A wandering student in the Far East vol.1 - Zetland.djvu/88

54 angle plant are already being set up, and it is estimated that before long the furnaces will be turning out from 400 to 450 tons of pig-iron a-day, while the rolling mills will be capable of dealing daily with from 800 to 1000 tons of steel to allow of future expansion in the furnaces. Rails, ship plates, and steel girders will constitute the output, and a Lloyd's inspector is to be engaged to pass and register the plates. Mr Li has even visions of invading the preserves of Pittsburg, since he is of opinion that his girders, carried in ships on their homeward voyage after discharging American lumber and petroleum in China, can be landed at San Francisco at prices comparing favourably with those of the great steel metropolis of the United States. In the matter of raw material Hankow is abundantly blessed. At the coal mines of Ping Shan, coke equal to the best Durham is made at the pit's mouth; while at Ta Yeh, seventy miles down the river, stands a mountain of iron ore, giving 65 per cent of pure metal, 3 miles long and 400 feet high,—sufficient, according to the estimate of a European