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 CHAPTER X

COAL AND A CURSÈD LAKE

HROUGHOUT the next few days I inspected all the abandoned shafts and came to the conclusion that the mining had been carried on without any regular system and had consequently rendered impossible a proper utilization of the various seams, which had been ruined for practical development by wrongly placed galleries that were now crumbling in many spots. Besides this, the coal was young and very friable, pulverizing readily, a fact which greatly militated against its value for use in locomotives and also made it very difficult to transport economically. Consequently I eliminated these deposits from consideration and journeyed farther up the Sungari.

As we reached the mouth of the River Nonni, we turned up the stream and began fighting its current, working our way northwest. Carefully cultivated fields of kaoliang, millet and soya beans lined the banks of the Golden Nonni; and numerous villages of the greyish-brown fang-tzu, looking like irregular heaps of dried clay, were visible everywhere.

The captain of the steamer, who had in earlier years navigated the Nonni, informed me that we were approaching the mouth of the Tolo, an affluent coming in from the west. This smaller stream forms the northeastern boundary of the sparsely covered eastern extremity 108