Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 25.djvu/226

 unconformably the lower quartzites and shales, a very peculiar series of conglomerates, trappean grits, and flag-stones. The position is very similar to that of the Chung- shan series, and the dip in the neighbourhood of Ningpo, S.E. 5° to 15°, the same as at Nanking. The rocks seem to commence with a conglomerate formed from the wear and tear of the older rocks, and to be succeeded by a coarse trappean grit of a greenish colour ; this grit is coarsely laminated, the cleavage-planes crossing those of bedding at high angles, and is used for coarse flag-stones. It often contains imbedded fragments of the older rocks, across which, irrespective of their structure, the super- induced cleavage runs. Succeeding these grits is a thick mass of fine-grained siliceous grits and flag-stones, often finely laminated and ripple-marked, and divided by vertical joints. This series is exceedingly well developed near the village of Ningkong-kiu, where the river, flowing along a valley formed by one of these jointage- planes, affords a good section on both sides. I have found no fossils of any sort in these rocks ; they differ entirely in composition from the Chung-shan rocks, though, as they are identical in position, they may probably be referred to the same age.

In Hunan the coal series, which there, as in Kiangsu, occurs interstratified with limestones, is supposed by Mr. Bickmore to run up into Red Sandstone. In Kwangtung, in the department of Hwa, locally called Fayune, a small coal-field, apparently covered with Red Sandstone, likewise occurs. In the north of the same province, in the prefecture of Shao-chow, coal, said to be of inferior quality, is likewise worked. In the north-east of the province, in the prefecture of Chao-chow, on the borders of Fuhkien, there are likewise coal-mines. In Chehkiang, as above-stated, in the prefectures of Kinghwa and Kuchow, coal-mines were worked until the disturbances consequent on the Taiping rebellion ; they are now reported as closed, and the inhabitants left to rely on foreign importation or to use charcoal, the latter a fuel gradually becoming scarcer with the increased weakness of the government. In Kiangsi, in the prefecture of Kwangsiu, coal of good quality seems to be worked from vertical shafts, the only means of raising it, however, employed by the Chinese being a common wooden winch ; the mines are ventilated by forcing down air through bamboo tubes. In the prefecture of Kanchow, in the same province, coal-mines also occur ; in fact, as Kiangsi may be said to represent a basin of newer rocks surrounded by a rim of the older subcarboniferous series, coal will probably be found to occur in the greater portion of the province. I have had no opportunity of examining the position or quality of any of these coals.

In Hunan, however, the most important coal-field of South China has long been worked ; it has also supplied large quantities of iron. According to Mr. Bickmore, the coal is interstratified with the limestone, representing, therefore, the older beds. What coal I have seen agrees in quality and structure with that from Suichang, described above. Hunan coal is an important article of traffic on the river Yangtse — the lower provinces, though containing themselves