An  ordinary  cooly's  monthly  account  would  stand  about  thus:

Receipts  in  wages $4  50

Expenditures  for  food : $3  00

Expenditures  for  lodging -. 50

Incidental  expenses ...       50

4  00

Net  income 50

In  speaking  of  the  gold  diggers  on  the  Han  River  (in  the  province  of
Hupeh),  Baron  Von  Richthofen,  when  writing  to  the  Shanghai  General
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1870,  says :

The  diggers  earn  from  50  to  150  cash,  or  5  to  15  cents  a  day,  per  head.  From  the
quantity  of  gravel  washed  in  a  certain  time,  and  the  yield  of  one  day's  work,  which  I
saw  being  concentrated  in  a  pan,  I  calculated  that  seven  men  are  able  to  wash  20
tons  of  gravel  a  day,  and  that  the  average  yield  in  gold  is  about  3£  to  4  cents  per  ton.
Coal  is  mined  in  many  parts  of  China  entirely  by  hand,  and  to  say
that  it  can  be  sold  at  $1  per  ton  at  the  pit's  mouth,  with  profit  to  the
owner  of  the  mine,  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the  cheapness  of  human
labor  in  this  country.
Most  of  the  cooly  labor  in  China  is  controlled  by  certain  houses  as
companies.  Strong  and  reliable  coolies  are,  if  possible,  kept  indebted
to  them  by  advancing  to  the  coolies  money  while  they  are  out  of  em-
ployment 5  hence,  this  labor  is  nearly  always  under  mortgage  to  the  hong
(house),  and  in  this  way  there  exists  a  good  deal  of  slow  or  forced  labor,
but  the  principal  secret  of  success  of  those  companies  which  sublet
cooly  laborers  seems  to  be  their  holding  themselves  responsible  to  the
employer  for  the  cooly's  actions.  They  undertake  to  make  good  any
damage,  whether  arising  from  dishonesty  or  carelessness.  They  prosper
while  the  coolies  almost  starve.
