and Westphalia, which centres in the industrial
region of the basin of the Ruhr, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine. In
the other chief industrial region of Germany, in Saxony, Zwickau and
Lugau, are important mining centres. In German Silesia there is a third
rich field, which extends into Austria (Austrian Silesia and Galicia),
for which country it forms the chief home source of supply (apart from
lignite). Part of the same field also lies within Russian territory
(Poland) near the point where the frontiers of the three powers meet.
Both in Germany and in Austria-Hungary the production of lignite is
large--in the first-named especially in the districts about Halle and
Cologne; in the second in north-western Bohemia, Styria and Carniola. In
France the principal coalfield is that in the north-east, already
mentioned; another of importance is the central (Le Creusot, &c.) and a
third, the southern, about the lower course of the Rhone. Coal is pretty
widely distributed in Spain, and occurs in several districts in the
Balkan peninsula. In Russia, besides the Polish field, there is an
important one south of Moscow, and another in the lower valley of the
Donetz, north of the Sea of Azov. The European region poorest in coal
(proportionately to area) is Scandinavia, where there is only one field
of economic value--a small one in the extreme south of Sweden.

In Asia the Chinese coalfields are of peculiar interest. They are widely
distributed throughout China Proper, but those of the province of Shansi
appear to be the richest. Proportionately to their vast extent they have
been little worked. In a modified degree the same is true of the Indian
fields; large supplies are unworked, but in several districts,
especially about Raniganj and elsewhere in Bengal, workings are fully
developed. Similarly in Siberia and Japan there are extensive supplies
unworked or only partially exploited. Those in the neighbourhood of
Semipalatinsk may be instanced in the first case and those in the island
of Yezo in the second. In Japan, however, several smaller fields (e.g.
in the island of Kiushiu) are more fully developed. Coal is worked to
some extent in Sumatra, British North Borneo, and the Philippine
Islands.

In the United States of America the Appalachian mountain system, from
Pennsylvania southward, roughly marks the line of the chief
coal-producing region. This group of fields is followed in importance by
the "Eastern Interior" group in