MINERALOGY. 43 



BOG IRON ORE. 



Bog iron ore is very abundant in the Provinces, and in 

 many places is quite rich in metal. It occasionally con- 

 tains vegetable petrefactions, some of which have the form 

 of branches of trees, but are wholly composed of iron ore, 

 and which the Burmese call 



COPPERAS. 



Copperas, or sulphate of iron, is often formed from the 

 decomposition of pyrites or sulphuret of iron, forming an 

 efflorescence on the rock that contains them. 

 Sulphate of iron. 



TIN. 



Tin is abundant in the Provinces, commencing from the 

 mountains in which Tavoy and Henzai rivers have their 

 rise, the northern limit of tin in the Provinces, to the 

 Southern boundary of Mergui, Pakchan river. The rich- 

 est locality in the province of Tavoy. is nearly opposite 

 the city of Tavoy on the eastern side of the mountains. 



That large quantities of tin must have been found in 

 Tavoy three hundred years ago, we have evidence in an 

 incidental remark from Mr. Ralph Fitch ; who, says 

 Mr. Hough in the Maulmain Chronicle, " travelled in this 

 part of the world in about the year 1586, or 1587." He 

 says : " I went from Pegu to Malacca passing many of 

 the sea ports of Pegu as Martaban, the Island of Tavi 

 whence all India is supplied with tin, Tenasserim, the 

 island of Junkselon, and many others-' 



Captain Tremenheere found the richest deposit of tin 

 in the Provinces, at Kalian on Mergui Island, about 

 eleven miles above the town, and mear the Tenasserim 

 river. " Kahan itself," he writes, " is the highest por- 

 tion of a low ridge of hills, not more than 200 feet above 

 the level of the river : it is composed of a soft friable 

 white sandstone rock, the upper portions of which are 

 decomposed and irregular. The surface gravel does not 

 contain tin. It is found in the crystallized form inter- 



