416 



to be coiiteiil with baiteiiiig (licir articles for necessaries of life, 

 whereas the Rokkanese could also acquire articles oflnxiirj. What, 

 however, were the events that stopped the import of mnti tanali 

 and the objects made of tin, will long remain a pnzzle, perhaps 

 for ever. 



Prof. Vermaks has prefixed to his memoir the following quotation 

 from Choockewit, as a motto: "I feel justified in concluding from 

 these inquiries, made in three different ways, that the ore found in 

 Billiton does not contain tin oxide" ^). The tendency of this motto 

 was to stigmatize my being mistaken with regai-d to Floi-es as 

 Croockk.wit had been with regard to Billiton. As appears from the 

 foregoing Prof. Vkhmaks has not succeeded in demonstrating that 

 tin-ore occurs in Floi-es ; the comparison therefore halls, and was 

 at the very least [)i'emature. He has mistaken the persons also in 

 another respect. It was not 1, but van Schelle who, just as Oroookkwit, 

 started from faulty pi-emisses; it was not I but van Schelle whose 

 inquiries, just as Croockewit's, led to wrong conclusions. No wonder 

 that both failed. 



') Extract from the report of a journey through the island of Billiton. (Nalk. 

 Tijdschr. Ned.Ind. 3. Batavia 1852, p. 401. 



