On the Metalliferous Deposits of the Malay Peninsula. 333 



out of the soil. In Banka, under a European government, but 

 without any improvement on the usual Chinese modes of excavating, 

 washing, and smelting, the production has increased from 25,000 

 piculs in 1812, when it was a British possession, to 60,000 piculs.* 



•At numerous intermediate localities throughout the Peninsula tin 

 is obtained ; and when we consider the despotic, rapacious, and too 

 often remorseless, character of the native governments, the consequent 

 failure of all attempts to introduce European or Chinese capital and 

 system into the tin mining, and the robberies and massacres which, 

 from time to time, terrify and scatter the little communities of needy 

 Chinese in whose hands it has remained, the wonder is, that so much 

 metal should find its way to the market. In the Siamese countries 

 north of Kedah, and in Kedah itself, which has been so long in a 

 state of anarchy, it is sparingly extracted. From Perak 9000 piculs 

 per annum were formerly exported ; but the produce has now greatly 

 diminished, owing to the miserable state of the country. Selangor 

 and the adjacent inland states yield about 9000 piculs. The eastern 

 countries, from Kalantan to Pahang, yield about 11,000 piculs. The 

 present produce of the whole Peninsula, including Sinkep and Linga, 

 the only two islands of the Johore Archipelago where it is now sought 

 for, is probably above 40,000 piculs. The produce for many years 

 past has ranged between that quantity and 30,000. The peninsular 

 range, therefore, including Banka, yields upwards of 100,000 piculs ; 

 so that it equals or exceeds that of Cornwall (6000 tons), and may 

 be expected to increase steadily. 



Seeing that tin is procured in all parts of the Peninsula where it 

 is sought for, and in proportion to the enterprise and labour which 

 are devoted to the search, we may consider the entire zone as a great 

 magazine of tin. It is, in fact, incomparably the greatest on the globe. 

 Johore might have seemed to offer an exception to the apparent uni- 

 versality of the distribution of oxide of tin, if its geological affinity 

 to Banka, the fact of tin having, from time to time, been found in 

 several places, and for many years having been got in considerable 

 quantity in Malacca, had not afforded the strongest presumption that 

 its want of inhabitants and government was the cause of its unpro- 

 ductiveness. The last eighteen months, however, have placed the 

 matter beyond doubt, and given a striking proof at once of the metallic 

 fertility of the country, and of the little attention which this branch 

 of industry has hitherto met with in the British settlements. In 

 1845, Malacca, an integral part of Johore, and having the same 

 geology as the rest of the country, produced about 450 piculs of tin. 

 In the succeeding year the interest of some Chinese of capital was 

 excited in the subject, and more vigorous and extensive operations 

 were commenced. In 1846 above 1400 piculs were procured, the 



* l)r Kpp, Schilderingen aus Ostindiens Archipel., p. 183. 

 VOL. XliV. NO. XC. — OCTOBER 1848. Z 



