On the Metalliferous Deposits of the Malay Peninsula. 335 



hering to, and partially invested with quartz. We are not aware 

 that it has ever been actually seen in the solid rock in the Peninsula ; 

 but in Banka it is found associated with iron-ore in veins in the gra- 

 nite. A Dutch writer also describes whole layers as occurrintr in 

 some mountains which consist partly of granite, but in the centre 

 principally of layers of sandstone and quartz, in which iron-ore also 

 appears. In the more purely granitic mountains it seems to have 

 been observed in quartz at the junction of the granite with the iron- 

 veined sandstone strata. In the isthmus of Kra it has also been 

 found at the junction of sandstone and granite.* In Cornwall it ap- 

 pears to be dependent on granite. 



The finest ore of Banka yields as much as 80 per cent, of metal, 

 the common sorts from 40 to 60. The quality of the Peninsular 

 ores has not been ascertained so carefully. We are not aware that 

 more than 70 per cent, has ever been obtained. 



Gold is found in the Peninsula, but, whether fi'om inferiority of 

 enterprise or natural deficiency, not in such abundance as in those 

 parts of the adjacent countries of Sumatra and Boi-neo, where it is 

 systematically dug for. The present annual produce is probably 

 about 20,000 ounces. In all the larger specimens which we possess 

 or have seen, it is disseminated in small pai'ticles and streaks in 

 quartz. Like the tin-ore, it has not been seen in the undisintegrated 

 rock. 



Copper, silver, and arsenic, have been detected in Banka, but ap- 

 parently in small quantities. — (The Journal of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago and Eastern Asia, vol. ii., No. 2, p. 102.) 



duction of the Peninsula, which derives, from the fact of its being the greatest 

 stanniferous tract in the world, an importance economically which has never 

 been sufficiently appreciated. We are able to state confidently that the geolo- 

 gical conditions which seem to be necessary for the production of tin in this 

 part of the world are found in the Peninsula as fully developed as in Banka. 

 Both portions of the zone have been equally affected by, and have indeed ori- 

 ginated in, one and the same igneous action, of which one of the phenomena 

 has been the formation of tin-ore. The existence of tin in Banka was unknown 

 till 1709, when it was accidentally discovered. Now its produce doubles that 

 of the Peninsula, although the latter has a surface eighteen times larger. The 

 reason is not a mineralogical one. It is because in Banka the Chinese are sti- 

 mulated, furthered, and protected, by a strong Government, which directly in- 

 terests itself in their operations. 



* " Granite, or its modification, elvan, occurs near or at all the localities 

 where tin and copper ores so abound as to be worked, and produce good mines." 

 — De la Heche. 



