336 INDIAN ISLANDS. 



CHAP. XXVII. 



vision is estimated to be about thirty-six thou- 

 sand, of which about one fourth part are employed 

 in procuring gold, and the remainder in various 

 branches of trade and agriculture. They are 

 almost independent of the native chiefs, except 

 that they pay an annual tax or rent of four 

 thousand Spanish dollars to the Rajah of Samboss, 

 in whose territory the mines are. These mines 

 are longitudinal excavations, following the course 

 of the mineral strata, and not exceeding sixteen 

 feet in depth. The auriferous earth which is taken 

 out during about thirty or forty days is washed, 

 and it is said that in that space of time two 

 hundred labourers will obtain from two hundred 

 and fifty to five hundred ounces of gold, ac- 

 cording as the particular spot excavated is more 

 or less rich. The whole of the gold from this 

 district has been estimated at eighty-eight or 

 eighty-nine thousand ounces annually, and that of 

 the whole island at about one hundred and twenty 

 thousand. 



Celebes. In Celebes the gold is all found in the beds of 

 the rivers in the form of a coarse sand. The in- 

 habitants, though good seamen, are deficient in 

 industry and skill, or at least direct them negli- 

 gently when seeking for the precious metals. The 

 whole amount of gold afforded is said not to ex- 

 ceed ten thousand ounces, and that so mixed with 

 more impure substances as not to contain more 

 than eighteen carats to the ounce. 



