18 WORKING OF ANTIMONY ORE. 



ceased from the beginning of the rebellion till peace 

 was restored. 



In Sarawak the antimony is found in the limestone 

 districts, both in large boulders of rock, upon the 

 surface of the ground, and in rich veins in the lime- 

 stone rock a little below the surface : it is worked by 

 the Chinese and Malays, who split the upper rock by 

 fire until the vein of antimony is laid bare ; the heat 

 causes beautiful chrystals of sulphur to form amongst 

 the antimony, which abounds with this mineral : in 

 smelting the ore, nearly eighty per cent, of the sul- 

 phate of antimony is obtained. A manufactory for 

 reducing it to this state has been for some time 

 established at Sarawak; but the metal undergoes 

 another smelting to reduce it to regulus of antimony, 

 which is the metal pure, all the sulphur being ex- 

 tracted by a chemical process. It is in this state, in 

 which it resembles silver, that it enters into the com- 

 position of type-metal, the various descriptions of 

 plate, &c. The ore of the richest quality is obtained 

 from a limestone hill called Batu Bidi, on the 

 western branch of the Sarawak ; here it is worked by 

 Malays, but the greatest works are in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Chinese settlement at Tundong, on the 

 same branch of the river. 



Iron in various forms is found in abundance 

 over the whole island. It is said to have been 

 smelted in former times by the Chinese, who cast guns 

 from it; but it is not of sufficiently good quality 

 to lead us to suppose that it will ever engage the 



