TIN MINING IN PERAK. 21 



the water from oue or more of the reservoirs rush down them. 

 It makes a great noise as it tears down the hill taking a large 

 quantity of earth with it, but it would appear to lead to a 

 considerable waste of both tin and gold as the rush is so 

 great that only the larger particles have any chance of settling 

 in the tail race. 



The tail race is a long ditch cut at the foot of the hill into 

 which the main ditch or ditches discharge. It is generally 

 cut simply in the earth, though sometimes it is more or less 

 lined with rough planks. When these are used stops are put in 

 at intervals to arrest the tin and gold, but when it is formed in 

 the earth they are not employed as the inequalities of the 

 earthen floor serve the purpose of " riffles." 



If it is possible it is arranged that a small stream of water 

 may be made to flow through the tail race, so that it can be 

 cleaned up when the rain has stopped. The cleaning uj) is 

 carried out by beginning from the top of the ditch and stirring 

 up the sand in it so that the lighter parts may be carried away 

 by the stream of water, leaving the tin in a more or less 

 pure state in the bottom of the ditch. This is then scraped out 

 with tin plate scoops and put into tubs, and afterwards either 

 washed in a " lanchut " or in " dulangs " to further clean it. 

 The tailings always contain a large amount of tin as the race is 

 very defective, and is never half long enough to disintegrate the 

 earth which travels down it. The earth tends to form itself into 

 balls, from the size of a cricket ball down to that of a pea. 

 Having once taken this form the clay balls simply roll along 

 the ditches without breaking up, and the worst part of it 

 is that at the lower part of the race, where the tin is most 

 abundant, they pick up the grains of tin -sand after the manner 

 of a snowball, and they may often be found completely 

 coated with tin -sand far below the bottom of the tail race. 

 They cause loss, therefore, by the tin that is inside them, and 

 by that they have collected in their descent of the ditches. 

 Could these mines be worked with properly constructed sluices 

 much of this loss would be prevented, and undoubtedly the 

 proportionate yield of gold would be much increased, as the 

 "riffles," even when used at all, are most inefficient in stopping 

 the finer portions of the precious metal. 



The great recommendation of this form of mining to the 

 Chinese miners is that it requires no capital and is a nice sleepy 

 way of making a livelihood. A very few men can keep a large 

 area of land in work, and the land will last for a number of 

 years, some of the mines now in operation have been in work 



