22 TIN MINING IN PEEAK. 



for over teu years. The drawback is that wheu there is a long 

 spell of dry weather no mining can be done, and consequently 

 no tin can be got for sale to pay for the food of the men 

 employed on the mine. 



As the entire surface of the land is washed away, in places 

 to a depth of twenty feet or more, the amount of siltings 

 produced is very considerable. The only thing is that the work 

 is spread over a number of years so the silt has time to extend 

 far over the valleys into which the tailings ai*e discharged. 

 Taking an average depth of ten feet of earth there wovild be 

 16,133 cubic yards of material removed per acre of land worked, 

 or say 24,200 tons. When it is considered that all this amount 

 of work is done by the action of the rain and the labour of a 

 few coolies it is rather astonishing, but it must be remembered 

 that with our large rainfall the quantity of water is very 

 considerable. In an average year in Batang Padang there falls 

 enough rain water to cover the ground to a depth of about 

 twelve feet, or upwards of three million and a quarter gallons 

 per acre of land. 



The wash dirt, except in ground sluicing and in workings 

 siich as have just been described, is raised and cleaned in the 

 ordinary Avay in a wash box with a stream of water, but the tin- 

 sand is not freed from all the sand and " amang," as this would 

 lead to a great loss of gold. The partly cleaned ore is taken out 

 of the head of the wash box and I'eserved for subsequent treat- 

 ment. This second washing is effected by hand in large 

 " dulangs," and is not carried very far, that is to say the 

 " amang" is not separated to any great extent. The tin- sand is 

 then ready to undergo the next process, and is put into tubs or 

 bins until such time as it is convenient to cany it out. The 

 separation of the gold is performed as follows. A large shallow 

 tub some three feet in diameter and one foot deep is taken and 

 either placed on the ground or on pieces of wood a foot or so in 

 height. The tub is partly filled with water and then some fresh 

 leaves are taken and crushed up in the hand wdtli some water in 

 a coconut shell, and the water and leaf juice poured into the 

 tub. Sometimes the leaves are crushed up directly in the tub, 

 but the other method seems to be the better plan as it is easier 

 to prevent fragments of leaf from getting into the water and 

 interfering with the subsecj^uent operations. The leaf juice 

 prevents the gold dust from floating on the surface of the water 

 in a most remarkable way, and is a very important item in the 

 success of the process. The two kinds of leaves that are in use 

 are those of Melastonta malabathricum and Ficns ctinia. The 

 former is a very common pink flowered shrub known locally as 



