TIN MINING IN PERAK. 7 
“ After four or five days paddling, the canoes reach Chandariang 
tin mines. The country is favourable for rice. 
“Krort is about the same distance above Rantau Panjang, witha 
population of four hundred souls; much tin is likewise obtained here on 
digging a small depth on the plain, and after the rains a large quantity 
of ore is found on the surface and in ravines. The miners exchange 
pieces of tin, from the weight of a quarter of a pound up to fifty, for 
cloth and other articles. 
‘“Kampa is two days above Rantau Panjang, and had a population, 
in quiet times, of five or six hundred souls, but the inroads of the 
Siamese have so distressed the people that it would be no easy matter 
to ascertain the population of any given place. The Raja himself has 
not obtained a census. 
“From Kampa to Kantoor is only a short journey. At the bottom 
of the hills near [Xantoor, tin of the best quality the country produces is 
obtained. The inhabitants of both sexes and of all ages play at games 
of chance for pieces of ore or tin. 
* * * * * % 
“Bota. The Raja formerly resided here. It is a full day’s tracking 
from Allahan, and in prosperous periods contained about five hundred 
inhabitants. Above Bota, and after having passed Pulo Pisang, is the 
village of Layang Layang, containing formerly from two to tbree hun- 
dred people. Several tribes of Sakai or aborigines in the neighbourhood. 
The traveller then reaches Budara, where there are tin pits, which are 
worked after the harvest. The ore is reckoned inferior to that of Kantar 
and Kampa. The village of Maroh is included in Budara, and they may, 
united, contain 200 persons. Passing Sadang the canoes reach Blanja 
on the third day, supposing that there is no great haste required. The 
cocoanut trees grow plentifully here, and the population, before the 
Siamese and Salangorians distracted the country, averaged 300 souls. 
‘On the fourth day, Bakau, where there are tin mines at the foot of 
hills, may be visited, as also Sirowan, Samut and Puel, and a halt made 
at Goar, which contained formerly about 300 souls. 
“On the fifth day the river is found to grow narrow and very 
winding. Pass Paket, Sangan and Mundora, where much rice is culti- 
vated, also Boaya and Bundong Kring, and halt at Sayong, where there 
are about 100 houses, and where ore tin is dug.” * 
From the foregoing extracts it is apparent that tin was mined in 
many parts of Perak at that time—in fact in all, or almost all, the fields 
that have been so extensively worked in later times. 
Newbold, writing in 1839, gives the export of tin from Perak as 
8,500 pikuls per annum—so that for a period of over forty years the 
output of tin appears to have been fairly constant, ranging only from 
6,000 to 9,000 pikuls. 
* Observations on Perak, Colonel Low. 
