22 TIN MINING IN PERAK. 
the obstruction; while the breaking down of such a barrier, the cutting 
of a new channel by the stream, or other circumstances tending to lower 
it and prevent it flooding, may, on the other hand, cause a lowering of 
the surface of a valley to. “set in. 
Some years back the filling-in process was going on to a consider- 
able extent in some of the valleys at the foot of the hills between Papan 
and Lahat, in Kinta, where large stretches of standing dead forest were 
to be seen. This was caused by the silting up of the valleys and the 
raising of the level of the earth above what is called the crown of the 
trees. A layer of from one foot to eighteen inches of earth is sufficient 
to kill most jungletrees. The trees having been killed, rotted away and 
fell down branch by branch and trunk by trunk, further blocking up and 
impeding the flow of the streams and so inc reasing the amount of deposit. 
As soon as the deposition moderated, a fresh crop. of trees would spring 
up, at a higher level than their predecessors, and in the course of years 
the same thing would happen again. It was in this way that the layers 
of peat and tree stumps were formed which are such characterstic features 
of all alluvial beds. 
It is unnecessary to say more here on the subject of the occurrence 
of tin in these quaternary deposits, as it has already been sufficiently 
dealt with in A/luvial Tin Prospecting, (pages 1 to 3), the second 
number of this publication, while the minerals of the older rocks may 
be perhaps more conveniently treated ina subsequent chapter. 
CHAP iis TH. 
OLD MINES AND NATIVE USES OF TIN. 
In some of the old mines that have been discovered, implements 
have been found, but unfortunately they have not been preserved. At 
Lahat many old mines were opened out by the French Company, and 
most of them were said to be Siamese. In one an earthenware jar was 
found; this was, however, undoubtedly of Chinese manufacture. In a 
mine at Klan Bharu, in Batang Padang, a bronze figure of Buddha 
preaching was dug up, and is now in the Perak Museum. In the same 
district was also found a wooden shovel, said to be Siamese. It is 15 
inches long, of which the handle is 6 inches. The shovel is nearly round, 
and has a raised rim round the upper part of it. There were trees of 
three feet diameter growing in this mine, so it is evidently a considerable 
time since it was worked, probably during the period from 1818 to 1826. 
At Kuala Kangsar, or rather Saiong, at a place called Gedong Siam, in 
Kinta, and other places, ingots of tin of the Siamese pattern have been 
found.. These are more or less boat-shaped, and many of them have a 
round hole running diagonally through them, which was formed by 
thrusting a taper SGck into the yet hse metal, after it had been poured 
out into ie sand mould. On one of these ingots, which was found near 
Kuala Dipang, in Kinta, are some raised characters, which have been 
pronounced to be those used in Mergui in past times. 
