Miscellaneous Intelligence. 291 



has kindly left a specimen at the Argus office for inspection. It is 

 therefore indubitable that gold has been discovered." — This extraor- 

 dinary news has produced quite a mania throughout the Port Phillip 

 district, and hundreds are stated to be proceeding to the new El Dorado. 

 Some of the papers disbelieve the whole story ; others are equally firm 

 as to the truth. That gold has been found there appears to be be- 

 yond doubt, — but the quantity is questionable. 



5. The Tin Mines of Banca, (Mining Journal, xix, 178.) — The 

 period of the discovery of the tin deposits of Banca is not so remote as 

 is generally imagined. From 1700 to 1720 the first workings com- 

 menced, which were then insignificant ; but as the prolific nature of the 

 strata became known, the produce rapidly increased. Attracted by 

 the prospect of gain, numerous Chinese miners and adventurers resort- 

 ed to Banca, and, as one source of ore failed, gradually explored and 

 removed to other districts, spreading successively over the island, and 

 selecting the most favorable spots, where a rich store of ore was in the 

 vicinity of a stream of water, to facilitate their labors. After a lapse 

 of thirty or forty years a gradual diminution of produce was observed 

 in many of the working districts ; others were entirely exhausted, and 

 new situations attempted. The most prosperous period of the island, 

 both as regards the supplies of tin obtained, and the general condition 

 °f the inhabitants, was during the reign of Sultan Achmad Nadja 

 Mudin I, or between the years 1750 and 1775: 60,000 piculs, or 

 120,000 ingots, is but a moderate estimate of the aggregate produce of 

 the mines during this period, and by most persons considered compe- 

 tent to judge, it is supposed to have been much greater. Since the 

 year 1780 a decrease has become more evident, and 30,000 piculs were 

 rarely produced in one year. During the last fifteen years the annual 

 quantity has further decreased : the position of the mines elucidates 

 this in a great degree ; the ore is deposited in horizontal beds, at a short 

 distance below the surface, which, in former times, were immensely pro- 

 ductive ; but the inquisitive shrewdness of the Chinese directing them 

 t0 the most profitable spots, extensive surfaces may be observed in the 

 western and northern divisions of the island, which have been turned 

 U P and drained of their wealth, exhibiting the remains of former mines 

 *«d aqueducts. The process of mining is very simple; it consists in 

 l he formation of a pit or excavation, of a square or oblong form, per- 

 forming the ground perpendicularly to the beds containing the tin, 

 which are rarely far below the surface, and in the proper application 

 jf a stream of water to facilitate the labor and for washing the ore. 

 When once perforated, the miners continue to dig pits in succession 

 from the same surface until the whole is abandoned, in consequence 

 of the exhaustion of the ore; thus in travelling through the country, 

 surfaces of several square miles are observed, which have been turned 

 U P by the process of mining. When a sufficient quantity of ore has 

 ^cumulated, and been properly washed and dressed, it is subjected to 

 lh * smelting process, which operation, in favorable seasons, is perform- 

 ed twice a year— in the usual seasons only once, between the months 

 of February and April. It is performed in a spacious open shed, 

 about seventy-five feet Ion" thirty-five feet broad, and twenty-four feet 

 h, gh in the middle— the upper portion of the roof being separated from 

 the lower by an opening of about two feet, to prevent ignition. The 



