TIN DEPOSITS OF THE MALA V PENINSULA 137 



more or less under British influence. These principalities have 

 recently combined under the name of the Federated Malay 

 States. Along the lower coast of the peninsula the British own 

 certain small strips of land and islands, including Province Wel- 

 lesley, Bindings, and the Malacca Territory on the mainland, 

 and the islands of Penang, Pangkor, and Singapore. These, 

 together with several other islands, represent what are known as 

 the Strait Settlements. The P'ederated Malay States at present 

 comprise most of the tin regions worked on the peninsula. 



The tin deposits occur in greater or less quantities from the 

 state of Johor in the southern extremity of the peninsula, north- 

 ward to the limit of the state of Perak on the Siamese border, 

 a distance of some 350 miles. To the north of this limit in 

 Siam, even beyond the high peak of Mount Kedah, tin has been 

 reported, but the deposits have not been much explored, and no 

 very prominent mines have been opened. This may possibly be 

 due to the unexplored character of the Siamese part of the penin- 

 sula, as the roads are not so good as in the Federated Malay States, 

 and travel and exploration are very difficult in the dense jungle. 

 Even in the Malay states, though the tin is found over a large 

 area, most of the production comes from a few places. By far 

 the larger part of it is mined in the states of Perak and Selangor, 

 while very little has been found in Johor, and the production of 

 Pahang and Negri Sembilan is small. 



Perak is the largest producer of the Malay states, supplying 

 considerably over half of the tin of the peninsula, and the 

 Kinta district is at present the most important tin locality in 

 that state, though tin is also mined at Thaiping and other places. 

 In Selangor the most important mining center is Kwala Lumpur, 

 and the production of this region is second only to that of the 

 Kinta district. Besides the places already mentioned, many 

 other smaller tin districts exist, and, in fact, most all of the 

 numerous small native towns on the west slope of the peninsula 

 are largely dependent on the tin industry. 



Most of the tin regions are on the western side of the moun- 

 tains which form the backbone of the peninsula. On the eastern 

 side very little tin is found. On the other hand, a considerable 



