150 R. A. F. PENROSE 



able, therefore, that the tin in the limestone was deposited from 

 aqueous solution in the same way as at least part of the tin in 

 the granite. It is possible that the tin-bearing waters that 

 deposited the ore in the limestone may have derived their metal- 

 liferous contents by solution from the disseminated tin in the 

 granite ; and this may account for the rarer occurrence of tin 

 in the limestone than in the granite, for if the latter was the 

 original source of the solutions that deposited tin in both rocks, 

 the granite might get more of the deposition than the limestone, 

 which was less close to the source of the solutions. 



The tin found in the bedding planes of the sandstone near 

 Tapa, seems, as already stated, to be a later deposit derived by 

 solution from the older deposits in the granite or limestone. 



Commercial features of tin-mitiing in the Kinta district. — Most 

 of the mines of the Kinta district are operated by Chinamen, 

 and the work is generally crude ;^ but in some localities, like 

 Gopeng and elsewhere, English companies work the mines, 

 while at Campar a French corporation carries on large opera- 

 tions ; and in such cases the work is carried on in a more sys- 

 tematic manner. The laborers are mostly coolies from southern 

 China and Indians from the east coast of India. The native 

 Malays do not do much work, and Europeans cannot stand hard 

 work in this climate. The coolies are the most numerous labor- 

 ers, and here, as elsewhere in southeastern Asia, they are always 

 found where there is any hard work to be done. 



The tin-bearing alluvium is worked mostly in open cuts or 

 large pits, except where the covering, or "overburden," of barren 

 ground is very thick, when sometimes shafts are sunk through it 

 to the tin stratum. Most of the workings, especially those of 

 the Chinese, are only very shallow excavations on account of the 

 difficulty of handling the water found at a depth. The average 

 of the Chinese pits is probably not over about 40 feet in depth, 

 though the enterprising Chinese mine-owner, Mr. Foo Choo 

 Choon, reached several times this depth in his mine at Tronoh 

 before he sold it. Some of the more progressive Chinamen 



'The systematic operations of Mr. Foo Choo Choon, under the management of 

 r. John Addis, are an exception to the usual crude methods of Chinese mining. 



