TIN DEPOSITS OF THE MALAY PENINSULA 



151 



have lately introduced pumps to handle water, but even yet it is 

 not uncommon to see the water raised from a shallow pit by a 

 chain of buckets operated by a human treadmill, worked by the 

 feet of two or three men. (See Fig. 7.) 



The tin alluvium, after being mined, is carried to the surface 

 in small baskets hung on both ends of a stick suspended on a 



Fig. 7. — Pumping water by human treadmill, near Lahat, Perak, Malay penin- 

 sula. 



Chinaman's back. It is then dumped into wooden troughs sup- 

 plied with a stream of running water, where, if there is much 

 clay present, it is stirred with shovels and hoes to separate the 

 tin ore. If there is no clay or only a little of it present, the 

 "tin dirt" is simply dropped into the trough in the running 

 water. The materials are carried thence by the water into 

 sluices, where the cassiterite and other heavy minerals sink to 

 the bottom, and the sand, clay, and lighter materials are carried 

 away by the stream. (See Figs. 3 and 8.) The sluices may 



