chap, in.] TIN-WORKS; BIRDS. 43 



I engaged two Portuguese to accompany me into the 

 interior ; one as a cook, the other to shoot and skin birds, 

 which is quite a trade in Malacca. I first stayed a fort- 

 night at a village called Gading, where I was accom- 

 modated in the house of some Chinese converts, to whom 

 I was recommended by the Jesuit missionaries. The 

 house was a mere shed, but it was kept clean, and I made 

 myself sufficiently comfortable. My hosts were forming 

 a pepper and gambir plantation, and in the immediate 

 neighbourhood were extensive tin-washings, employing 

 over a thousand Chinese. The tin is obtained in the 

 form of black grains from beds of quartzose sand, and is 

 melted into ingots in rude clay furnaces. The soil seemed 

 poor, and the forest was very dense with undergrowth, and 

 not at all productive of insects ; but, on the other hand, 

 birds were abundant, and I was at once introduced to the 

 rich ornithological treasures of the Malayan region. 



The very first time I fired my gun I brought down one 

 of the most curious and beautiful of the Malacca birds, 

 the blue-billed gaper (Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchus), 

 called by the Malays the " Eain-bird." It is about the 

 size of a starling, black and rich claret colour with white 

 shoulder stripes, and a very large and broad bill of the 

 most pure cobalt blue above and orange below, while the 

 iris is emerald green. As the skins dry the bill turns 

 dull black, but even then the bird is handsome. When 



