544 Account of Sung ie Vj. tig [Oct. 



Taprobana of the ancient geographers ; this Mr. Marsden denies, 

 ascribing rather the name to Ceylon, the Serendib of Muhammedan 

 writers, and the Lanca of the Hindus ; and affirms, that Sumatra was 

 unknown to them, denouncing the descriptions given by Strabo, 

 Pomponius, Mela, Pliny, and Ptolemy, as obscure and contradictory. 



Admitting the tradition to be based on truth, it might be conjec- 

 tured, that the Peninsula and Sumatra, thus united, formed that tract 

 of country known to the Greeks and Romans by the title of " Aurea 

 Chersonesus." This might serve in some measure to explain whv so 

 extensive an island, and one so rich in gold and spices, the two great 

 desiderata of ancient, and I may venture to surmise, modern davs, 

 should have escaped the notice of ancient geographers. 



The quantity of gold dust exported annually from the south-west 

 coast of Sumatra and Achin alone, according to Marsden and Hamil- 

 ton, amounts to 26,400 oz. The former states, that there are no 

 fewer than twelve hundred gold mines in the dominions of Menang- 

 kabowe alone ; a considerable portion of the produce of which (per- 

 haps one-half) never comes into the hands of Europeans. 



The gold of the peninsula, on a rough estimate, amounts to 19,800 

 oz. annually. It is chiefly got at Ulu Pahang, Tringanu, Calantan, 

 Johole, Gominchi, and Jeleye ; Reccan, Battang, Moring, and other 

 places at the foot of Mount Ophir. 



A small quantity of iron is found in the interior of Quedah, in the 

 peninsula, and also in Sumatra. Siam and Billiton produce this metal 

 in tolerable abundance. 



I do not find that silver is produced in any part of the peninsula ; 

 although Perak, from its name, which signifies silver, and which is 

 conjectured by Marsden to have been the A p y v<T a of Ptolemy, might 

 have been supposed to have derived its appellation from the presence 

 of this metal. 



The tin produced annually in the peninsula, including the adjacent 

 Island of Junk Ceylon, is estimated at 34,600 peculs. 



According to Crawfurd, the tin of Banca, produce of 1817, 

 amounted to 35,000 peculs, or 2,083| tons. 



Tin Mines. — The mines are generally excavated on the swampy 

 flats at the base of hills of primitive formation. They average from 

 six to twenty feet in depth, following the streams of ore (Huldr biji'J, 

 which will sometimes run in a horizontal direction to the distance of 

 three miles, according to the nature of the ground. These excava- 

 tions are termed Lombongan. The streams vary in diameter from 

 six inches to eighteen and twenty, and consist of a quantity of small 

 heavy granulated portions of a dark hue, and shining with a metallic 



