1835.] one of the Malacca States. 545 



lustre, intermixed with a glittering white sand. The excavations 

 made by the Malays, are more superficial than those dug by the 

 Chinese, as they are too lazy to work the streams, which lie deep. 



The strata under which the ore is found are commonly, 1st, a 

 black vegetable mould ; 2nd, red clay ; 3rd, white clay, with white peb- 

 bles, apparently decomposed quartz, and 4th, a bed of shining white 

 sand, called Passir blji. Under the ore lies a stratum of steatite, called 

 Ndpal, or a hard bed of decomposed rock. The native term for the 

 tin ore is Biji timah, literally seeds of tin ; when melted, it has the 

 name of Timah masak. Crystals of quartz and fragments of micaceous 

 schist are sometimes found among the alluvial earth thrown out. 



The soil is carried out by the miners in baskets, suspended at the 

 extremities of a stout elastic bambti or pendga, which passes across 

 the shoulders. The men are divided into two parties, which work in 

 regular succession, one entering the shaft with emptied baskets, 

 while the other makes its egress, with the filled ones. At Ulu 

 Pondoi, in Naning, and at Jerram Kambing, I am informed, the mines 

 are natural caverns in the rock. The Malays and Jacoons collect the 

 ore by the light of dammer torches. 



The ore is taken to a stream, conducted by artificial channels, lined 

 with the bark of trees, to the vicinity of the mines, and stirred about 

 with an iron rake, or a choncole. The water carries off the sand, 

 small pebbles, and earth, leaving the ore and large stones at the bot- 

 tom, which are afterwards separated by a riddle and the hand. 

 The ore, thus cleared of extraneous substances, is deposited in the 

 koppos, to await the process of smelting. 



Smelting or Melanchur. — The smeltings are carried on at stated 

 periods, twice or thrice a year, according to the quantity of ore col- 

 lected, and always at night, to avoid the great heat. 



The ore and charcoal, (of the Kompas, Kamoui, or other hard woods,) 

 are gradually heaped up, in alternate layers, in a rude furnace of clay, 

 called a Bullowe, with an aperture below, to allow the escape of the 

 fused metal. The fire is urged, and the whole mass brought into a 

 glow by a sort of leathern bellows called Hambusan, and sometimes 

 bv ruder ones, constructed like an air-pump, and made from the hol- 

 lowed trunk of a strait tree, with a piston, headed by thick folds of 

 paper. These are called Kalubongs. 



The Malays for the most part content themselves with the Tropong, 

 which is merely a hollow bambu converted into a sort of blow-pipe, 

 and worked by the mouth. 



As the heat increases, the melted metal is received into a hole dug 

 in the ground, called the Teldga, or reservoir ; and thence, with the 

 assistance of iron ladles, poured into the moulds. 



