ANTIMONY. 



391 



Sarawak, and other places. The antimony districts that are now worked by 

 the Borneo Company are situated a little to the south of the Murong river, 

 a branch of the river Sarawak. It is a limestone district, and the antimony 

 is found either in boulders on the surface, or in veins of great richness in 

 the rock below ; the rock being split by the agency of fire until the ore is 

 exposed to view. Chinese coolies, under the superintendence of Europeans, 

 furnish the labour at these mines ; and the ore, after being raised, is removed, 

 by means of trucks and a tramway, to native-built barges on the river, 

 which transport the ore to Sarawak, whence it is shipped on board vessels 

 with other Borneo produce for the Old Country. These mines were 

 worked by native Rajahs before Sir James Brooke obtained possesssion of 

 the territory. The quality of the Borneo ore has varied considerably ; but 

 on the whole it is exceedingly rich and pure, containing often as much as 

 70 to 74 per cent, of antimony : it is also a kindly-natured ore, and easily 

 worked. At one time sulphuret of antimony was produced in quantities 

 in Cornwall and Dumfriesshire, and even now parcels of ore from the former 

 place do occasionally reach the London market; but in a general way 

 these English ores are inferior, and bear no comparison with those from 

 Europe and Borneo. 



Sulphuret of antimony possesses the singular property of staining 

 the skin black ; hence its ancient and modern employment as a pigment in 

 Oriental countries. I subjoin the following highly interesting and 

 instructive account of this ancient practice, as given by the celebrated 

 missionary of Palestine, Dr Thomson, in his recent work entitled " The 

 Land and the Book." 



That which has been and still is the favourite mode of beautifying 

 the face among the ladies of this country, he thus describes : — " They paint 

 or blacken the eyelids and brows with kohl, and prolong the application 



in a decreasing pencil, so as 

 to lengthen and reduce the 

 eye in appearance to what is 

 called almond-shaped. The 

 practice is extremely ancient, 

 for such painted eyes are 

 found on the oldest Egyptian 

 tombs. It imparts a peculiar 

 brilliancy to the eye, and a 

 languishing, amorous cast 

 to the whole countenance. 

 The powder from which Tcdhl 

 is made is collected from 

 burning almond-shells or 

 frankincense, and is intensely 

 black. Antimony and other 

 ores are employed. The pow- 

 Bottles and Case for holding the Kohl and Egyptian Eye- der is kept in phials or pots, 



t 



