140 ON THE PATANI. 



been produced by such action, for had the valleys been scooped 

 out by that process, galena would undoubtedly be found in the beds 

 of these streams in even greater proportions than tin, for its supe- 

 rior specific gravity would enable it to hold its own against the 

 currents and prevent its being carried away to any great distance, 

 whilst the fact of its abundant existence in situ on the very verge 

 of these rivers leaves no room for doubt that had there occurred 

 such a process of denudation ample deposits of galena would have 

 resulted. 



These rivers are fed from the slopes of the granite ranges which 

 at one time have been and may be even now, extensively reticulated 

 with thin veins of cassiterite, or tin stone, which, during the erosion 

 of ages has been freed from the parent rock and carried down by 

 the watershed. The tin found in these streams is generally of a 

 very pure quality, but very small in grain. The richest tin mines in 

 Patani are held by Datoh Chew Beng and are very profitable. As 

 before stated. Tin is found in large deposits on the tops of hills 

 bordering the great lines of granite ranges. These hills are composed 

 of a reddish brown sandstone, soft and spongy near the surface, 

 li Batu Mati " as the natives call it, i. e. " dead stone." The Chinese 

 call it " Seeow." Both above and below this, good tin is obtained, but 

 the lower strata often contain wolf rum, i.e., tungstate of manganese 

 and the sandstones which become harder the further the distance 

 from the surface are highly impregnated with iron and manganese, 

 hence many Chinese Jcongsis, who have for years been working and 

 smelting the surface tins with great success, are often very much 

 perplexed by suddenly finding, upon reaching deeper ground, that 

 their ore no longer yields bright tin but only a cindery looking 

 slag. 



The tin-bearing hills are worked by means of water races brought 

 from the mountain streams high up the granite ranges and are fre- 

 quently constructed at great cost and brought from considerable 

 distances, along the sinuous contour of the mountain spurs. 

 Having obtained a good and constant supply of water, the stream 

 is turned on to the stanniferous ground, which is broken up by 

 the miners by means of chocks. A chock is a kind of crowbar ; 

 it consists of a long, heavy, thick-pointed, spear-shaped iron head 



