So THE ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF MERCURY IN MALACCA. 



metallic mercury it contained no combined mercury, no 

 cinnabar, or in fact a sulphide of any kind. Now the presence 

 of mercury in such a matrix of laterite pure and simple is a 

 mineralogical impossibility, and my first attempt to solve the 

 problem was by sharply questioning the Laboratory Steward 

 whether he had lately spilled any mercury about the place. 

 This led to indignant protests and no result, and thus there 

 was left but one possible hope of explanation, viz., the existence 

 of a cinnabar vein in St. Paul's Hill, from which the mercury 

 had been derived, although it seemed strange that none of 

 the cinnabar had found its way into the sample with it. A 

 report was sent to the effect that the mercury was there, that 

 it had no business to be there, and its presence could only be 

 accounted for by a somewhat improbable hypothesis. At the 

 instance of the Acting Resident Councillor, I was then asked 

 to visit the place in person, but was unable to do so until the 

 end of January, when I found a great part of the site 

 covered up with brickwork. No difficulty was, however, 

 experienced in ascertaining the nature of the entire forma- 

 tion, and proving the absence of a cinnabar vein and of 

 sulphides generally. The existence of metallic mercury, 

 however, was confirmed ; appreciable quantities of it were 

 found in several places, in fact 2 oz. were collected in about 

 ten minutes. Having proved that this metal could not pri- 

 marily have been present in the soil, it follows that it must 

 have found its way into it by accident, and this opens up an 

 unlimited field for speculation, unfortunately, however, with- 

 out the redeeming feature of being able to tell the correct 

 guess from the rest. 



As several pounds of the metal had been obtained with 

 little trouble in one place, and more might have been collect- 

 ed in other parts, it is evident, that a considerable quantity of 

 mercury must, at one time or another, have been placed into 

 the ground intentionally or accidentally ; this suggests the 

 following possibilities and new questions : — 



1. The metal was intentionally poured into the ground. 

 It is hard to conceive a reason for this ; " salting " mercury 

 mines would be a new idea entirely. 



