corn .-^Precio us Mffnls. 



belt of the Eastern Archipelago, 'including 1 the Islaixl 

 of Sumatra, arid mines of it have, for ,a long* period 

 of year*, been worked on the Malacca Peninsula. 

 The following places in Sumatra yield gold : Lang, 

 kat, Bulu China, Delhi, Kerdang, Kilvag, Jamhi and 

 Achcen. In ihis latter portion of Sumatra, gold for- 

 merly abounded more than it now seems to do ; or 

 perhaps the anarchy under which that country hay, 

 for many years, been labouring, has prevented the 

 mines being worked. A good many years ago, as 

 the Achinese relate, a lump of native gold, weighing 

 upwards of one cattie, rolled down from a hill, and a 

 mass of rich ore, weighing nearly a picul, was found at 

 a place called Aualahhoo. 



The exportation^ of gold from Penang seldom 

 exceed 20,000 drs. annually, but that from Singapore 

 is greater. 



JVL De La Loubere ohserved, in his History of Siam, 

 that no vein of gold or of silver had heen found in 

 that country which had repaid the costs of mining. 



A mine was opened, many years ago, at a place 

 called Khoan Thang Sook, lying on the western shore 

 of the gulf of Siam. But the supply is precarious 

 and would appear to he expensively obtained. In 

 1805, the emjiernr of Si;im sent 2,000 men, during 

 the dry season, to get a supply of gold from this 

 mine for the purpose of gilding pagodas. By wash- 

 ing the sand of a river and the soil on its banks, they, 

 as it is stated by the Siamese themselves, procured 

 40 catties weight of gold. The matrix appears to be 

 a red earth. But we cannot judge of the eost of its 

 production when forced Jahor was employed to ob- 

 tain it. Mr.Crawfurd states, in his History of Siam, that 

 the gold found on that coast is 19 carats fine. 



Gold mines exist in the country of Patani, lying - 

 within thirty miles of our frontier here. They have 



