BANCA. 



m 



strata, and obtained by wasting, just as in the 

 process of washing similar alluYial deposits fur gold, 

 Wlien the beds of all tlie basins on the island have 

 been thoroughly washed, the yield of tin will be at 

 an end, because it does not occur, as at Cornwall, in 

 veins in the granite, but only in small scattered 

 grains. The washing is almost wholly done by 

 Chinese, who chiefly come fi'om Amoy, 



The income of Banca* has been for some time 

 over three m il l ion guilders per yeai', after deduct- 

 ing the salaiies of all the officials on the island, and 

 the annual expense of the garrison. The chief engi- 

 neer thiuks that about two-thirds of all the tin on 

 the island has now been taken out, but that tlie 

 present yield will continue for some years, and a leas 

 one for many years after. This tin-beai'ing range 

 of granite begins as far north on the west coast of 

 the peninsula of Malacca as Tavoy. It has been 

 obtained at Tenasserim, and on the island of Junk 

 Ceylon, and large quantities are annually taken out 

 at Malacca. It is also foimd on the Sumatra side of 

 the strait, in the distnct of K am par. The range 

 reappears in the islands of Banca and Billiton, and 

 again in Bali, at the eastern end of Java. 



Ma^/ 14^A.— In the evening the steamer arrived 

 fix>m Batavia For fellow-passengers I found the cap- 

 tain and doctor of an English ship that had lately 

 been bumed in the Strait of Sunda while bound fi^om 

 Amoy to Demarara with a cargo of coolies. A pas- 

 senger from her was also on board, who had written 



* Tlie population of the island is 54^339. Of tliese, 116 are Euro- 

 peans ; aT,070 luitivcs; 17,097 Chinese, and 6& Aniba. 



