66 



SJcelch of the Malayan Peninsula. 



[Jan. 



ore. I am not aware that it has ever been obtained directly from its 

 matrix, the granite, in which it is supposed either to exist disseminated 

 or in the form of veins or lodes. The ore of Savgie ujong, Naving and 

 Perak, is said by Malays to be the purest, yielding upwards of 76 per 

 cent. In 1835, Mr. J. Prinsep, Secretary Asiatic Society of Calcutta, 

 obligingly tested for me the purity of several cast blocks of tin (pre- 

 pared for sale), produce of the principal mines of the peninsula, by the 

 specific gravity, which was as follows : pure tin at the same tempera- 



ture, 84° 5', being about 7.2yO. 



No. 1 from Naning 7.317 



No. 2 „ Srimenanti 7.262 



No. 3 „ Jompole.. 7.287 



No. 4 „ Sungie lijong 7.223 



No. 5 „ Liikut in Scilangore 7.349 



No. 6 „ Rumbowe 7.256 



No. 7 „ Jellabu 7-314 



No. 8 „ Perak 7.299 



Two specimens of the ore ixom. Lukut ?Li[\dL Srimenanti w^ere also 

 tested. The former is a fine grained black oxide of fin. Specific gra- 

 vity 6.74 and yielded a produce of 70 per cent, of very good metal, on 

 simple fusion with black flux. That from Srimenanti i?, in much larger 

 grains or lumps. It weighed only 6.64, and yielded onlv 52i (?) per 

 cent, of metal, giving off some sulphur in the fire. It is therefore in- 

 ferior to the former, but probably not to the extent stated in the above 

 single reduction. The stream ore of Cornwall^ with all the ad- 

 vantages of European science and ingenuity employed in its reduc- 

 tion, does r.ot yield more on an average than 75 per cent. That of 

 Banca is said to give only from 55 to 60. That of Junk Ceylon 64|. 



There is considerable variation in the value of the metal produced, 

 arising from some difference in the ore ; or, what is more probable, 

 from adulteration, or from difference in the mode of smelting. The 

 tin from Chinese furnaces is preferred to that smelted by Malays. The 

 tin of Banca, for instance, fetches from 16 to 16^ dollars the picul, while 

 that of the peninsula, principally worked by Malays, sells from 14 to 

 15. The tin of Perak ranks the low^est. In consequence of a suppos- 

 ed adulteration in Peninsular or Straits tin, some specimens of ingots 

 of this metal, rejected at Canton, w^ere sent from Singapore to be assay- 

 ed at Calcutta in 1831. This w^as done at the Calcutta Assay Office, 

 where, after examination, the melal was pronounced to be of good 

 quality and perfectly good in a mercantile sense. The ingots of tin 



