RTEPGRT ON Till! ISLAND OF BANKA. 
30 J 
tions of it have been published. But no consideration of the kind 
would have withheld us from doing 1 a tardy act of justice to Dr. 
Horsfield by presenting his report in full, even had these later des¬ 
criptions been such as to deprive it of much of its original value. 
This however is not the case. The Report contains a more com¬ 
plete account of the mineralogical constitution of the island than any 
that has yet been given. It presents moreover a view of the tin 
mines at the time when the island wag a British possession, and this 
it is interesting to compare with their present condition and extent. 
The introductory paper contains also the most f uli and accurate no¬ 
tices of the history of the island which we have mat with. Before 
receiving the Report we had translated a recent description of the 
island from the Tijdschrift voor Neerlands Indie, and had likewise 
procured a translation of a recent German work on it by Dr. Epp. 
As our readers might justly complain if gave so many successive pa¬ 
pers on one island of the Archipelago, when we are in possession of 
descriptions of many others, which we have not yet been able to 
publish, we shall give as much as possible of the more interesting 
parts of these translations in the form of notes to Dr. Horsfield’s 
Report.— Ed.] 
INTRODUCTION TO THE REPORT ON BANKA. 
In the subsequent introductory remarks 1 have combined the his- 
• torical details which were occasionally collected, during a series of 
enquiries, relating to the general condition of the island of Bankd, 
its geography, mines and inhabitants. They are not offered as fully 
authentic, as they depend in a great m'easure on the memory and 
veracity of various inhabitants of Plembang and Minto. But I had 
an opportunity of directing my enquiries to the most respectable per¬ 
sons at those places, and I have been able to add from incidents 
which rest on a more solid and respectable foundation. I am by no 
4 
means impressed with an idea of their importance. I offer them ra¬ 
ther with diffidence, as they represent objects of little interest and 
on the whole, of a gloomy aspect; these are however characteristic 
of Banka. 
