REPORT ON THE ISLAND OP BANKA, 
313 
ness of mining was carried on in Banlca about the middle of last 
century, by the reports of a commission sent from Batavia in the 
year 1755 to regulate the affairs of the East-India Company at the 
Court of Plembang, and to regulate the exist’ng contracts. An ac¬ 
curate statement is annexed to this report of the annual quantity of 
Tin received at Batavia from Plembang from the year 1733 (the 
year preceding 1 the expulsion of Sultan Anom) to the year 1754. 
The produce had gradually increased from 1110 piculs or 148,000 
English pounds to upwards of 16,000 piculs or 2,133,333^- pounds: 
the largest quantity was yielded in 1751 and amounted to 16,884 
piculs. 
A calculation Is added from some enquiries that were made at 
Minto, by one of the members of the commission, according to which 
the possible annual produce of the mines is estimated at 73,000 pi¬ 
culs, founded on the number of furnaces then existing on the Island, 
and the quantity of ore daily retiued on an average at each furnace; 
but the data are vague and the calculation apparently much exagge¬ 
rated. The mines at this period were confined to Minto, Belo and 
the environs of Klabbet hay. 
The death of Sultan Mahmudbadur-Udin occurred in 1756; he 
was succeeded by his son who took the title of Sultan Ratu Aclunat 
Nadja Mudin, and whose reign continued to the year 1776. Du¬ 
ring this period both Plembangand Banka enjoyed an uninterrupted 
tianquillity. The prosperity of this reign has even become prover¬ 
bial at the capital, and at the late succession, the new Sultan, who 
was raised to the throne in the place of his exiled brother, who had 
deserted his residence and duty, was anxious to take the name of 
his grand-father, on account of its favorable recollection among the 
inhabitants of Plembang, at the present day. During this period 
the produce of the mines had increased to such a degree that the 
quantity of Tin carried to Batavia, according to contract, exceeded 
the demands at that place, and led to a limitation of the quantity to 
be accepted annually hy the government of that place, a measure im¬ 
politic in the highest degree, as it opened the way and sanctioned in¬ 
directly that habit of clandestine sale and smuggling which, but few 
