418 MI N ERA LOGICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF BANKA. 
exposed by the process of mining can be observed on the surface : 
Fragments of quartz and felspar are dispersed over a surface of sand 
which is coloured yellow or red according to the adventitious parti¬ 
cles of clay 5 amygdaloids are also observed in considerable abund¬ 
ance. 
The remarks which I made at this old settlement deserve some at¬ 
tention. The river of Klabbet discharg es itself through a valley which 
has a general direction from west to east: on the declivities of this 
valley, at the distance of about one mile from the sea, the dwellings of 
a number of Chinese families are built near the site of the old stock¬ 
ade, which was on a gently rising ground at a small distance from 
the valley. 
I examined the sides of the valley in different places where the 
ground had been cut through perpendicularly by the Chinese for 
the purpose of fixing their habitations: the layers were very similar 
to those I had seen in several mines. Immediately under the soil 
was a layer of coarse sand, consisting of particles of quartz of differ¬ 
ent sizes, which were loosely agglutinated by clay of varying shades 
of colour from light yellow to red : the quantity of clay was sufficient 
to give to the particles of sand a considerable degree of adhesion. 
In several large masses which had been detached from this layer, in 
different places, near its lower termination, I noticed an appearance 
which had not occurred to me before. Amygdaloids of the kind of 
those above described which I had found in various parts of this pe¬ 
ninsula, consisting of Red-Iron-stone clay and sand were here in a 
state of complete decomposition : Being divided by a cutting instru¬ 
ment, which w T as easily effected, the Red-stone, which enters into 
their composition was completely exposed, with the particles of 
quartz distributed through it: those portions which had been preser¬ 
ved some time in a dry place had become loose and friable. A sec¬ 
tion of one of these amygdaloids exhibited an appearance very dif¬ 
ferent from the stratum of transparent sand agglutinated by means 
of red coloured clay, which has several times been mentioned ; it was 
truly characteristic of the nature of this aggregate, while in large 
masses the manner in which the amygdaloids were imbedded in the 
