THE HISTORY AND PRESENT CONDITION OP MALACCA. 747 
It may be that the former, and now historical fame of Malacca as a 
commercial emporium may have conduced to this ignorance of its 
agricultural resources; people who have ever heard or read of Ma¬ 
lacca, have learnt only that she was once the great depot of the 
trade of the Eastern seas, that this trade has now completely aban¬ 
doned her for the more favorable position of Singapore, and that 
consequently she must be what Singapore would become if the trade 
abandoned her for some more fovoured rival,—a useless island co¬ 
vered with jungle. They have no idea that beyond what may be 
seen from on board a ship in the roads, there extends a wide tract 
of rich and fertile land, available to any one who will undertake to 
cultivate it, with a large population of quiet, orderly (though per¬ 
haps not very industrious) peasantry, and with all the resources that 
can be looked for by an intending cultivator. 
Tin. —Malacca and tbe adjacent Malayan states have always been 
famed for the quantity of Tin found in them, but it is only of late 
years that much has been found within what are now the limits of 
the British possessions. Some fortunate discoveries of rich lo¬ 
calities have given an impetus to the mining speculations which 
now employ several thousands of Chinese and tend greatly to the 
prosperity of the place, but it is to be feared that such prosperi¬ 
ty will prove but temporary, and that after a few years these work¬ 
men may be thrown out of employ by the exhaustion of the tin lay¬ 
ers, which are superficial and of very unequal richness. The whole 
operation of what is called working a tin mine is pure speculation, 
gambling in fact, in which many have lost considerable sums of mo¬ 
ney whilst others are found realizing handsome fortunes. As before 
mentioned, the interior of Malacca is a succession of undulations— 
of low lands mostly turned into rice fields, separated by gently rising, 
what are called garden lands. These low lands, or valleys, have 
every appearance of being the beds of former, it may be anti-diluvi- 
an streams, leading into or from some mighty river. It is in these 
apparent beds of streams and in them only that the tin is found, all 
on one apparent level, but of course in some parts, at a greater depth 
in the 7th year the trees commence to produce, and give but ten nuts 
each during that year, at 90 tree to an acre this will give 4^ Lacs 
of nuts, which at 8 Dollars a thousand would realize. 3,600 Dollars. 
In the ensuing year, supposing the produce to be 30 nuts a tree, the 
sum realised would be 10,800 Dollars, and in the next year, that is the 9th 
year from the commencement of the estate (at 50 nuts per tree, a very low 
general average) the produce would be 18,000 Dollars, while all expenses 
would have been nearly cleared off by the produce of the two former years. 
