748 THE HISTORY ANT) PRESENT CONDITION OF MALACCA. 
than in others from the present surface, giving- rise to the impression 
that the whole must have been washed down from some mountain¬ 
ous tin locality in former ages, and deposited in these beds. That 
the deposit should be richer in some localities than in others may 
be accounted for by various supposititious circumstances. Through¬ 
out these apparent beds of streams, there are persons constantly en¬ 
gaged in the search for good localities to work. An excavation is 
made and the digging continued till the layer of tin he attained, when 
a judgment is formed partly by omens and partly by the appearance 
of the ore obtained, whether the locality would prove remunerating or 
otherwise. If the former idea prevail, then all the expense is incur¬ 
red of preparing to excavate on a large scale, and after some weeks 
of labour in removing the supervening soil, the question is solved 
whether this expense is to be put down to profit or to loss. The 
description of the manner of working the tin mines in Banca and 
of the geological features of the tin districts in that island given in 
the Journal for July last, is applicable nearly word for word to Ma¬ 
lacca, the only difference, probably, being that the working in Ban¬ 
ca is less a matter of chance success than here.* In Malacca pro¬ 
bably not more than half the workings undertaken repay the ex¬ 
pense, and perhaps one half only of these prove remunerative more 
or less above the original expense, while to four or five only have 
the grand prizes as yet fallen, but these are indeed noble prizes 
well calculated to stimulate all the speculative energies of Chinamen 
in the lottery. Some of these workings are so rich as to give one 
very much the idea of shovelling out dollars from a wide excavation 
in the ground. It is almost wholly tin, the washing it undergoes 
probably not carrying off more than one-fifth of the mass. Through¬ 
out the settlement there are now about a couple of hundred of these 
tin workings in full operation, giving employment to some 6 or 
7000 Chinese labourers, and the number is on the increase. The quan¬ 
tity of tin exported from Malacca during the year 1847 was 16,243 
piculs, while during the past nine months of the present year, from 
January to the end of September, the quantity exported has been 
17,257 piculs.f The revenue derived from tin is now becoming 
considerable, amounting during the present year to ten thousand dol- 
* See Dr. Horsfield’s Report on the island of Banka, ante, p. 898 &*c. 
also Sketch of the Physical Geography and Geology of the Malay Pe¬ 
ninsula, ante, p. 102-106. 
f A considerable portion of the export however, consists of tin im¬ 
ported from the bordering petty Malay states. 
