AND TIIE ECONOMY OP THE MINES, 819 
making it. Its dimensions and application will best appear from a 
sketch which will be added separately, in conjunction with that of 
the furnace and the large shed appropriated to the business of 
smelting,* The mill or wheel for elevating the water with its ap¬ 
purtenances can be constructed by most carpenters : and its appli¬ 
cation will also be more conveniently represented by a delineation. 
Besides these, small ivheel-barroivs according to a Chinese model, 
are generally employed as well at the mines for carrying the ore, 
after washing, to the furnaces, as for conveying the metal to the 
stockades and establishments. 
The smelting of the ore and the preparation of the coals, both 
requiring some habitude and experience, are performed by persons 
who make a regular profession of the business: the former are 
known as smelters or Tnk&n puput , the others as coal-burners or 
Tukdn arrdng. The smelters are paid, according to an established 
rate, for each night’s work, and the coal-burners receive a fixed 
price for each basket (or pikol) of coals. 
Before concluding the account of the mines it may be proper to 
detail some particulars relating to their private economy during the 
administration of Plembang. The Sovereign or Sultan was acknow¬ 
ledged to be the exclusive proprietor of the mines, they were work¬ 
ed only with his consent, and he received a fixed portion of their 
produce. But the care of administering them was committed to 
certain officers at the court of Plembang. These were called Tikus, 
and were generally charged with every thing relating to the reve¬ 
nues of the Sovereign. As well the duties of their office as their 
responsibility were of a peculiar nature, but will more properly be 
pointed out in another place. At the time when Banka became a 
British possession, the principal mines were divided amony 5 Tikus. 
One administered Jebus, a second Klabbefc and Sungie-liat, a third 
P&ngkal-pinang, a fourth Tubuali Permissang and Tampelang, and a 
fifth Marawang, and Tirak Belinyu, Lumut &c. Belo .were admi¬ 
nistered by persons of secondary rank. 
The Tikus or treasurers above mentioned, in as far as related to 
B&nka, were invested with-the most extensive prerogatives : they 
were considered as representing the sovereign in their particular 
districts. No appeal could be made by the miners to the person of 
the Sultan, and they possessed and exercised the power over the 
* This sketch has not been furnished. Ed. 
