204 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
and is a port of call for all the mail steamers between 
Batavia and Singapore. The Dutch are represented by 
Controleurs at eight different towns and villages in various 
parts of the island. 
East of Bangka, and separated from it by the dangerous, 
reef-beset Gaspar Strait, lies Blitong (Billiton), a consider¬ 
able island of an irregular, sub-quadrangular form, and 
about 40 miles across. It has an area of about 1800 
miles, and the highest point attains an elevation of 3117 
feet. Geologically it resembles Bangka and exhibits the 
same alluvial deposits of tin, and like that island it is 
covered with dense forest. The iron ore has been worked 
by the natives for a very long period, but the value of 
the tin deposits was only recognised about the year 
1850. At the present time nearly as much is obtained 
from this island as from Bangka, but it is the extreme 
southern limit of the stanniferous formation. This begins 
in Tenasserim, and occupying more than 20° of latitude, 
is thus the most extensive in the world. 
The chief town of Blitong is Tanjong Pandang, on the 
Chiruchup river. There is but little trade except in 
forest produce and tin. The population of the island in 
1887 was 35,000, of whom over 9000 were Chinese. 
The total output of tin for Bangka and Blitong in tons 
for the live years 1886-1890 was as follows:—6175, 
7906, 11,712, 10,383, 8876, and the average may 
therefore be placed at about 9000 tons. The industry is 
a Government monopoly, and is leased to a company. 
Of late the island has been politically separated from 
Bangka, and is now an Assistant Besidency. 
8. Eeligion. Antiquities. 
It is impossible now to fix the date of the introduction 
