CHAPTER XXVII.
TIN.
Tin known from the most remote antiquity—Phœnician Traders—The Cassiterides—Diodorus Siculus—His Account of the Cornish Tin Trade—The Age of Bronze—Valuable Qualities of Tin—Tin Countries—Cornish Tin Lodes—Tin Streams—Wheal Vor—A Subterranean Blacksmith—Huel Wherry, a Tin Mine under the Sea—Carclaze Tin Mine—Dressing of Tin Ores—Smelting—The Cornish Miner.
Tin is one of the metals most anciently known to man. Its first discovery is hidden, like that of silver, gold, copper, and iron, in complete obscurity, for even the names of the nations which first made use of it are not known. Axes and lances, sickles and fishhooks of bronze—the well-known alloy of copper and tin—occur among the ruins of the ancient lacustrine habitations of Switzerland, and the tin of these bronze utensils could only be obtained by commerce from countries far remote, where it must, doubtless, have been known for many ages, before it found its way into the heart of Central Europe. Thus a few bronze implements picked up among other rubbish in the muddy bed of an Helvetian lake open a long vista into the obscure history of primitive man.
On turning from Europe to the East we find other proofs that tin has been known from the most remote antiquity. It is mentioned in the Book of Numbers (xxxi. 22) among the spoil which the children of Israel gained by their victory over the Midianites; and Ezekiel, in his prophetic warning to the Tyrians, enumerates tin as forming part of their riches.
ST. MICHAEL’S MOUNT, CORNWALL.
It is frequently noticed by Homer as a substance used for architectural ornaments or for the embellishment of the armour of his heroes, and its Greek name ‘Kassiteros,’ which evidently represents the Sanscrit ‘Kastira,’ leaves no doubt as to the part of the world from which it was first obtained. The tin which, in times unrecorded by chronology, served for the consumption of Western Asia, Egypt, and Greece, was supplied by the mines of India to the Phœnician traders, who conveyed it, either by land to Babylon, or by water to the ports of the Red Sea. At a much later period that great merchant people extended their maritime expeditions to the West, and sailing along the Atlantic coast of Gaul, ultimately discovered Cornwall, which afforded them a new and inexhaustible supply of tin. With the jealous spirit of trade, they long made a profound secret of its position; but about 450 years before Christ, Herodotus speaks of the Cassiterides, or tin islands, which some have supposed to be Britain. Four centuries later Diodorus Siculus, who lived in the times of Julius Cæsar and Augustus, gives us an interesting account of the ancient tin trade of Britain. ‘The inhabitants of that extremity of Britain which is called Bolerion’ (probably Land’s End), says the historian whose narrative is the more deserving of attention as we are told that he visited all the places he mentions: ‘both excel in hospitality and also, by reason of their intercourse with foreign merchants, they are civilized in their mode of life. These prepare the tin, working very skilfully the earth which produces it. The ground is rocky, but it has in it earthy veins, the produce of which is brought down and melted and purified. Then, when they have cast it into the form of cubes, they carry it to a certain island adjoining to Britain and called Iktis (probably St. Michael’s Mount). During the recess of the tide the intervening space is left dry, and they carry over abundance of tin to this place on their carts; and it is something peculiar that happens to the islands in these parts lying between Europe and Britain, for at full tide, the intervening passage being overflowed, they appear islands, but when the sea returns a large space is left dry and they are seen as peninsulas. From hence, then, the traders purchase the tin of the natives and transport it into Gaul, and finally, travelling through Gaul on foot, in about thirty days they bring their burdens on horseback to the river Rhone.’ Thus we learn from an authentic source how the tin of Cornwall found its way to Italy in the times of the first Roman Emperors; but long before that period the wild inhabitants of Cornwall must have discovered the use of the metallic treasures of their barren soil and the way to barter them for the commodities of the rude tribes of their own island or of the neighbouring nations of Gaul.
When we consider the various and important uses to which tin may be applied, we cannot wonder at its importance in the commerce of the ancient world. The discovery of bronze marks one of the great epochs in the progress of human civilization, and the nations that could command its use became at once superior, in peace and war, to the tribes who had only flint spear-heads for their defence or flint hatchets for the construction of their huts. At a later period, when iron gradually supplanted the use of bronze for many purposes, tin still continued to be highly esteemed for its many excellent qualities. Possessing a lustre but little inferior to that of silver, it is not soon tarnished, and not only retains its metallic brilliancy a long time, but when lost easily recovers it. Under the hammer it is extended into leaves called tin-foil, which are about one-thousandth of an inch thick, and might easily be beaten into one-half that thickness if the purposes of trade required it. The application of tin to the coating of other metals has been carried to great perfection, and it forms the chief ingredient in various kinds of pewter and other white metallic alloys, such as Britannia metal, which are manufactured into domestic utensils by casting, stamping, and other ingenious processes. Tin is the substance which, coated with quicksilver, makes the reflecting surface of glass mirrors. It is also very important in dyeing processes, as its solutions in nitric, muriatic, and other acids gives a degree of permanency and brilliancy to several colours not to be obtained by the use of other mordants. A compound of tin with gold gives the fine crimson and purple colours to stained glass and artificial gems, and enamel is produced by the fusion of oxide of tin with the materials of plate glass.
There are only two ores of tin—the peroxide, or tinstone, and the pyrites, or stannine. The former alone occurs in sufficient abundance for metallurgic purposes, and has been found in few countries in a workable quantity. In Asia its richest deposits occur in Sumatra, the peninsula of Malacca, and some smaller islands, particularly Banca and Billiton. The stanniferous region in this part of Asia extends from 20° N. Lat. to 5° S. Lat., and in many places the ore is found in such quantities in the alluvial grounds as to be separated in the easiest manner, by washing or ‘streaming,’ from the gravel or sand with which it is mixed. The facility with which it is obtained renders its cost of extraction so small that large quantities find their way to the European markets. In 1866 the mines of Banca furnished 5,362 tons of tin, and those of the Sound 5,254 tons of the same metal. The port of London alone received 4,400 tons of tin from these two sources. In consequence of the constantly increasing importation from the Malay countries, the price of the metal has been constantly decreasing since 1856, so that the ton of ore, which at that time was worth 70l., now fetches no more than 48l. Unfortunately these low prices have materially injured the prosperity of our Cornish mines, which from year to year find it more difficult to compete with Banca and Billiton. Their production, however, still continues to be immense, for in 1866 they yielded 15,080 tons of ore, from which 9,990 tons of metal were extracted. This quantity is greater than that of any preceding year; and as many of the deep mines of Cornwall are changing from copper into tin ore, increased supplies will be obtained to meet any demand.
Compared with this vast production, that of Saxony (seventy-six tons), Bohemia (twenty-one tons), Spain, and France is so insignificant as to be hardly worth mentioning; but our Australian possessions have lately increased the small number of tin-producing countries, and give promise of future importance.