A royal smuggler

by William Dalton

“Toward the setting sun, not three leagues from hence,” replied the “strong one;” who then explained that some few days before, while he and his brother had been out bees-nest hunting, they had ignited a large fire at the foot of a tree, and amongst the embers afterwards found some melted metal, which upon examination proved to be tin, and that, encouraged by the discovery, they had commenced digging and were rewarded by finding a vein of the ore.

“Truly it is a great discovery, and will enrich the finders—nay, the whole province;” but, glancing at Martin and me, he added, “Yet my brothers should have been more wary in making known their fortune before strangers, for should it come to the ears of our Dutch masters, like voracious hogs they will seize the treasure, even as they sought to do in the island of Bangka.”

“It is not possible the young sahibs, our brother’s friends, will betray this discovery, since it concerns him as much as ourselves,” replied the “weak one;” “but,” he added, “the sight will gladden the eyes of our brother; therefore let him accompany us to-morrow, and we will lead him to the spot.”

“My brother’s words are good—we need have no fear of the young sahibs. They come from the land of the Americans, and are too brave to rob their friend when his back is turned,” replied Prabu, with a meaning smile. “But,” he added, “the sleeping-mats await us, the sun will be in the heavens before our eyes are opened;” and the party at once sought their different rooms: the villagers, as will be seen hereafter, to scheme, Martin and I to sleep, and Prabu, perhaps, to dream of the advantages to be derived from this new discovery, which was to make the province as rich as the island of Bangka—in fact, another Cornwall. But a few words with my readers about tin and the tin mines of the Indian islands.

So important was the finding of tin in the island of Bangka regarded, that it has often been compared with the discovery of the great silver-mines of South America. In 1710, the son of the King of Palembang, sovereign also of Bangka, examining the debris of a consumed village, found a quantity of melted metal, which proved to be tin. Making this known to his father, the king ordered his miners to dig well in the ground, the result being the finding of a rich vein of ore. The Dutch, hearing of this, at once sought permission to establish a factory in the island; but the king, either knowing too much about the rapacity of the Hollanders, and being a man of larger mind than most Asiatic sovereigns, or perhaps, and most probably, consulting his own interests, refused his permission to grant a monopoly, further declaring that the island should be free for all nations to trade in. And in less than thirty years from the discovery, so well did the ignorant natives mine, that the island yielded as much as Cornwall at the present time, and that, too, by a process of mining simple, easy, and cheap.

But to comprehend that process, let us first examine the geological formation of the island of Bangka. Well, it is chiefly primary rock. The principal mountains are of granite, and those of inferior elevation of red ironstone. In the low tracts between these the tin ore is found, and hitherto always in alluvial deposits, seldom further than 25 feet from the surface. The strata in which it is found are always in a horizontal direction, and consist as follows:—First, or uppermost, one-and-a-half feet of vegetable mould; second, eight feet of black clay; third, six feet of gray clay, intermixed with sand; fourth, six feet of black clay; and fifth, or bottom-most, six feet of coarse sand, of semi-transparent color, bedded in pure white clay. Immediately beneath the last stratum occurs the bed or stream of tin ore, disseminated in coarse fragments of granite and other primitive rocks, and of various degrees of depth.

As for the mine itself, it is nothing else than a large oblong pit, made by excavating the ground, in a perpendicular direction, to a depth of from 15 to 25 feet, to remove the superincumbent strata of sand and clay, and get at the ore. The first opening is seldom above 100 feet in length, and if the ore is discovered to lie below the usual depth, the situation, in the present abundance of mineral, will be neglected for a more favorable one. The mines are divided into large and small, called respectively, in the language of the country, kolong and kulit. It is in the first only that the process of mining is carried to any degree of refinement, and that machinery is employed. The Chinese alone are engaged in working these, and the average number of hands employed in each mining operation is from 25 to 30. The whole of the laborers work on terms of equality, the older and more experienced directing, and the younger and more active performing the operative part, while all share equally in the profits. Fortunately, it has been found impracticable to make the Chinese labor on any other terms.

The whole process for obtaining the metal consists of mining, washing and fusing; of each of these I shall supply a very brief sketch, in their natural order. The situation for opening a new mine is determined by some indications of the existence of the mineral, well known to the experienced Chinese, and by the usual test of boring. The ground being first cleared of the huge primeval forest which covers all Bangka, the miners begin methodically to remove the alluvial strata to get at the ore. In large mines, of a superficies of 100 feet by 80, this operation, conducted by 25 or 30 workmen, will occupy about from three to four months. The earth is removed by little baskets, a pair of which are suspended, according to the usual custom of the East, from a beam or lever across the shoulders of the workmen. The rough trunk of a forest tree, felled upon the spot, and having steps cut into it, constitutes the ladder by which the descent and ascent into the mine is effected. The smaller mines, besides being generally more superficial, are commonly situated upon acclivities, and thus an accumulation of water seldom incommodes the mining; but the larger ones are more frequently in valleys, and soon filled with water, which it is necessary to remove. This is effected by a common and cheap hydraulic Chinese machine. Sometimes a canal is made to pass close to the mine, for the purpose of facilitating the labor of removing the upper strata of sand and clay, which are thrown into it as extracted, and thus carried off by the stream. This is, of course, practicable only in situations where the fluid has a considerable impetus. The stratum of tin is pursued by a succession of pits, following the first opening or shaft.

The washing of the mineral is performed in a manner remarkably cheap and easy; the numerous mountain streams, which characterize the physical aspect of Bangka, in common with all the other considerable islands of this tropical region, are the sources of this facility. When there is much room for selection, it becomes a material object to choose a mine in the neighborhood of such mountain-stream, which is either itself, or a canal from it, directed to the neighborhood of the mine, where an aqueduct is regularly formed, the sides of which are carefully lined with the bark of the large forest trees of the neighborhood. Into this trench the ore previously accumulated on its bank is gradually thrown in, while a rapid stream of water is made to pass through it, the laborer agitating the materials with a hoe. The earth and sand are carried off by the water. The ore and large stones by their gravity subside, when the latter are separated from the former by manual labor, with the occasional use of sieves. The purified ore thus obtained is removed to sheds erected for the purpose, and which contain the furnaces and apparatus for smelting.

The process of smelting is usually performed once a year, or, in a very productive season, twice. The furnace is ten feet long, four wide, and composed of clay. The bellows, or ventilator, is a piece of timber about twenty-five inches in diameter, having a bore of seventeen or eighteen inches, admitting a piston. It is made of a single tree, and its fabrication requires considerable skill. This engine, plied by three stout workmen, keeps up a constant blast on the furnace. A quantity of ignited charcoal is first thrown into the furnace, which continues, as long as the process of smelting goes forward, to be fed alternately with ore and coals. In due time, and when the furnace is heated, the metal begins to flow, in a full stream, from an aperture for the purpose in the bottom of the floor, and is received into a basin, from which in time it is removed, by a ladle, into moulds made of moist sand, formed near the furnace. The size of these moulds gives slabs or ingots of metal weighing 50 katis, or 66 2-3 lbs. This operation serves the double purpose of smelting and roasting the ore. It is always conducted in the night-time, to avoid the heats of the day, which would be inconvenient in that climate to the laborers. In the course of one night 5,280 lbs. of ore are smelted, which, at an average, afford 44 or 45 ingots of metal, or 3,062 lbs.