The outlay of capital, according to this mode of extracting tin, is trifling. Besides the waterwheel, ventilator, and shed, including the furnaces, it consists of the charges for pickaxes, spades, hoes, shovels, and a few cheap wheelbarrows after a Chinese construction. The very woods cut down on the site of the mines afford the necessary charcoal for smelting. The whole of the processes described are conducted by the Chinese. The miners are scattered over the island, according to the direction of the mines. Besides the immediate laborers in the mines, many others are connected with them, being engaged either in raising food and necessaries, or in fabricating the tools and other materials required in the processes of mining, washing, and smelting. Among these are blacksmiths, carpenters, charcoal-burners, gardeners, etc. In the present state of population, the corn consumed by the workmen is more cheaply imported than grown. The simplicity of the various processes of mining industry is such, that little previous training is necessary. The only exception to this is the business of the smelter, which is always a separate trade. The miners are almost all natives of China, and, notwithstanding the difference of climate and the severity of their occupations, enjoy good health.
Besides the tin extracted by the Chinese, by the intelligent processes now described, an inconsiderable quantity is obtained by the natives, by very rude processes. The masters of the island, the Malays, or at least the people of Palembang, imitate the Chinese at an humble distance, and extract the ore by means similar to those practiced by the latter in the small mines. The aborigines follow still ruder processes: they mine in the form of a narrow, cylindrical shaft, capable of admitting one person only, and if the bed of ore be found productive, follow it at the risk of their lives under the alluvial strata, which often fall in upon them. They have no waterwheel, no aqueduct; to avoid the accumulation of water, they must always mine on the acclivities of elevated tracts, and for washing the mineral, it must be conveyed, as it is extracted, to the nearest rivulet. In smelting, they use small furnaces, and instead of the large and effectual ventilator of the Chinese, the common Malay bellows is employed by them. The metal is even transported to the market with inferior skill; and to facilitate its conveyance, is cast into much smaller slabs than those of the Chinese, by which distinction it is known in the markets. The different conditions of the three races of men, in point of industry and civilization, is distinctly portrayed in their respective manner of pursuing the process of mining.
CHAPTER XI.
A SEARCH FOR A MARE’S-NEST.
“I say, Claud,” cried Martin, as soon as we were alone.
“No, don’t—don’t say anything now; for I am knocked up with fatigue and sore bones, and want to tumble off to sleep at once.”
“Ah! but I must, old fellow. What a confounded fib you told!”
“To whom?” I replied, reddening with indignation.
“Well, to the bee-hunters, or to Prabu and me; for the two stories were about as much alike as black and white.”
“Not to you, Martin. As for the chief’s sons, had I told them the truth, depend upon it, I should have had a creese in my side before the morning.”
“Ah! I see,” he replied, thoughtfully. “It is, then, as I imagined; they are the nest-robbers you saw in the cave. I knew that a fellow who had never been guilty of a falsehood in his life could not fabricate such a tarradiddle without some great motive.”