The Supply Of This Ore Is Apparently
Inexhaustible, But No Veins Have As Yet Been Found.
The mine of
Ampagnan only, near Kwala Lumpor, the capital, gives employment to over
one thousand Chinamen, and each can extract in a year one thousand
pounds weight of white smelted tin valued at 35 pounds sterling.
This
mineral wealth is the magnet which, according as the price of tin is
higher or lower, attracts into Selangor more or fewer Chinamen. The
chief source of the revenue of the State has been the export duty on
tin.
The low lands on the coast are fringed with mangroves, which thrive in
blue mud and heavy clays, and these lands, when drained, are well
adapted for sugar. Wet rice grows well in the swampy valleys which
separate the minor ranges, and dry rice on the rises; while tapioca,
tobacco, pepper and gambier thrive on the medium heights. The sago palm
flourishes on wet lands. The high hills are covered with primeval
forests, and the Malays have neither settlements nor plantations upon
them. It is believed that these hills, at a height of from two thousand
five hundred to three thousand five hundred feet, are admirably adapted
for the growth of Arabian coffee, cinchona and tea; and some Ceylon
coffee planters are expecting an era of success in Selangor. At
present, however, the necessary labor is not available. The soil in the
interior on the mountain slopes consists of a light red and yellow
clay, the product of a comparatively recent rock decomposition, covered
with vegetable mould from eight to twelve inches thick. There are no
droughts, and the rainfall, distributed pretty fairly over the year,
averages about one hundred and thirty inches annually. The climate is
remarkably healthy, and diseases of locality are unknown. Land can be
purchased for eight shillings per acre on terms of deferred payments.
One curious feature of Selangor, as of Perak, is the occurrence of
isolated hills of limestone varying from eighty to one thousand feet in
height. At Batu there are magnificent limestone caves, richly adorned
with stalactites and stalagmites. The dome of one cavern is three
hundred and fifty-five feet from floor to roof. An important fact
connected with these caverns is that they contain thousands of tons of
bats' manure, which may be as valuable as guano to future planters.
Between the heavy clays and blue mud of the mangrove swamps and the
granite and sandstone of the mountain ranges, the undulating rises are
mainly composed of red clay, sandstones, shales, and granitic and
feldspathic rocks, with extensive deposits of laterite in red clays on
the surface. In the valleys along the rivers the soil consists of rich
alluvial deposits.
Undoubtedly Selangor has great capabilities, and if the difficulties of
the labor question can be satisfactorily disposed of, it is likely that
the new offer of leases for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, subject
to improvement clauses, will attract a number of planters to its
fertile soil and wholesome climate.
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