Tin Is The Staple Product Of Sungei Ujong, And Until Lately The Malay
Peninsula And The Adjacent Regions Were Supposed To Be The Richest Tin
Producing Countries In The World.
There is not a single tin mine,
however, properly so-called.
The whole of the tin exported from Sungei
Ujong, which last year (1879), even at its present reduced price, was
valued at 81,400 pounds, and contributed as export duty to the
Government 5,800 pounds, is found in the detritus of ancient mountains,
and is got, in mining parlance, in "stream works" - that is, by washing
the soil, just as gold is washed out of the soil in Australia and
California. It is supposed that there is a sufficient supply to last
for ages, even though the demand for tin for new purposes is always on
the increase. It is tin mining which has brought the Chinese in such
numbers to these States, and as miners and smelters they are equally
efficient and persevering. In 1828, the number of Chinese working the
mines here was one thousand; and in the same year they were massacred
by the Malays. They now number ten thousand, and under British
protection have nothing to fear.
It is still the New Year holidays, and hundreds of Chinamen were
lounging about, and every house was gayly decorated. The Malays never
join house to house, the Chinese always do so, and this village has its
streets and plaza. The houses are all to a certain extent
fire-proof - that is, when a fire occurs, and the attap-thatched roofs
are burned, the houses below, which are mostly shops, are safe.
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