are chiefly confined to the northern and western
parts of it, whereas the south-eastern has hardly been
touched. From one extremity to the other, the
alluvial lands are ascertained to abound in beds of
tin j and from the analogy of other countries, it is
beyond any doubt that the mountains abound in
veins of it. To the difficult and expensive processes
required for the mining of these last it is
at present superfluous to look, for the alluvial
lands contain the cheap and abundant supply of
many ages.
I shall, with the view of pointing out the great
value of the mines of Banca, draw a short comparison
between them and those of Cornwall. The
whole produce of the mines of Banca, when they
were wrought to the greatest advantage, was nearly
the same in numerical amount with the highest
produce of those of Cornwall. Even at present
their amount is equal to one half of it. But the
whole produce of Banca is grain tin, a pure metal,
superior in intrinsic value to block tin 22£ per
cent. Cornish tin is obtained, with vast labour, by
mining through obdurate granite, often to the prodigious
depth of many hundred fathoms; Banca
tin, by digging through a few soft strata of sand
and clay, and seldom to more than three or four
fathoms. To clear the Cornish mines from water,
the most expensive and complex machinery is requisite
; to clear those of Banca, a simple wooden
wheel, ' costing a few shillings ! To separate the
Cornish ore from its matrix, it must be ground in
a stamping-mill, as well as subjected to the process
of washing. The Banca tin is at once separated
from its matrix, and fitted without farther care
¡for smelting, by the simple process of passing
A stream of running water over it in an aqueduct
simply; lined with the bark of trees. The necessary
•result of all this is, that the cost of producing ,a cwt.
of Banca tin is but 22s. 8d., whereas that of Cornwall
tin is not less than 6fs. 7 d .; and that, while
a Cornish mine seldom yields a rent of more than
a tenth or twelfth of the produce, often not more
•than a twenty-fourth, and usually not above a fifteenth,
the Banca mines yield no,less than one-
half. This is the most exact and unquestionable
tost of the superior fertility of the one over the
Other. The skill and ingenuity of Europeans,—
their capital,—and their machinery, make some
amends for the inferior fertility of the Cornish
mines, hut such as are far enough from counterbalancing
the immense wealth of those of Banca.
Were the Cornish workmen, with their ingenuity,
their capital, and machinery, to be employed on
such mines as those of Banca, no other mines in
the world would, in a short time, be worth working;
and, on the other hand, were the Banca miners,
with their tools and simple machinery, to attempt
such mines as those of Cornwall, there can be no