To the statement given of the exports of Sumatra
and Pontianak, and of the produce of the
mines of Montradak, many items are wanting to enable
us to form an estimate of the total produce
of the Archipelago. The whole of the natives of
the Indian Islands consume, as ornaments, a much
larger quantity of gold than could be reckoned
upon from the standard of their relative wealth and
civilization. This arises, in some measure,—from
the want of silver mines, and the greater relative value
of that metal,—from the demand of the precious
metals being not for plate or utensils, but for
personal ornaments, for which the beauty of gold
makes it more suitable,—and from the necessary
cheapness of gold in the countries which produce
it. This is, of course, a point to be considered in
attempting to form an estimate of the whole
amount. Of the production of the Malay Peninsula,
the Suluk Archipelago, the east coast of
Borneo, and the Island of Celebes, with the
whole of the Philippines, we have no means of
forming an estimate, but if the whole produce of
these, with the domestic consumption, amount to
but one-fourth of that of which I have attempted to
form an estimate, and this is, perhaps, a moderate
conjecture, then the whole produce of the mines
of the Archipelago will be 154,865 oz., worth
2,925,228 Spanish dollars, or L. 658,176 Sterling,
or more than one-fifth of the produce of the mines of
America, nearly nine times the produce of the mines
of Northern Asia, nearly one-third the produce of
the mines of Africa, and nearly four times the produce
of those of all Europe. These interesting
results appear in the clearest and most satisfactory
manner in the form of a table.