Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/479

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 463 of metal with the least labour, will be first wrought, and a great number of mines will be worked in a slovenly manner, rather than a few with skill and economy. This is the case in the management of the Chinese. A stratum of mineral no sooner dips a few feet beyond the usual level than the mine is abandoned for a new one. A scanty supply of water for washing the mineral will lead to a similar measure. When an adequate price was given for the additional labour, however, the Chinese had no scruple to go on with the work. Premiums with this view were occasionally given by the sultans of Palembang. By giving an additional price to the workmen, the British administration extend- ed the quantity of tin, in IS 17, from 10,800, which they found it in 1813, to 35,000 piculs, or 2083j tons, equal to half the produce of Cornwall. All that can be reasonably said, therefore, on this subject is, that the cost of producing tin has, by the exhaustion of some of the most conveniently situ- ated mines, been, perhaps, a little enhanced. Were a judicious and liberal system of economy pursu- ed regarding the mines, increasing capital, with the improved skill and machinery which would attend it, would, for a long time, more than counterbalance any natural impediments to min- ing, arising from the difficulty of obtaining the ore. It is but a small portion of an island, con- taining an area of 3400 geographical miles, that has yet been examined. The mines at present