Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/481

 ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 4>G5 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 2Ss. 8d., whereas that of Corn- wall tin is not less than Gis. yd. ; 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 fif- teenth, the Banca mines yield no less than one- half. This is the most exact and unquestionable test 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, but such as are far enough from counter- balancing 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 workino- ; 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 VOL. III. G o;