Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/486

 470 COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION OF a less demand for tin in the arts than at pre- sent, Banca produced 65,000 piculs of tin, it will not be too high a rate to expect from the system of freedom recommended, that the island should produce 100,000 piculs. Supposing that, of this gross amount, the rent is but two-fifths, the picul being valued at 12 Spanish dollars, then we should have a net revenue of 480,000 Spanish dollars, or L. 108,000, free from any ex- pensive fiscal establishment, indeed without any at all, in this particular department, while the trade would be open to the wholesome influence of indi- vidual enterprise in every department. * Next to tin, gold is the most valuable of the mineral products of the Archipelago. In a geo- graphical view, it is very generally, perhaps uni- versally, diffused throughout the Archipelago ; but the countries in which it most abounds are those of which the geological constitution is primitive. It is most abundant in those islands which consti- tute the western and northern barriers of the Ar- chipelago, and exists but in small quantities, rare- ing the economy of the mines of Banca, I am altogether in- debted to an able memoir on the subject furnished to me by my friend Dr Horsfield, who will soon lay before the public the result of researches conducted for many years into every branch of the natural history of the Archipelago.
 * For the information I have supplied in the text respect-