Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

BANOKA. 119accused by their Mohammediin neighbours of being addicted to piracy, whereasthey are, on the contrary, strictly honest in all their deuKngs, depending for alivelihood solely on fishing and trade. The inland populations, known as OrangGunang, or " Highlanders," resemble the Battas both in physical appearance andusages.Of the Chinese, who form nearly a third of the whole population, about onehalfare natives of Bangka, this section taking the name of Pernakan, and constitutinga group quite distinct from the Sinkee, or Chinese immigrants from Canton andFokien. They mostly marry half-caste native women, and speak both Chinese andMalay, but on the whole preserve the original Chinese type. Since 1850 the populationof the island has more than doubled, but is still slight, scarcely exceedingtwelve persons to the square mile. Agriculture is almost entirely neglected,everything being sacrificed to the tin-mining industry, the most productive inwhole world.theThe valuable tin deposits, said to have been discovered about the beginning ofthe eighteenth century, belonged at first to the sultan of Palembang, master of theisland. In 1740 the Chinese, already at that time exclusively employed to workthe mines, raised about 1,550 tons, while the present annual yield of this statemonopoly often equals the value of the capital invested.But the miners continueto be neglected, and have to be kept imder control by the Dutch garrisons stationedin the mining districts.The stanniferous beds, of which there are several hundreds, occur in all parts ofthe island, but are specially abundant on the north-east side, round about Merawang.As in the Malay peninsula, the ores are contained in the allu\'ial soilwhich, to a depth of from 14 feet to 35 feet or 40 feet, overKes the darkcolouredclays at the foot of the granite hiUs.Here and there the streams carryingdown the alluvial matter have excavated deep ca^'ities or " pockets," inwhichthe metal has accumulated in considerable quantities. Besides tin, Bangka alsopossesses deposits of silver, copper, lead, arsenic, and iron, none of which are muchworked, except the last-mentioned, which is highlj' valued forsmall arms.the manufacture ofMuntok, capital of Bangka, lies at the north-west extremity, over against thePalembang river delta. During the British occupation it was known as Miiito, inhonour of the Governor-General of that name, but has since resumed its old Malaydesignation. Muntok, which comprises a strongly fortified European and a nativequarter, with a total population of about 3,300, has the advantage of a well-shelteredbut somewhat shallow roadstead, which is the centre of a brisk trade withSumatra, Riouw, and Singapore,BiLLITON.BQliton, or Blitong, which is about one-third the size of Bangka, is connectedwith the south-east side of that island by about a hundred islets, rocks, and reefs,endangering the navigation of the intervening Cnispar Strait. It presents the