JB 1281

MINERAL PRODUCTION ON THE EAST COAST OF MALAYA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

by

NICHOLAS N. DODGE

Abstract

The title of the paper I think broadly explains the contents. In it I argue that whilst the economic and political importance of tin production on the West coast of Malaya from the mid-nineteenth century onwards has understandably pre-occupied historians of politics, economics and demography, in fact it has resulted in a distortion of the historical record in that up to about this date it was gold rather than tin that was the main mineral product from the peninsula and that, unlike tin production, gold production was centred on the East Coast and largely produced by the Chinese. As a result assessments about the extent of East coast isolation from world trade and estimates about the size and distri­bution of the Chinese population before 1850 have to be reviewed. I hope that in justifying these claims I have also filled in certain lacunae about mining, demo­graphy, Malay politics and imperialism in the 19th century.

(1) Introduction-

The origins of much of Malaysia's 20th century prosperity as well as many of its problems (most notably the inter-ethnic conflict between the Malays and the Chinese and the economic imbalance between the East coast and West coast states) spring from the fortuities of geology, but in many ways the history of the peninsula in the 19th and early 20th century only represents a variation of an age old historical theme. From very early times the peninsula's mineral wealth has brought it fame, immigrants and trade, as well as attracting the interest of foreign powers. The first of the many immigrant groups attracted by the peninsula's mineral wealth are believed to have been Bronze Age Yue and Cham miners from Indo-China and although the first recorded traders are Arab tin-merchants in the 9th century, certainly Malaya's gold and tin trade goes back much earlier; in fact, if Wheatley is correct and Ptolemy's "Golden Khersonese" does refer to the Malay Peninsula, back to at least the 2nd century A.D.t Indian contacts probably date back to the pre-Christian era and from the 5th to at least the 9th century there were Indian miners in Malaya. 2 Chinese contacts go back to the

·(i) Footnote entries which are purely bibliographic are indicated by an unadorned number. Where a footnote contains some additional information, it is marked by a number with an asterix. (ii) When an edition of a book other than the original edition has been used the date of the edition used is enclosed in brackets, e.g. Crawfurd, 1820 (1856). '

1 Wheatley, 1961, p. 145; Winstedt, 1948 (1966), p. 118; Yip, 1969, p. 55. 2 Winstedt, 1948 (1966), p. 118; Sandhu, 1969, p. 21.

817050 / 89

-7 SEP 1995 Nepal a

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

NICHOLAS N. DODGE JMBRAS. VOL. 50

7th century A.D. and possibly earlier. Chinese records mention gold and tin as minor exports from Pahang and Kelantan in the mid-13th century and tin as a major export from Malacca in 1408. The first Chinese residents appear to have been merchant settlers in Singapore from the 14th century and in Malacca from about the middle of 15th century and although there is no direct evidence of any Chinese settlements on the East coast apart from Hamilton's account of the sizeable Chinese trader communities in J ohore and Trengganu in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, it is likely that Chinese merchants took part in the flourishing trade that is believed to have existed on the East coast in the 16th century.H' Exactly when the Chinese became miners as well as merchants is not known since the evidence is contradictory, but it certainly dates from at least the end of the 18th century.4

Throughout the history of Southeast Asia, various empires rose and fell according to their ability to control the sea-borne trade and the pattern after 1500 was no different from the pattern before except that the Portuguese, then the Dutch and the British became contenders. However in one crucial respect the Dutch and the British were different from earlier imperial powers: they attempted to combine trade with direct administration.s The extension of British control over Malaya was spasmodic and spread out over a period of over 100 years but each of Britain's forward movements was intimately connected with the mining industry. The initial British footholds of Penang and Singapore, made in 1786 and 1819 respectively, acted as collecting points for trade goods, in parti­cular gold from the East coast which up to about the 1830s overshadowed tin in terms of value. Tin production in the early part of the 19th century has been variously estimated but it was almost certainly no more than 1000 tons p.a., a considerable quantity for the period but minute in comparison to the 42,000 tons p.a. produced by the end of the century.M~ This huge increase in tin production, which made the Peninsula's gold production pall into economic insignificance, was made possible by the discoveries from the 1840's onwards of the enormously rich deposits on the Western side and by the influx of large numbers of Chinese miners whose more effective technology and work-organization enabled them to work the richer but deeper tin deposits. However the same factors that enabled the Peninsula to satisfy the increased demand for tin (brought about by the developing British economy) also threatened production since they brought about a state of chronic conflict between and among the Malays and the Chinese who fought to control the growing tin-revenues. This threat to production and the fear that the conflict might spread to Penang and Singapore led the British

3·Hamilton, 1727, p. 153; Linehan, 1934, p. 2; Rentse, 1939, pp. 94-5; Purcell, 1951 (1965) pp. 235- 8 and pp. 257-8. Medhurst (1830, p. 155), a missionary who visited the East coasf in 1828, commented that the Chinese community in Trengganu town appeared to be an old and established one and Cant (1972, p. 21, footnote 23) refers to records that state that there was a Chinese community in Pahang in the early 17th century.

4 VVong, 1964,pp. 17-18. S Cf. Kok-Chiang, 1966, pp. 76-7. 6·For the source of this and all other figures for the peninsula's tin production in the 19th

century, see Table 1.

90

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

PART 2. 1977 MINERAL PRODUCTION ON THE EAST COAST OF MALAYA

in 1874 to annex, under the guise of a Residential system, the major tin producing states of Selangor, Perak and Sungei Ujong.7

Undoubtedly of all the non-human factors that have helped to shape the modem history of Malaya, the existence of these huge tin-deposits on the Western side is the most important since from it originate both the economic and demo­graphic predominance of the Chinese and the higher degree of Western style economic and political development on the West coast. Within the century the West coast states (with the exception of Kedah which remained outside direct British control until 1909) changed from being essentially small-scale peasant societies that were relatively homogeneous culturally and dominated by traditional, indigenous leaders to become part of a plural society (or perhaps more accurately characterised by Dobby as a "cellular" society) tied, for good or ill, to a world economy and dominated by a foreign, modernising elite.

The East coast states on the other hand lacked any large-scale mining and so remained, in Emerson's phrase, "in something of a state of nature".8 But few of them escaped the attention of European adventurers who were anxious to gain mining concessions and it was the successful machinations of one such "concession-hunter" that eventually precipitated the third and final British extension of power over Kelantan, Trengganu and Kedah in 1909. However the hopes that the East coast, and Pahang and Kelantan in particular, contained mineral wealth have never been realised and so, lacking the huge mining revenues that financed the rapid development of the West coast states, the East coast states have kept their essentially Malay and peasant character.

Today tin accounts for almost all of the total value of Malaysia'S mineral exports.9* 93% of the tin is produced by the West coast states, mainly by Perak and Selangor, and only 7% by the East coast states, none of it by Kelantan. 10* This has meant that the history of mining in Malaysia has been written exclusively in terms of tin and almost wholly in terms of the West Coast11* and whilst the economic and political importance of tin production on the West Coast from the mid-nineteenth century onwards has understandably preoccupied historians of politics, economics and demography, it has in fact resulted in a distortion of the historical record. The aim of this paper is not theoretical in the sense that it seeks to make generalizations about the relationship between technological levels and social organization or the relative importance of economic or political factors in explaining 19th century imperialism or 20th century economic development;

7 Comber, 1956, p. 152. 8 Emerson, 1937 (1964), p. 253. 9·See the Annual Census of Mining Industries produced by the Department of Statistics,

Malaysia. In 1972 tin accounted for over 96 % of the value of Malaysia's mineral production. The other minerals produced and listed are copper, gold, manganese ore, wolfram ore, amang ore, xenotine, iron ore and bauxite.

to. Yip's figures for 1963 (Yip, 1969, p. 27). Johore's contribution of 1.3 % of the total has been evenly divided between the East and the West coast states.

11. For example both the authors of the standard works on the history of tin-mining in Malaysia (Wong, 1964, and Yip, 1969) have restricted themselves to the former FMS territories. In Wong 1964, which deals with the history of tin-mining up to 1914, neither Kelantan nor Trengganu are even indexed. There is no modern study of the history of gold-mining in the Malay Peninsula.

91

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

NICHOLAS N. DODGE JMBRAS. VOL. 50

rather it is an attempt, via an examination of the available sources, to show that up to about 1850 it was gold rather than tin that was the peninsula's main mineral product, that it was the East Coast and not the West Coast that was the centre of Chinese industry and the more important producer of minerals and that, as a result, assessments about East Coast isolation from world trade and the size and distribution of the Chinese population before 1850 have to be revised. I also hope that, apart from covering the more familiar ground as to why the East Coast has kept its essentially Malay identity, certain lacunae have been filled in con­cerning mining, demography, Malay politics and British imperialism in 19th century Malaya.

(2) Mineral Production on the East Coast up to 1909

Even the barest of details about mineral production on the East Coast before the 20th century what was produced, where it was produced, how much was produced and by whom are few and far between, but it is reasonably certain that up to about the 1830s the value of the Peninsula's gold production, which was almost wholly produced by the East coast states, exceeded that of its tin production; that, unlike today, the East coast states produced, relatively speaking, considerable quantities of tin which, in conjunction with their gold exports, made the East coast and not the West coast the most important centre of mining and that lastly, unlike the West coast, it was the Chinese who were the major producers. However as the West coast tin production boomed from about the 1850s, the Chinese miners left the East coast and East coast mineral production declined into insignificance, leaving only tales of fabulous wealth to excite the cupidity of a variety of European adventurers.

Whilst shallow deposits of tin are found in all the Malay states, for geological reasons the extraction of gold has been restricted to a narrow belt running from Patani in the northeast, down through the small states surrounding Patani and into the interiors of Perak, Kelantan and Pahang and then through Negri-Sembilan into Malacca.12* Very little is known about the early history of gold extraction on the East coast but the ancient remains of gigantic goldworkings can still be found in the interiors of the Patani states, Perak, Kelantan and especially in Pahang where the hills are perforated with deep pits that extend for miles and which must have taken several centuries and thousands of men to produce.13 However geologists in a report to the British government at the end of the last century said that these old workings were "not so much evidence of former great mineral wealth as of an insistent demand that had to be satisfied no matter what the cost to the producer."14

Chinese records mention gold and tin as minor exports from Kelantan and Pahang in the mid-13th century and in the next three centuries something of a

12 .Wheatley, 1961, p. xxi. (For the political-geographical denotation of the terms "Patani" and "Patani states" as used in this paper, see Table 1, footnote (d) ).

13 Maxwell, 1891, p. 45; Dennys, 1894, pp. 264-6; McCarthy, 1900, pp. 15- 16; Savage, 1925, p. 72; Middlebrook, 1933, p. 152; Linehan, 1936, p. 3.

14 Quoted in Wright and Reid, 1912, p. 264.

92

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

PART 2, 1977 MI ERAL PRODUCTION ON THE EAST COAST OF MALAYA

trade boom seems to have occurred on the East coast; by the middle of the 14th century Pahang's gold had made it so famous that "Pahang" came to designate the whole of the Peninsula and in the 16th century it is almost certain that a flourishing trade in gold, tin, ivory, spices and so forth took place on the East coast. 15 Two of the earliest European "factories" (or trade centres) were located in Patani, the first one opened by the Dutch in 1602 and the second one opened by the East Indian Company in 1610 (and closed in 1623)16, but nothing is known about the context within which this trade took place nor who the miners were at that time.

The next reference to gold production comes from Hsieh's account of his travels on the East coast in the late 18th century. At that time there were at least four important goldmining areas in the region. Difficulties of transliteration complicate the exact location of these mines, but it would seem that Hsieh was referring to the mines in Ulu (interior) Sai (in the Patani states on the Kelantanese border), to those in the Sokor region (in central Kelantan), at Galas (in the Ulu of Ke1antan) and in the Raub area in Ulu Pahang which were a day or two's journey from the Galas mines,17* It is not known when these mines were started, but local Chinese tradition ascribes the opening of the Galas mines to Kheh Chinese "cut-throats and robbers" under a notorious Hakka robber chief called Chong Pah Chai in the early 18th century. 18 In another version of the same legend, the Kheh were not the first miners, but had driven out an earlier group of Chinese miners who had then retreated into Pahang. 19 There is less infor­mation about the mines around the Sokor but in Rentse's opinion they were even older than those at Galas. 20

Apart from the goldmines around the Galas and Sokor rivers, Hsieh also mentions those in Ulu Sai and in the Raub area. Of all the goldmines in the Patani states, those in Ulu Sai were the most important and gold, according to native sources and reported by Anderson, was the foremost export from the Patani states in the early 19th century.21* In Pahang gold was worked in several areas but the most important mines were in the Raub area and concentrated around the tributaries to the River Jelai. 22

With gold, as with tin, the difficulties of locating the mining areas are com­pounded not only by the simple shortage of information but also by the fact that mines would come into being as deposits were discovered and then decline as

15 Linehan, 1936, p. 1; Rentse, 1939, pp. 94- 5; Winstedt, 1948 (1966), p. 119. 16 Anderson, 1824, pp. 40- 1 (but cf. Maxwell, 1891, p . 7); Tate, 1971, p. 501. 17·Tweedie, 1953, pp. 218- 9; Wang, 1960, p. 35. (Hsieh was an illiterate Hakka Chinese who

travelled extensively in the Malay states, including Kelantan, in the late 18th century). 18 Middlebrook, 1933, p. 152; Savage, 1925, p. 72. 19 Information collected by H.D. loone from the Chinese Headman in the Galas and reported

in Linehan, 1936, "Addendum". 20 Rentse, 1934, pp. 46- 7. 21·Anderson, 1824, p. 170; Foster, 1893, p. 167; Louis, 1894, p. 219; orman, 1895, pp. 566- 7;

McCarthy, 1900, pp. 15- 16; Annandale, 1900, p. 519. (Late 19th century writers refer to the mines in lu Sai as "Temoh" (or "Torno") since that wa the major centre of operations, or as "Telubin" (or "Telepin" or "Telobin") since that was the valley in which they were located).

:. Linehan, 1936, p. 61 lind Cant, 1964, Fig. 7 "Mining Areas prior to 1889", p. 15.

93

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

NICHOLAS N. DODGE JMBRAS, VOL. 50

the deposits were exhausted, so that evidence of goldmining at one place in one decade does not necessarily mean that gold was mined one decade before or one decade after. 23 * Both Bozzolo, who was sent by Sir Hugh Low in 1888 to spy out Kelantan's gold potential, and Savage, who carried out a more professional survey in the early 1920's, reported old goldworkings throughout Kelantan. 24* Similarly, McCarthy, a geographer who travelled in the interiors of Perak and Rhaman in 1883, reported evidence of old goldworkings along the main branches of the Upper Perak River and functioning goldmines at Balom (near Temoh) and at Klian Intan. 2 5 Late 19th century reports also mention goldmining at Batang Padang, Chemor, Janka and at Tamengor (Temengor ?), Tolsor, Chikus and Bidar, all areas in the interior of Pahang or on the borders of Perak and the Patani states and whose possession fluctuated according to the politics fortunes of each side.26*

A final problem in locating the whereabouts of the goldmines is that the concept of "mining" is a broad one that covers any form of "excavation of valuable mineral materials from the earth's crust"27 without distinguishing between different methods of extraction. Gold and tin can be mined in a variety of ways, from simple panning, to the greater complexities of alluvial sluicing and open cast lode mining to the sophisticated techniques of deep reef mining and it is not clear from the 19th century reports concerning the locations of goldmines what technique was being used. Simple panning was practised extensively throughout the whole of the "gold-belt" in the 19th century but goldrnining in the sense of deep excavation below 15 feet seems to have been confined to Ulu Sai, Balom, Galas, Sokor and Raub . According to Errington de la Croix, all the Perak gold in 1882 came from panning and Lock in 1907 confirmed the fact that there was only alluvial sluicing in Perak (an occupation almost exclusively con­fined to the Chinese) but no true underground mining. 28 Supporting evidence for the lack of deep gold mining in Perak comes from the fact that there were very few Chinese in the state in the early 19th century and only the Chinese had the technology and organization for deep mining. 29*

There is no way of estimating with any firm degree of confidence what the annual production of gold in the Malay Peninsula was in the 19th century since no records were kept for any of the states until 1898.30 However Logan estimated

23·The gold and tin mines in Malacca are an example. They produced 1500 troy ounces of gold and 250 tons of tin during their brief existence in the 1840's but rapidly declined in the 1850's (Dennys, 1894, p. 210)

24. Maxwell , 1891, p. 45; Savage, 1925, p. 72. Savage lists nine different locations, some of _ which had become defunct a long time ago, others which had been operated up to 1920.

2~ McCarthy, 1900, pp. 15- 16. 26·D'Almeida, 1876, p. 379; Errington de la Croix, 1882, pp. 19- 20; Maxwell, 1891, p. 26;

Cowan, 1951, pp. 49- 50. The boundary between Perak and Rhaman was finaJly "rectified" by the British in 1909 so that the goldmines came l.mder their jurisdiction (see Birch, 1910, p. 138).

27 Encyclopedia Britannica, 1974, Vol. 12, p. 246. 28 Errington de la Croix, 1882, pp. 19- 20; Lock 1907, p. 60; Encyclopedia Britannica, 1910,

Vol. 12, p. 197. 29~See p. 100. (Anderson 1824, p. 187, reports that there were on Iy 400 Chinese in P erak

in 1818). 30 Lock, 1907, p. 61.

94

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

PART 2, 1977 MINERAL PRODUCTION ON THE EAST COAST OF MALAYA

that in the early part of the 19th century gold production for the whole of the Peninsula was no more than 20,000 ounces p.a.31 and although this figure is probably a slight underestimate, it fits in terms of order of magnitude with the figures that are available for Singapore's gold imports from the East coast in 1835- 6 and 1842- 3 respectively. Although the East coast's gold trade was not exclusively with Singapore (large amounts went to Siam as well), ewbold's figures show that out of the total exports from the Malay Peninsula to Singapore in 1835-6, valued at , 308,990, gold accounted for about 47 per cent of their value and that 99.9 per cent of the gold came from the East coast.32* Without knowing the price of gold in Singapore in 1835, it is difficult to translate value in quantity, but taking the price of $17.50 per troy ounce given by MacGregor as the Singapore price in 1843, it means that about 8,200 troy ounces were ex­ported. This quantity approximates to that given by MacGregor for the East coast's gold exports to Singapore in 1842- 3; out of the total exports from both the East and West coasts to Singapore valued at 458,166, the East coast exported 12,750 troy ounces of gold valued at $223,193 which accounts for 45 per cent of the Peninsula's exports to Singapore.33 *

Whatever the correct figure is for gold production in the early 19th century, certainly of all the Peninsula's exports to Singapore gold was the most important single item and almost all of it came from the East coast, making the East coast one of the largest suppliers of gold to Singapore and one of its most valuable trading partners, incomparably more important than the West coast. 34*

Probably because of Pahang's ancient fame for gold and the fact that today the only goldmines in Malaysia are in Pahang, it is generally assumed that the bulk of the East coast's gold production in the early 19th century came from Pahang,35* but this is by no means certain. Newbold calculated that Pahang produced about 300 lbs. troy (or 3,600 troy ounces) p.a. in the 1830S36 which would mean that Pahang's share of the gold production would only be about 1/3-1I6th of the total East coast production, the rest coming from the Patani states, Kelantan and Trengganu. The evidence of another early 19th century

31 Logan, quoted in Dennys, 1894, pp. 143-4. 3210 ewbold, 1839 (1971), Vol. 1, pp. 291- 312. In fact the West coast states were net importers

of gold (ibid., p. 312-42). (All prices are expressed in local units). 33·MacGregor, 1848, Vol. 4, p. 1029. MacGregor's figure for the East coast's gold exports

are quoted in "bunkals" the unit of weight then used for gold and equivalent to 832 grains or the weight of two panish dollars (Wilkinson, 1932, p. 151). kinner (1965, p. 24) also estimates that in the early 19th century the East coast annually exported some 5-6 pikuls of gold (about 10,000- 11,000 troy ounces) to ingapore.

34·Cf. Wong, 1960, pp. 79- 80 and Skinner, 1965, pp. 24- 25. In a petition sent by Singapore merchants to the Governor of Penang in 1833 in which they asked for protection from the pirates that preyed on the East coast trade in gold and other products, they stated that the East coast trade formed "by far the most valuable portion of the trade conducted by native craft amounting in value ... to about one million Spanish dollars per annum" or about half the official estimate of Singapore's total trade. (Bengal Public Consultations, Range 13, Vol. 3, Aug. 19th, 1833, No.2).

35. For example Skinner, 1965, p. 24. Hamilton in 1727 spoke about the abundance of gold dust in the Pahang River and that he had seen nuggets of gold of 5- 6 ozs. each. He estimated that Pahang exported about 900 Ibs. (or 10,800 troy ounces) of gold each year. (Hamilton, 1727, p. 152).

36 ewbold, 1839 (1971), Vol. II, p. 57.

95

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

NICHOLAS N. DODGE JMBRAS, VOL. 50

author states that whilst washing for gold and tin were important activities in Pahang, it was not done "to the same extent as in the Malay states of Tringanu and Kelantan",37 Similarly Earl, who traded on the East coast between 1832-4, wrote that whilst Trengganu was richer than Kelantan, Kelantan produced "considerable quantities" of gold.38

Whilst the lack of facts prevents any unequivocal pronouncements, thc evidence does suggest that Kelantan's gold exports were at least as important as any other state's in the early 19th century and perhaps even greater. A number of circumstantial facts lend support to this view. Firstly, two of the four main mining areas (Galas and Sokor) were located in Kelantan and the third (DIu Sai) was probably under Kelantan's control until about the 1840s when the Siamese had to send an expeditionary force to keep the peace between Kelantan and Sai and left behind a small garrison at Klabar in the Telubin valley.39 SecondLy, Kelantan had a very large community of Chinese miners, probably much larger than any other state's at that time.40* Thirdly, both the Chinese miners and provisions going to Diu Sai went via the Kelantan and Pergau rivers rather than through the Patani states (since this shortened the trip) and so were subject to taxation from Kelantan;41 this was paid in gold which boosted Kelantan's exports. Fourthly, gold production was greatly influenced by political factors, in particuLar by the level of taxation which, if too high, would strangle gold production by making it unprofitable (as in Johole according to Newbold) or else encourage the smuggling of gold so that gold produced in one state would become part of another state's exports (as with Pahang gold in the 1870s which, according to Daly, was smuggled out to Selangor) .42* During the 1830s Kelantan scemed to have operated a more liberal trade system than the other East coast states43 , so it is probable (given the Peninsula's history of smuggling) that gold produced in the interior of Pahang made the one or two day's journey across to the Galas in Kelantan and then was exported under more favourable conditions from Kota Bharu. Lastly, gold production fluctuated according to political stability and the fortuities of gold prospecting, so that within a few years a major producer could become a minor producer and vice versa. Thus, for example, the massacre of the Chinese miners in Kelantan in the early 19th century brought the state's gold production to a halt for a period, the discovery of goldmines in MaLacca 1857- 8 made Malacca a gold-exporting state for the few years before the deposits were exhausted, and whilst Pahang'S gold production in 1890 was only 929 ounces, eight years later it produced 17,035 ounces.44* In view of all these points, it

37 Crawfurd, 1820 (1856), p. 319. 38 Earl, 1837, p . 154. 39 See Graham, 1908, p. 20 and Louis, 1894, p. 226. 40·See pp. 102- 103. 41 Wang, 1960, pp. 34-5. 42. ewbold, 1839 (1971 ), Vol. II , p. 144 ;. Daly, 1878, p. 197. Tn 1885 the Pahang price for

gold was $22 per ounce as compared WIth the Selangor pnce of 30-40 per ounce (Linehan, 1936, p. 109).

43 Skinner, 1965, p. 24. «·Maxwell, 1891 , p. 26; Dennys, 1~94, p. 210; Lock, 1907, pp. 60-1; Graham, 1908, p. 103 .

For an explanatIOn of why Pahang s gold production was so low in 1890, see Cant, 1964, p. 16.

96

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

PART 2, 1977 MINERAL PRODUCTION ON THE EAST COAST OF MALAYA

seems reasonable to believe that for some period of time in the early half of the 19th century Kelantan was the leading gold-exporting state but that such a position could be rapidly gained or lost according to political and geological contingencies.

Because the peninsula's tin deposits were so extensive and capable of being mined without using sophisticated techniques, mining and washing for tin have always been important elements in the traditional Malay economY's- but, as with gold, there are really no reliable or systematic data about the quantities or sources of production until the British assumed control. Such information as there is, is presented in Table 1.

The earliest and most systematic figures for tin production come from Newbold who obtained his information "from Natives under every possible check"4b and his figures are of considerable interest. Firstly, he estimates that the total tin production for the whole of the Peninsula in 1835- 6 was 2059 tons, which represents a fourfold increase on the 500 tons p.a. that Yip estimates to have been the total annual production at the turn of the century. Secondly, from other figures that Newbold gives,47- this would be worth about $444,000 dollars at Singapore prices, which indicates that by the 1830's tin had become the peninsula's foremost export in terms of value. Thirdly, although the West coast states (and in particular Perak, Sungei Ujong and Selangor) accounted for two-thirds of the peninsula's production, Trengganu's production of tin was only exceeded by that of Perak, and Kelantan's tin production was only exceeded by those of Perak, Selangor, Trengganu and Sungie Ujong (see Table 2).

It is difficult to locate exactly where the tin was produced on the East coast not only because the data is limited but also because miners would move from area to area as deposits were found and then exhausted48 and because it was

45. Indeed so important that it is possible that some of the Malay states are named after their mineral resources. Perak is a case in point, though rather confusingly "perak" in modern Malay means "silver", a mineral which is hardly found at all. Linehan (1936, p. 2) suggests that Pahang owes its name to the KhYlller word "pahang" which means "tin". The origin of the name" Kelantan" has been the subject of some wild speculation (see Rentse, 1934, pp. 45-6) but possibly Kelantan too is named after its tin. At least up to the early 17th century tin was called "Calaem" or "Calem" in Malaya, a word derived from an Indian word "Calai", meaning "tin" (Errington de la Croix, 1882, pp. 2- 3, footnotes 1 and 5). Since Kelantan has been a tin producing state for centuries and also subject to a great deal of Hindu influence, and since the Kelantanese are well-known for contracting sounds, it is just possible that "Kelantan" is derived from "Calamtanah" or "Land of Tin". Middle Eastern sources between 850-1000 A.D. and 1450-1550 A.D. also mention contact with "Pan-hang" and with "Kalah" both presumed to be on the Malay Peninsula. A great deal of work has gone into trying to locate their whereabouts and if indeed "Pan-hang" does refer to Pahang, then it seems likely that merchants would also visit Kelantan to the north (which presumably had a relatively large population because of its rice-plains and other resources) and so "Kalah" may refer to Kelantan rather than to an area in the vicinity of modern Klang as suggested by Colless (quoted by Dunn, 1975, pp. 104- 5). However since merchants in the past often went to great lengths to disguise the sources of their products for fear of competition and since places were often named after their products (and vice-versa), perhaps "Kalah" simply refers to "tin" (there is, I believe, some etymological evidence for this) and not to a single place but rather to any place where tin was traded on the peninsula.

46 ewbold, 1839 (1971), Vol. II, p. 424-5. 47. In his discussion of the taxation system in the states that make up egri-Sembilan ( ewbold,

1839 (1971), Vol. I, pp. 312- 50), ewbold statcs that 5714 pikuls of tin were worth 73,386 at Singapore prices or 215.7 per ton.

48 Wong, 1964, pp. 187- 9.

97

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA

-ru

ble 1

:

....-l ..

. in

. P

ro

du

ct:

ion

in

th

e lV

IaJay

P

en

in.s

ula

-b

efo

re 1

87

4 (in

lo

ng

to

ns p

.a.

b)

-I

I ~

" -

I a-

o I

a '"

--

g -

.~~

""

-'"

-g

-51

. ~

-'"

!lil

.-~

"" '"

-

>-

-0

.--

~

I '"

--

-lii

::

g:

, '"

0

c§

-I

--e

-0

lii

--

_ co

;-.

0

-a

OJ

2,,

>-

u -

0 -

-'"

-'"

--

'" -

0-

_ :-

I -

~

-0

-'"

--"

;,..,u

-

~

--

"-

• -

z~

"'" ~

~

"'-U

5

I -0

-

.;s

"'-

•

'""

~

""'"

~

"'" -

"'-

• ::

--

I U

>

r <.

oJ

~

:: ... -

I ,

, •

I I

• •

I I

, lu

£e

CI8

2

97

.5 t

I 5

00

15

,

. I

I •

I I

, I

I •

early

C

19

4

76

-5

35

-2

40

2 I

, 9

70

+

J4-

I ,

I ,

• ,

I I

I

I ·

I 1

81

8

11

93

, •

I I

I I

I I

I ,

I 1

82

4-

47

.71

7

89

.31

8

30

0'6

,

I I

I I

, ,

,

I 1

83

5

, 4

-46

4 2

14

4-

47

0'"

6

04

36

4 1

79

4-

41

74

6

04

89

4 8

94

71

44

-1

34

54

20

59

4-

I ,

I I

, •

, ,

, I

I 1

84

2

13

3

97

5 I

, ,

I ,

• ,

I ,

, ,

, ,

, •

, I

18

45

1

36

I I

• I

, ,

I I

-/ I

. I

,

I I

I 1

84

6

84

6 I

I I

• ,

, I

, •

• ·

, •

, I

18

47

2

60

6 i

, I

• ,

, ,

-.

, •

• ,

, ,

, I

/ I

18

48

I le

ss th

an

I

I 2

50

7 5

36

K

53

68

65

58

c.2

38

08

I •

, I

• I

I 1840~s

, ,

48

09

c.2

35

09

I ,

I 1

85

6

15

00

-6

00

10

I

, ,

I I

I I

. 1

85

1-6

0

I I

I ,

I I

I ,

65

00

11

1

80

00

11

,

36

.11

1

• , I

•

I I

• I

I 1

86

1-

70

,

, 8

50

01

I 2

40

00

11

3

5_

41

1

I •

, ,

, I

I I

I _

I 1

87

0·8

2

70

01

2

20

00

12

1

00

01

2 •

I early

I

• •

• •

i ,

, I

I ,

I •

I I

18

71

,

I 2

14

21

3

I I

I I

• •

No

tes:

;'It is

i."p

ossib

lc

to

su

y ex

ac

tly

.. vh

ut:

t:errito

rie

s ,,

,,ere d

en

ot

ed

by

th

e t

erm

s

·'.l

\IIu

loy

P

en

in

su

la" a

nd

"E

ast C

oast S

tates" an

d

"\.

-Vest

Co

ast S

tates" u

s th

ey

,v

ere u

sed

in

th

.e 1

9th

cen

tu

ry

, 'V

Vo

ng

(1

96

4,

p,

30

),

,vh

o stu

died

th

e co

nt

em

po

rary

trad

e retu

rn

s fo

r th

e S

S,

su

ys

tJ"l

ut:

it

"""o

uld

see

m.

th

ot th

e 1

\IIu

lny

Pen

in

su

la "em

bra

ce

d u

pp

ro

x;­

"T

l.u

tcly

th

e

tc:a

:.ri

tory

n

0'''''

.in

c1

ud

cd

u

.nd

er th

e F

cd

cru

t:io

n o

f l

\IIu

lay

a b

ut "

""it

ho

ut

Pc.:

n.U

n.8

, P

ro

vi'

"lc

e

,",V

cJlc

slc

y an

d

l\Il

-g,l

nccu

u

nd

th

at,

"Io

Vit

h reg

ard

co

th

o-

inn

,par-

tati

on

o

f'·

ti

n,

th

e term

m

en

"t sp

ecif

icn

lly

P

eru

k.

SeJu

ng

or,

Su

ng

e.i

Ujo

ng

, u

nd

P

en

aJ'l

lS",

No

r is

it

cle

ar

vv

ho

t: sta

tes

vv

ere

in

clu

ded

u

nd

.::r

th

e h

ead

ing

s "E

ast C

on

st

Pcn

.in

su

lu"

an

d """est C

oast

Pen

in

su

la".

th

ou

gh

it

, .

.... o

uld

sec..

" th

at P

atu

ni

"v

us in

clu

ded

u

nd

er "

"est C

ou

.st,

presu

mab

ly

b

ecau

se t

in fro

m th

e P

uto

.ni

Stu

tes

'VII

US

ex

po

rted

to

P

cn

an

g

vin

1

<u

::..

hl

lVI'u

du

O

on th

e ''''est C

oast.

H

o,"

, Jo

ho

re state ,"

,as cla

ssif

ied

is

n

ot:

cle

ar (ib

id.,

p

. 3

0).

bA

li th

e 1

9th

cen

tu

ry

esti

mate

s

,,,e

re g

iven

in

th

e

loeu

l u

nits o

f ,"

,eig

ht:

"b

ah

ara" (als

o so

n"lc

tim

es co

lled

o

r sp

elt "b

uh

o.r

",

"b

har"

or "b

haru

")

01::

' ~'pikul"

. N

eith

er

un

it

,vas fu

llv

stan

dard

ised

. T

he "b

ah

ara"

'-'V

as

cO

om

mo

nly

4

28

Ib

s.

un

d th

e "p

ik

ul" 1

33

.3 Ib

s.,

bu~ "b

ah

oras"

of 4

00

an

d

50

0 lb

s.

an

d "p

iku

ls"

of'

1

40

Ih

s.

are als

o

Fo

un

d (A

nd

erso

n,

18

24

, p

. 1

23

, p

. 1

87

an

d

p.

19

6;

An

derso

n.

18

24

0..

p

. 2

6; E

rrin

gto

n d

e

10.

Cro

ix,

18

8B

, p

. 3

1; S

"v

ett

en

ham

, 1

90

6 (

19

48

).

p. 1

7; ""rig

ht a

nd

R

eid

. 1

91

2.

p.

20

9).

CN

eg

ri-S

ern

bil

an

h

as o

nly

ex

iste

d u

s

n sin

gle

p

oli

tical

un

it sin

ce 1

87

9.

Here it

is

u

sed

to

refer to

th

e g

eo

grap

hic

al

Ul:

:'ea

'\

Nh

ich

to

day

m

ak

es u

p N

eg

ri-

Sern

bil

an

..

dT

he p

oli

tical-

geO

og

rap

hic

al

den

otatio

n o

f t

he u

rea call

ed

"P

ato

n,"

is

co

ntu

sin

g in

th

at i

t can

re

fel:

:' to

th

e s

maJ! state c

e.n

tred

o

n th

e to

vv

n..

o

f P

ata

n.i

o

r to

th

e co

ng

lorn

era

­t'

ion

o

f s

tate

s th

llt

."ad

e u

p th

e K

in

gd

om

o

f P

atan

i an

d

_'h

ich

co

vered

th

e "v

ho

le o

f t

'he ,v

o.t

ersh

ed

s o

f t

he P

atan

i an

d T

eJu

bin

riv

ers.

a p

art:

o£

th

e U

pp

er P

erak

v

aH

ey

an

d p

ro

bab

ly

part o

f t

he n

orth

o

f K

elan

tan

. In

1

83

2 S

iam

in

vad

ed

th

e K

in

gd

om

of P

atu

ni

an

d b

ro

ke i

t u

p i

nto

sev

en

sn

"lu

l1 states cu

lled

P

atan

i,

Nu

vv

-n

gch

ik (o

r T

ojan

),

Jerin

g,

Sa

i (o

r ~T'elubin),

JaJo

r (o

r V

ala

),

Rh

aJ'T

lun

an

d L

eg

eh

(o

r R

u-n

ge o

r R

an

ga)

. In

1

90

2 th

e sev

en

sta

tes

,",e

re

I::'

eu

nit

ed

u

nd

er t

he n

arn

e "T

he D

ivis

ion

o

f t

he

Sev

en

P

ro

vin

ces".

(A

nn

an

dale an

d R

ob

in

so

n,

19

03

(S

up

plem

en

t).

pp

. x

-xi-

x:x

ii an

d

Sk

eat an

d

Lu

idlu

"v

. 1

95

3,

p.

16

7)

. In

th

is

pap

el:

:' "P

atan

i"

refers to

th

e sm

all

st:

ate

cen

c-red

o

n

['h

e to

,vn

o

f P

utu

ni

an

d th

e term

c·P

ata

.ni

sta

tes

H

used

to

refer to

th

e area th

at m

ad

e u

p th

e o

ld K

i.n

gd

orn

o

f P

atan

i.

JG

lasses's

esti

nu

llt:

c reco

rd

ed

b

y A

nd

erso

n.

18

24

, p

. 5

2 an

d q

uo

ted

b

y B

eg

bie

1

85

2 (1

96

7),

p.

93

. 2

Gu

IJic

k,

19

60

, p

. 3

7 q

uo

ted

b

y J

nc

kso

n,

19

64

, p

. 4

2.

3V

Von

g.

19

64

. p

. 2

1.

4N

e'\

.vb

old

, 1

83

9 (

19

71

).

Vo

l. II, p

p.

42

'1

5,

"""h

o s

aid

th

at h

e b

ased

h

is figu~es o

n in

fo

rm

atio

n o

btain

ed

£~on"l N

ativ

es u

nd

er e

very

p

ossib

le check·~.

Cu

rjo

us

ly

Ne"v

bo

ld's

tab

le o

rn

its u

ny

m

en

tio

n o

f J

oh

ore, ~hough

els

e,,

,,,h

ere (V

ol.

II,

p.

59

) h

e li

sts

ti

n as b

ein

g am

on

gst Jo

ho

l::'

e's

ex

po

rts

. N

e"\V

bo

ld als

o g

ives

t"\-

Vo

fig

ures

Eo

I::'

Pel:

:'ak

: 5

06

to

ns

p.a

. (V

ol

. I.

p.

23

) an

d

'1'1

6 to

ns.

Ne"

,bo

ld

's o

rig

inal figu~es ~ere g

iven

in

p

ik

uls an

d in

co

nv

ertin

g t

hem

in

to

to

ns

I h

av

e ~ounded th

e fig

ures u

p to

th

e n

ea.r

est

to

n

"""h

ich

ex

plain

s th

e

n'l

ino

r

inco

nsisten

cy

b

et,

",e

en

th

e su

rn

o

f th

e in

div

idu

al

states an

d

t:h

e fig

ures g

iven

fo

r E

ast co

ast

nn

d

'\-V

est

co

ast p

ro

du

ctio

n.

Th

e fig

ure

fo

r

Neg

-r-i-

SelT

lbil

an

is

In

od

e u

p

by

ad

din

g to

geth

er th

e p

ro

du

ctio

n o

f S

ing

ei

Ujo

ng

an

d

,",h

at

Ne .. v

bo

ld

ca

lls "th

e states

in

th

e inte~io~ o

f l

VI.a

locca".

(Ne"",,

,,,b

old

's

fig

ul:

:'es q

uo

ted

b

y ""o

ng

1

96

4,

p.

20

co

ntain

so

me arit

hlT

leti

co

l erro

rs in

th

eil

::'

co

nv

ersio

n fr

olT

\ p

iku

ls in

to

to

ns an

d h

en

ce t

he d

ifferen

ces in

th

e fig

ures p

rese.n

ted

h

ere

an

d b

y ,"

,Vo

ng

).

5.M

'ncG

rcg

or.

18

48

, V

ol

. IV

, p

. 1

02

9.

6C

ra,v

Eu

rd

, 1

82

0 (1

85

6),

p.

25

4.

70

en

ny

s.

] 8

9 ...

. ,

p.

21

0.

'l .... h

is

fig

ure o

nJy

reF

ers to

tin

ex

po

r'ted

to

S

in

gap

ore

.

SL

og

an

, 1

84

8.

p.

10

3.

Th

e fig

ure fo

r S

ela

.ng

or in

clu

des p

ro

du

ctio

n

fro

n'l

.... r

ren

gg

nn

u an

d P

ah

un

g n

nd

ex

clu

de

s p

ro

du

ctio

n fro

rn

th

e P

ato

ni states

. 9L

og

an

's

esti

rn

nte

s q

uo

ted

in

C

ru

<w

fu

rd

, 1

82

0 (1

85

6).

p.

43

6.

Th

e fig

ure

Sin

rn

ese-l'

VT

ula

y s

tates

. 1

0 C

ra ... v

i'u

rd

. 1

82

0 (

18

56

),

p.

33

6.

ad

jacen

t is

lan

ds an

d th

e fig

ure fo

r th

e E

ast C

oast o

nly

refers to

p

ro

du

cti

on

fro

m.

l<e

lun

tan

•

Lo

gan

ad

ds th

at P

eru

k's

p

ro

du

ctio

n ,v

as d

o","

d

ue to

th

e ~'miserable state o

f t

he

co

un

try

".

fo

r M

'ala

yo

's to

tal

pro

du

ctio

n refers to

p

ro

du

ctio

n fro

m th

e ~a1ay P

en

in

su

la ex

clu

din

g th

e

1 I

Vip

. 1

96

9,

p.

39

2.

Th

ese fig

ures are th

e av

erag

e fo

r th

e dec~

:tde

. B

ut c£

. ~ong 1

96

4.

p.

53

,,

,,,h

o estim

ated

IV

Iala

yan

tin

-p

ro

du

cin

g u

p ~o 1

87

4 t

o b

e co

mp

aru

tiy

el

y in

sig

nif

ican

t at

1 O~o o

f t

he

,,,,

,orl

d's

p

ro

du

ctio

n.

12

G

ullick

. 1

96

5.

pp

. 5

6.

Th

e fig

ures

refer to

p

ro

du

ctio

n at L

aru

t an

d K

in

ta

(P

eT

ak

),

Ku

ala

LU

lT\p

ur (S

ela

ng

or) an

d S

un

gie

Ujo

ng

(N

eg

ti

-S

cn

'lb

ilan

)

alo

ne.

13

Pu

rce

ll,

19

51

, (1

96

5).

p.

26

0.

14

An

derso

n"s fig

ure fo

r th

e o

vern

ge an

nu

al tin

ex

po

rts fro

n'l

P

en

an

g alo

ne d

urin

g th

e p

erio

d

18

15

-2

2 (A

nd

erso

n,

18

24

, p

. 1

23

) b

ut cf.

Yip

's esti

rn

_ntc

th

at th

e av

erag

e an

nu

al p

ro

du

c,tio

n o

f IV

Ialn

yu

,v

as n

o

n'l

ore th

an

5

00

to

ns

befo

re th

e ad

ven

t o

f C

hin

ese m

in

ers an

d th

e d

isco

very

o

f

ne'\

.v ti

n-fic

Jd

s.

(Y

ip,

19

69

, p

. 1

9)

. 1

5 C

np

tnin

L

o'\

.v's

esti

n'l

,-"lt

e q

uo

ted

b

y

ST

Tl.

yth

, 1

89

8,

p.

31

6.

1.6

C"'p

tuin

F

orres-c:'

s estim

ate q

uo

ted

b

y S

n"ly

-c:h

, 1

89

8,

p.

31

6.

17

Th

is fig

ure o

nJy

I:

:'cf

"crs

to

th

e q

uan

tity

o

f tin

o

ffered

b

y th

e "P

an

gu

lu

" (h

cad

-n

'lan

) o

f th

e

Kl:

:'o

h

min

es

in P

atan

l

to th

e G

-o

vern

n"le

rtt

o

f P

en

an

g (

An

derso

n,

18

24

0,

p.

23

).

E1

SC

"""'h

erc A

nd

erso

n

(1

82

4,

p.

17

0)

rep

orts th

at th

e 1

<ro

h

min

es ex

po

rted

5

0 b

ah

ars u

nd

th

e

J<

ali

nn

In

tUJ"

l m

in

es

20

0 b

ah

nrs (o

r ab

ou

t ~ '1

.6 to

ns

at 4

00

Ib

s.

pe

r b

hH

r) to

P

en

an

g each

y

ear in

sp

ite o

f [

'he p

iracy

b

et,

",e

en

th

e I<

ed

ah

cO

on

st an

d P

en

an

g (

18

24

a.

p.

26

),

heav

y ta

xati

on

o

n

P,-

ltu

ni

tin

b

y th

e S

ult

an

o

f K

ed

ah

(ib

id.,

p

. 3

'1)

an

d

" ... h

at A

nd

erso

n

beli

ev

ed

to

b

e th

e u

nd

er-u

tilizatio

n o

f th

e

l<ro

h m

in

es

bec.a

use o

f th

e sm

alln

ess o

f th

e

'"'O

ork

fo

rce (lS

24

, p

. 2

6)

. 1

8 A

nd

e.rso

n. 1824-~ p

. 1

36

. (rrh

ere is

a

deg

ree o

£ c

on

fu

sio

n o

ver t

his

fig

ure

. T

he O

ori

gjn

al

ed

itio

n states th

at F

un

gah

p

ro

du

ced

ab

ou

t "S

OO

b

nh

urs o

r 1

00

0 p

ik

uls" each

y

en

r.

fig

ures "v

hic

h,

ev

en

all

o,"

,in

g fo

r th

e u

nsta

..n

du

rd

ised

rH

u:u

re o

f' t

he b

ah

ur u

nd

th

e p

ik

ul.

nre in

co

nsis

ten

t:.

In

th

e B

rit

is

h lV

Iu

seu

rn

co

py

th

e fig

ure

oof'

1,0

00

p

iku

ls

hn

s b

een

cro

ssed

o

ut:

an

d th

e fig

ure o

f' 1

SO

O in

ked

in

ab

ov

e.

Th

is u

nack

no

"v

led

ged

"co

rrcctio

n"

rn

uk

e.s

th

e

t"\-

Vo

_fig

ures e<

>n

sis

ten

t: a

nd

I

su

sp

ect th

ut th

e ~'corrcctio""

is

co

..... t

e.,

....

po

rury

t:

o th

e ed

it:i

on

u

nd

p

ossib

ly m

ad

e.

by

A

nd

ersO

on

).

PERPUSTAKAAN NEGARA MALAYSIA