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Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1946, 31 October 1874, Page 2

The Malayan- Archipelago is rich in minerals and metals, as well as in spices. Gold is found in larger or smaller quantitie I in many of the islands, as also in various parts of the Malay Peninsula. Tin abounds to a still greater extent, and there ig. clear historical proof that so long ago as 2000 years before the Christian era the Egyptians manufactured their implements of bronze partly from tin brought from the Malaccas, and conveyed so far towards Egypt as the Eastern shore of India by ,the Klings, the original inhabitants of the 'Malabar coast, A more curious fact is that the Portugese explorers the name of Ophir to a mountain in the centre of Sumatra, because they believed it to be the identical spot whence the ships of Solomon obtained the enormous quantities of gold used in the adornment of the magnificent temple at Jerusalem. The same name is given to a much smaller mountain on the Malay Peninsular about 40 miles north of Malacca. Itis certain that from both these localities immense quantities of the precious metal had been obtained for centuries before European voyagers ever came into those waters. It is also found in several parts of Borneo, Selebes, Luzon, Mandinao, BhchiaD, and tome of the Phillipine Islands. The Dutch keep secret the quantity they obtain from their mines in Sumatra, but it must be very considerable, seeing that ornaments of gold are common amongst the native population, the gold dust is a common article of traffic, and that there was (and probably still is) a Dutch mint at Aoheeni where the war ii still raging. - <. < v-s