The Kingdom of Perak
J.E. de la Croix, a French mining engineer who visited Perak between 1880 and 1886, produced this comprehensive account of the kingdom’s mineral wealth, geology, and colonial transformation, originally published in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie in 1883 and here reprinted in English translation by Colin Dyer in JMBRAS Vol. 94 (2021). The article documents Perak at the precise moment it was transitioning from a turbulent, semi-independent sultanate into a British-protected tin-producing powerhouse, combining historical narrative, geological survey, and ethnographic observation of the Chinese mining labour force.
Summary
De la Croix opens by tracing the long history of Malaya’s metallic riches, drawing on biblical allusions to Ophir, Portuguese accounts from the early sixteenth century (Linschoten, Godinho de Eredia), and Tavernier’s seventeenth-century observations that the King of Perak minted tin coinage. He establishes that Perak had been recognised since antiquity as a major source of tin and gold, with the Malay language itself preserving etymological links to classical metallurgical terminology (e.g., perak for silver, tima pouteh for white lead/tin, corresponding to Pliny’s plumbum album).
The geographical and political sections describe a kingdom of approximately 12,000 square kilometres bounded by Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, and Selangor, dominated by three parallel mountain chains and the navigable Sungai Perak. De la Croix narrates the descent into Chinese secret-society warfare in the Larut (Larut) mining district: the Se-Kwang and Go-Kwang factions fought from approximately 1871, with the Go-Kwang returning in 1872 with cannons and hired warriors from China, killing over 3,000 opponents. The Sultan’s inability to control the situation led to British intervention, the Pangkor Treaty of January 1874, the assassination of Resident J.W.W. Birch in 1875, the Sultan’s deportation to the Seychelles, and the imposition of a British protectorate under Regent Raja Muda Yusof and Resident Hugh Low (pp. 7–9).
The geological core of the article identifies the tin-bearing formations as quartz veins within granitoid (porphyritic granite) rocks, drawing a direct parallel to the geology of Cornwall. The economically exploited deposits are alluvial cassiterite derived from the decomposition of these primary veins. De la Croix provides detailed descriptions of the igneous, sedimentary (limestone, sandstone, schists), and alluvial terrains, noting that the limestone at Gunung Pondoq has been metamorphosed into white saccharoid marble by contact with the granites. He records that blocks of pure tin oxide exceeding 60 kilograms have been found near the surface in the Chanderiong district, and that tin-bearing springs issue from cracks in Gunung Bouhou Anak at 1,000 metres altitude (pp. 9–13).
The final section profiles the three racial groups in Perak’s mining economy. The Malays are described as incapable of sustained industrial labour; the Indian “Klings” serve in public works and transport; and the Chinese constitute the entire mining workforce. De la Croix details the coolie importation system, the contract terms (360 days of free maintenance in exchange for six hours’ daily work, with debt bondage at one month per five dollars), and the spiritual beliefs surrounding mining, including the “Little Miner” genie to whom offerings are made. A census table from March 1881 records a total Chinese population of 19,792 across the mining districts, with the Larut region alone accounting for 12,691 (pp. 14–16).
Key Findings
- The Chinese population of Perak’s mining districts numbered 19,792 as of the March 1881 census, with the Larut region (Thaipeng, Topai, Assam-Koumbang, Kamounting) holding 12,691 and the Kinta district holding 2,201 (p. 16).
- The Go-Kwang victory over the Se-Kwang in autumn 1872 resulted in the death of more than 3,000 Chinese combatants, after which the defeated Se-Kwang became pirates who blockaded the Perak coast until British warships intervened (p. 8).
- De la Croix identifies the primary tin deposits as quartz veins within porphyritic granite, noting the geological similarity to Cornwall’s tin-bearing formations, where the encasing rock is likewise a porphyroid granite with large feldspar crystals (p. 13).
- Blocks of pure tin oxide (cassiterite) weighing over 60 kilograms have been discovered at near-surface level in the Chanderiong district, indicating substantial primary deposits remain unworked (p. 13).
- The coolie emigration contract provided 360 days of free maintenance (travel, accommodation, food, clothing, medicine) in exchange for six hours’ daily labour; debts incurred during this period were amortised at the rate of one month’s work per five dollars (p. 15).
- The limestone at Gunung Pondoq, rising 500 metres vertically above the plain near Larut, has been fully metamorphosed by contact with adjacent granitic intrusions into white saccharoid marble containing modern terrestrial shells (Melanies) in its fissures (p. 11).
Conclusion
De la Croix’s definitive assessment is that Perak, under the stabilising influence of British administrative control following the Pangkor Treaty and the Birch assassination, was on the verge of becoming “the most important centre for tin production in the world” (p. 9). The combination of vast alluvial and primary deposits, a large and industrious Chinese labour force, improved infrastructure (roads, navigable rivers, postal and telegraphic communications), and the discovery of richer sites in the Kinta region meant that the small kingdom was poised to surpass even Cornwall in global tin output—a prediction confirmed by the translator’s note that by 1883 Perak was indeed the world’s largest tin producer.
Context
- This reprint is part of JMBRAS’s ongoing programme of making nineteenth-century French and Dutch accounts of the Malay Peninsula accessible to English-speaking scholars; the original appeared in the Bulletin de la Société de Géographie (Vol. 4, 7th Series, 1883, pp. 333–52).
- The article is accompanied by three original maps (itineraries and geological profiles from 1880–81) that were published with the 1883 text and reproduced here on pp. 172–74.