The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

148 THE ilALAY ARCHIPELAGO. [chap.time and money to liave any exploration made first ; andaccordingly sent to England for a mining-engineer, Avho was tobring out all necessary tools, machinery, laboratory utensils,a number of meclianics, and stores of all kinds for two years,in order to commence work on a copper-mine which he wastold was already discovered. On reaching Singapore a shipwas freighted to take the men and stores to Timor, wherethey at length arrived after much delay, a long voyage, andvery great expense.A day was then fixed to " open the mines." Captain Hartaccompanied Mr. Geach as interpreter. The Governor, theCommandante, the Judge, and all the chief people of the place,went in state to the mountain, with Mr. Geach's assistant andsome of the workmen. As they went up the valley Mr. Geachexamined the rocks, but saw no signs of copper. They went onand on, but still nothing excejot a few mere traces of very poorore. At length tliey stood on the copper mountain itself. TheGovernor stopjied, the officials formed a circle, and he thenaddressed them, saying,—that at length the day had arrived theyhad all been so long expecting, wlien the treasures of the soilof Timor would be brought to light,—and much more in verygrandiloquent Portuguese ; and concluded by turning to Mr.Geach, and requesting him to point out the best spot for themto begin work at once, and uncover the mass of virgin copper.As the ravines and precipices among whicli they had passed, andwhich had been carefully examined, revealed very clearly thenature and mineral constitution of the country, Mr. Geachsimply told them that there was not a trace of copjDer there,and tliat it was perfectly useless to begin work. TJie audiencewere thunderstruck ! The Governor could not believe his ears.At length, when Mr. Geach liad repeated his statement, theGovernor told him severely that he was mistaken ; that they allknew there teas copper there in abundance, and all they wantedhim to tell them, as a mining-engineer, was how best to get at it;and that at all events he was to begin work some where. This Mr.Geach refused to do, trying to exj^lain, tliat the ravines liad cutfar deeper into the hill than he could do in years, and that hewould not throw away money or time on any such uselessattempt. After this speech had been interpreted to him, theGovernor saw it was no use, and without saying a wordtui'ned liis horse and rode away, leaving my friends alone on themountain. They all believed there was some conspiracy—thatthe Englishman would not find the copper, and that they hadbeen cruelly betrayed.Mr. Geach then wrote to the Singapore merchant who was hisemployer, and it was arranged that he should send the mechanicshome again, and himself explore the country for minerals. Atfirst the Government threw obstacles in his way and entirelyprevented his moving ; but at length he was allowed to travelabout, and for more than a year he and his assistant explored