648 MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 



called Caribisi or Caraibs, and also Araerriques, Carcas, and Eainas In- 

 dians — tribus de aborigenes no civilizados — as they are called on maps of 

 Nicaragua. 



On Fairbairn's Ranch : " There are many evidences of a large Indian 

 jiopnlation having lived at this spot, and their pottery and fragments 

 of their stones for bruising maize have been found in some graves that 

 have been opened." - - - " There are many old Indian graves, covered 

 with mounds of earth and stones." (See "The IS^aturalist in Nicara- 

 gua," p. 154.) At page 324, Belt refers again to the cordillera, saying: 

 "About noon we came in sight of the Amerrique range, which I recog 

 nized at once, and knew that we had reached the Juigalpa district." 



As regards gold. Belt, the engineer of the Chontales Gold Mining 

 Company, during his four years' residence in Nicaragua, was particu- 

 larly well posted as to the location of the mines ; and he says : " Gold 

 raining at Santo Domingo is confined almost entirely to auriferous 

 quartz lodes, no alluvial deposits having been found that will pay for 

 working. - - - The gold does not occur pure, but is a natural alloy 

 of gold and silver, containing about three parts of the former to one 

 of the latter. - - - The small town of Libertad is the principal min- 

 ing centre of Chontales. There are a great number of gold mines in its 

 vicinity." 



The absence of paying placers, or auriferous alluvial gravels, in the 

 valleys of the Rios Mico and Carca, the two main affluents of the Rio 

 Blewfields, shows that they had been worked out in the old Indian time. 



The following letter from Mr. Belt, written a short time before his 

 premature death,* is interesting, because it gives his impression after 

 reading my first paper on the " Origin of the name America," published 

 in the Atlantic Monthly for March, 1876 : 



London, April 8, 1878. 

 M. Jules Marcou, 



iSaliiis, Jura, France: 

 My Dear Sir : I am much obliged to you for your kind letter and 

 the copy of your most ingenious speculation respecting the origin of the 

 name " Amerique." 



The Amerrique range in Nicaragua was well kuown to me, and the 

 curious coincidence with the name of the continent had often struck me, 

 but only as a coincidence. 



I hope your suggestion will receive the attention it deserves, and that 

 the origin of the name will be thoroughly inquired about. Should it 

 turn out as you believe, you will have cleared up a most interesting 

 point. 



I am, dear sir, yours very truly, 



Thomas Belt. 



In 1887, by a happy circumstance, I was able to communicate with 

 Senator Don Jos6 D. Rodriguez, of Managua (Nicaragua), who lived for 



"Thomas Belt, born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1832, died at Kansas City (Kansas), 

 the 2l8t of September, 1878. 



