WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 245 



Espinosa Pedruja when he was Alcalde Mayor of those mines, by 

 dint of great efforts and much expenditure of his own money, as 

 a good servant of His Majesty ; all of this I verified with my own 

 eyes when I was in that country. 



704. This country around Tegucigalpa is very rich in silver veins 

 and ore. Three leagues from the city is the rich Cerro de Santa Lucia, 

 from which a great amount of silver has been taken ; they have four 

 foundries to smelt the ore. Five leagues across from Santa Lucia, 

 in the year 1621, through the diligence of this Don Juan de Espinosa, 

 at that time Alcalde Mayor, another very rich range of silver ore 

 was discovered and given the name of San Juan ; the grade from its 

 foot to the top is 2 leagues long, full of veins and ore deposits of the 

 best-quality silver, from 2 to 6 ounces per quintal, and easy to smelt, 

 work, and get out ; and the fact that the surface deposits are so rich 

 rouses hopes that great wealth will be obtained by following the 

 veins to the center and core of all the branches. For this reason 

 this Don Juan de Espinosa has aided the project and has set up 

 beside it three establishments to prepare and smelt the ore ; and if 

 His Majesty would graciously send this province 200 slaves (as it 

 is already provided and ordered by his royal warrants that they shall 

 travel at his expense), for the working of these mines, his royal 

 20 percent share would greatly increase and the province would be 

 one of the most prosperous and wealthiest of the Indies, for besides 

 what is stated above, the whole country is paved with veins and ore 

 deposits of silver. 



705. Eight leagues E. of the town of Tegucigalpa is located the 

 mining camp of Yuscaran, where there are likewise rich mines and 

 veins of the best-quality silver ; for working and smelting the ore 

 there are three foundries there. The eastern boundary of this Alcaldia 

 Mayor with the Diocese of Nicaragua is at the city of Nueva Segovia, 

 which is in this Diocese of Nicaragua ; it is built among great pine 

 forests, in a very rich gold region. Here they make quantities of tar 

 or pitch, which is the chief and most important business in this 

 country ; they transport it to the port of Realejo to be loaded in ships 

 for Peru. In this district of Tegucigalpa they make quantities of 

 tar in the pine woods ; it is taken to this port of Realejo and that of 

 Amapala for shipment to Peru. In the pine forests on the edges of 

 rivers and watercourses are quantities of liquidambar trees ; these 

 are very tall, straight, and handsome, with a resemblance to white 

 poplars, but the leaves are better looking and more peculiar ; each 

 has five points. As seed or fruit they produce a sort of round rosette 

 the size of a small filbert, but not smooth. On the trunk of the tree 



