WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES— VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 337 



from there to Antioquia. The greater part of this country is unin- 

 habited waste land, although in the ravines of Querquia, San Andres, 

 and Santa Maria there are a few scattered Indians, but no settlements. 



1012. The city of Caceres is well supplied with the products both 

 of Spain and of the New Kingdom of Granada, all brought by boat 

 on the Rio Cauca to the port of Valdivia. The city will contain 20 

 encomenderos and 100 Spanish residents, with a parish church and 

 2 shrines, one of Santa Barbara and the other of Santa Lucia. This 

 country is rainy from April to September, which is their winter ; 

 they have great storms with thunder and lightning, which frighten 

 more than harm ; since they put up the shrine of the glorious martyr 

 Santa Barbara, there have not been so many. In the neighborhood 

 of this city there are rich gold deposits, free and in veins, in the 

 paramo of Porci between Caceres and Los Remedios ; there are others 

 in the paramo of Taubina, above the sources of the Rio Valdivia ; 

 others in the paramo of Cariiquia and Rio de Osos, and the veins 

 of Acaceri, between Caceres and Zaragoza. All the rivers within 

 this jurisdiction carry great wealth of free gold, and the ravines of 

 Nuri, Oco, Puqui, Puri, and many others in that region are paved 

 with this precious metal. 



1013. The Rio Cauca has many mines on both banks ; the richest 

 are those called Las Pesquerias, which start at 6 leagues downstream 

 from Caceres. Rich above all others in this jurisdiction are those 

 discovered by Gov. Don Juan Melendez de Valdes in the year 1608 

 in the ravine of Nupara and on the Cerro de San Pedro at the mouth 

 of the narrows of the Rio Cauca. All this gold is 23-carats fine, 

 coming from the highlands and having been refined and its fineness 

 increased by the virtue of the sun ; although this free gold, being 

 remote from its source, contrary to what Aristotle asserts, that it is 

 only formed in the clififs, veins, or earth where it is engendered by 

 the virtue of the sun, it is certain that it gets refined and gains in 

 quality, as has been proven by experience ; for the same gold found 

 in the rivers and streams is of inferior quality to that found outside, 

 because the dampness hinders somewhat the operation of the sun 

 and it cannot refine it as if it were outside. 



Chapter XIX 



Continuing the Description of the District of Caceres ; and of the 

 Diversity of Fruit, Animals, and Birds To Be Found There. 



1014. The city of Zaragoza is 30 leagues E. of Caceres ; the trail 

 is rough, over sterile country without settlements, and with high 



23 



