45d A VOYAGE TO Book VL 



abandoned, tlie art of working the ore being lost, for 

 want of a sufficient number of people to apply them- 

 selves to it : and the same decline is now^ seen all 

 over the province. The fertility, as natural to the 

 climate, still continues in all its plenty : but scarce 

 the shadoNV of its former lustre and magnificence re- 

 mains ; and that enormous wealth, in which it glo- 

 ried, is now no n^ore. For if its products and ma- 

 nufactures bring in considerable quantities of silver 

 from Lima and Valles, all is expended on European 

 goods; so that, as I observed, little of that gold and 

 silver, so common in the more southern provinces, 

 is to be seen here. 



The only part of the province of Quito, which, 

 under this unhappy change, preserves its ancient opu- 

 lence, is the department within the government of 

 Popayan, which throughout abounds in gold mines, 

 and great numbers of them are still worked. To 

 gratify the curious, I shall give an account of the 

 principal, and the manner of working the gold ore; 

 as it is djfferentfrom that used in the mipes of Caxa. 

 After which, I shall mention the other mines known 

 within that province. 



Every part of thejurisdiction of Popayan abounds 

 in mines of gold; and though in some departments 

 more are worked than in others, yet they all yield 

 gold : and new mines are daily discovered and work- 

 ed; which, under all the inclemencies of the air, in 

 some parts fills its towns with inhabitants. Among 

 the departments belonging to the province of Quito, 

 the richest in gold are those of Cali, Buga, Almaguar, 

 and Barbacoas, some of its mines being always more 

 or less worked ; and with this singular advantage in 

 its gold, of never being mixed with any heterogene- 

 ous body ; consequently no mercury is requisite in 



exti'actmg it. 



The 



