452 A VOYAGE TO Book VI. 



times pepitas, or seeds, are found among it, of dif- 

 ferent sizes, but generally they run small. The water 

 issuing from this cocha is stopped in another con- 

 trived a little beneath itj and there undergoes a like 

 operation ; in order to secure any small particles of 

 gold, which, from their extreme smallness, might be 

 carried off by the current of the water being mixed 

 with earth and other substances; and lastly, this wa- 

 ter is passed into a third cocha. But the savings 

 here are generally inconsiderable. 



This is the method practised in all the mines be- 

 longing to the jurisdiction of Popayan. The labour- 

 ers are Negro slaves, purchased by the owners : and 

 whilst some are employed in washing, others bring 

 earth ; so that the washers are kept in continual em- 

 ployment. The fineness of this gold is generally of 

 twenty-two carats ; sometimes more, even to twenty- 

 three: sometimes indeed it is under, though rery 

 seldom below twenty-one. 



In the district of Choco are many mines of Lava-^ 

 dero, or wash gold, like those we have just described. 

 There are also some, where mercury must be used, 

 the gold being enveloped in, other metallic bodies, 

 stones, and bitumens. Several of the mines have 

 been abandoned on account of the platina ; a sub- 

 stance of such resistance, that, when struck on an 

 anvil of steel, it is not easy to be separated ; nor is 

 it calcinable; so that the metal, inclosed within this 

 obdurate body, could not be extracted without in- 

 finite labour and charge. In some of these mines the 

 gold is found mixed with the metal called tumbaga, 

 or copper, and equal to that of the East; but its 

 most remarkable quality is, that it produces no ver- 

 digrease, nor is corroded by any acids, as common 

 copper is well known to be. 



The gold taken out of all these lavaderos, or 

 mines, in the province of Quito, is partly circulated 



in 



