The Laurentian Formation 199 
got higher and steeper, the soil more sandy and barren, with 
scattered pine trees growing amongst the rocks. Great,. 
bare, rounded masses of hard quartzite protruded through: 
the scanty soil, and in the river were enormous boulders of. 
granite-like gneiss. 
Depilto is only nine miles from Ocotal, but we took three 
hours to reach it, as I made many stoppages to examine the: 
rocks and to catch fleet-limbed speckled tiger-beetles on the 
sandy roads. The little town was not half populated, the 
silver-mines had been closed for some time, most of the 
houses were empty, and the people still clinging about the 
place seemed to have nothing to do, for the land is too barren 
for cultivation. We made known our requirements for 
labourers, and were assured that plenty would be glad to go- 
to Santo Domingo. They would not, however, bind them- 
selves there, but preferred to go down untrammelled with 
any conditions about pay or work, and I may anticipate here: 
by saying that the result of our visit was very satisfactory, 
numbers of workmen having been obtained for the mines. 
After getting some breakfast at a house that seemed to be: 
the hotel of Depilto, we set out to visit a silver-mine named 
*“E] Coquimba.” We had to ascend a high range opposite: 
the town, and found riding over the steep bare exposures of 
quartz rock so difficult and dangerous that about half way 
up we tied our mules to some young pine trees and proceeded’ 
on foot. The mine was abandoned, and the shafts and levels. 
were closed by falls of rock. Some of the ore, sulphide of 
silver, was lying at the mouth of one of the old shafts. Our 
guide told us that the lode was two feet wide. Both it and 
the containing rock was very hard, and the miners had also- 
water to contend against. I do not think from what I saw 
that the mine could be made to pay on a large scale, though 
next the surface small remunerative deposits of ore had been 
found. In depth the hardness of the rocks would make the 
sinking of shafts and driving of levels, the “‘ dead work ”’ of 
the miners, very costly. 
We started on our return down the valley at three o’clock, 
and took particular note of the succession of the rocks, 
as I had become much interested in finding these quartz: 
and gneissoid beds, which I had no doubt were the same: 
Laurentian rocks that I had seen in Canada and Brazil— 
