COSTA KICA. 261 



that the want of skill is prejudicial to the result. It is imper- 

 fectly ground, for instance, and consequently cannot be brought 

 into that intimate contact with the quicksilver which is necessary 

 to perfect amalgamation. The machine for grinding is very 

 simple : a large flat stone, like a mill-stone, is made to revolve 

 upon its fellow by an ox or mule power. The poorest people 

 reduce it to powder by manual labour, in the same way as they 

 grind corn preparatory to baking it into cakes. Alverado's 

 machine promised to be a great acquisition. The grinding was 

 facilitated by a little water; when the ore is judged to be 

 sufficiently well ground, a portion of quicksilver is thrown in by 

 guess, and the motion of the machine continued until the union 

 of the metals is supposed to be complete; the whole is then 

 removed into large wide-mouthed conical-shaped wooden vessels. 

 In these receptacles it undergoes repeated washings, by stirring 

 occasionally round, and afterwards communicating to the vessel 

 a swinging or half-rotary motion, by which a quantity of the 

 water, having the earthy particles suspended, is driven over the 

 edges; the amalgamated mass naturally sinks to the bottom, 

 and at last remains tolerably clean. 



" The next step is the recovery of the quicksilver by distilla- 

 tion, after which the gold is melted in a crucible and run into 

 ingots. The coasts are hot, and from the luxuriant vegetation 

 that everywhere abounds, emit, as in all situations of the kind, 

 febrile miasma in abundance when acted on by heat and mois- 

 ture ; but black vomit is unknown, and all the fever cases I have 

 seen have been of the remitting and intermitting, free from 

 character of malignancy. As the ground begins immediately to 

 spring from the coast, and does so indeed very rapidly, a few 

 miles takes us beyond the region of even these slight fevers, and 

 as we continue ascending to the central table-land, a climate is 

 encountered that may vie with any in the world for benignancy 

 and beauty. We there meet with the fruits of the torrid zone, 

 and near them the apple and the peach of Europe. The orange 

 tree is in bearing the whole year. As in all situations within 

 the tropics, it has a proper rainy season, but it is less incon- 

 venient and disagreeable than might be expected, for it seldom 

 rains two days in succession, and when it does, is invariably 



VOL. II. T 



