706 GOLD 



But tho first oro found by a white man in that country was in the year 1693 ; this 

 discovery led to tho colonisation of tho Minas Gerties, and to all those evils resulting 

 from ' the cursed lust of gold,' with details of which the history of South America 

 abounds. 



It was in the sands of the Mandi, a branch of the Rio Dolce, at Catapreta, that tho 

 auriferous ferruginous sands were first discovered in 1682. Since then they have 

 been found almost everywhere at the foot of the immense chain of mountains, which 

 runs nearly parallel with tho coast, from the 5th degree south to the 30th. It is par- 

 ticularly near Villa Rica, in the environs of the village Cocaes, that tho numerous 

 washings for gold are established. The pepitas occur in different forms, often adhering 

 to micaceous specular iron. But in the province of Minas Geraes, the gold occurs 

 also in veins, in beds, and in grains, disseminated among the alluvial loams. It has 

 been estimated in annual product, by several authors, at about 2,800 Ibs. avoirdupois 

 of fine metal. 



Almost all the gold formerly brought into the market was from alluvial lands, 

 and had been extracted by washing ; but now numerous veins of auriferous quartz and 

 deposits of auriferous pyrites are worked. The Morro Velho mine, belonging to the 

 St. John del Rey Company, is perhaps the most important Brazilian gold mine. 



Gold in North, America. Californian Gold Mines. The accident which first revealed 

 tho golden treasures of tho soil of California is thus related by a writer in the 

 * Quarterly Review ' for September 1852 : 



Captain Suter, tho first white man who had established himself in the district 

 where tho Americanos joins the Sacramento, having erected a saw-mill on the former 

 river, whose tail-race turned out to be too narrow, took out the wheel, and let tho 

 water run freely off. A great body of earth having been carried away by the torrent, 

 laid bare many shining yellow spangles, and on examination Mr. Marshall, his sur- 

 veyor, picked up several little lumps of gold. He and Captain Suter then commenced 

 a search together, and gathered an ounce of the ore from the sand without any diffi- 

 culty ; and with his knife the captain picked out a lump of an ouuce and a half from 

 the rock. A Kentuckian workman employed at the mill had espied their supposed 

 secret discovery, and when, after a short absence, the gentlemen returned, he showed 

 them a handful of the glittering dust. The captain hired a gang of fifty Indians, and 

 set them to work. The news spread, but the announcement of the discovery was 

 received with incredulity beyond the immediate neighbourhood. But presently, when 

 large and continuous imports of gold from San Francisco placed the matter beyond 

 doubt, there ensued such a stir in the States, as even in that go-ahead region is wholly 

 without parallel : numbers of every age, and of every variety of occupation, pushed 

 for the land of promise. Many were accompanied by their families, and most under 

 the excitement of the hour overlooked their physical unfitness, and their inability to 

 procure necessaries. The waters of the Humboldt, from their head to their ' sink,' a 

 space of nearly 300 miles, are in the dry season strongly impregnated with alkali, 

 and it was here that they first began to faint. Some died from thirst, others from 

 ague, others fell beneath the burdens they attempted to carry when their last animal 

 dropped into the putrid marsh, which grew thicker at every step. Beyond the ' sink ' 

 tho diminished bands had to encounter sixty or seventy miles of desert, where not a 

 blade of herbage grew, and not a drop of pure water could be procured ; and those 

 who pushed safely through this ordeal had still to ascend the icy slopes of Sierra 

 Nevada, where tho rigours of winter were added to all other difficulties. At different 

 points, one being almost in sight of tho golden land, overwearied groups had formed 

 encampments, in case perhaps some help might reach them. It is to the credit of the 

 settlers that, on hearing this, they strained their resources to the utmost to afford 

 relief. Yet, when all was done, a sick, destitute, most wretched horde of stragglers 

 was all that remained of the multitude who, full of hope and spirits, had commenced 

 tho. prairie journey. 



The development of the gold-fields of California has been BO remarkable, that it 

 appears necessary to devote some space to a consideration of the conditions under 

 which the auriferous treasures are discovered. This cannot be better done than by 

 quoting Professor Blake's remarks on the ' Geognosy of the Gold-Drift of California.' 



With tho exception of the diluvial stnita, the whole, geological formation of tho 

 Sierra range consists of igneous and metamorphic rocks ; tho former are mostly por- 

 phyritic in the lower hills, whilst higher up trachytic rocks are more frequently met 

 with. The metamorphic rocks consist of micaceous schists, slates both talcose and 

 micaceous, metamorphic sandstones and limestones, with occasional beds of conglo- 

 merate. The stratified rocks have been much displaced : it is rare to find them witli 

 a dip of less than 70, and they are generally very nearly perpendicular. Tin 

 of the beds in that section to which Professor Blake's observations have been confined 

 (between the Stanislaus and Yuba rivers) is extremely uniform, being from 5 to 10 



