BUENO? AYRES. 



Ayre*. 



Gold 

 miues 



de plata. In estimating, therefore, the total pro- 

 duce of these mines from 1545 to 1803, allowance 

 must be made for this low valuation. 



The quantity of silver extracted from the mines 

 of Potosi during the 



1st period, 



2d 



3d 



4th 



5th 



was 



Marks. 

 15,000,000 



5,765,827 

 71,818,686 

 15,074,044 



5,411,764 



113,070,321 

 Allowance for the value of the piastre 



before 1600 .... 15,000,000 



To this may be added one fourth of the 

 total produce, on account of the enor- 

 mous contraband at the beginning of 



128,070,321 



working the mines 



32,017,580 

 Total produce 160,087,901 



From this statement of the wealth drawn from 

 one mine, the reader is not to conclude, that the 

 other mines of Buenos Ayres are in any degree 

 equally productive. Of the immense quantity of 

 silver produced by this viceroyalty ; the single mine 

 of Potosi furnishes more than three fourths. None 

 of the rest are so constantly wrought, being ei- 

 ther interrupted by inundations or destroyed by ne- 

 glect. In the district of Caranges, detached pieces 

 of silver unmixed with any ore or stone are found in 

 the sandy deserts extending towards the coast of the 

 South Sea. These pieces are called papas or yams, 

 being taken out of the sand in the same manner as 

 that root is taken out of the ground, and are of va- 

 rious forms and sizes. Two marks or 16 ounces is 

 the general weight ; but Ulloa mentions two papas 

 which he saw at Lima, one weighing 60 and the 

 Bother 150 marks. 



The principal gold-mines in this viceroyalty are. 

 those of Cochabamba, and Sicasica. The latter 

 belong to Indian natives, and are reckoned very pro- 

 ductive, but from the elevation of the mountain are 

 not properly wrought. Pieces of gold of near an 

 ounce weight, are sometimes discovered in the sand, 

 washed down by the rains. In 1730 an Indian found 

 a lump of this metal, which the Marquis de Castel 

 Fuerte bought for 12,000 pieces of eight, and sent it 

 to Spain as a present to his sovereign. Considerable 

 quantities of gold in dust and in grains are found in 

 the sand of the Vermejo in the district of Chayan- 

 ta ; and particles of gold abound in the streams which 

 run in the vicinity of the Indian town of Moxos, but 

 much of it is lost, as those only are collected which 



are of the size of a large pin's head. A gold mine Bocneg 

 is now wrought in the district of Monte Video. Con- Ayres. 

 cerning the quantity of this metal, however, which '-"' "^ 

 has been furnished by the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, 

 from the first discovery of its mines, we have no in- 

 formation. In 1790 there was coined at the mint of 

 Potosi 4,222,000 piastres, viz. 299,246 piastres, or 

 2204 marks in gold, and 3,293,173 piastres, or 

 462,609 marks in silver. At the beginning of the 

 19th century, the annual produce of the mines of this 

 vice royalty, which paid the regular duties, was 2200 

 marks of gold, and 414,000 marks of silver ; in all 

 4,212,404 piastres, f And estimating, with Hum- 

 boldt, the fraudulent exportation of silver at a sixth, 

 or 67,000 marks, we have a total annual produce of 

 4,850,000 piastres. J 



In the mountains of Berenguela, are mines of talc, Mines of 

 called jaspos blancos de Bcrenguela, which is beauti- talc ? acl 

 fully transparent, and is used for windows through- f r 

 out a great part of Peru. There are also several mines 

 that yield gems, particularly one of emeralds, much 

 prized for their quality by the lapidaries of Europe ; 

 but which, owing to some latent reasons, has not been 

 lately reported to. It is probable that it was from 

 this mine that the Incas derived those extraordinary 

 emeralds which excited the wonder and avarice of the 

 Spaniards, who ignorantly destroyed great numbers of 

 them from the erroneous idea, that if they were real 

 gems, they would stand the stroke of a hammer on 

 an anvil. Many of them have been found in the an- 

 cient tombs of the Peruvians, polished and wrought 

 in spherical, cylindrical, and other figures with ma- 

 thematical accuracy, and with all the delicacy of Eu- 

 ropean workmanship. 



Among the mineral productions of this country, Singular 

 we may mention a singular mass of iron, in the pro- mass of 

 vince of Tucuman, which is described both by Estalla i ron * 

 and Azara. It lies about 70 leagues from San Jago 

 del Estero, nearly in lat. 28, and about 30 leagues 

 from Corrientes. It has a horizontal position ; its 

 surface, which is full of rifts and irregularities, is 

 open and exposed, and level with the ground ; and 

 its dimensions are 13 palmos in length, 8 in breadth, 

 and 6 in thickness ; and its solid contents 624 cubic 

 palmos. $ The quality of this mass is equally pure 

 and ductile with that of any other iron, and pieces 

 hewn out with a chissel, shew a brilliant colour like 

 fine silver, speckled with red and yellow spots. It is 

 malleable in the forge, and excoriates during the 

 operation, and may be wrought with a file, or drawn 

 into wire like common iron ; but it is, at the same time, 

 so hard, that when cutting it, the chissels are often 

 notched and broken. This block of iron has en- 

 gaged much of the attention of the mineralogists of 

 Europe ; and many opinipns have been formed con- 

 cerning its nature and origin. Don Miguel Rubin- 

 de- Celis, who examined it by order of the King of 

 Spain in 1783, and who published an account of 



* According to Azara, more than a third of the silver drawn from the mines of Potosi was never registered. 



} The gold is here valued at 145^^ piastres, and the silver at 9,% piastres per mark of Castile. 



$ These s' atements are extracted from Mr Black's translation of " Humboldt Essai Potttiqve sur le Royaume de la Nou- 

 veUe Espagne." Some of them appear to be rather incorrect ; but as ve have not the means at present of rectifying any ca- 

 sual error, we have given them exactly as we found ihem. 



The palmo is equal to nine inches of Castile. 



