192 GOLD. 



LIB. iv. g n( j e little of this golde in pippin, in respect of the other 

 kindes. Golde in stone is a veine of gold that groweth or 

 ingendereth within the stone or flint, as I have seene in the 

 mines of Saruma, within the government of Salinas, very 

 great stones pierced and intermixed with gold ; others that 

 were halfe gold, and half stone. The golde which groweth 

 in this manner is found in pittes or mines, which have 

 their veines like to the silver mines, but it is very hard to 

 drawe it foorth : Agatarchides writes in his first booke 

 of the Erythrean or red sea (as Phocion reportes in his 

 Bibliotheca), of the manner and fashion to refine golde, 

 the which the antient Kings of Egypt were wont to vse, 

 and it is a strange thing to see how that which is written 

 resembles properly to the manner they vse at this day in 

 refining these mettalls of golde and silver. The greatest 

 quantitie of golde which is drawne at the Indies is that in 

 powder, the which is found in streames and places where 

 much water hath passed, because the rivers of India 

 abound in this kinde of golde. As the Ancients for this 

 occasion did celebrate the river of Tagus in Spain, Pactolus 

 in Asia, and Ganges in the East Indies, and called 

 Eamenta auri, what we call golde in powder, and of 

 this sort is the greatest quantitie of golde they have 

 at this day. At this present, in the Hands of Barlovent, 

 Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, there hath beene, and is 

 great quantity in the rivers, but they bring little from 

 thence into Spaine, for want of the naturall inhabitants of 

 the countrie, and the difficultie to drawe it. There is great 

 aboundance in the kingdome of Chilie, of Quito, and in 

 the new realme of Grenada. 



The most famous golde is that of Caravaya in Peru, and 

 of Yaldivia in Chilie, for that it riseth with his alloy and 

 perfection, which is twenty three carats and a halfe, and 

 sometimes more. They make accoinpt likewise of the gold 

 of Veragua to be very fine. They bring much golde to 



