ULLOA's voyage to south AMERICA. 



539 



were irrecoverably loft by a revolt of the Indians ; and in procefs of time the very 

 remembrance of their fituation was obliterated. The mines of Zaruma have been 

 abandoned, the art of working the ore being loft, for want of a fufficient number of 

 people to apply themfelves to it : and the fame decline is now feen all over the province. 

 The fertility, as natural to the climate, ftill continues in all its plenty : but fcarce the 

 fhadow of its former luftre and magnificence remains ; and that enormous wealth, in 

 which it gloried is now no more. For if its products and manufadures bring in con- 

 fiderable quantities of filver from Lima and Valles, all is expended on European goods j 

 fo that, as I obferved, little of that gold and filver, fo common in the more fouthern 

 provinces, is to be feen here. 



The only part of the province of Quito, which, under this unhapjJy change, preferves 

 its ancient opulence, is the department within the government of Popayan, which 

 throughout abounds in gold mines, and great numbers of them are ftill worked. To 

 gratify the curious, I fliall give an account of the principal, and the manner of working 

 the gold ore ; as it is different from that ufed in the mines of Caxa j after which, I 

 fhall mention the other mines known within that province. 



Every part of the jurifdidtion of Popayan abounds in mines of gold ; and though in 

 fome departments more are worked than in others, yet they all yield gold : and new 

 mines are daily difcovered and worked ; which, under all the inclemencies of the air, 

 in fome parts fills its towns with inhabitants. Among the departments belonging to the 

 province of Quito, the richeft in gold are thofe of Cali, Buga, Almaguar, and Barba- 

 coas, fome of its mines being always more or Jefs worked ; and with this fmgular 

 advantage in its gold, of never being mixed with any heterogeneous body j confequently 

 no mercury is requifite in extrading it. 



The gold mines in thefe parts are not Caxa mines, as thofe of filver and many of 

 gold are; that is, they are not contained and confined as it were betwixt two natural 

 walls : but the gold is found difperfed and mixed with the earth and gravel j as fands 

 are found mingled with earths of different fpecies. Thus the whole difficulty confifts in 

 feparating the grains of gold from the earth ; and this is very eafily done, though other- 

 wife it would be impradicable, by running conduits of water. This method is alfo 

 equally neceffary in the Caxa mines, where the filver and gold are intimately united 

 with other bodies, as, after having gone through the operation of the quickfilver, which 

 their quality renders indifpenfable, it is walhed in order to feparate the remaining filth. 

 After the laft operation the amalgama is pure, confifting entirely of quickfilver, and 

 gold or filver, according to the fpecies which has been worked. 



The manner, throughout the whole jurifdidion of Popayan, for extrading the gold, 

 is, to dig the ore out of the earth, and lay it in a large cocha, or refervoir made for 

 that purpofe; and when this is filled, water is conveyed into it through a conduit: 

 they then vigoroufly ftir the whole, which foon turns to a mud, arid the lighteft parts 

 are conveyed away through another conduit, which ferves as a drain ; and this work is 

 continued till only the moft ponderous parts, as little ftones, fand, and the gold, remain 

 at the bottom. The next part of the progrefs is, to go into the cocha with wooden 

 buckets made foj this purpofe, in which they take up the fediment ; then moving them 

 circularly and uniformly, at the fame time changing the waters, the lefs ponderous parts 

 are feparated ; and at laft the gold remains at the bottom of the bucket, clear from all 

 mixture. It is generally found in grains as fmall as thofe of fand ; and for that reafon 

 called oro en polvo ; though fometimes pepitas, or feeds, are found among it, of differ- 

 ent fizes, but generally they run fmall. The water ilTuing from this cocha is ftopped 

 iin another contrived a little beneath it, and there yndergoes a like operation j in order 



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