58 



nation of mines of lead bv subterraneous fires. 

 The veins of both these ochres run deep into the 

 ground, and their quality is found to improve in 

 proportion to' their depth. 



Few places in Chili are in reality sandy, or so 

 covered with sand as to be incapable of vegeta- 

 tion. But the rivers abound with it, owing to 

 the constant friction of the pebbles with \Ahich 

 their beds arc lined, and on their shores all the 

 various kinds of sand described by naturalists 

 ni:iy be found. The black sand of Virginia 

 (arena micacea nigra) first described by Wood- 

 ward, is common on the sea shore and on the 

 banks of several rivers ; it is black and verv 

 heavy from the quantity of ferruginous particles 

 it contains. In the same places is also found 

 another kind, difiering from the former only in 

 colour, which is a beauliful Prussian blue; for 

 this reason I have called it the black blue sand 

 (arena cyanea). Near Talca, the capital of the 

 province of Maule, is a little hill which fur- 

 nishes a species of cement sand, known by the 

 name of Tah:a sand (arena talcensis). This 

 sand is finer than that of Pnzzoli in Italy, a;^d 

 appears to be a volcanic production, as its 

 earthy and ferruginous parts are half calcined. 

 The inhabitants employ it in their buildings for 

 those walls which they intend to whiten, as of 

 itself it forms a verv strone: cement, to wliich 

 the ]inic adheres firmly. 



