OT THE PliECIOUS METALS. 407 



Vega de Sapia, afford great hope. The facility of the com- 

 munications between the coast of Columbia and that of 

 Europe, imparts the same interest to the copper-mines of 

 Venezuela and New Grenada. Metals are a merchandize 

 purchased at the price of labour, and an advance of capital; 

 thus forming in the countries where they are produced, a 

 portion of commercial wealth; while their extraction givea 

 an impetus to industry in the most barren and mountainous 

 districts. 



