24 QUICKSILVER DEPOSITS OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



one of the extremiiies of the city a deposit of mercury existed so abundant 

 that in tlie rainy season it flowed from a talus on the borders of the sea.' 

 Mr. G. C. Broadhead states that mercury is found in ricli quantities in the 

 jirovince of Parana, and is also found in Santa Catherina and, in the metallic 

 state, in Sao Paulo." In 1886 Mr. J. C. Gomes, of the Brazilian legation 

 at Washington, wrote: "Mercury has been discovered at the Capao d'Anta, 

 in the province of Parana, in quantities that will permit competition with 

 mines of Europe, Peru, and California"' Prof Orville Derby, of whom 

 I made inquiry, writes me that the only authoritative reference known to 

 him is by W. L. von Eschwege.* Cinnabar, according to this geolo- 

 gist, occurs sparingly in rounded grains in gold sands in the bed of a stream 

 flowing from the itacolumite mountain of Cachoeira, near Ouro Preto 

 (formerly Villa Rica). It is not known that this locality has been re- 

 examined. Professor Derby has visited two localities at which it is said 

 that native mercury was found, but could detect none and is inclined to 

 suspect an artificial origin."' He is of the opinion that the Capao d'Anta 

 locality requires further investigation. The neighboring region is one of 

 undisturbed Devonian shales and sandstones. The occurrence was reported 

 by Mr. Keller, who visited it in 1864 or 1865, to be native quicksilver found 

 in loose earth in a gully, and, so far as Professor Derby knows, only a few 

 ounces have been collected as a curiosity. 



The Great Geyser. — DuHng liis well-kuowu iuvcstigatiou of the Great Gey- 

 ser, Mr. Des Cloizeaux found metallic mercury and mercuric sulphide in 

 the geyserite of which the basin of that remarkable spring is composed. 

 At the time of this examination similar occurrences elsewhere were un- 

 known or had been very imperfectly studied, and the probability that the 

 presence of the metal was due to artificial transportation seemed so great 



' Ball. Soc. giSographie, Paris, 5tli series, vol. 9, 1865, p. .')28. 



- Kept. Pliila. lutemat. Exh. 1876 to Parliament, vol. 3, London, 1378, p. 494. 



"Commercial ami Emigrational Guide to Brazil, Compiled and Translated from Official Ptiblica- 

 tion.s, Wasbingtou, 1886. 



■• Beitriige znr Gebirgskunde Brasiliens, 1832, p. 283. 



''The localities are the island of Itaparica, in front of the city of Bahia, and the fagenda de Bon 

 Successo, on the Rio das Vellias, mentioned by R. F. Burton (The Highlandsof Brazil, vol. 9, 1869, p. 69). 



