174 Miscellanea. 
between the paving-stones in the street of Itabira for sake of the 
gold they contained. The mine of Gongo Soco, worked in the 
Jacotinga formation by an English association, afforded its riches 
so near the surface, that the extraction of gold was begun on the 
third day of its prosecution, and it continues to be wrought, though 
on a very reduced scale, to the present time. In the month of Sep- 
tember 1829, there were 759 lbs. of gold obtained, of which 296 lbs. 
(or nearly £12,000 worth) were extracted in two days; and during 
twenty-four years, more than 33,000 lbs. weight, worth about one 
million and a quarter sterling, have been taken out, and yielded a 
very considerable profit.—The mine of Morro Velho, also carried 
on by an English company, at present yields auriferous pyrites 
only; but though it contains only about half an ounce of gold in 
the ton of ore, it is nevertheless so extensively wrought that it gives 
from 200 to 250 lbs. of gold a month, and has for several years past 
left a large profit to the adventurers. 
The proportion of gold extracted from the strata he estimates at 
two-fifths of the whole. 
The proportion of gold extracted from the veins he estimates at 
one-half of the whole. 
The proportion of gold extracted from stream-works and beds of 
rivers he estimates at one-tenth of the whole. 
The first discovery of gold known to the Portuguese authorities was 
in 1695; and from that time to the end of last year, the writer calculates 
by the aid of Eschwege’s work on Brazil, and by assistance of the 
Government officers, that sixty-three millions sterling worth of gold 
had been extracted from the Brazilian gold workings. To the end 
of 1846 (the latest returns he had access to), the Russian gold 
washings had yielded about twenty millions; and Sir Roderick 
Impey Murchison considers the returns from California as one 
million and a half per annum. The latest Russian accounts show 
a produce of more than three millions annually, and they, as well as 
the Californian, are still on the increase. ‘The value of Brazilian 
workings seems never to have much exceeded one million a year, 
and it has for a long time been on the decline; the present produce 
is calculated by the best authorities at about 6000 or 7000 Ibs. of 
gold per annum, worth from £220,000 to £270,000; of which about 
one-half is extracted from mines worked by British skill and capital. 
The gold of Candonga, Gongo, and Bananal is alloyed with palla- 
dium, as well as with some silver, and a little platina; at Fazendao 
it is mixed with native copper, and this is probably the case in 
several other mines; at Morro Sao Vicente, large quantities of 
tellurium are mixed with the gold; and the sulphuret of bismuth 
was occasionally found at Catta Branca. Crystallized gold is rare, 
but the little which occurs is chiefly obtained from the present beds 
of rivers; whence, like our own crystalline minerals, it is doubtless 
derived from the shallower portions of the veins or strata. Iron ore 
of the richest description occurs in inexhaustible abundance; and 
the only circumstance which can interfere with that metal becoming 
hereafter the staple of Brazil, is the indiscriminate destruction of 
the forests, and the absence of coal. 
The author never saw a regular cross-vein in any part of Brazil, 
but was informed by an intelligent German engineer, Mr, Von 
