52 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 



long, very long ere they are worked once 

 more. 



The difficulty of finding a pair of grinding 

 stones and renewing them when worn ; cut- 

 ting them, transporting them through track- 

 less forests, and making a mill to turn them ; 

 together with the want of quicksilver, and 

 the treachery of the government would prove 

 too much for the most enterprising ; but 

 there is a fair quantity of gold collected in 

 Central America, although in such a way 

 that it does not speak much for the industry 

 of the upper and middle classes, who might 

 organise a better mode of working. 



Some adventurers, generally of the very 

 lowest class both in manners and morals, 

 proceed to the auriferous streams, that run 

 through the south part of the H ondura s 

 nearest to Segovia, for two or three months 

 during the dryest part of the year, and when 

 the rains have entirely subsided. Their bag- 

 gage is very light and easily carried on a 

 donkey or half-starved mule, for they only 

 provide each for himself and his female help- 

 mate, a small load of Indian corn, barely 

 enough for the pair ; some tobacco, a small 

 stone for grinding the corn, an earthen pan 

 or two, a hatchet, and a small leathern bag 



