Vlll 



INTRODUCTION. 



lay, we went together in different directions 

 about twelve hundred miles, to inspect gold 

 and silver mines ; and on the night that I 

 concluded my report on the last mine, we 

 again set off to recross the Cordillera, and 

 leaving my party in the plains, I rode across 

 the Pampas to Buenos Aires, and as soon 

 as I arrived there I dismissed a proportion 

 of the miners, and returned with the rest to 

 England. 



The sole object of my journeys was to 

 inspect certain mines. We went to the bot- 

 tom of them all, and, assisted by the indi- 

 viduals who accompanied me, I made, to 

 the best of my ability, a circumstantial re- 

 port on each. As the miners were remain- 

 ing idle and without employment at Buenos 

 Aires, it was highly desirable that I should 

 go from place to place as rapidly as possible. 



