8B 



COxMMERCE. 



along by the waters, and the httle pure silver that could be 

 dug out of a pit, which, in many instances, did not exceed 

 a fathom in depth. 



"* The most moderate computations of the Spanish writers, 

 among whom may be particularly cited Moncada, Navarrete, 

 and Ustariz, fix at nine thousand millions of piastres the sums 

 which Spain received from America during the two hundred 

 and forty-eight years that followed its conquest, up to that of 

 1 740. The mine of Potosi alone, during the first ninety years 

 of its being worked, produced three hundred and ninety-five 

 millions six hundred and nineteen thousand piastres ; — a pro- 

 digious extraction, which appears more surprizing, when it 

 is considered that metallurgy had hitherto been treated, not 

 according to the principles and rules of art, but according to 

 the adoption and pra6tice of an ancient and blind usage. 



Whether this abundant source of riches ought to be encou- 

 raged in preference to the other gifts of the earth ; or whether 

 the natural produ6lions and primary substances by which agri- 

 culture is augmented and extended, should be the objedls of 

 an equal, or, perhaps, of a more sedulous attention, is a 

 problem of political economy which may be easily decided 

 by forming an idea of the position, soil, and produ6lions of 

 the Peruvian territory. 



The viceroyalty of Peru, which, since various disjundlions, 

 and the erection of that of Buenos Ayres, commences, to the 

 north, at Tumbes, and, to the south, at Vilcanota, the 

 southern extremity of the province of Tinta, running through 

 a space of five hundred itinerary leagues to that confine, and 

 proceeding thence, by the coast, to the desert of Atacama, a, 

 distance of more than six hundred leagues, is divided into se- 

 ven 



