OF PANAMA. 



37 



The method made life of by the Spaniards for obtaining gold out of the 

 rivers, of which there is greater plenty iii this audience, and in the mines of 

 Santa Maria not far off, than within the fame fpace in any other part of New 

 Spain, or perhaps in the whole world, is as follows : 



From the mountains in the midfl: of the ifthmus there roll down feveral ri- 

 vers, with a ftrong and rapid current, daring the rainy feafon efpecially, and 

 then tear away part of the foil, and with it abundance of gold, which after- 

 wards is, with confiderable pains, feparated therefrom. The /W/^2/?x are ge- 

 nerally employed in this work, as alfo the llaves of the Spa?2iards, that is, 

 the negroes the latter make about five fhillings a day ; but the former, who 

 fell what they gs^t at a price agreed on, get confiderably more. They take 

 the mud up in litde wooden difhes, and after fuffering it to fettle, they wafn 

 from it as much of the black earth as they can ; then it is put up into certain 

 bafons, called by the Spaniards lavadcros, which are placed under a pipe or 

 fpring of running water, and is ftirred with an iron fpatula, that as the wa- 

 ter pafles through, it may be the better able to carry off the fand or earth : 

 after it has gone through this operation, it ftill retains its black colour, but 

 the increafe of its weight, in proportion to the quantity that is left, fuflici- 

 ently indicates that all this pains is- not taken without anfwering feme end. 

 This black earth is next thrown into broad wooden difhes, hollow in t!ie 

 middle, like a butcher's tray, but not fo deep ; there, by repeated waHiings 

 and rubbings, the black earth is entirely cleanfjed away, and a fliining gold 

 fand is found at the bottom. Though there feems to be a great trouble in 

 this method, yet it is much the eafiefc and the cheapeft way of coming at the 

 goid, for there is neither a fourth part ot the labour, nor of the expence in 

 thus feparating the grains of gold from the foil, thac there muft be ufed in 

 extrading it from the ore. In the dry feafon they work at the mines q-l Santa 

 Maria, which lie not far from Panama, and are exceedingly rich. It was 

 taken in 16O4, by our buccaneers, and more than once fmce ; nay, Da,':pL'r 

 tells us they had fome thoughts of fettling there, and thinks they might have 

 done it in fpite of all the force the Spaniards had in Peru. They were tempt- 

 ed to thefe thoughts by feeing the mines abandoned by the Spaniards, as they 

 were for a long time, and by the quandties of gold, which, from their own 



e.spenence 



