( 181 ) 



sand it contained at the bottom abounded with grains of silver. 

 Having ordered a quantity to be taken out, I proceeded to examine 

 the base of the mountain, which I found to be of granite-like gneiss, 

 with garnets, and small crystals of pyrites. Near this place the mar- 

 gin of the rivulet contained rounded stones and sand, but no where 

 was there to be found any metallic substance, except the one above- 

 mentioned. Indeed, the very idea of silver appearing here in dust 

 or grains, as gold does, would be preposterous, and contradictory to 

 every principle of nature, as, in such a state, it would probably have 

 been attacked by the sulphur in the pyrites, so as to have assumed 

 the form of a sulphuret. 



I returned in a most wearied and exhausted state to Father 

 Thomas's, where, after some needful repose, I proceeded to examine 

 the sand and stones I had collected at the supposed silver-mine, but 

 no particle of metal was to be found. I then ordered the men to 

 produce their sarriples, which 1 examined both by the blow-pipe and 

 by acids, but no silver appeared. After equivocating very much, they 

 acknowledged that they had rubbed and beaten substances to powder, 

 and when they found specular iron ore they thought it was silver. In 

 one of the samples there certainly was silver, but it appeared to 

 have been filed probably from an old buckle or spoon, or rubbed on 

 a stone and mixed with a pulverized substance. The farce could no 

 longer be carried on : I charged them, in a most determined manner, 

 with imposture, which, after some hesitation, they confessed : an 

 officer Avho was with me would have secured them, but I restrained 

 him ; for, having obtained a confession, I was unwilling to bring them 

 to punishment, or to render them more miserable than they already 

 were by having them sent to the army. Perhaps that would have 

 been doing them a greater service than setting them at liberty ; for 

 they were too lazy to work, and would, no doubt, return to their old 

 habits of prowling about, and subsisting on the credulity of the pub- 

 lic by spreading fallacious reports about mines, precious stones, &c. 

 Such impositions are not uncommon in South America : I have 

 known instances in which copper-fihngs, mixed with earth and after- 



s 2 



