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very rarely, topazes had been found in quartz crystals, but even in 

 these instances the quartz appeared fractured and out of its original 

 place*. The topazes which were shewn me, were very imperfect, 

 and full of flaws. The negroes employed in these works were super- 

 intended by two Creolians who received what they found. 



After I had collected a variety of specimens, we returned to our 

 mules, continued our journey over bleak and sterile mountains, 

 through roads covered with dust, and arrived about three o'clock in 

 sight of Villa Rica. Though the town stands on an eminence rather 

 steep and lofty, the approach to it is not noble or striking, neither 

 is there any thing in a near view of it, which, to the eye of a tra- 

 veller, corresponds with the grandeur of its name. The environs, 

 unlike those of opulent towns in general, exhibited few signs of 

 cultivation ; not an acre of good pasture was any where to be seen, 

 nor an inclosure of any kind. We arrived a little after four, and 

 alighted at one of the first houses to the left, on entering the town; 

 it had been recommended to us as one of the best inns, but we 

 found that in point of cleanliness and accommodation, report had 

 greatly over-rated it. The owner, being a priest, entrusted the 

 entire management to a mulatto, who acted as if he was seldom 

 Under the eye of his master. Having ordered dinner we walked 

 into the town for about a mile ; the streets were very irregular, and 

 so badly paved as to give us no favourable idea of the opulence of 

 the inhabitants. As night was coming on, and we felt fatigued, we 

 postponed delivering our letters until next day, and returned to our 

 inn. Our dinner, which was served up in as slovenly a manner as 

 we had ever witnessed, even in the poorest rancho on the road, 

 consisted of some stewed beef and a fowl. The bread was tolerable, 

 but dear. Being little inclined to sit up after our repast, we re- 



* They also Informed me that green topazes were sometimes found, which I very much 

 doubted. If any substance of that colour, resembling topaz, did occur, it was most probably 

 Euclase^ which may be easily mistaken for it. 



