( m ) 



to the owner for circulation. The operation of melting a given 

 quantit}^ seldom occupies more than ten minutes or a quarter of an 

 hour ; that of cupelling about double the time : but I have seen 

 men dehver their gold-dust, and receive it in a circulating form in 

 less than an hour ; so that little delay takes place, and as there are 

 six furnaces, the bringers of gold have seldom to wait for their turn. 

 The pale colour and low quality of various bars of gold are always 

 imputed to the silver, platina, or other metal contained in them. I 

 have seen some as low as sixteen carats, and others as fine as 

 23i carats, which is within half a carat of what is denominated 

 pure gold. Twenty-two is the standard, and gold exceeding that 

 receives a premium according to its fineness. 



Considerable quantities of arsenical pyrites, said to be cobalt, 

 were brought to m»: I examined some specimens with the blow- 

 pipe, but found no vestige of that metal, as the substance in no stage 

 imparted a blue colour to borax or glass. Martial pyrites is found 

 about three miles from the town, where there is a very strong vein 

 of it in quartz. Antimony was brought to me from some distance, 

 and also a few bits of copper much oxidated, which were said to 

 have been found in the washings at a town called Caldrones, but 

 this I had great reason to doubt. Not a few impositions respecting 

 the discovery of copper were attempted upon me. One man 

 brought a rounded piece of jasper, about an ounce in weight,, and 

 with it half an ounce of copper, of the form and about the size of a 

 duck-shot, which he told nie had been produced by smelting a stone 

 similar to the jasper then before me. I with much difficulty per- 

 suaded him that the person who had performed the operation for 

 him had dropped a copper coin into the crucible. I was astonished 

 to find that many persons, even gentlemen.of some consequence, had 

 a notion that almost every red-coloured stone in the pavement of 

 the streets was copper. One fellow had circulated a report that he 

 possessed several pieces rich in that metal ; but, on being sent for, 

 and questioned closely,, he stated that he had lost them in removing 



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