452 A VOYAGE TO Book VL 



times pepitas, or feeds, are found among it of dif- 

 ferent fizes, but generally they run fmall. The water 

 ilTuing from this cocha is flopped in another con- 

 trived a little beneath it, and there undergoes a like ope- 

 ration ; in order to fecure any fmall particles of gold, 

 which, from their extreme fmallnels, might be car- 

 ried off by the current of the water being mixed with 

 earth and other fubftances : and laftly, this water is 

 pafled into a third cocha. But the favings here arc 

 generally inconfiderable. 



This is the method pra6Hfed in all the mines be- 

 longing to the jurifdidtion of Popayan. The labour- 

 ers are Negro flaves, purchafed by the owners : and 

 whilft fome are employed in walhing, others bring 

 earth fo that the wafliers are kept in continual em- 

 ployment. The finenefs of this gold is generally of 

 twenty-two carats fometimes more, even to twenty- 

 three: fometimes indeed it is under, though very 

 feldom below twenty-one. 



In the diftrid of Choco are many mines of Lava- 

 dero, or wafh gold, like thofe we have juft defcribed^ 

 There are alfo fome, where mercury muft be ufed, 

 the gold being enveloped in other metallic bodies, 

 flones, and bitumens. Several of the mines have 

 been abandoned on account of the platina ; a fub- 

 ftance of fuch refiftance, that, when ftruck on an 

 anvil of fteel, it is not eafy to be feparated ; nor is 

 it calcinable ; fo that the metal, inclofed within this 

 obdurate body, could not be extracted without in- 

 finite labour and charge. In fome of thefe mines the 

 gold is found mixed with the metal called tum- 

 baga^ or copper, and equal to that of the Eaft ; but 

 its moll remarkable quality is, that it produces no 

 verdigreafe, nor is corroded by any acids, as common 

 copper is well known to be. 



The gold taken out of all thefe lavaderos, or 

 mines, in the province of Quito, is partly circulated 



in 



