531 



voted to agriculture, should have tried to fol- 

 low the auriferous veins, in the superior sur- 

 face of the soil. The mines of Los Teques could 

 not be peaceably wrought, till the defeat of 

 the Cacique, Guaycaypuro, a celebrated chief 

 of the Teques, who so long contested with the 

 Spaniards the possession of the province of Ve- 

 nezuela. 



v We have yet to mention a third point, to 

 which the attention of the Conquistadores was 

 called by indications of mines, so early as the 

 end of the 16th century. In following the val- 

 ley of Caraccas to the east beyond Caurimare, 

 in the road to .Caucagua, we reach a mountain- 

 ous and woody country, where a great quantity 

 of charcoal is now made, and which anciently 

 bore the name of the Province of Los Mariches. 

 In these eastern mountains of Venezuela, the 

 gneiss passes into a talcous state. It contains, 

 as at Salzbourg, lodes of auriferous quartz. 

 The labours very anciently begun in those mines 

 have often been abandoned and resumed. 



The mines of Caraccas remained forgotten 

 during more than a hundred years. But in the 

 times nearest our own, toward the end of the 

 last century, an intendant of Venezuela, Don 

 Jose Avalo, again gave into the illusions, which 

 had flattered the cupidity of the Conquistado- 

 res. He fancied, that all the mountains near 

 the capital contained great metallic riches. A 

 2 m 2 



