526 



country, to discover whence the precious metal 

 came ; and though the information obtained in 

 the province of Coro, and the markets of Curi- 

 ana and Cauchieto # , had clearly shown, that real 

 mineral wealth was to be found only to the west 

 and south-west of Coro, that is to say, in the 

 mountains which lie near those of New Gre- 

 nada, the whole province of Caraccas was not 

 the less eagerly explored. A governor recently 

 arrived on that coast could recommend himself 

 to his court only by boasting of the mines of his 

 province ! and in order to take from cupidity 

 what was most ignoble and repulsive, the thirst 

 of gold was justified by the manner, in which it 

 was pretended that riches acquired by fraud and 

 violence were employed. " Gold," says Christo- 

 pher Columbus, in his last letter -ft to King 



* Petr. Martyr, Ocean. Dec. i, lib. viii, p. 90, 91. Gry- 

 naeus, p. 83, 84. Fray Pedro Simon, Not. ii, cap. i, N° 3, 

 p. 55. Herrera, Dec. i, lib. iv, cap. v (vol. i, p. 106). The 

 Spaniards found in 1500 in the country of Ouriana (now 

 Coro) little birds, frogs, and other ornaments of gold. Those 

 who had cast these figures lived at Cauchieto, a place nearer 

 the Rio la Hacha. I have seen ornaments resembling those 

 described by Peter Martyr of Anghiera, which indicate tole- 

 rably skilful goldsmiths, among the works of the ancient in- 

 habitants of Cundinamarca. The same industry appears *j 

 have prevailed on the coasts, and farther to the south, in the 

 mountains of New Grenada. 



+ Lettera raristima data nelle Indie nella isola di Jamaica a 

 7 Julio del 1503. (Bassano, 1810, p. 29—31.) ic Lo oro e 



