218 



crative working, but it requires great circum- 

 spection to decide whether the abundance of 

 mineral and the facility of reaching it, be suffi- 

 ciently great to cover the expence *. Even in 

 the eastern part of South America, gold and 

 silver are found dispersed in a manner that sur- 

 prizes the European geognost ; but that disper- 

 sion, the divided and entangled state of the 

 veins, and the appearance of some metals only 

 in masses, render the working extremely expen- 

 sive. The example of Mexico proves sufficiently 

 that the interest attached to the labours of the 

 mines is not hurtful to agricultural pursuits, 

 and that those two kinds of industry may simul- 

 taneously promote each other. The inutility 

 of the attempts made under the intendance of 

 Don Jose Avalo must be attributed solely to the 

 ignorance of the persons employed by the Spa- 



* In 1800, a day-labourer (peon) employed in working the 

 ground, gained, in the province of Caraccas, 15 sols, exclusive 

 of his food. (Vol. iv, p. 128.) A man who hewed building 

 timber in the forests on the coast of Paria, was payed at 

 Cumuna, 45 to 50 sols a day, without his food. A carpenter 

 gained daily from 3 to 6 francs, in New Andalusia. Three 

 cakes of Cassara (the bread of the country), 21 inches in 

 diameter, lg line thick, and 2|lb. weight, cost at Caraccas, 

 a half -real de plata or 6 J sols. A man eats daily not less than 

 2 sols worth of cassara, that food being constantly mixed 

 with bananas, dried meat (ta&sajo), and papelon, or unrefined 

 sugar. Compare for the price of provisions, Vol. iv, p. 242, 

 388; Vol. v, 152. 



