471 



quiring whence came those grains of gold, which 

 Jnan Martinez* and Raleigh profess to have seen 

 in such abundance in the hands of the Indians 

 of the Oroonoko. From what I observed in that 

 part of America, I am led to think, that gold, like 

 tin ^ is sometimes disseminated in an almost im- 

 perceptible manner in the mass itself of granite 

 rocks, without our being able to admit that there 

 is a ramification and an intertwining of small 

 veins. Not long ago the Indians of Encaramada 

 found in the Quebrada del Tigre% a piece of 

 native gold two lines in diameter. It was 

 rounded, and appeared to have been washed 

 along by the waters. This discovery excited the 

 attention of the missionaries much more than of 

 the natives ; it was followed by no other of the 

 same kind. 



I cannot quit this first link of the mountains 

 of Encaramada, without recalling to mind a fact, 

 that did not remain unknown to Father Gili ; 

 and which was often mentioned to me during 

 our abode in the missions of the Oroonoko. The 



* The companion ot Diego de Ordaz. 



+ Thus tin is found in granite of recent formation, at 

 Geyerj in hyalomicte, or graisen, at Zinnwald j and in sye- 

 nitic porphyry, at '■ Al ten berg, in Saxony, as well as near 

 Naila, in the Fichte'gebirge. I have also seen, in the Upper 

 Palatinate, raicaceous iron, and black earthy cobalt, far from 

 any kind of vein, disseminated in a granite destitute of mica, 

 as magnetic iron sand is in volcanic rocks. 



X Ravine of the tiger. 



