ffS A Voyage to 



Quintals, or Hundred Weight of Ore ; and thefe they call 

 Cuerposy that is, Bodies. On each of them they throw a- 

 bout two hundred Weight of Sea, or common Salt, more 

 or lefs, according to the Nature of the Ore, which they 

 mould and incorporate with the Earth for two or three 

 Days. Then they add to it a certain Quantity of Quick- 

 filver, fqueezing a Purfe made of a Skin into which they 

 put it, to make it fall in Drops, with which they fprinkle 

 the Body or Mafs equally. According to the Nature and 

 Quality of the Ore, they allow to each Mafs ten, fifteen^ 

 or twenty Pounds ; for the richer it is, the more Mercury 

 it requires to draw to it the Silver it contains ; fo that they 

 know not the Quantity but by long Experience. An In- 

 dian is employ'd to mould one of thofe fquare Parcels eight 

 times a day, to the end -that the Mercury may incorporate 

 with the Silver ; to that effe<51: they often mix Lime with 

 it, when the Ore happens to be greafy, where Caution is 

 to be ufed ; for they fay it fometimes grows fo hot, that 

 they neither find Mercury nor Silver in it, which feemsin- 

 credible. Sometimes they alfo ftrew among it fome Lead^ 

 or Tin Ore, to facilitate the Operation of the Mercury, 

 which is flower in very cold Weather than when it is tem- 

 perate ; for which Reafon, at Potofi and Lipes, they are of- 

 ten obliged to mould the Ore during a whole Month, or 

 a Month and half ; but in more temperate Countries the 

 Amalgama is made in eight or ten Days. 

 Ere ufed in to facilitate the Operation of the Mercury, they in fome 

 jeme PUas. p]^^ as at p mo and e if ew here, make their Buite- 

 rons y or Floors on Arches, under which they k^ep Fires^ 

 to heat the Powder of the Ore for 24Hours 5 on a Pavement 

 of Bricks. 



Eftying. When it is thought that the Mercury has attracted all the 

 Silver, the Elfayer takes a little Ore from each Parcel apart 5 

 which he waflies in an Earthen Plate, or a Wooden Bowl 5 

 and by the Colour of the Mercury found at the Bottom of 

 the Bowl, knows whether it has had its Effeft for when it 

 isblackifh, the Ore is too much heated, and then they add 



more 



