OP SANTO DOMINGO. 185 



great blocks of quartz that it is impossible to ascertain its exact width from a mere 

 surface insjjection. It is certainly from twenty to thirty feet thick and may be much 

 more. Fragments of the quartz are found the wliole length of both streams. 

 Gold is found in eveiy eddy in their canons and I obtained it by washing even the 

 dirt from the hill sides. The quartz as it appears on the surfaces is more or less - 

 cavernous, the cavities lined or filled with peroxide of iron. On crushing it in a 

 mortar and washing it I obtained bright gold in little flakes. I caused an assay to 

 be made in ISTew York of a portion which I took with me in 18G9, but the returns of 

 the chemist were so high that I shall not i-ecord them here, preferring to believe that 

 either my specimens were accidentally an unfair sample or that the chemist made 

 some mistake. Apart from this enough is known to prove that the vein is gold- 

 bearing, and I believe sufliciently promising to warrant farther examination. 



'Not only is this vein auriferous but many of the smaller ones must contain their 

 share of the precious metal. Over an area of several square miles of this vicinity 

 not only do the streams yield gold but the earth on the hill sides, and even on their 

 summits contains it. About La Horca we found gold everywhere, and throughout 

 the woods are innumerable pits often twenty or thirty feet in circumference and 

 many feet deep whence the Indians mined the clay and gravel, and carrying it to the 

 nearest stream washed it. It is doubtful however if placer mining could be made 

 profitable on a modern scale. JSTot but that the "dirt" is rich enough, but its quantity 

 in any one place is not sufiicient to warrant the construction of expensive ditches, 

 and the slow process of carrying the earth to the water in the Indian style is too 

 laborious and costly to be thought of Although innumerable little streams intersect 

 the hills, none carry sufficient water for sluices. Possibly some of the larger creeks 

 like the Caballo, Anones, Jirana, &c., might pay moderately to Avash their channels 

 but they would be exhausted too quickly to make them an object of attention alone. 

 The women constantly wash gold in the creek beds and also in those of their tributaries, 

 using the well known "batea" or wooden bowl. But they are content w^ith a return 

 of three or four reals (37| to 50 cents) a day. I have mj^self obtained in the Jivana 

 grains worth as much as ten cents in the ordinary gold pan, and I have seen lumps 

 weighing a quarter of an ounce obtained by women in the same manner. 



There can be no doubt as to the sources of this gold. It is true that it is usually 

 more or less rounded, but a very little transpoi-tation among hard stones will suffice 

 to produce this appearance. It is never found far away from or up-stream above the 

 quartz veins. Wliere quartz is most abundant the gold is also found in the greatest 

 quantities, and where the one is absent the other docs not oecni-. On the hill sides 

 A, p. s. — VOL. XV. 2u. 



