MINEUALS op CUBA. 
IGi 
great inisfortune of tlie natives came from those granitic 
tormations ; traces of that sand are still found in the rivers 
Escaiubraj, known in general in the vicinity 
ot Villa-Clara, Santo Espiritu, Puerto del Principe de 
Eajaino, and the Bahia de Xipe. The abundance of coi)per 
mentioned by the Conquistadores of the sixteenth century, 
at a iieriod when the Spaniards were more attentive than 
they have been in latter times to the natural productions of 
America may possibly be attributed to the formations of 
amphibolic slate, transition clay -slate mixed with diorite. 
queiitly purer than the gold of Sibao in San Domingo. In 1804 the 
of gold ; and those of 
Pem 3400. It IS difficult, "1 these calculations, to distinguish between 
the gold sent to Spain by the first Conquistadores, that obtained bv wasli- 
mgs, and that which hud been accumulated for ages in tlie hands of the 
natives, who were pillaged at will Supposing tliat in the two islands of 
Cuba and ,San Domingo (in Cubanacan and Cihao). the product of the 
wash.ijgs w^s .4000 marks of gohl. we find a quantity three times less 
tlian the gold furnished annually (1790 to 180, I) hv the small province of 
Choco In this supposition of ancient wealth tlicre is nothing improbable; 
and it wc are surprised at the scanty produce of 11, e gold-washings 
attempted in onr days at Cuba and San Domingo, which were heretofore 
so prolific, it must be recollected that at Braail^al'so, Ibe produc; of the 
fn U '"*-or“ T T 7?” kilogrammes 
daiffn'm" pounds, found in our 
nf^tV ^'»'’o'"'u, prove the primitive weaitli 
of the whole basin ol the Antilles, from the island of Cuba to the Apal- 
lachian chain. It is also natural that the product of the gold-washings 
worh^nw ofrt"“ ‘ ‘ - 0 ^*“''' of the Siihterraneoiis 
orkmg of the veins. Ihe metals not being renewed in the clefts of the 
veins (by sublimation) now accumulate in alluvial soil, by tlie course of 
the rivers where the table-lands are higher than the level of the sur- 
rounding running waters. But in rocks with metalliferous veins, the 
l^fftAen the labours, to go deep, and to c oss other acoompanying veins. 
Alluvial soils are generally of small depth where they are auriferous; they 
TiformT^o “'c” f ■‘“PO'-fioiul positiol, and 
uniformity ot composition help to the knowledge of their limits and 
wherever workmen can be collected, and where the waters for the washings 
abound, accelerate he total working of the auriferous clay. These consi- 
derations, suggested by the history of the Conquest, and by the science of 
HavH*’ of tl>e metallic wealth of 
to aCmi- . to ’ it would be more profitable 
to attempt subterraneous workings (on veins) in primitive and interme- 
a^^ofto* 1 “ which were abandoned in the 
ages ot oan)ansm, rapine, and carnage. 
