60 PKETENDED GOLD MINES. Book I, 
There was, however, a gentleman in the room in which 
I had been received, a priest from a neighbouring village, 
who, with an expression in his countenance which seemed 
to say : " I know better," looked doubtfully and seriously 
at these proceedings. After he had remained silent for a 
time, he drew a sheet of the official gazette of Leon from 
his pocket. It contained a proclamation from the Nicara- 
guan minister for the interior, stating that in the neigh- 
bourhood of the capital a most important discovery had 
been made. A bed of gold dust had been found, richer 
than the richest " placer " of California. " In consequence 
of this discovery" — thus the proclamation concluded — " our 
beloved Nicaragua will soon take the honourable position 
assigned to it amongst the nations of the globe. This 
country, favoured with the predilection of divine providence, 
will reach its glorious and happy destiny." This proclama- 
tion the gentleman read aloud. My sceptical remarks 
were received with contempt, and I perceived that I was 
looked at as a man who, from selfish motives, tried to 
dissuade the people from believing in the treasures hidden 
in the ground of their country. When I returned to 
Granada, however, it was already discovered that the 
authorities of Leon had been deceived — nobody knew for 
what exact purpose — by some Yankees returning from 
California, who buried a small quantity of gold-dust and 
then announced their pretended discovery to the govern- 
ment. 
The place described above was what the owner called 
the " mina del Salto." The " mina de la Conquista " 
proved to be of the same description : the same rock, the 
same little cubes of iron pyrites disseminated through it. 
But I had no cause to repent my ride of twenty-four 
miles. The country had some spots of incomparable 
