near the Ravin de Chiguera. All the mines comprehended under the name of mines of Gualgayoc, on the Partido de Chota, have furnished to the provincial treasury of Truxillo between the month of April 1774, and the month of October 1802, the sum of 1,912,327 marcs of silver* or at an average 67,193 marcs annually†. * 1,189,456 lb. troy. Trans. This table which was framed at my request in the offices of the intendancy exhibits the quantity of silver given into the Cayana de Truxillo, as well as the duties of tenth and one and a half per cent. paid to the king. Of 11,791 ingots, nearly an eighth part or 1450 came from the partidos of Guamachuco and Conchuco. I could not procure the produce of the Cerro de Gualgayoc since the discovery of the mines in 1771, to 1774. These years were undoubtedly the most abundant of all; but as the money was sent at that period to Lina, the archives of Truxillo could furnish no information relative to them. It is very reasonably believed that under a more enlightened government, the Cerro de Gualgayoc, would become another Potosi. In fact its minerals are richer than those of Potosi, and they are more constant in their produce than those of Huantajaya, and easier to work than those of Yauricocha. The mines of Huantajaya, surrounded with beds of rock salt are particularly celebrated on account of the great masses of native silver which they contain in a decomposed gangue; and they furnish annually between 70 and 80 thousand marcs of silver *. The muriate of conchoidal silver, sulphuretted silver, * From 45,942 to 52,505 lb. troy. Trans. 1 galena with small grains, quartz, carbonate of lime, accompany the native silver. These mines are situated in the partido of Arica, near the small port of Yquique *, in a desert entirely destitute of water. A project has long been entertained of carrying fresh water to it for the use of the men and cattle, and water from the sea for the amalgamation works. In 1758 and 1789 two pepitas of massive silver were discovered in the mines of Coronel and Loysa, the one weighing eight and the other two quintals. The gentle elevation of the mines of Huantajaya, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean is a singular contrast with the masses of vitreous silver found on the summit of the Cerro de Gualgayoc at a height of 4080 metrest; and it proves the vagueness of the systematical ideas advanced by celebrated geologists relative to the distribution of the metals according to the variety of climates and latitudes. Ulloa after travelling over a great part of the Andes, affirms that silver is peculiar to the high table lands of the Cordilleras, called Punas or Paramos, and that gold on the other hand abounds in the lowest, and consequently warmest re * Along the coast of Taparaca. † 13,385 feet. Trans. gions*; but this learned traveller appears to have forgot that in Peru the richest provinces in gold are the partidos of Pataz and Hu ailas, which are on the ridge of the Cordilleras. The Incas drew immense quantities: of gold from the plains of Curimayo to the north-east of the town of Caxamarca, at more than 3400 metres † of elevation. It has also been extracted from the right bank of the Rio de Micuipampa, between the Cerro de San Jose, and the plain called by the na tives, Choropampa or plain of shells, on account of an enormous quantity of ostracites, cardium and other petrifications of sea shells contained in the formation of alpine limestone of Gualgayoc. Considerable masses of gold have been found there, disseminated in branches and fila ments, in veins of red and vitreous silver at more than 4000 metres of elevation above the level of the ocean. As to the alluvious grounds in which the lavaderos of gold of Choco are established, and those of Soñora and Brazil, are we to be surprised on finding them rather at the bottom than the tops of mountains? If tin § appears an exception to the law of nature, * Ulloa, Noticias Americanas. 1772, p. 223 and 236. +11,154 feet. Trans. 13,123 feet. Trans. For instance, the tin of the Lavaderos (Waschzinn) of the summit of the Fichtelgebirge. |