The mines of Quilogoya and Quilacura are within four leagues of this port, and afford vast quantities of gold.  At the Estancia del Re, or king’s farm, which is at no great distance, there is by far the most plentiful lavaders, or washing-place for gold in all Chili, where sometimes they find lumps of pure gold of prodigious size.  The mountains of the Cordelieras are reported to contain a continued chain of mines for many hundred miles, which certainly is highly probable, as hardly any of these mountains have hitherto been opened without vast quantities of metal being found in them, especially fine copper, of which all the artillery in the Spanish West Indies is constructed, at least all that are used in the countries on the South Seas.

The most considerable port in Chili is Valparaiso, which is esteemed one of the best harbours on the whole coast of the South Sea.  It lies on a river fifteen leagues below St Jago, the capital of Chili.[5] To this port all the riches of the mines on every side are brought, particularly from those of Tiltil, which are immensely rich, and are situated between St Jago and Valparaiso.  The gold here is found in a very hard stone, some of which sparkles and betrays the inclosed treasure to the eye; but most of it does not shew the smallest sign of gold, appearing merely a hard harsh stone of various colours, some white, some red, some black.  This ore, after being broken in pieces, is grinded or stamped in a mill by the help of water, into a gross powder, with which quicksilver is afterwards mixed.  To this mixture a brisk stream of water is let in, which reduces the earthy matters to a kind of mud, which is carried off by the current, the amalgam of gold and quicksilver remaining at the bottom, in consequence of its weight.  This amalgam is then put into a linen bag, and pressed very hard, by which the greatest part of the mercury is strained off, and the remainder is evaporated off by the force of fire, leaving the gold in a little wedge or mass, shaped like a pine-apple, whence it is called a pinna.  This is afterwards melted and cast in a mould, to know its exact weight, and to ascertain the proportion of silver that is mixed with the gold, no farther process of refining being done here.  The weightiness of the gold, and the facility with which it forms an amalgam with the mercury, occasions it easily to part from the dross or earthy matters of the stone or matrix.  This is a great advantage to the gold-miners, as they every day know what they get; but the silver-miners often do not know how much they get till two months after, owing to the tediousness of their operation, as formerly described.

[Footnote 5:  This is a material error.  Valparaiso is on no river, and lies forty English miles north from the river Maypo, on one of the upper branches of which, the Mapocho, St Jago is situated.—­E.]