Mining In Brazil
Pablic attentionl.aving-been peculiarly directed towar&s the new unlertakintfor worting the mines of Brazil, a few extracts from those authors who have written on-that country and its rich native productions, may not be unac- ceptable. The followin; are frem Southey's -History -of Brazil;and are founl in that section of it which relates to the province of Minas Geraes. in which the valu%hle.metals are principallv said to abound:- " liumps of nativegold were often founa from 20 to. 100 oitavas (one-eighthpaitofan ounce) in weigiht; afew of which weighed frorm O to 300 oitavas, and'one it is asserted of 131b."..S... hey's 2raz4, page 68, Vol. ?8. " The modes of minini haping been En impyrfrct, it has not Un. reasonably been thought that!when more scientificmeans are adopt- ed, Brazil is likely to yield more gold than at any forner time. Buit improved mcthodsi w.ll require an outlay whiich can only be -advrnced by Government, or by companier pesseswed of great capital when they commence their operations."-M4bh page. 28, vol. 3. et it was the opinion of scientific men that hitherto only the surface of the earth had been searched, and that the veins were still fer the most part untouchrl."-Ibid', page 826 volz & " River mining, howqver, was the easiest anA the moat effectually performed: it was, therefore, the commoaess. But thegreater pact of those streams which were known to be auriferous had been wrought.. The mountains wcre more tempting, bet required much greater labour; a few bracos, if the vein was good, enriched the na. venturers for ever; and in the early days of the mines, the high .grounds attracted men who were more enterprising and persevering ~i t Thc whole sum of gold extracted trom the captaincy, calcu- a.ced upon the qdantity registered and flfthed, and upon the mode. rate computation that only a fifth of the whole h Ld been ^landes- ttnely eSxporte d, has been estimlated at 45,000,060L sterling."'-Ibid, MIThfNG IfV BDZAt4L.