e same. We have them
in the morning for breakfast. We also have cocoanuts on our place.
When they are young the milk is good to drink, and is very
refreshing. Our cook often makes soup of them, which is very rich
in flavor. At one time I saw our cook with her dinner on her head.
It consisted of baked plantain and yam, and was smoking hot. She
was walking around the yard, taking off a bit of her dinner now
and then to eat it.

Coffee does not seem to grow well in this place, judging from that
which is here. It grows better in higher regions. There is to be a
"Sky Meeting" at Up-Park-Camp on the 20th of July, given by the
English officers. It includes horse-racing, etc. This place in
which we are now living is called "Garden House." The first
mangoes in the island were planted here, and all the others came
from them. There are sixteen acres of coffee. The people prune
their coffee after it has begun bearing. I would like a few
correspondents.

FRED HAWTHORNE.
GARDEN HOUSE, KINGSTON, JAMAICA.

Gold and Silver from Ores.

I visited a huge smeltery not long ago, and saw how gold and
silver were separated from their ores. The lead ore, or galena,
which contains also gold, silver, and copper, is brought from
Utah. The average yield of silver of the ore used here is about
one hundred ounces to the ton. The amount of gold and silver in
the ore is determined in the assaying room in this manner:

A piece of the silver-bearing lead is carefully weighed in a very
delicate balance, and is then placed in a little cup of bone ash,
called a cupel. Then the cupel is put into a very hot furnace so
arranged that a current of air passes over it. The air oxidizes
the melted base metals, but the gold and silver are not affected.
The cupel has the remarkable power of absorbing the oxides of
metal, and so in an hour or so there is nothing left in it save a
little bead of silver and gold. This bead is then weighed, and in
this way it is known what proportion of gold and silver there is
in the ore.

To extract the metals, the ore is mixed with limestone and coal,
and is thrown into a blast-furnace, which resembles an inverted
cone. A fire is started in the bottom and a blast of air is forced
through the pipes into the furnace. When the metal has been