ed, the water having separated the metal from the
earth, and deposited it in the sands, thereby saving the expence of
digging; hence it is esteemed an infallible gain to be able to divert
a stream from its channel, and ransack its bed. From this account of
the manner of gathering gold, it should follow that there are no mines
of this metal in Brazil, and this the governor of Rio Grande, who
happened to be at St Catharines, and frequently visited Mr Anson, did
most confidently affirm, assuring us that all the gold was collected
from rivers, or from the beds of torrents after floods. It is indeed
asserted that large rocks are found in the mountains abounding in
gold, and I have seen a fragment of one of these rocks having a
considerable lump of gold entangled in it; but, even in this case, the
workmen only break off the rocks, and do not properly mine into them;
and the great expence of subsisting among these mountains, and in
afterwards separating the metal from the stone, occasions this method
of procuring gold to be but rarely put in practice.

[Footnote 3: The author ought here to have said, _a thin layer_, or
_stratum_, to express the obvious meaning intended in the text.--E.]

[Footnote 4: The editor was informed, many years ago, by an
intelligent native of Rio Janeiro, that the search for gold is
confined by law to certain districts, on purpose to secure the royal
fifth; and that all over the country round Rio Janeiro, where the
search is prohibited, gold, emeralds, and aqua-marines are found in
small quantities, on every occasion of digging to any depth into the
earth, as for the purpose of a pit-well.--E.]

The examining the bottom of rivers and beds of torrents, and the
washing the gold there found, from the sand and dirt with which it is
always mixed, are performed by slaves, who are principally negroes,
kept in great numbers by the Portuguese for this purpose. The
regulation of the duty of these slaves is singular, as they are each
of them obliged to furnish their master with the eighth part of an
ounce of gold daily.[5] If they are either so fortunate or industrious
as to collect a greater quantity, the surplus becomes their own
property, and they may dispose of it as they think fit; so that some
negroes, who have accidentally fallen upon rich washing-places, are
said to have themselves purchased slaves, and to have lived afterwards
in great splendour, their original master having no other demand upon
them