ival in London, being demanded of sundry his friends what thing
he had brought them home out of that country, he had nothing left to
present them withal but a piece of this black stone. And it fortuned a
gentlewoman, one of the adventurer's wives, to have a piece thereof,
which by chance she threw and burned in the fire, so long that at the
length being taken forth, and quenched in a little vinegar, it glistened
with a bright marquesite of gold. Whereupon the matter being called in
some question, it was brought to certain gold-finers in London to make
assay thereof, who gave out that it held gold, and that very richly for
the quantity.[8] Afterward the same gold-finers promised great matters
thereof if there were any store to be found, and offered themselves to
adventure for the searching of those parts from whence the same was
brought. Some that had great hope of the matter sought secretly to have
a lease at her majesty's hands of those places, whereby to enjoy the
mass of so great a public profit unto their own private gains.

[8] The English assayers all pronounced the stone worthless. An
Italian, Giovanni Baptista Agnello, reported it to contain gold.
On being questioned as to how it was that he alone was able to
produce gold from the stone, he is said to have replied, "_Bisogna
safiere adular la natura_" ("Nature requires coaxing "). Agnello's
assay necessarily involved the addition of other substances for
the purpose of separating the gold; and it has been suggested that
the gold produced by him was itself added during this process.
There is no good reason for thinking so. Pyrites often contains a
minute proportion of gold. Admitting the possibility of trickery
in the case of the small specimen submitted to Agnello, it is
incredible that the fraud should have been successfully repeated
when the two hundred tons of mineral brought back by the second
expedition came to be tested. The mineral undoubtedly contained
gold, but not enough to pay for the carriage and working.

In conclusion, the hope of more of the same gold ore to be found kindled
a greater opinion in the hearts of many to advance the voyage again.
Whereupon preparation was made for a new voyage against the year
following, and the captain more specially directed by commission for the
searching more of this gold ore than for the searching any further
discovery of the