phurets, in combination with galena, iron, black blende (sulphuret of zinc), in quartz and greenstone matrices, interspersed with threads and crystals of native silver. The particular mines known as those of "El Tabanco" are richest, and yield from 100 to 2537 ounces per ton. These have been extensively and profitably worked, and derive a large part of their value from their proximity to the Bay of Fonseca.

Gold mines are not uncommon in Honduras, but, excepting those of San Andres in the Department of Gracias, and in the vicinity of San Juan Cantaranas in Tegucigalpa, they are no longer worked. The principal supplies of this metal in the state are drawn from the gold-washings of Olancho, which are exceedingly productive. The River Guyape has always enjoyed great celebrity for the amount of gold contained in its sands; but, since the early periods of Spanish occupancy, washing has not been carried on except on a very small scale by the Indians, and even with them the process is generally left to the women and children, who only work for a few hours on Sunday mornings. Yet the amount thus obtained and carried into Juticalpa in the year 1853 was valued at $129,600.

The following paragraphs in reference to the gold district of Olancho are extracted from a private letter from Dr. Charles Doratt, who visited that region in 1853:

"Among the rivers of Olancho, which we visited and 'prospected,' the Guyape and Jalan are decidedly the richest in auriferous sands. These two rivers unite a little below Juticalpa, the capital of Olancho, and form the Rio Patuca or Patook (see ante, p. 79). The gold deposits on the Guyape commence properly at a point called Aleman, continuing thence up the river, the

banks upon both sides containing much fine gold. We found gold in the alluvions half a mile distant from the present bed of the river. Leaving Juticalpa in a northeast direction, and crossing the department near Yocon, over an area of twenty leagues long and ten broad, there is not a streamlet, however insignificant, which does not contain gold both in its sands and in the banks which border it. For the most part, these streams follow the courses of the mountains, and fall into the Guyape and Jalan. The remaining ones, including the Sisaca and Mangualil (the latter carrying gold of larger size than the others), run into the 'Rio Mirajoco,' which, taking the name of Taguale, after fertilizing the beautiful valley of Olancho, reaches the sea near Truxillo. In these larger rivers the gold is found in deposits near the bends and rapids. The finest gold is from the Guyape, Jalan, and Mangualil, in the Department of Olancho, and the Sulaco, Caymito, and Pacaya in that of Yoro. At Aleman the women only wash the sand on Sunday mornings, and, with the aid of their miserable batteas, in a few hours procure a sufficient quantity of the metal to supply their wants for the ensuing week. It is sold on the spot at from $11 50 to $12 per ounce. At Guijana the gold is found in a soft slate, and at San Felipe in a red, ferruginous earth. About five leagues from Danli, the Jalan produces well, and at the time of my visit there were more than a hundred men and women engaged in washing. They also used the batteas, and never went more than two or three feet below the surface."

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The southern districts of Honduras, bordering on Nicaragua, bear also rich placers of gold, whence the Indians annually take considerable quantities. The

same is true of the northern districts of the Department of Sta. Barbara. The streams which flow from the Mountains of Omoa into the Rio Chamelicon, and especially those in the vicinity of the town of Quimistan, all carry gold in their sands. Miners properly provided with implements for washing could not fail to secure here a rich reward for their labor and enterprise.

Honduras has also mines of copper of unsurpassed richness and value. The ores in all cases contain considerable proportions of silver. Those of Coloal, in Gracias, already alluded to, contain 58 per cent. of copper, besides about 80 ounces of silver to the ton. The ores from the mine of Guanacaste, Department of Olancho, give upward of 80 per cent. of pure copper, besides 2.9 per cent. of silver, equal to 1039 ounces of silver per ton. But, notwithstanding their great richness, these mines have been always neglected by the mining interest, or worked primarily for the silver which they contain in combination with the copper. Under the peculiar circumstances of the country, and principally from the difficulty of communication, the production of this metal has hitherto been regarded as unprofitable, and the pure copper as hardly worth its transportation to the coast; but, with improved means of communication, and the introduction of modern improvements in reducing the ores, the copper mines of Honduras must become one of the principal sources of Iwealth to the state. There are some mines of this metal in the neighborhood of the Gulf of Fonseca from which it has been customary for the merchants to ballast vessels, or fill out the freight of those bound for England or Germany, where the ores have always commanded a good price, and yielded a fair return to the