Personal Narrative Of Travels To The Equinoctial Regions Of America During The Years 1799-1804 - Volume 3 - By Alexander Von Humboldt And Aime Bonpland.
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I Have Already Observed That The Silvery Lustre And Frequency Of Mica
Have Contributed To Give Guiana Great Celebrity For
Metallic wealth.
The peak of Calitamini, glowing every evening at sunset with a reddish
fire, still attracts the attention of
The inhabitants of Maypures.
According to the fabulous stories of the natives, the islets of
mica-slate, situate in lake Amucu, augment by their reflection the
lustre of the nebulae of the southern sky. "Every mountain," says
Raleigh, "every stone in the forests of the Orinoco, shines like the
precious metals; if it be not gold, it is madre del oro (mother of
gold)." Raleigh asserts that he brought back gangues of auriferous
white quartz ("harde white sparr"); and to prove the richness of this
ore he gives an account of the assays that were made by the officers
of the mint at London.* (* Messrs. Westewood, Dimocke, and Bulmar.) I
have no reason to believe that the chemists of that time sought to
lead Queen Elizabeth into error, and I will not insult the memory of
Raleigh by supposing, like his contemporaries,* that the auriferous
quartz which he brought home had not been collected in America. (* See
the defence of Raleigh in the preface to the Discovery of Guiana, 1596
pages 2 to 4.) We cannot judge of things from which we are separated
by so long an interval of time. The gneiss of the littoral chain*
contains traces of the precious metals (* In the southern branch of
this chain which passes by Yusma, Villa de Cura and Ocumare,
particularly near Buria, Los Teques and Los Marietas.); and some
grains of gold have been found in the mountains of Parima, near the
mission of Encaramada.
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