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The Brasils, the Spanish West Indies, some parts of theEast Indies and the coast of Africa afford the largest quan-tities of gold. Some parts of Europe also appear to berich in this metal: the mines of the upper Hungary,which seem to be the most considerable in this quarterof the world, have continued to yield gold for upwardsof ten centuries.

Peru, Mexico, Chili, and other provinces of the SpanishWest Indies, abound with gold in a variety of forms. Itis found both in the sands of rivers, and in mines; inter-mixed with loose earth, lodged in fissures of rocks, andbedded in hard stones ; at the surface of the earth,and at great depths; in dust, in grains like the feeds ofapples, called pepitas, and sometimes in masses of an ex-traordinary size. Reaumur reports that a piece was shewnto the French academy, which was said to weigh fifty -six marcs, or four hundred and forty-eight ounces; andFeuillee fays he saw one, in the cabinet of Antonio Por-tocarero, which weighed upwards of sixty-six marcs orsive hundred and twenty-eight ounces. Both these pieceswere assayed, and found to be of different fineness in dif-ferent parts of the mass: the first was in one part twenty-three carats and a half, in another twenty-three, and inanother only twenty-two : the second was in one parttwenty-two carats, in another twenty-one, and in anotherbut seventeen and a half. It is, however, rare to meetwith masses of the weight even of an ounce : thelargest in the Britisti museum weighs but fifteen penny-weight. Notwithstanding the extensive dissemination of itthrough those provinces, yet the quantity of the gold, inproportion to the earthy and stony matter mixed withit, appears to be in general exceeding small. Accordingto Frezier in his voyage to the south sea, and Captain

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