How there are great mines in most parts of this kingdom.

THE long chain of mountains, which we call Andes, commences at the strait of Magallanes, and traverses many regions and great provinces, and we know that on the side towards the South Sea (which is the west) great riches are found in the hills and rivers, while the provinces to the eastward are considered to be poor in metals, according to the account of those who extended their conquests to the river of La Plata, and came thence to Peru by way of Potosi, They said that they heard of a country no less fertile than populous, which was a few days’ journey beyond Charcas, and this proved to be no other than Peru. They saw little silver, and even that came from the district round the town of Plata; neither did those who went on an expedition of discovery with Diego de Rojas, Felipe Gutierrez, and Nicolas de Heredia find any riches. The Adelantado Don Francisco de Orellana, too, who went down the MaraÑon in a boat, at the time when the captain Gonzalo Pizarro was in search of the cinnamon country, although he passed many large villages, saw little or no gold or silver. Indeed, except in the province of Bogota, there is no wealth in these parts of the Cordillera of the Andes. But it is very different in the southern parts, where greater treasure has been found than had been seen before in the world during many ages. Yet if the gold in the provinces near the great river of Santa Martha, from the city of Popayan to the town of Mompox, had been in the power of a single lord, as it was in Peru, the wealth would have been greater than that of Cuzco. In the skirts of these cordilleras they have found great mines of gold and silver, both near Antiochia, at Cartago, in the government of Popayan, and throughout the whole kingdom of Peru.

If there were people to extract it, there would be gold and silver enough to last for ever; for in the mountains and plains, in the valleys and in all parts, they have found gold and silver. There is also a great quantity of copper, and some iron in the mountains which descend towards the plains. In fine, there is lead in this kingdom, and all the metals which God has created; and it seems to me that if there were men to work, there would not fail to be great riches in Peru. Already so much treasure has been extracted and sent to Spain, that men never thought there could be so much.