Letter 2577

[fol. 242] Worthy Sr yours I Received Dated Jan: 24: And hope you Received Mine of the 31st of October by the Brown Capten Miers Commander It Would be to Tedious to give an Account of my Fatigues over Mountains & Crossing Rivers both North, & South; East, and West and in all these Journeys I Could not meet with any Vegetable (or at Least but very few) that Escaped your knowledg I Shall make What Collections I Can especially of Fossiles, and Minerals: I have not had the good Fortune yet to meet with any Oars that I Could Get any Silver from Altho I have met with great Variety, from all Parts of the Island, which Shows the Plenty of Mines Irons, and Copper, wee have in great Plenty, and are not without Lead, but the Difficulty I Meet with is; that Persons often brings me Oars taken out Gullies & Rivers, but Cannot or, Will not, Show where they come from: that wee might Set our People to Searching & Digging them Some […] them for fear of their Land be taken from them, Others Demands great Rewards for Discovery So that our People hath as yet Wrote but upon two mines: The first up Swift River in the Windward part of the Parish of St. Georges on the North side of the Island after some little Progress was made and the Oar Sent me wch was very Poor in Copper. I went Over to View there Work wch I found to be a Small String or Vein Running Parrellell with the Course of the River in a Strait Line like a Course of Mortar […] two Courses of Bricks in a Perpendicular Hard Rock of a bout 100 feet High the Vein having No Tendency to Dipp or Sloap Downwards I Expected no Good Would come off it wch Proved Soo. about this time I Let a Diligent man to Search the Springs and Heads of the Riverlets that make Rio Cobra and out of the Head of Golden River which Runs in to Rio Pedro (and not Rio de Ora of the Spaniards which is towards the Magotty Sevanna) He brought some Oars that yielded about a fourth Part in Copper which He Said was Thrown down there out of a Mountain that was Much Shatterd with the Earth Quake but was very steep & Difficult to goe up it Neither did He understand a Vein of Oar if He Saw it Upon wch I Sent a Capten of the Miners & 2 or 3 Good Miners to Search the Mountain; who gave me an Account that there were Serveal Veins, wch Promised very Well I orderd them to Work upon the Fairest of them & Send as they Dugg Some of the Oar for me to Assay wch I found to Contain Copper, some little time after the Captyn Desired I Would come up & View His Work wch Accordingly I Did when I came to the Place I found it a Steep mountain in the Shape of a Sugar Loaf and Difficult to Get up it, a little Riverlet Running almost Round it; only in one Place where a Smal Ridge Joined to it South Easterly, from whence came the Weeping Springs that made the River Called Golden River by the English because the Sand Shines and looks like Gold, Upon my Searching this mountain I found Many Veins Some bigger than Others & Some Higher Up the Mountain & not far Distant from each Other all Running end Way wch was Oblique and Sloaping Downwards & in wards towards the Center of the Mountain: where about half Way Up they began to Strike their Shaft as they Dugg they found the Veins to Wyden & Grow Broader With all the Symptoms of a lasting Mine, but the Capten; before He Dugg Deeper in the Shaft Would Strike a Level or A dit [fol. 243] at the bottom of the Hill and bring it Right under the Shaft by wch means He believed He Should Strike throug Some of these Veins before He came under the Shaft this Delayed the further knowledg at Present of the Goodness of the Oar the Copper is as fine as […] Gold the Oar if of a Blewish Colour with Miuch Verdigress Sticking about Some of it I have Sent Some Samples to Col Long which I Doubt not but He Will Let you See them and in Deed I Flatter my Self that Wee Shall find Something better the further we goe, for if we may give Credit to Albaro Alonso Barba wee Need not Doubt it who Layeth that Copper ingendered (take His own Words) in Book 1 Ch. 29 Mineral Stones of Divers Colours, Although ever the most Predominant Colour is Blew or Green (so is ours) it is engendered in the Same places with Gold & Silver, and often times is following A Vein of pure Copper they have not met with a Nest of the finist Gold, but its more Familiar to have its veins Change into Silver and those Veins of Copper that make a Show above ground, Commonly prove very Rich as they are Dugg Deeper the Mine of […] in the […] was at the Top in a Manner all Copper & as they dug Deeper downwards; it Grew Rich in Silver &c they Mention the Same of Several Other Mines So that wee Cannot Expect any great Alteration before we have got a Considerable Depth, which Requires time & Charge and as we Succeed Shall give you a further account I Long to See your 2 Volumes & every thing that comes from you Will be Always Admired & Esteemed as the greatest Favour you can doe to your most Faithfull friend and servant to Command Henry Barham May 14th 1722 I Heartily Thank you for Recommending me to the Duke or any that may be Serviceable to me & Shall endeavour to Acknowledge & Returne all Favours my Duty to ye president & all the Worthy Gentlemen of the Royall Society & I hope our Patents Will Weather all Difficulys