Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/93

Rh impregnated with a gelatinous matter, which gives it the property of adhering with great firmness to whatever, under water, it is placed against. It is close in its texture, and becomes very hard on long exposure to the air; but when first dug out is not more difficult to work than chalk. The indurated clay-stone, along the Panamà shore, is also an excellent building material; becoming, though soft at first, hard on exposure. For facility of working, it is generally obtained, where softest, below high-water mark.

Besides limestone, are found, in the interior, flint, chalcedony, jasper, iron-stone; and near Gatun, on the river Chagres, a very fine fire-stone, of great use in the construction of kilns, furnaces, &c. Clay and loam earth for bricks are also abundant, and sand to mix with lime in mortar.—'In a word,' says Mr. Lloyd, 'perhaps no part of the world possesses a greater variety of building materials, nor more facility in procuring them, than does the Isthmus of Panamà.' In the precious metals, however, the province is poor. In Panamà proper, only two mines are worked, Santa Rita and Pequeni, both for gold, but their produce is insignificant. They are in the mountains near Porto-Bello. In Veragua, including Choco, a considerable quantity of gold is obtained by washing, and is reckoned very pure: copper and iron are abundant; and tin and mercury are said to have been found. But very little capital is embarked in the respective works; and the washings, in particular, are chiefly in the hands either of a few proprietors of slaves, who thus employ them, or of free Indians who select what they consider favourable situations, occupy them without paying any rent or acknowledgment, employ one portion of the year in collecting the alluvium from the bottom of the rivers and piling it up in heaps, a second in washing it, and the remainder in selling the produce, and wasting it in finery and excess. The total amount is thus comparatively small, and uncertain from year to year.

The vegetable productions of the Isthmus are most luxuriant; and in the vigour and varieties of its woods it challenges competition, in Mr. Lloyd's opinion, with any other part of the world. The following is the list found among his notes, and he has also deposited with the Society a collection of specimens of the respective woods.