Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/583

Rh was highly delighted. The Spaniards then returned to Antigua, carrying with them 40,000 pesos in gold, which on account of the immense yield from Peru is worth at this time, 1600, says Herrera, more than 300,000.

It appears from the narratives of Vasco Nuñez and others, that upon the Isthmus at this time gold was held by the natives in about the same estimation that copper, iron, or any base metal is regarded by primitive nations. It was usually found wrought into ornaments, such as breastplates, anklets, wristlets, as well as vessels for domestic jmrposes. In fact, when the use of iron became known to the natives, they valued that metal above anything on earth, and thought themselves extremely fortunate if they could obtain a hatchet, a knife, or even a piece of old hoop iron, for an equal weight of gold.

Mining for gold on the continent of America was first attempted by Europeans in the year 1514. Three leagues from the settlement of Santa María de la Antigua del Darien was found a spot where the hill-sides, plains, and river-banks were so richly impregnated as to attract the attention of the colonists. It was their custom to first elect a raining superintendent, or surveyor, under whose direction plots of ground were measured off twelve paces square, the location of which was at the option of the claimant, only avoiding preoccupied ground. Indian slaves were then set to work, and if the spot chosen proved barren, it might be abandoned and another selected.

About this time were started among the colonists of Darien stories of the golden temple of Dabaiba, inland from them a little south of west sixty or eighty leagues. The colonists sought to find the place and