Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/590

570 The old Milanese traveller and historian, Girolamo Benzoni, affirms that when in Nicaragua, about the year 1546, there were no mines of any description, although the natives had in their possession an abundance of gold, much alloyed, however, which had been brought from other provinces.

The shore of Venezuela was called by the early Spanish settlers the Pearl Coast, from the immense yield of that gem in those parts. The licentiate, Don Pedro Ordoñez de Zevallos, who visited that country in 1660, asserts that he saw at the fishery huge piles of pearls which could be measured by the bushel. On the coast of Urabá, he discovered a temple which contained large idols of solid gold adorned with crowns, sun or wheel-like, the smallest of which had rays or spokes of pure gold weighing twenty-eight pounds.

In Peru we shall find equally great gold-gathering stories; and there is no doubt that the yield from this quarter assisted greatly in revolutionizing the commerce and finances of the world.

During his first voyage along the coast of Peru, Pizarro found gold in large quantities only at Tumbez, a town situated at the entrance to the gulf of Guayaquil, although it was discovered to be in the hands of all the natives to a greater or less extent. Having with him but a few men, he gave orders that gold should be treated with indifference, so that the apprehensions of the natives might not be excited, and that the subsequent harvest might be the richer.

The Indian province of Coaque lying directly under the equinoctial line originally abounded in emeralds,