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.