The Cecil Whig., 1874-05-09
THE EMERALD MINES OF MUZO.

Nltnln 1Our Gays journey from DORota,
French company has been enjoying a
monopoly for the last ten years of all the
emeralds found in the neighboring mines,
and indeed of all the emeralds found in
Columbia. The lease expires shortly, and
the government think they can get better
terms in the open market for fresh con-
tract, than by granting renewal to the
present leaseholders. The annual payment
now is IA, 700 dollars, for which the gov
ernment bound themselves to prohibit the
working of any other mines, existing in
the territory of the Union.
The mines were known and worked long
before the discovery of America and the
conquest of New Granada by the Span
iards. When an expedition arrived in that
part of the country, about 1858, to reduce
the tribe Los Muzos to the Spanish rule,
these Indians were found to possess large
quantity of emeralds. 1t is, however, not
easy to see how they worked the mines, as
they had no tools Of iron. 1t is supposed
that they found the stones in the beds of
the mountain torrents; for it sometimes
occurs that the Winter rains produce great
land slides which lay bare large veins of
emeralds, in which they are washed out by
the waters. But report speaks unfavor-
ably of the quality of these gems; they
resemble those which are still found in the
Indian burial places, or in the lakes into
oh ha tair
lies during their struggle with the Span
iards. Let, however, this be as it may, the
mines of Muzo were worked soon after the
arrival of the Spaniards on large scale,
both in the open air and by means of sub
terranean galleries; but about the middle
of the eighteenth century, the mines were
abandoned no one knows why. And it was
not until the war of independence and the
expulsion of the Spaniards that working
operations were again resumed. The mines
were naturally taken possession of by the
Republic, and let out to individuals and
companies.
The principal mine now in work is pierre
ed in every direction by galleries made by
the Spaniards. Since 1925 it has been
worked in the open air. An immense
number of gems have been found, many of
them of great value. After this mine shall
have been exhausted, which will not be for
many years, not thousandth part of the
ground containing emeralds will have been
touched.
About two days journey from Muzo
there is another mine called Lasquez which
was just touched by the Spaniards, and is
evidently very rich. All this ground, in
Guiding Lasquez, bears traces of the pres
ence of the Spaniards; and as the geologi
cal formation is the same in the whole
neighborhood, it is clear that the day is far
distant before these mountains will be
exhausted.
The mountains of Muzo belong to the
lower formation of chalk. The emeralds
are found in two distant layers; the first or
upper one composed Of calcareous btu
men, but hard and compact. These two
layers are generally separated from each
other by distance of from seventeen to
twenty yards. In the open layers are
found the veins which yield the "nests" "
of emeralds-that is to say, a number of
these gems massed together. But after one
Of these nests the vein disappears, being
crossed by others of different kind, which
run in different direction to those con-
tanning the emeralds. These latter veins
are called "ceniceros" from their ashy
color; they are generally horizontal, while
the emereld veins are perpendicular. They
all run from n. E. to S. w. The veins of
the lower layer are more regular, and are
followed for fifty or sixty yards and even
more "Nests" of emeralds are seldom
found in them, but they are more easy of
extraction. When veins of fluor spar, well
crystallzed, are met with, the emerald is
not far off; the presence of rock crystal is
also good sign, as likewise that of pretty
pyramidally Snapped stone, of the color of
honey ey.-Ir0n.