Tut. Perhaps not so fine as you may imagine, for many a one does not pay the cost of working. A coal-pit would probably be a better thing. Who do you think are the greatest gold-finders in Europe?
Har. I don’t know.
Tut. The gipsies in Hungary. A number of half-starved, half-naked wretches of that community employ themselves in washing and picking the sands of some mountain-streams in that country which contain gold, from which they obtain just profit enough to keep body and soul together: whereas, did they employ themselves in agriculture or manufactures, they might have got a comfortable subsistence. Gold, almost all the world over, is first got by slaves, and it makes slaves of those who possess much of it.
Geo. For my part, I will be content with a silver mine.
Har. But we have none of those in England, have we?
Tut. We have no silver mines, properly so called, but silver is procured in some of our lead mines. There are, however, valuable silver mines in various parts of Europe; but the richest of all are in Peru, in South America.
Geo. Are not the famous mines of Potosi there?
Tut. They are. Shall I now tell you some of the properties of silver?
Geo. By all means.
Tut. It is another perfect metal. It is also as little liable to rust as gold, though indeed it readily gets tarnished.