Antonio Dias, the person already mentioned as one of the leaders of the Paulistas, who discovered the place, having become extremely rich, built a fine church, and dying soon after, bequeathed to it considerable funds. It bears his name. Five or six others were begun and soon finished, as neither wood nor stone was wanting; and the inhabitants were all ready to contribute a share of their property, and to employ their negroes in furtherance of these pious works. A law highly creditable to the wisdom of the Portuguese government was now enacted, to prohibit friars from entering the territories of the mines. What treasures were thus saved to the state, and what a number of persons were thus continued in useful labor, who would else have become burthensome to the community!
The town now underwent many improvements; its streets were more regularly built, and some parts of the side of the mountain were levelled, to afford more convenient room for the construction of houses, and the laying out of gardens. Reservoirs were formed, from which water was distributed by means of conduits to all parts, and public fountains were erected in the most convenient and central situations. The mint and smelting-houses were enlarged, and rendered more commodious for the transaction of business. About this period the inhabitants amounted to twelve thousand or upwards; those who possessed mines, were either the first settlers or their descendants, and as the best part of the district was occupied, the new adventurers who continued to arrive from time to time, were obliged to enter into the service of the existing owners until they had learned their methods of working, after which they generally went in search of fresh mines, proceeding along the water-courses and ravines, where they sometimes discovered new sources of wealth. Between the years 1730 and 1750, the mines were in the height of their prosperity; the King’s fifth, during some years of that period, is said to have amounted to at least a million sterling annually.
The mines which produced this immense wealth, at length became gradually less abundant; and, as the precious metal disappeared, numbers of the miners retired, some to the mother-country, loaded with riches, which tempted fresh adventurers, and many to Rio de Janeiro and other sea-ports, where they employed their large capitals in commerce.
Villa Rica, at the present day, scarcely retains a shadow of its former splendor. Its inhabitants, with the exception of the shopkeepers, are void of employment; they totally neglect the fine country around them, which, by proper cultivation, would amply compensate for the loss of the wealth which their ancestors drew from its bosom. Their education, their habits, their hereditary prejudices, alike unfit them for active life; perpetually indulging in visionary prospects of sudden wealth, they fancy themselves exempted from that universal law of nature which ordains that man shall live by the sweat of his brow. In contemplating the fortunes accumulated by their predecessors, they overlook the industry and perseverance which obtained them, and entirely lose sight of the change of circumstances which renders those qualities now doubly necessary. The successors of men who rise to opulence from small beginnings, seldom follow the example set before them, even when trained to it; how then should a Creolian, reared in idleness and ignorance, feel any thing of the benefits of industry! His negroes constitute his principal property, and them he manages so ill, that the profits of their labor hardly defray the expenses of their maintenance: in the regular course of nature they become old and unable to work, yet he continues in the same listless and slothful way, or sinks into a state of absolute inactivity, not knowing what to do from morning to night. This deplorable degeneracy is almost the universal characteristic of the descendants of the original settlers; every trade is occupied either by mulattoes or negroes, both of which classes seem superior in intellect to their masters, because they make a better use of it.
During my stay here, I paid frequent visits to the mint, and was liberally permitted by the officers to see every process performed there. In the smelting-house were eight or ten small blast-furnaces, in form much resembling blacksmiths’ hearths. The fuel used is charcoal. When a quantity of gold-dust is brought, (no matter whether large or small), say, for instance, six ounces, it is first permuted, and a fifth taken for the Prince; the rest is put in a Hessian crucible, about three inches in diameter, which is immediately placed in the furnace. A quantity of corrosive sublimate is then put to it, which, on being heated, exhales very strong fumes; the scoriæ, if any be formed, are taken off with a pair of tongs, and more sublimate is added if required. Ebullition sometimes occurs, in which case the crucible is covered with a bit of common tile. As soon as the mercury is evaporated, the gold is poured into an ingot-mould, previously rubbed with animal fat; it is afterwards turned out into a tub of water. The ingot generally, in some part or other, has mercury attached to it, (which it seizes immediately), and the part of the gold thus affected assumes the appearance of lead[38]. To remove this, they hold it in a strong fire with a pair of tongs until the mercury is evaporated. It is afterwards sent to the assay-master, who first compares it on the touchstone with gold bars of different alloys, ascertained and marked, and then assays it. The two methods being found to agree, the assay-master stamps upon the ingot its degree of fineness, (called toque), also its weight, its number, the name of the place, and the year. It is then registered in a book kept for that purpose, and a copy of the entry is made out on a slip of printed paper, in which the ingot is wrapped, and delivered to the owner for circulation. The operation of melting a given quantity seldom occupies more than ten minutes or a quarter of an hour; that of cupelling about double the time: but I have seen men deliver their gold-dust, and receive it in a circulating form in less than an hour; so that little delay takes place, and, as there are six furnaces, the bringers of gold have seldom to wait for their turn. The pale color and low quality of various bars of gold are always imputed to the silver, platina, or other metal contained in them. I have seen some as low as sixteen carats, and others as fine as 23-1/2 carats, which is within half a carat of what is denominated pure gold. Twenty-two is the standard, and gold exceeding that receives a premium according to its fineness.
Considerable quantities of arsenical pyrites, said to be cobalt, were brought to me: I examined some specimens with the blow-pipe, but found no vestige of that metal, as the substance in no stage imparted a blue color to borax or glass. Iron pyrites is found about three miles from the town, where there is a very strong vein of it in quartz. Antimony was brought to me from some distance, and also a few bits of copper much oxidated, which were said to have been found in the washings at a place called Caldeiroens, but this I had great reason to doubt. Not a few impositions respecting the discovery of copper were attempted upon me. One man brought a rounded piece of jasper, about an ounce in weight, and with it half an ounce of copper, of the form and about the size of a duck-shot, which he told me had been produced by a smelting stone similar to the jasper then before me. I with much difficulty persuaded him that the person who had performed the operation for him had dropped a copper coin into the crucible. I was astonished to find that many persons, even gentlemen of some consequence, had a notion that almost every red-colored stone in the pavement of the streets was copper. One fellow had circulated a report that he possessed several pieces rich in that metal; but, on being sent for, and questioned closely, he stated that he had lost them in removing to another house. It is not surprising that tales of this kind should gain easy credit among persons stimulated by avarice and blinded by ignorance, and that the artful men who invent and propagate them, should be tempted by success to repeat their impositions, and corrupt others by their example. The rich iron ores with which the district abounds, and of which I saw many specimens, might furnish employment much more profitable than washing for gold, or following other idle and chimerical speculations.
During the first few days of my residence here, my soldiers procured me a quantity of the finest porcelain clay I have ever seen; that used in the manufactory at Sèvres, near Paris, is inferior to it. This clay is found at the foot of a mountain of argillaceous schistus, called S. Antonio, near Congonhas do Campo, in a vein accompanied with quartz and specular iron ore.
A week after my arrival here, I was invited to go to a pottery about three miles distant. Crossing a bridge over the Rio do Carmo, at the foot of the town of Villa Rica, we ascended another steep mountain, on the summit of which I found iron ore in great quantities. Though not very rich, I have no doubt it would produce 25 per cent. of metal. The want of wood, which is here complained of as an objection to working it, might be remedied by planting; for this summit is a fine plain, which proper cultivation would render highly productive. At present, though so near the town, it lies totally neglected, without a single inclosure upon it. The pottery, at which we soon arrived, has been but recently established. The clay is used in its native state, without any admixture, and is cleared of its coarse particles by washing. After the water has been let off and evaporated so as to leave it of a sufficient consistency, it is put on the wheel and formed into plates, mugs, jars, &c. which are bulky and heavy, but by no means strong. They are rendered less fragile by being covered with an excellent thick glazing. The furnaces have no chimneys, but consist merely of a low arch in which are several vent holes. The glazing furnace is reverberatory, but it is so ill constructed as to destroy much fuel and produce little heat. Throughout the whole district there is good coarse clay, for bricks, tiles, &c.
I was here invited to taste some wine, made from grapes grown on the spot, which was excellent. A more happy situation than this vicinity affords for the growth of fruits of every kind can scarcely be imagined. The pear, the olive, and the mulberry would thrive here equally well with the grape, if proper pains were taken with them. A skilful agriculturist would with great ease, I am certain, bring it into such a state of improvement, as to serve the double purpose of a corn and dairy farm; excellent wheat might be grown, and a certain quantity of the land kept under artificial grasses for cutting. A fine stream of water runs through the whole, with a sufficient fall to turn mills.
The principles of husbandry seem as little understood here as in any part of the territory through which we had hitherto travelled. Perhaps there is no country on the globe where the vicissitudes of plenty and scarcity do not prevail, and where human experience has not shewn the necessity of laying by a store in time of abundance, as a provision for a season of famine; but here this salutary practice is almost wholly disregarded. The cattle are turned out on the uninclosed tracts[39], and left to subsist on whatever they can find. In the summer months, when the grass throughout the wide extent is burnt up, they flock to the margins of the rivulets as their last resource, which soon fails. Numbers of them die of famine, and those that survive the season are so exhausted and weakened, that they seldom thoroughly recover.