After all the earth has been separated by the repeated washings, the gold mixed with sand, iron sand, and platina, is swept into the small channel, and collected by placing a piece of board across it at a short distance from the reservoir, and allowing a small portion of water to run for the purpose of cleaning out all the crevices; the first quantity is then put into a trough or canoe, and carried to the house of the miner; and another operation similar to the last takes place with another portion of the earth, and so on till the whole of the gold is collected. After the miner has allowed what was carried to his house to dry, he then spreads it on a table, and with a loadstone or magnet he separates from it all the iron sand, which is always very abundant, and placing the gold, platina, and sand in a shallow trough, he allows a small stream of water to pass over it, keeping the trough in motion till the water has washed away the sand. The last operation is to separate the gold from the grains of platina, which is done with a small stick, a pen, or a piece of wire, with which the platina is picked from the gold. Owing to the enormous duty imposed by the Spanish government on the platina, which rendered it almost invaluable, the miners usually throw it away. After visiting Playa de Oro I left the coast, and proceeded on my journey towards Quito. The first part of the road is by the river Tola to Carondolet, or Naris de Peña, which was formerly the name of the landing place. The river is not so rapid as that of Esmeraldas; but it has the disadvantage of being so shallow near a place called the Porquera, that loaded canoes are forced to stop there, or unload, pass the sand banks, and load again. Carondolet is a small village, bearing the name of its founder; from this place a road forty feet wide was opened to Malbucho, a small village at the foot of the Cordilleras, thirteen leagues from Carondolet; _tambos_, or lodging-houses, are built on the road, four leagues from each other, and at Licta, four leagues from Malbucho, two negroes and their families, belonging to the government, are stationed in charge of the repairs of the tambos. Owing, as I have before mentioned, to the inadvertency of cutting down the large trees for the formation of this road, the brush-wood sprang up with increased vigour, and the roots of the large trees produced numberless young suckers, so that in a very short period what was intended as a road became quite impassable, and was entirely abandoned by travellers.