coarse wool and all the refuse _jerga_ is made, which is formed into wrappers for sugar, and common dresses for the slaves and the poorer sort of indians. This province manufactures more of this kind of cloth than any of the neighbouring districts, and some of the inhabitants are wealthy, but the poor indians are truly miserable. Some silver mines are wrought in Conchucos, but the quantity of silver yielded by the ore being small, the hardness of the ore which renders the breaking of it expensive, and the loss of mercury during the process of amalgamation, contribute to render mining a losing speculation, and the mines are consequently almost abandoned. Several attempts have been made to smelt the ores, but without success; could this be accomplished there is no doubt but that mining would become profitable in Conchucos, particularly as there is coal in several parts of this and the neighbouring provinces. Along the margin of the river Miraflores, in Conchucos, there are _labadores_, washing places, where gold of the finest quality is found in the sand, and after the rains subside many persons are employed in gathering it; but so little are they acquainted with the extensive and easy method adopted on the coast of Choco, that the profit derived from their labour is very small; notwithstanding, if proper means were employed, it is very probable that an abundance might be extracted. In the parish of Llamellin is a mine of sulphur, great quantities of which are extracted, and carried to Lima, and sold at the powder mills. In the same parish is a spring which falls down the sides of a rock, forming in its course innumerable hard white stalactites, that look like candles hung in the water; the natives call them Catachi, and apply them, reduced to powder, in cases of violent hæmorrhage, bloody flux, &c.; they also mix the powder with lard or the fat of the puma, or condor, apply it to fractured bones, and consider the application as useful in promoting the union of the parts. The _oca_ is cultivated in some of the colder parts of this and the neighbouring provinces; this plant is of a moderate size--in appearance somewhat like the acetous trefoil; the roots are yellow, each about five or six inches long and two in circumference; they have many eyes, like the potato, and are seldom straight like the the carrot or radish, but curved in different directions: one plant produces several roots, and they are propagated in the same manner as potatoes. The oca when boiled is much sweeter than the camote or batata of Malaga; indeed, it appears to contain more saccharine matter than any root I ever tasted; if eaten raw it is very much like the chesnut, and it may be kept for many months in a dry place. The transplanting of the oca to England, where, I am persuaded, it would prosper, would add another agreeable and useful esculent to our tables.