at length arrived after much delay, a long voyage, and
very great expense.
A day was then fixed to “ open the mines.” Captain
Hart accompanied Mr. G-each as interpreter. The Governor,
the Commandante, the Judge, and all the chief people of
the place, went in state to the mountain, with Mr. Geach’s
assistant and some of the workmen. As they, went up the
valley Mr. Geach examined the rocks, hut saw no signs of
popper. They went on and on, hut still nothing except a
few mere traces of very poor ore. At length they stood on
the copper mountain itself. The Governor stopped, the
officials formed a circle, and he then addressed them,
saying,—that at length the day had arrived they had all
been so long expecting, when the treasures of the soil of
Timor would he brought to light,—and much more in very
grandiloquent Portuguese : and concluded by turning to
Mr. Geach, and requesting him to point out the best spot
for them to begin work at once, and uncover the mass of
virgin copper. As the ravines and precipices among which
they had passed, and which had been carefully examined,
revealed very clearly the nature and mineral constitution
of the country, Mr. Geach simply told them that there was
not a trace of copper there, and that it was perfectly
useless to begin work. The audience were thunderstruck !
The Governor could not believe his ears. At length, when;
Mr. Geach had repeated his statement/the Governor told
Tiirri severely that he was mistaken; that they all knew
there was copper there in abundance, and all they wanted
him to tell them, as a mining-engineer, was how lest to get
at it ; and that at all events he was to begin work somewhere.
This Mr. Geach refused to do, trying to explain,
that the ravines had cut far deeper into the hill than he
could do in years, and that he would not throw away
money or time on any such useless attempt. After this
speech had been interpreted to him, the Governor saw it
was no use, and without saying a word turned his horse
and rode away, leaving my friends alone on the mountain.
They all believed there was some conspiracy—that the
Englishman would not find the copper, and that they had
been cruelly betrayed.
Mr. Geach then wrote to the Singapore merchant who
was his employer, and it was arranged that he should send
the mechanics home again, and himself explore the country
for minerals. At first the Government threw obstacles in
his way and entirely prevented his moving; hut at length
he was allowed to travel about, and for more than a year
he and his assistant explored the eastern part of Timor,
crossing it in several places from sea to sea, and ascending
every important valley, without finding any minerals that
would pay the expense of working. Copper ore exists in
several places, hut always too poor in quality. The best
would pay well if situated in England ; hut in the interior