On resuming my visit to the mint I took an early opportunity of stating to the acting governors my ideas respecting a new regulation for supplying mercury to the miners. One great impediment to the use of that metal, so essential in certain branches of the process, was the exorbitant price at which it was exclusively sold by the apothecaries, generally upwards of two shillings the ounce. I suggested that the mint should be the general depository for it, and that it should be issued from thence to the gold-washers without profit. By this regulation the article would be brought into general use, much to the benefit of the state as well as of private individuals. I also gave them models of earthen vessels, which might be made at a small expense, for evaporating and condensing the mercury, which, if universally adopted, would effect a great saving in the consumption of that article.
The remainder of my stay, previous to my journey to Tejuco, passed very agreeably. In the evening-parties to which I was invited, and which generally consisted of ladies and gentlemen, I observed that the English style of dress prevailed, particularly among the former. The houses of the higher classes in Villa Rica are much more convenient and better furnished than any I saw in Rio de Janeiro and S. Paulo, and are for the most part kept in the exactest order. Their beds seemed to me so elegant as to deserve a particular description. The posts were of fine wood, fluted or carved in various ways; the sides plain, the bottoms of boards or leather. The bed itself was of cotton, the sheets of fine linen edged with lace of home manufacture, full nine inches broad. The bolster was covered with fine muslin, the ends of which were edged also with lace. The pillows were made round at the ends and covered with pink sarsnet, over which was another of fine muslin, terminated with broad lace, which being starched and delicately managed had a very rich appearance. The coverlet was yellow satin of a Damask pattern, edged like the sheets and pillows with broad lace. The hangings were of the same materials, in the form of a canopy, without curtains. Not excepting the refinements of recent date in this article of furniture, I never saw beds so magnificent as those of the opulent in this captaincy.