This engraving depicts a group of enslaved men and woman mining in Brazil near Ouro Preto. According to the accompanying text, "to the left a party of slaves is catching the gold dust by immersing fleeces in the running water; on the right, two other slaves are beating out the dust from a fleece into a large wooden dish placed on the ground to receive it; behind them a European is weighing the gold dust in scales, and men and women are seen bringing down pieces of quartz containing gold to be broken up by others" (p. 208).
Gold Works of Itacolumi, Brazil - Gold Washing
SI-OB-897
1855
Gold Works of Itacolumi, Brazil - Gold Washing
Anonymous, "Scenes in Brazil," in Ballou's Pictorial, vol. IX (Sep. 29, 1855), p. 208.
French
Miscellaneous Occupations & Economic Activities
South America--Brazil--Minas Gerais
Derived from Johann Moritz Rugendas and Marie Philippe Aimé de Golbéry, Voyage Pittoresque dans le Brésil (Paris: Engelmann & cie., 1835). A somewhat different version was captioned "Lavage de l'or, au Brésil," in Magasin Pittoresque (1841), p. 161.
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
2007; 29-Aug-19
Ballou9-208