The Histoire Naturelle des Indes is an early exercise in economic geography, charting resource use and profits in the New World. Colorful illustrations of plants, animals, and people engaged in various activities are accompanied by captions in French. The author paid careful attention to the workings of the Spanish colonial administration, particularly the mining, minting, and transportation of silver and gold. This passage reads as follows:
  
They usually end their days there because while digging in the rocks masses of stone fall on them, which pin them underneath and they die miserably. There also is found a great quantity of beautiful rock crystal in large pieces richly adulterated with gold. These mountains are located in a province called Lerayne [Colombia] close to a city called Santa Fe, the capital of the province. This is a region rich in wheat, meat, fowl, and plenty of gold. The Indians of this region are good workers with great skill and intelligence, working and making beautiful cloth of fine wool…