1834.] INDIAN EELIC. 267 



dollars' worth of gold. This is an exact counterpart of what takes 

 place in nature. Mountains suffer degradation and wear away, 

 and with them the metallic veins which they contain. The 

 hardest rock is worn into impalpable mud, the ordinary metals 

 oxidate, and both are removed ; but gold, platina, and a few 

 others are nearly indestructible, and from their weight, sinking 

 to the bottom, are left behind. After whole mountains have 

 passed through this grinding-mill, and have been washed by the 

 hand of nature, the residue becomes metalliferous, and man finds 

 it worth his while to complete the task of separation. 



Bad as the above treatment of the miners appears, it is gladly 

 accepted of by them ; for the condition of the labouring agri- 

 culturists is much worse. Their wages are lower, and they live 

 almost exclusively on beans. This poverty must be chiefly 

 owing to the feudal-like system on which the land is tilled : 

 the landowner gives a small plot of ground to the labourer, for 

 building on and cultivating, and in return has his services (or 

 those of a proxy) for every day of his life, without any wages. 

 Until a father has a grown-up son, who can by his labour pay 

 the rent, there is no one, except on occasional days, to take care 

 of his own patch of ground. Hence extreme poverty is very 

 common among the labouring classes in this country. 



There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood, and I 

 was shown one of the perforated stones, which Molina mentions 

 as being found in many places in considerable numbers. They 

 are of a circular flattened form, from five to six inches in dia- 

 meter, with a hole passing quite through the centre. It has 

 generally been supposed that they were used as heads to clubs, 

 although their form does not appear at all well adapted for that 

 purpose. Burchell * states that some of the tribes in Southern 

 Africa dig up roots, by the aid of a stick pointed at one end, the 

 force and weight of which is increased by a round stone with a 

 hole in it, into which the other end is firmly wedged. It appears 

 probable, that the Indians of Chile formerly used some such rude 

 agricultural instrument. 



One day, a German collector in natural history, of the name 

 of Renous, called, and nearly at the same time an old Spanish 

 lawyer. I was amused at being told the conversation which took 



* Burchell's Travels, vol. ii. p. 45. 



