DISCOVERY OF QUICKSILVER MINES. '209 



quicksilver is briefly told. Long ere gold was 

 discovered in California, the padres and early 

 settlers knew of a cavern in the hillside, about 

 a mile and a half from the present village. 

 Deeming it merely a natural fissure or cleft in 

 the rock, explorations only were made by the 

 more adventurous as to its extent, which proved 

 to be in length one hundred feet, running into 

 the mountain horizontally. No one ever thought 

 it was an artificial excavation of great antiquity. 

 When the vaqueros and old dons of the neigh- 

 bourhood were questioned by a new-comer about 

 the cave, a shrug of the shoulders, and the usual 

 reply, 'Quiensabe? son cosas muy antiguas,' was 

 the sole information obtained. 



A gold-seeker, assaying some of the rock, sali- 

 vated himself, and thus discovered it was rich in 

 quicksilver. A grant, with the land adjoining, 

 was procured, and the original opening widened ; 

 in clearing away the rubble and dirt at the end 

 of the cave, several skeletons were discovered, 

 together with rude mining-tools and other curious 

 relics, clearly proving it an old excavation made 

 by the natives for the purpose of procuring ver- 

 milion, so much used by all savages to paint 

 themselves. The position of the skeletons in the 

 rubbish covering them left no doubt that, having 



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