210 MULE-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 



followed the vein of cinnabar without exercising 

 due precaution to prop the loose ground over- 

 head, they had been literally buried alive in a 

 grave of their own digging. Further research 

 soon revealed the immense value of the deposit. 

 Many years rolled away, and very little was done 

 until it passed from the hands of an English 

 company into that of an American firm. 



The mine is about a mile and a half from the 

 smelting-works, on the side of a mountain ; an 

 admirable road leads to it by a gentle ascent, 

 down which waggons drawn by mules bring the 

 ore to be smelted. On reaching the summit 

 I rested on a level plateau, on which the upper 

 works are built; I am to descend presently into 

 the depths of the mine to see how the ore is 

 deposited, and trace, step by step, the various 

 processes it has to go through before it is mar- 

 ketable. 



The main entrance is a tunnel ten feet high, 

 and about an equal width throughout, in which 

 runs a tramway leading to the shaft. At the 

 end of this tunnel a small steam-engine does the 

 work of the poor 'tanateros,' or carriers, who, 

 until very recently, brought the ore and rubbish 

 from the bottom of the mine on their backs, a 

 system still adopted in Spain and Peru, each man 



