218 MULE-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 



flame and heat to act on ; thus more perfect sub- 

 limation is secured, and a great saving of metal 

 effected. There are blacksmiths' and carpenters' 

 shops and a sawmill adjoining the furnaces. 



Until recently all the ore was brought down 

 from the mine packed on the backs of mules, a 

 most costly system of transport as compared to 

 the one now in use. The vegetation only suffers 

 immediately round the chimney, and even there 

 not to any alarming degree. The flue, being of 

 great length, carried at a moderate slope up the 

 hill, and terminating in a very tall chimney, 

 completely condenses all mercurial and arsenical 

 fumes. Before this flue and stack were con- 

 structed, even the mules and cattle grazing in 

 the pastures died from the poisonous effects of 

 the mercurial vapour; and its deadly action on 

 vegetation was like that of the fabled upas-tree. 

 The workmen now, as a rule, enjoy very good 

 health, and are admirably cared for; the village 

 boasts a capital hotel, and stages run daily to 

 San Jose and San Francisco. 



A spring of native soda-water, bubbling up 

 in the centre of the village, protected and fitted 

 like a drinking-fountain, is said to work wonders 

 as a curative asfent in all maladies arising from 



the effects of mercury. This spring is sup- 



