106 MINING SYSTEM. 1839 



raiso. From 1790 to 1830, gold to the value of two million, 

 seven hundred thousand pounds sterling, and about half that 

 amount of silver, were produced in Chili. In 1833, the gold 

 coinage at the mint in Santiago amounted to three hundred 

 ninety-two thousand, five hundred dollars, and the silver to 

 ninety-two thousand dollars. 



But the copper mines in Coquimbo, at Jajuel, near San 

 Felipe, and other localities, constitute the chief sources of 

 national wealth. The mineral is extracted in different forms, 

 — as native copper, orange oxide of copper, carbonate of cop- 

 per, and copper pyrites associated with some muriate of cop- 

 per. In a few mines, masses of native copper, of extraordi- 

 nary magnitude have been found. In 1834, nearly 42,860 quin- 

 tals of copper and copper ore, were exported from Coquimbo 

 alone ; the total value of the product in all Chili, in the same 

 year, was 75,000 hundred weight. The annual exportation 

 of copper is now worth upwards of two millions of dollars. 



Every facility and encouragement in the search for mines, 

 is afforded by the government. The discoverer may work a 

 mine in any ground by paying five shillings sterling ; and 

 before paying this, he may try, even in the garden of another 

 man, for the space of twenty days. At the copper mines, the 

 laborers undergo the severest hardships for a trifling remun- 

 eration ; one pound, sterling, a month, together with food, 

 being the usual compensation. In winter and summer, they 

 begin work at early dawn, and leave off at dark. But little 

 time is allowed for meals. The food furnished to the miners 

 consists of sixteen figs and two small loaves of bread for 

 breakfast, boiled beans for dinner, and broken roasted wheat 

 grain for supper. Once a week, very rarely, but never oftener, 

 they are provided with the hard dried beef of the country, 

 called charqui. 



There are two classes of laborers, — the barreteros, or min- 

 ers, who work the lode, and the apires, who carry the ore 

 upon their backs to the surface. The latter perform the most 

 difficult and laborious part of the work. According to a gen- 

 eral regulation, the apire is not allowed to halt for breath, 



