WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES- — VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 53I 



water power and none by horse power ; the ore is freighted from the 

 mines to the mills on llamaback ; the mills have water enough to 

 grind ore all the year ; in a year each can grind 25,000 quintals of ore. 



1448. The ore is ground in the mills, and is then passed through 

 a coarse wire sieve, coming out like wheat flour. Then they roast 

 it in ovens to get rid of the dross contained in the ore — sulfur, 

 galena (alcojol), antimony, and other impurities in it. Then they 

 are ready to have the quicksilver amalgamate with the silver. Ex- 

 perience has shown that these ores have to be handled differently 

 from those at Potosi. They take it to the troughs directly from the 

 ovens, and then add a little water and salt which has been ground 

 and sifted, and quicksilver, and they keep adding water little by 

 little so as to form a muddy mass ; they keep kneading it like dough 

 with their feet in these same troughs ; every 3 days they repeat the 

 process and keep adding salt and quicksilver according to the need. 

 Then they put it in a vat and wash it with a beater run by a water 

 mill called a labadero. After this washing the silver is amalgamated 

 with the quicksilver ; they put it in coarse sacking and squeeze it 

 hard to get the quicksilver out, which leaves the silver like dough. 

 Then they make cakes of it, one like a sugar loaf, and arrange two 

 earthen jars, one above and one below; they put the silver above a 

 perforated plate between the two and apply fire to the upper jar ; 

 that releases the silver, for the quicksilver goes through the perfora- 

 tions and drops into the lower jar, which has a little water in it. That 

 leaves the silver pure and free from it, and whiter than snow. Then 

 they carry it off to be melted into bars, the Assay er grades it, and 

 then they take it to the Royal Officials for the deduction of the royal 

 20 percent impost. 



1449. Taking one year with another, they get annually from 

 36,000 to 40,000 marks of silver from these mines. At the beginning 

 the ore yielded 2 or 3 silver marks from each quintal, each mark 

 being of 11 ounces; there is other ore yielding 4 marks, more or less. 

 Now in general they get better results than at the start, for they have 

 come to a better knowledge and understanding of the processes. 



On each of these veins His Majesty has a recorded mine ; these 

 are rented out and from these leases His Majesty will receive an- 

 nually on the average 1,500 assay pesos. The Alcalde Mayor, who 

 is the Governor, has charge of these mines, with an Overseer (Veedor) 

 and a Protector of the Indians, all appointed by the Viceroy. 



1450. When the Marques de Canete commissioned the establish- 

 ment of this city and its mines, he assigned 2,100 Indians to them, 

 and ordered that each should receive a daily wage of 2f reals, plus 



