WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA GlJ 



suffice for this province, which has a Corregidor appointed by the 

 Viceroy to administer justice, etc. 



Chapter V 



Of the Silver-mining Town San FeHpe de Austria. 



1636. In this Province of Paria, mines were discovered, and at 

 the news of their richness, miners fiocked in from many quarters to 

 work them. On account of this weahh in the year 1607 they estab- 

 hshed the town of San FeHpe de Austria, called in the language of 

 that country Oruro. It lies on a level prairie 2 leagues from the 

 tombs near the Pie de Gallo ridge, which has provided very rich 

 veins of silver, and still does. Nearby are the very rich mines of the 

 San Cristobal range and others, from which great wealth has been 

 derived, and still is, abundantly, in spite of their not having had 

 mita (forced labor) Indians, but only mingados, i.e., hired ones; 

 in fact, every Indian mine laborer (barretero) earns 12 pesos every 

 week, and night workers get double. At the news of this bonanza 

 so many Spanish miners and traders flocked in from every side in 

 a short time that a very large and extensive community and settlement 

 was constituted, with more than 1,000 Spaniards, and the Indians 

 have built up large settlements in the suburbs of the town, which 

 form two excellent dotrinas or curacies. These are the Indians who 

 work in the mines ; they are all well off in consequence of the high 

 wages they get; and although in the year 1618 Prince de Esquilache 

 gave these mines 500 Indians so that they might be exploited with 

 better results, they were induced to leave through the objection made 

 by Potosi, 40 leagues away, that since Potosi was more distant and 

 remote, they would have profited more if the Indians had been given 

 to them (?). The wealth that has been derived, and still is, from 

 these low ranges, is enormous, for the ore is very rich and easy to 

 handle. The town has some 20 mills to grind the ore, among the 

 tombs which are 2 leagues away near the Potosi King's Highway ; 

 there are others at Sorasora and on the bank of the Lake of Paria; 

 they bring the ore there on llamas, of which there are great numbers. 

 They use the mercury process, although there are some smelting 

 furnaces. 



1637. The town is built on a plain near the Pie de Gallo ridge. 

 It has a parish church, Dominican, Franciscan, Augustinian, Merce- 

 darian, and Jesuit convents, and an excellent hospital for the care 

 of the indigent sick, kept by Brethren of San Juan de Dios. It has 

 two other parishes of Indians who settled here at the report of the 



