622 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I02 



base of the slope is over a league around. At present it is all hollowed 

 out and shored up, on account of the great amount of ore they 

 have taken out from the veins in its bowels and center, and the long 

 tunnels they have bored from the sides to get the ore out with less 

 labor, though it remains considerable, for there are veins they have 

 followed and keep following, for over [200] 300 stades inward; 

 it was to facilitate these operations that they have made those tunnels 

 on many sides of the hill. It is joined to another lower ridge which 

 they call Guayna Potosi, meaning Young Potosi. 



1649. This marvelously rich range was discovered at the beginning 

 of the year 1545, 14 years after the discovery of that Kingdom by 

 Marques Don Francisco Pizarro and his comrades. The first to 

 discover it was an Indian of Chumbivilca Province, which is at one 

 side of Cuzco, by the name of Hualpa, who was at the Porco mines. 

 He spoke of it to another native, from the Province of Jauja, which 

 is up above Lima ; this man was a servant or Yanacona of a Porco 

 miner named Villarroel. He told his master about it, and he went 

 over to verify the richness of the range ; when assured of it, he 

 registered his claim on April 21, 1545, staking it on the vein which 

 they have named Centeno ; staking (estacandose) is the same as taking 

 possession of the extension in varas permitted by the law to those 

 who make the find, so that they can work it as their own, registering 

 it before His Majesty's officials for the proper payment of the 20 

 percent impost; then they discovered the vein called Estafio (tin), 

 very rich in ore, and late in August, the Mendieta vein. The first 

 vein, discovered by the Chumbivilca Indian, was 300 feet long and 

 13 broad ; it had a great outcrop above ground the height of a lance, 

 half silver, and in parts all virgin silver with flukes projecting out 

 from the hill level. 



1650. These four chief veins were on the E. side of the hill, running 

 N. and S. into its depths toward the slopes. They had other branches 

 springing from them, like those springing from the trunk of a tree. 

 On each of these principal veins there were different mines divided 

 up between many proprietors or miners ; by law, the largest mine 

 cannot run over 80 varas, and the smallest, 4. The rich vein had 

 78 mines on it ; the Centeno, 24, and the others rather more. These 

 ore veins in general run between two clififs which stand like sentries 

 over them, and are called Caja (strongbox). They do not always run 

 even, but in some places rich and others poor ; they break open the 

 cliffs or cajas to get it out, although they are the hardest of flint 

 in some cases. They call the rich ore tacana ; it is almost amber 

 colored ; it comes also red, ashy, and other colors. 



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