WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 629 



completely alone, severed from the mercury and from the earth which 

 created it. And now that it has become pure, they again torture it 

 with fire to make it into bars ; it goes through so many tortures that 

 the Holy Ghost uses it in the comparison with the righteous : Malachi 

 III : 3, "And he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as 

 gold and silver" ; and Ecclus. II : , "Like silver purged of earth, 

 purged sevenfold." 



So huge is the wealth which has been taken out of this range since 

 the year 1545, when it was discovered, up to the present year of 

 1628, which makes 83 years that they have been working and re- 

 ducing its ores, that merely from the registered mines, as appears 

 from an examination of most of the accounts in the royal records, 

 326,000,000 assay pesos have been taken out. At the beginning when 

 the ore was richer and easier to get out, for then there were no mita 

 Indians and no mercury process, in the 40 years between 1545 and 

 1585, they took out 111,000,000 of assay silver. From the year 1585 

 up to 1628, 43 years, although the mines are harder to work, for 

 they are deeper down, with the assistance of 13,300 Indians whom 

 His Majesty has granted to the mine owners on that range, and of 

 other hired Indians, who come there freely and voluntarily to work 

 at day's wages, and with the great advantage of the mercury process, 

 in which none of the ore or the silver is wasted, and with the better 

 knowledge of the technique which the miners now have, they have 

 taken out 215,000,000 assay pesos. That, plus the iii extracted in 

 the 40 years previous to 1585, makes 326,000,000 assay pesos, not 

 counting the great amount of silver secretly taken from these mines 

 to be registered in others paying only 10 percent tithes, the silver 

 in the 20 percent impost, the currency circulating in those Kingdoms, 

 the silver plate and vessels of private individuals, that in the churches 

 in the form of chalices, crosses, lamps, and other vessels for decoration 

 and use in divine service, and that that has been taken secretly to Spain, 

 paying no 20 percent or registry fee, and to other countries outside 

 Spain, and to the Philippines and China, which is beyond all reckon- 

 ing ; but I should venture to imagine and even assert that what has 

 been taken from the Potosi range must be as much again as what 

 paid the 20 percent royal impost. 



Over and above that, such great treasure and riches have come 

 from the Indies in gold and silver from all the other mines in New 

 Spain and Peru, Honduras, the New Kingdom of Granada, Chile, 

 New Galicia, New Vizcaya, and other quarters since the discovery 

 of the Indies, that they exceed 1,800 millions. 



