630 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 102 



Chapter XII 



Of the Inspectors and Administration on the Range for the 

 Exploitation of the Mines, and the Salaries They Receive. 



1659. For the controversies and lawsuits which arise in the mines 

 between their owners and proprietors ; to oversee the way in which 

 they are worked and if they are shored up according to the ordi- 

 nances, for such there are ; and to settle grievances of the Indians, 

 an Alcalde Mayor, entitled de minas y serro (of the mines and the 

 range) is appointed by His Majesty in consultation with his Royal 

 Council of the Indies. He gets an annual salary of 1,500 assay pesos, 

 plus the fees he receives on the discovery of new mines, for measure- 

 ments and for inspections. 



Besides the Alcalde de minas, there are four Supervisors 

 ( Veedores) appointed by the Viceroy of Peru ; these act as assistants 

 to the Alcalde Mayor, using his wands of office. They receive 500 

 assay pesos each, as aides of the Corregidor and this Alcalde Mayor, 

 at whose orders they all are. 



1660. The Corregidor of the imperial town of Potosi receives 

 every year a salary of 3,000 assay pesos, paid him at the Royal 

 Treasury in Potosi ; he gets in addition 500 mine pesos for the 

 inspection of the range ; 500 more for the inspection of the old mines 

 in the town of Porco, in consideration of his supervising responsi- 

 bility there, and of his providing 600 mita Indians for their working 

 and the smelting ; for this he has a warrant from His Majesty, for 

 although there is a Corregidor there, appointed by the Viceroy, entire 

 responsibility for the Indians and everything pertaining to the mines 

 come under the charge of the Corregidor of Potosi. In the district 

 of the Circuit Court of the Charcas (not counting the States of 

 Tucuman, Paraguay, and Buenos Ayres), he is a Lieutenant Captain- 

 General for the Viceroy, and for this extra office they give him 1,000 

 assay pesos in Indians disposable (Indies vacos), i.e., their pay. The 

 first one nominated by the Viceroy was Don Francisco Sarmiento. 

 The Corregidor of the imperial town enjoys other great privileges. 



Chapter XIII 



Of the Imperial Town of Potosi and Its Magnificence. 



1661. The imperial town of Potosi was originally started in 1545, 

 the year in which that enormously rich range was discovered. At 

 the news, many Spaniards and Indians flocked in from every quarter 

 to exploit its ores and enjoy its richness. It lies 340 leagues SE. of 



