82 GOLD AND SILVER MINES. 
rior; he was born in Talcaguana, of very poor 
parents, and, without enjoying any particular 
advantage of education, has raised himself, by 
his own merit alone, to thehigh rank he occupies. 
After an unmeaning sort of conversation, con- 
sisting of little else than civilities, I endeavour- 
ed to procure the permission of the President for 
our naturalist and mineralogist to make a jour- 
ney into the Cordilleras, which he, however, 
politely but positively refused, on the ground 
that the Chilians were at war with the people 
in the mountains. I afterwards learnt from 
Mendiburu, that this was merely a pretence, as 
the President had already succeeded in esta- 
blishing peace and an amicable league with the 
Araucanians. A small military escort would 
therefore have been amply sufficient to protect 
the travellers from all danger of annoyance ; 
but here the weakness of the newly established 
government betrayed itself. They are distrust- 
ful of strangers, and act upon the old Spa- 
nish maxim,—to close the interior of the 
country against them. The recent disco- 
very of gold and silver mines in the mountains, 
which was still kept secret, from the fear that 
