210 MULE-HUNTING EXPEDITION. 
followed the vein of cinnabar without exercising 
due precaution to prop the loose ground over- 
head, they had been literally buried alive in a 
grave of their own digging. Further research 
soon revealed the immense value of the deposit. 
Many years rolled away, and very little was done 
until it passed from the hands of an English 
company into that of an American firm. 
The mine is about a mile and a half from the 
smelting-works, on the side of a mountain; an 
admirable road leads to it by a gentle ascent, 
down which waggons drawn by mules bring the 
ore to be smelted. On reaching the summit 
I rested on a level plateau, on which the upper 
works are built; I am to descend presently into 
the depths of the mine to see how the ore is 
deposited, and trace, step by step, the various 
processes it has to go through before it is mar- 
ketable. 
The main entrance is a tunnel ten feet high, 
and about an equal width throughout, in which 
runs a tramway leading to the shaft. At the 
end of this tunnel a small steam-engine does the 
work of the poor ‘tanateros,’ or carriers, who, 
until very recently, brought the ore and rubbish 
from the bottom of the mine on their backs, a 
system still adopted in Spain and Peru, each man 
