1872.] Copper Mines of Chilt. 175 
las Animas, on the Pacific, the valley of the Rio Salado, in 
which water flows only after such exceptionally heavy rains 
as may fall twice or thrice in a century, runs almost due 
east and west for about 10 leagues to the mines of La Salado, 
and at about half that distance a valley enters from the 
south-east, in which is the mznerale of Las Animas. From 
the Calita de las Animas,the former port of the minevale, the 
first shipment of copper from Chili is said by Dr. Philippi 
to have been made to Europe, in a whaler, in the year 1820. 
It came from the mines of Las Animas, shortly before dis- 
covered by Don Diego de Almeida. The lodes of La 
Salado were not discovered till about 1840. Since then 
both distriéts have been worked with very varying fortune, 
and perhaps more money has been lost than in any other 
Chili mines, owing to the cost of mining with high wages, 
dear provisions, total lack of water, and long carriage. A 
railroad, however, has just been opened from Chanaral to 
La Salado, so that the yield of both mznerales, large as it is 
at present, will probably be notably increased. The metals 
are smelted in part at the port, in part at Mr. Sievert’s 
establishment at Pan de Azucar, and partly sent south. 
Very little can be picked to a high enough grade for ship- 
ment to England. 
A ride of five hours across the hills to the north brings 
one to the Mina Descubridora de Carrizalillo, owned by the 
estate of Mr. Watters, much of whose ore is rich enough to 
bear exportation from the port of Pan de Azucar to 
England. Watters’s curious and rich San Pedro mine lies 
about 18 leagues in the interior, a little north of Tres 
Puntas, and at a still greater distance in the interior, some 
40 leagues back of Pan de Azucar, is Sievert’s Esploradora 
Mine, the last of a chain of mines between the coast and 
the Cordillera, worked by the same indomitable owner, who, 
in making such out-of-the-way mines pay without the aid of 
a railroad, has performed one of the greatest mining feats in 
South America. 
All these mines together produce about 7000 tons fine 
annually. 
Still further north, along the coast of Chili and Bolivia, as 
far as Tocopillo, are innumerable copper deposits, as at 
Paposa, El Cobre, and Cobijz, which yield in abundance 
5 to 10 per cent carbonates, oxychlorides, and other oxi- 
dised ore; but the distance from fuel, and the difficulty, in 
most instances, of picking the metal to a high percentage, 
have prevented their being profitably worked ; though consi- 
