346 The Two Miners of Famatina. [ Apriv, 
could never hit upon any inducements sufficiently strong to secure the 
earnest and active co-operation of the inhabitants, or even to overcome 
that superstitious horror which had been left as a legacy to them by their 
simple, but in this instance, perhaps, wise ancestors, relative to the dan- 
gers—unnamed and unknown, but not the less effectual in their influ- 
ence—attendant on the task of exploring the vast and naturally terrific 
solitudes immediately surrounding the objects of search. The early 
Indians, just referred to, had also adopted another precaution, as if 
with the view of deterring their descendants from the perilous enterprise 
in question—perilous even, more on account of the cupidity which its 
results excited in their European masters, than in the actual physical 
hardships and evils connected: with it. On ceasing to work the mines, 
they carefully built up and concealed, by every means in their power, 
the various openings to them, so as to remove all clue, if possible, to 
the exploring of them in future. 
It should be mentioned, however, that just before the great discovery, 
now about to be described in detail, a slight impulse had been given to 
the Riojanos, to avail themselves of the wealth which all believed to be 
at their disposal, if needed, by the smuggling trade, which commenced 
at the opening of the present century, between the province and 
Buenos Ayres, in articles of English clothing. The desire of being more 
gaily clad than their neighbours—a desire always easy to be put in 
action, in idle and unoccupied bosoms—had induced a few of the inha~ 
bitants to undertake mining expeditions into the heart of the desolate 
mountain ; and the consequence was that a little silver got into circula- 
tion in the province—a thing, till then, almost unknown. At length, in 
the year 1805, about four years after the slight and insignificant attempts 
just referred to, there were seen one day, riding into the village of 
Chilecito, two wretchedly clad men, both mounted on one sorry mule, 
and armed with one old musket. On inquiry, it appeared that these 
men had travelled from Peru in the manner just described, and had 
supported themselves on their journey, entirely by the aid of their old 
gun, with which they had killed, from time to time, what they needed 
for their subsistence. It was ascertained, too, that, having been long 
engaged as labourers in the Peruvian mines, and having acquired the 
knowledge necessary for their purpose, they had left that country solely 
with the view of seeking their fortune in the mountain of Famatina—the 
traditional reports of its wealth having long ago reached the country 
from which they came. These two men were named Juan Leita, and 
Juan Echavaria; and I have been told by persons who were eye- 
witnesses to their first entry into Chilecito, that nothing could exceed 
the astonishment excited in the inhabitants of the village, at the idea of 
two poverty-stricken and almost naked beings attempting to contend 
with the dangers and rigours of the so dreaded solitudes of the Fama- 
tina mountain. But these men, unlike the happier inhabitants of the 
fertile plains of Rioja, had long felt the evils of poverty, and craved the 
advantages which they had been accustomed to see enjoyed by the posses- 
sors of wealth alone ; and they determined to risk, and to bear every- 
thing, with the view of bettering their condition. These are the class of 
persons from whom we are to look for those discoveries and achieve- 
ments, which demand unwearying perseverance, and suppose and include 
constant privation. The two pennyless and friendless adventurers, from 
a distant land, looked on the wondrous mountain, of which they had — 
