EL CALLAO MINE 51 



was to arrive at a competence by supplying the wants 

 of the labourers employed in the mine. It turned out, 

 however, after a time, that the company having exhausted 

 its small capital was unable to pay its employes in 

 cash, so scrip was issued to them redeemable in shares. 

 Most of this scrip found its way into the hands of the 

 shopkeepers, to whom those in the employ of the com- 

 pany were indebted. We can form an idea of the little 

 value placed upon this scrip at the time when we learn 

 that shares issued at 1,000 pesos could not find pur- 

 chasers even at 100 pesos. One of the holders of this 

 scrip, a negro who had been a boatman in Trinidad, 

 related to me how he became a millionaire in spite of 

 himself. ' I used to keep a cookshop,' - he told me, 

 ' and I gave credit freely to the men employed by the 

 Callao Company. When the mine shut down, I was 

 forced to accept in payment of what was due to me, the 

 scrip issued by the company to its employes. How- 

 well do I remember my journey to Ciudad-Bolivar when 

 I offered my principal creditor all the scrip I possessed 

 if he would give me a receipt in full for my account, 

 amounting to about 3,000 dollars ! You are an honest 



man, Mr. told me. Continue working. Some 



day if you make monej' you will pay me, but I 

 don't want " to have anything to do with that rotten 

 paper you have brought with you." Six months after 

 I was worth half a million.' In those days candles were 

 used by the miners in the galleries. One small merchant 

 had monopolised the supply of candles, and he, also, was 

 forced to accept, much against his will, a quantity of 

 scrip in payment of his account. Within a few months 

 after he had looked upon himself as a ruined man he 



' 800 dollars U.S. money. - A cheaii restaurant. 



E 2 



