PERU. 255 



The 300 tons of ore, valued at 24,000/., never reached 

 England ; and the writer, who was to have returned to 

 Peru in the ship that had been engaged to convey it, 

 lost the chance of being a youthful traveller in foreign 

 lands. 



Trevithick left Lima about 1821 or 1822, for Bogota, 

 in Colombia, on a special mission for Bolivar. On his, 

 way, putting in at Guayaquil, he heard of rich mines 

 in Costa Rica, and thinking they would pay better 

 than Bolivar's promises, he threw up his engagement 

 and made for the new venture. It was probably at 

 Guayaquil that he met Mr. Gerard, a Scotchman of 

 good family and education, then sailing on the Pacific 

 coast as a speculator. 



Since Trevithick left the mines of Cerro de Pasco, 

 more than one English adventurer has attempted to 

 work them. At the present time they are in the 

 hands of a large company, and are thus spoken of in 

 the ' Cornish Telegraph ' of May 10, 1871 :- 



" Cerro de Pasco and its Silver Mines. 



" This place, in the Kepublic of Peru, is situated on the top 

 of the Andes, on the eastern side of the Western Cordillera. It 

 stands about 15,000 feet above the sea level, and is said to be 

 one of the highest, if not the highest, inhabited place of im- 

 portance in the whole world. 



" From Callao to here is a distance of 160 miles, but, in con- 

 sequence of the rapid ascent in such a comparatively short 

 distance, it is considered a quick journey if mules make it in 

 six days ; it more frequently takes them a week, and at times, 

 during the season of snow and rain, the pampas, which are the 

 table-lands of these mountains, are impassable for several days 

 together. 



" The town of Cerro de Pasco, which at present numbers 

 10,000 souls, is of no small importance, considering its great 

 altitude and inconvenient distance from the coast, but it Licks 



