256 PERU. 



order and design in every part. The streets are crooked and 

 uneven; and the houses are stuck about anyAvhere and every- 

 where, Avith the greatest display of uneducated taste that I 

 have ever before witnessed; moreover, it would be difficult to 

 find another such place so equally dirty. 



" It rains and snoAvs on these heights Avith not much cessation 

 for about six months in the year, and in Avhat is termed the dry 

 season there are also frequent falls of snoAv. Furthermore, water 

 boils at 180 Fahr. instead of at 212, as with you ; consequently 

 it requires six minutes to cook an egg. 



" The majority of the inhabitants are a low type of Indians, 

 who are small in stature and mind, but are large in cunning, 

 and have exceedingly plain features not possessing the 

 slightest trace of the noble features and bold simplicity of the 

 Indians of the North. 



" Any person acquainted with minerals and mining coming 

 up to Cerro de Pasco Avould fancy that the Avhole toAvn Avas 

 built on the back of one huge lode; go wherever one may, 

 through the streets, or on the outskirts of the town, and even 

 up to the slopes of the hill surrounding it, he finds it to be all 

 lodestuff everywhere; its composition is what we Cornish 

 miners generally term an iron gossan. 



" The greater portion of this mineral spot is parcelled out 

 into setts or grants, which consist of pieces of ground 60 yards 

 in length by 30 in width, giving to the place no less than 

 664 mines. At present there are no more than seventy-eight of 

 them at work, and only sixty-three of which are producing ore, 

 and the united returns amount to 2,000,000 oz. of silver per 

 annum. Owners or compan'es have roads leading doAvn to 

 their mines, formed of steps cut out in the rock, dipping at 

 angles varying from 30 to 50. When you have descended to 

 the depth of the mines, the levels or holes leading to many of 

 them are so small that one has to drag himself along snake 

 fashion until he reaches the main excavation. The miners 

 break down the silver ore Avith pointed bars of iron, and then 

 shovel it into bags made of hide Avith the shoulder-bone of some 

 animal ; after which the stuff is carried to surface on men's and 

 boys' backs. 



