OP ATACAMA AND COQUIMBO. 289 



no less than 175 gold deposits in tin same three provinces which supply Valparaiso with copper. 

 They an- entirely within and west of the Cordilleras of tin- coast, commencing at Chacabuco, 

 . e leave the valley of Aconcagua to puss into the tertiary plain which separates them from 

 the Andes. At tin pro.-nt <lay the only mine worked is that of La Leona, on the eastern 

 declivity <>f the hills of Alhiie, and about four leagues from Rancagua. The direction of the 

 principal lode varies very little from north and south, an. 1 the vein is remarkahle lor the vaii.u 

 of mineral substances associated with its gold, disseminated through quartz. Hefior Pissi* 

 mentions other veins at a short distance from this mine; but the greater number are too poor in 

 u'old to pay the expense of working them. Molina has a good many " cuentaa de frayle" (fish 

 stories) in his book, though none more thoroughly imaginative than that respecting the "cele- 

 lirated" mine of Peldehue, in the neighborhood of Santiago, which was suddenly inundated, 

 the workmen, after vainly making every exertion to free it from water, being compelled to aban- 

 don it at a time when its daily yield was fifteen hundred pounds of gold, or just about $300,000 I 



The present generation have uniformly found silver mining more lucrative than working 

 auriferous deposits. Probably the first veins explored were those of San Pedro, on the 

 Uspallata range. They were undoubtedly known to the Peruvians ; yet if the statement of 

 Mr. Miers be correct, that their yield is only two marks (at most $19) to the cajon (6,400 pounds) 

 of ore, it is not easy to comprehend why any one has persisted in efforts to obtain a quantity of 

 silver that would scarcely repay the cost of working. These mines, however, are now within 

 the Argentine republic, and the reader is referred to the volumes of Mr. M. and Capt. Head for 

 further information respecting them. In the province of Santiago, the only mines wrought at 

 the present date are at San Lorenzo (not the one just mentioned) and San Pedro Nolasco, both 

 far up the Maypu. But little had been obtained from the former until recently, when a new rich 

 vein was struck, and its proprietor found himself able to command above $200,000 for a mine 

 which, a year previously, he would have gladly sold for a tenth of the money. The friend who 

 writes me about it at one time was part owner, and sold out to avoid further loss. He says : 

 "The alcance (discovery of the vein) has made no little stir in this dull place Santiago 

 some $12,000 having been taken out within a week." The ores are similar to those of San 

 Pedro Nolasco, still farther within the cordilleras native silver and sulphurets of the same metal 

 in the superior, and grey copper and galena in the inferior portions of their veins. Both hills have 

 an elevation of more than 6,000 feet above the Pacific.* East of Santiago, in the Dehesa range, 

 there is another valuable vein ; but the meshes of the law have been thrown around it, and the 

 litigants will probably be compelled to transfer many a golden ounce to the pockets of its 

 expounders, before they are again permitted to prosecute the excavation. No workmen were 

 employed during the whole time we were in Chile. A new vein, containing native silver with 

 malachite, was found on San Francisco just prior to our departure ; it was at so great an eleva- 

 tion, however, that it was buried under snow immediately after discovery, and its value had 

 not been proved. 



Copper, zinc, cobalt, and iron, have also been found; the two first in quantity, the others to 

 no considerable extent. The mine of the Teniente, at the head-waters of one of the tributa- 

 ries of the Cachapual, is among the most productive in copper, and some of its beautiful carbon- 

 ates have been brought to the United States among our specimens. Native copper is also found. 

 The other mines in operation are in the Quebrada de las Fegas, near the source of the main 

 stream, and on the hacienda "Del Carmen," a part of the cordillera of the coast, on the left 

 bank of the Maypu. In the Quebrada de las Vegas, masses of native copper have been found 

 weighing more than a hundred pounds. Sulphuret of zinc accompanies abundantly the 

 argentiferous veins of San Pedro Nolasco. Cobalt is only found, forming part of a mineral com- 

 posed of arsenical pyrites and arseniate of cobalt, in the Cerro del Volcan ; but the ore has never 

 proved to contain more than 20 per cent. Iron is apparently scarcer than any other metal. 

 To the present time only two small ologistic veins are known to exist near the plain ; and a 



* San Pedro Nolauco, 10,900 feet. 

 37 



