194 CENTRAL CHIL&. (CHA*. ill. 



After having been left for a year or two, and then rewashed, it yields 

 gold ; and this process may be repeated even six or seven times ; but 

 the gold each time becomes less in quantity, and the intervals required 

 (as the inhabitants say, to generate the metal) are longer. There can 

 be no doubt that the chemical action, already mentioned, each time 

 liberates fresh gold from some combination. The discovery of a 

 method to effect this before the first grinding, would without doubt 

 raise the value of gold-ores many fold. It is curious to find how the 

 minute particles of gold, being scattered about and not corroding, at 

 last accumulate in some quantity. A short time since a few miners, 

 being out of work, obtained permission to scrape the ground round the 

 house and mill ; they washed the earth thus got together, and so pro- 

 cured thirty dollars' worth of gold. This is an exact counterpart of 

 what takes place in nature. Mountains suffer degradation and wear 

 away, and with them the metallic veins which they contain. The 

 hardest rock is worn into impalpable mud, the ordinary metals oxidate, 

 and both are removed ; but gold, platina, and a few others are nearly 

 indestructible, and from their weight, sinking to the bottom, are left 

 behind. After whole mountains have passed through this grinding-mill, 

 and have been washed by the hand of nature, the residue becomes 

 metalliferous, and man finds it worth his while to complete the task of 

 separation. 



Bad as the above treatment of the miners appears, it is gladly 

 accepted of by them ; for the condition of the labouring agriculturists is 

 much worse. Their wages are lower, and they live almost exclusively 

 on beans. This poverty must be chiefly owing to the feudal-like system 

 on which the land is tilled : the landowner gives a small plot of ground 

 to the labourer, for building on and cultivating, and in return has his 

 services (or those of a proxy) for every day of his life, without any 

 wages. Until a father has a grown-up son, who can by his labour pay 

 the rent, there is no one, except on occasional days, to take care of his 

 own patch of ground. Hencei extreme poverty is very common among 

 the labouring classes in this country. 



There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood, and I was 

 shown one of the perforated stones, which Molina mentions as being 

 found in many places in considerable numbers. They are of a circular 

 flattened form, from five to six inches in diameter, with a hole passing 

 quite through the centre. It has generally been supposed that they 

 were used as heads to clubs, although their form does not appear at 

 all well adapted for that purpose. Burchell * states that some of the 

 tribes in Southern Africa dig up roots by the aid of a stick pointed at 

 one end, the force and weight of which is increased by a round stone 

 with a hole in it, into which the other end is firmly wedged. It appears 

 probable, that the Indians of Chile formerly used some such rude, 

 .agricultural instrument. 



One day, a German collector in natural history, of the name of 

 Renous, called, and nearly at the same time an old Spanish lawyer. I 

 was amused at being told the conversation which took place between 

 * BurchelTs " Travels," vol. ii., p, 45, 



