248 NORTHERN CHILE. [CHAP. xvi. 



load is considered as rather more than 200 pounds, and I have been 

 assured that one of 300 pounds (twenty-two stone and a half) by way 

 of a trial has been brought up from the deepest mine 1 At this time 

 the apires were bringing up the usual load twelve times in the day ; 

 that is, 2,400 pounds from eighty yards deep ; and they were employed 

 in the intervals in breaking and picking ore. 



These men, excepting from accidents, are healthy, and appear cheer- 

 ful. Their bodies are not very muscular. They rarely eat meat once 

 a week, and never oftener, and then only the hard dry charqui. 

 Although with a knowledge that the labour was voluntary, it was 

 nevertheless quite revolting to see the state in which they reached the 

 mouth of the mine ; their bodies bent forward, leaning with their arms 

 on the steps, their legs bowed, their muscles quivering, the perspiration 

 streaming from their faces over their breasts, their nostrils distended, 

 the corners of their mouth forcibly drawn back, and the expulsion 

 of their breath most laborious. Each time they draw their breath, 

 they utter an articulate cry of " ay-ay," which ends in a sound rising 

 from deep in the chest, but shrill like the note of a fife. After staggering 

 to the pile of ore, they emptied the " carpacho ; " in two or three seconds 

 recovering their breath, they wiped the sweat from their brows, and 

 apparently quite fresh descended the mine again at a quick pace. 

 This appears to me a wonderful instance of the amount of labour 

 which habit, for it can be nothing else, will enable a man to endure. 



In the evening, talking with the mayor-domo of these mines about 

 the number of foreigners now scattered over the whole country, he 

 told me that, though quite a young man, he remembers when he was 

 a boy at school at Coquimbo, a holiday being given to see the captain 

 of an English ship, who was brought to the city to speak to the 

 governor. He believes that nothing would have induced any boy in 

 the school, himself included, to have gone close to the Englishman ; 

 so deeply had they been impressed with an idea of the heresy, con- 

 tamination, and evil to be derived from contact with such a person. 

 To this day they relate the atrocious actions of the bucaniers ; and 

 especially of one man, who took away the figure of the Virgin Mary, 

 and returned the year after for that of St. Joseph, saying it was a 

 pity the lady should not have a husband. I heard also of an old lady 

 who, at a dinner in Coquimbo, remarked how wonderfully strange it 

 was that she should have lived to dine in the same room with an 

 Englishman ; for she remembered as a girl, that twice, at the mere cry 

 of " Los Ingleses," every soul, carrying what valuables they could, 

 had taken to the mountains. 



May i4//z. We reached Coquimbo, where we stayed a few days. The 

 town is remarkable for nothing but its extreme quietness. It is said 

 to contain from 6,000 to 8,000 inhabitants. On the morning of the 

 I7th it rained lightly, the first time this year, for about five hours. 

 The farmers, who plant corn near the sea coast where the atmosphere 

 is more humid, taking advantage of this shower, would break up the 

 ground; after a second they would put the seed in; and if a tliiri 

 shower should fall, they would reap a good harvest in the spring. K 



