﻿SILVER MINES. 



Silver Mines. 



279 



IN the year 1545, an Indian, named Hualpa, was scampering up 

 the side of a mountain in Potosi, after a goat ; when, finding that 

 it had jumped up a steep place quicker than he could, and deter- 

 mining to follow it, he laid hold of a branch of a shrub to assist him 

 in climbing. But instead of assisting him, it was torn up, roots and 

 all, out of the earth. He was, however, repaid for his disappoint- 

 ment, by the appearance of something bright in the hole that the 

 plant had come from. He soon discovered this to be a lump of sil- 

 ver; and he found several small bits sticking about the roots. These 

 he picked off carefully, and right glad was he to have found such a 

 treasure. For a time he kept the matter a secret, and returned to 

 the mine whenever he wanted cash ; and soon grew so much better 

 in his circumstances than formerly, that his neighbors wondered at 

 it. One of these was his particular friend; so, to stop his inquiries, 

 he told him of his discovery, and showed him the place; and they 

 both helped themselves to as much as they happened to want. By 

 and by some disagreement arose between them, because Hualpa 

 would not tell how he purified the precious metal, and then this 

 unworthy friend went and told the whole to a Spaniard. The mine 

 was soon taken possession of, and the poor Indians got no more. 

 This mine proved vastly productive, and a town was soon built at 

 the foot of the mountain. The mine is in a mountain by itself, like 

 a sugar-loaf in shape. The city of Potosi, although at the foot of 

 the mountain seemingly, is high up in the Andes, whose white tops, 

 always covered with snow, glitter at a few miles' distance. The 

 mountain containing the silver is about eighteen miles in circum- 

 ference, and seems to be one mass of clayey slate, yellowish and 

 hard. The miners do not proceed in any regular or scientific man- 

 ner, but get as much silver as they can obtain easily. None of them 

 have yet penetrated above seventy yards, though there are more than 

 three hundred pits. All the processes for roasting or refining the 

 ore are conducted in the most slovenly manner by the Indians, who 

 are ignorant of the scientific modes of operation. A great deal is 

 wasted, and from a ton of ore not more than three or four ounces of 

 silver are obtained. Some Germans have been there lately, and 



