POTOSI. CHAP. XXV. 



cially of the mining operations: he says (vol. ii. 

 p. 17), " the celebrated mines of El Pan de Azucar, 

 Rosario, and the golden Lavaderos of the Rinco- 

 nada, were abandoned." " TheBineros or Lavaderos 

 of the province so much spoken of as producing 

 abundance of gold in dust, grains, and scales, yield- 

 ing never less than twenty-three carats, have been 

 abandoned, though not one-third worked." At 

 Tupiza the captain examined some mines on which 

 General Olaneta, who fell in defence of the 

 Spanish authority, had expended half a million of 

 dollars. The machinery in these mines was in a 

 most dilapidated state, and the adits, though not 

 quite finished, were already nearly choked up. 



The account the same author gives of the neigh- 

 bourhood of Potosi, which he visited in 1826, con- 

 tains striking proofs of a vast decline. " From a 

 population of one hundred and thirty thousand 

 at the commencement of the revolution, Potosi 

 dwindled to nine thousand in 1826, but during 

 the administration of General Miller had increased 

 again to eleven thousand l ." At one period there 

 were one hundred and thirty-two stamping mills 

 at work, but when Captain Andrews was there no 

 more than twelve were employed: he says, " many 

 of the emigrant proprietors obtained leave to re- 

 turn and claim their property. These persons, 

 however, have not a shilling to set the works 



1 Vol. ii. p. 115. 



