CHILIAN MINERS 



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ments introduced by foreigners have been, first, reducing by 



previous roasting the copper pyrites — which, being the common 



ore in Cornwall, the English miners were astounded on their 



arrival to find thrown away as useless : secondly, stamping and 



washing the scoriae from the old furnaces — by which process 



particles of metal are recovered in 



abundance. I have actually seen 



mules carrying to the coast, for 



transportation to England, a cargo 



of such cinders. But the first case 



is much the most curious. The 



Chilian miners were so "convinced 



that copper pyrites contained not 



a particle of copper, that they 



laughed at the Englishmen for 



their ignorance, who laughed in 



turn, and bought their richest veins 



for a {cwr dollars. It is very odd 



that, in a country where mining 



had been extensively carried on 



for many years, so simple a process 



as gently roasting the ore to expel 



the sulphur previous to smelting 



it, had never been discovered. A 



few improvements have likewise 



been introduced in some of the 



simple machinery ; but even to 



the present day, water is removed 



from some mines by men carrying 



it up the shaft in leathern bags ! 



The labouring men work very 

 hard. They have little time allowed for their meals, and during 

 summer and winter they begin when it is light, and leave off at 

 dark. They are paid one pound sterling a month, and their food 

 is given them : this for breakfast consists of sixteen figs and two 

 small loaves of bread ; for dinner, boiled beans ; for supper, broken 

 roasted wheat grain. They scarcely ever taste meat ; as, with the 

 twelve pounds per annum, they have to clothe themselves and 

 support their families. The miners who work in the mine 

 itself have twenty- five shillings per month, and are allowed 



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CHILIAN MINER. 



