100 



MINES OF PUNO. 



Chap. VI. 



the socabon in 1830. He imported expensive maehineiy from 

 England, employed an intelligent engineer named Patterson, 

 and continued to work the manto mine until 1839. He built 

 himself a house furnished with every English comfort, and lived 

 in very good style ; but the sjoeculation was a failure, and he 

 left the country a poor man in 1840, and died in Chile. 

 After the departure of IMr. Begg, some Peruvian speculators 

 continued to work at the same mine, but ^ntliout any energy ; 

 and, at the time of M. de Castelnau's visit in 1845, only 

 thirty workmen were employed.^ Allien Lieut. Gibbon, 

 U.S.N., passed through Puno in 1851, the manto was still 

 being worked, but at the time of my visit it had been entirely 

 abandoned since 1858. 



It is one of the great evils arising from the political con- 

 dition of Peru since the independence that there is a complete 

 want of confidence in each other amongst the moneyed 

 classes, and an absence, to a great extent, of the spirit of 

 enterprise ; so that any combination on a large scale for 

 mining, or other purposes of a similar nature, is almost im- 

 possible. Peru is still a very young country, and there is 

 reason to hope that this state of things will not continue ; 

 but now a feeling of suspicion, added to a "want of energy, 

 prevents the formation of native companies. Thus the 

 manto is abandoned, and the numerous mines which once 

 covered the hills of Cancharani and Laycaycota, and actually 

 created the city of Puno, which nestles at their feet, are not 

 worked. At present there is only one small mine at work, 

 high up on the hill of Cancharani, called the Cachi Vieja. 

 Its 23roprietor, Don Manuel Ferrandis, is an upright, intelli- 

 gent, and most kind-hearted old gentleman, who has had 

 much experience in mining operations ; and on the 29th of 



2 The men who broke out the ores 

 with picks got 5 rials a clay ; and 6 

 men worked out 6 to 8 cwts. of mineral 



daily, working 12 hours. The rest of 

 the workmen got 4 rials a-clay. 



