1834.] A MYSTERIOUS LAKE. 261 



a particle of copper, that they laughed at the Englishmen 

 for their ignorance, who laughed in turn, and bought their 

 richest veins for a few dollars. It is very odd that, in a 

 country where mining has 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 intro- 

 duced 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 qf 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 a little charqui. feut these men 

 come down from their bleak habitations only once in every 

 fortnight or three weeks. 



During my stay here I thoroughly enjoyed scrambling 

 about these huge mountains. The geology, as might have 

 been expected, was very interesting. The shattered and 

 baked rocks, traversed by innumerable dykes of greenstone, 

 showed what commotions had formerly taken place. The 

 scenery was much the same as that near the Bell of Quillota 

 — dry barren mountains, dotted at intervals by bushes with 

 a scanty foliage. The cactuses, or rather opuntias, were 

 here very numerous. I measured one of a spherical figure, 

 which, including the spines, was six feet and four inches in 

 circumference. The height of the common cylindrical, 

 branching kind, is from twelve to fifteen feet, and the 

 girth (with spines) of the branches between three and four 

 feet. 



A heavy fall of snow on the mountains prevented me, 

 during the last two days, from making some interest- 

 ing excursions. I attempted to reach a lake which the 

 inhabitants, from some unaccountable reason, believe to be 

 an arm of the sea. During a very dry season, it was pro- 

 posed to attempt cutting a channel from it for the sake of 

 tho water, but the padre, after a consultation, declared it 



