1834.] POVERTY OF LABOURERS. 267 



or seven times ; but the gold each time becomes less in 

 quantity, and the intervals required (as the inhabitants say, 

 to generate the metal) are longer. There can be no doubt 

 that the chemical action, already mentioned, each time 

 liberates fresh gold from some combination. The discovery 

 of a method to effect this before the first grinding, would 

 without doubt raise the value of gold-ores many fold. It is 

 curious to find how the minute particles of gold, being 

 scattered about and not corroding, at last accumulate in 

 some quantity. A short time since a few miners, being out 

 of work, obtained permission to scrape the ground round the 

 house and mill ; they washed the earth thus got together, 

 and so procured thirty dollars' worth of gold. This is an 

 exact counterpart of what takes place in nature. Mountains 

 suffer degradation and wear away, and with them the 

 metallic veins which they contain. The hardest rock is 

 worn into impalpable mud, the ordinary metals oxidate, 

 and both are removed ; but gold, platina, and a few others 

 are nearly indestructible, and from their weight, sinking to 

 the bottom, are left behind. After whole mountains have 

 passed through this grinding-mill, and have been washed 

 by the hand of nature, the residue becomes metalliferous, 

 and man finds it worth his while to complete the task of 

 separation. 



Bad as the above treatment of the miners appears, it is 

 gladly accepted of by them ; for the condition of the 

 labouring agriculturists is much worse. Their wages are 

 lower, and they live almost exclusively on beans. This 

 poverty must be chiefly owing to the feudal-like system on 

 which the land is tilled : the landowner gives a small plot 

 of ground to the labourer, for building on and cultivating, 

 and in return has his services (or those of a proxy) for 

 every day of his life, without any wages. Until a father 

 has a grown-up son, who can by his labour pay the rent, 

 there is no one, except on occasional days, to take care of 

 his own patch of ground. Hence extreme poverty is very 

 common among the labouring classes in this country. 



There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood, 

 and I was shown one of the perforated stones, which 

 Molina mentions as being found in many places in con- 

 siderable numbers. They are of a circular flattened form, 

 from five to six inches in diameter, with a hole passinj^; 

 quite through the centre. It has generally been supposed 

 that they were used as heads to clubs, although their form 



