338 LOADS CARRIED BY MINERS, [chap. xvi. 



Captain Head has described the wonderful load which the 

 " Apires," truly beasts of burden, carry up from the deepest 

 mines. I confess I thought the account exaggerated ; so 

 that I was glad to take an opportunity of weighing one of 

 the loads, which I picked out by hazard. It required con- 

 siderable exertion on my part, when standing directly over 

 it, to lift it from the ground. The load was considered 

 under weight when found to be 197 pounds. The apire had 

 carried this up eighty perpendicular yards — part of the way 

 by a steep passage, but the greater part up notched poles, 

 placed in a zigzag line up the shaft. According to the 

 general regulation, the apire is not allowed to halt for 

 breath, except the mine is six hundred feet deep. The 

 average load is considered as rather more than 200 pounds, 

 and 1 have been assured that one of 300 pounds (twenty-two 

 stone and a half) by way of a trial has been brought up from 

 the deepest mine ! At this time the apires were bringing 

 up the usual load twelve times in the day ; that is, 2400 

 pounds from eighty yards deep ; and they were employed 

 in the intervals in breaking and picking ore. 



These men, excepting from accidents, are healthy, and 

 appear cheerful. Their bodies are not very muscular. They 

 rarely eat meat once a week, and never oftener, and then 

 only the hard dry charqui. Although with a knowledge 

 that the labour was voluntary, it was nevertheless quite 

 revolting to see the state in which they reached the mouth 

 of the mine ; their bodies bent forward, leaning with their 

 arms on the steps, their legs bowed, their muscles quivering, 

 the perspiration streaming from their faces over their 

 breasts, their nostrils distended, the corners of their mouth 

 forcibly drawn back, and the expulsion of their breath 

 most laborious. Each time they draw their breath, they 

 utter an articulate cry of ** ay-ay," which ends in a sound 

 rising from deep in the chest, but shrill like the note of a 

 fife. After staggering to the pile of ore, they emptied the 

 **carpacho"; in two or three seconds recovering their 

 breath, they wiped the sweat from their brows, ar^d 

 apparently quite fresh descended the mine again at a quick 

 pice. This appears to me a wonderful instance of the 

 amount of labour which habit, for it can be nothing else, 

 will enable a man to endure. 



In the evening, talking with the mayor-domo of these 

 mines about the number of foreigners now scattered over 

 the whole country, he told me that, though quite a young 



