1834.] INDIAN IIELIC. 255 



the minute particles of gold, being scattered about and not corrod- 

 ing, 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 mills; 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 moun- 

 tains have passed through this grindiug-inill, 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 agricul- 

 turists 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 culti- 

 vating, 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 considerable numbers. They 

 are of a circular flattened form, from five to six inches in diameter, 

 with a hole passing quite through the centre. It has generally 

 been supposed that they were used as heads to clubs, although 

 their form does not appear at all well adapted for that purpose. 

 Burchell * states that some of the tribes in Southern Africa dig up 

 roots by the aid of a stick pointed at one end, the force and 

 weight of which are increased by a round stone with a hole in it, 

 into which the other end is firmly wedged. It appears probable 

 that the Indians of Chile formerly used some such rude agricultural 

 instrument. 



* Burohell'e Travels, vol. ii. p. 45. 



