Copper-mines of San Felipe. 



CHILI. 



Lake on the High Cordilleras. 



43 



Mr. Alderson stated that it took thirty seconds for 

 the ore to descend. The face of the mountain from 

 long usage in this way is worn quite smooth. 



Mr. Newman had previously lost much property 

 here by the burning of 'his whole establishment, 

 excepting two buildings, fire having been commu- 

 nicated to the thatched roof by the sparks from the 

 furaace during a tornado that passed over. So 

 rapidly had the flames spread, that it was with 

 difficulty that Mr. Newman and his agent saved 

 their lives. Besides the loss of buildings, a large 

 quantity of machinery lately imported from Eng- 

 land was destroyed. 



On the 21st May, they set out on mules for the 

 mines, accompanied by Mr. Aldersou, and reached 

 them about ten o'clock. Their first act was to 

 change their boots for a pair of raw-hide shoes, 

 such as are used by the miners, in order to insure 

 a safer footing. They now entered the principal 

 gallery, which was about seven feet high and five 

 broad, excavated for about twenty yards horizon- 

 tally; it then divides into several branches, and 

 these again into others, from fifteen to twenty yards 

 in length. 



The greatest extent of any one gallery is about 

 thirty feet. The mountain has been penetrated 

 horizontally to about four hundred feet, in the 

 direction of north-east to east- north-east, as the 

 veins run, and vertically to a depth of about one 

 hundred and fifty feet. Each person was provided 

 with a tallow candle stuck in the end of a split 

 stick six feet long, and caution was given not to 

 lose sight of the guide, for the galleries, although 

 small, are so numerous, and communicate with 

 each other so frequently, that a person might 

 easily be lost. 



The ladders, or rather posts, by which the de- 

 scents are made are not a little dangerous. 



There appears to be little system in working the 

 mines, and little knowledge of the structure of the 

 rock or the courses of the veins. Mr. Alderson 

 mentioned that a few months previously, they had 

 been working for several weeks extending a shaft, 

 without meeting a particle of ore to repay their 

 labour, and they were just about giving up the 

 search, when the mayoi'al, or master-workman, 

 declai-ing he would have a last blow for luck, struck 

 the rock with all his force. This detached a large 

 fragment, and to their surprise and delight laid 

 open a vein which proved the largest and richest 

 that had been worked for many years. From this 

 it would appear that the employment is attended 

 with much uncertainty; and after exhausting one of 

 these treasure deposits, there are no means or signs 

 known to them by which they can ascertain the 

 best direction to take to discover another. 



The mines, by the light of the numerous candles, 

 exhibited all the shades of green, blue, yellow, pur- 

 ple, bronze, &c., having a metallic and lustrous 

 appearance. The confined air, with the heat of so 

 many candles, made it quite oppressive ; and per- 

 sons who have not often visited mines, are subject 

 to faintness and vertigo from this cause. Mr. 

 Alderson and Mr. Dana were both affected by it. 

 It was the first time the former had ever penetrated 

 so far, Mr. Newman and himself being governed by 

 the report of the mayoral, and the ore brought up 

 in their operations. The miners were not a little 

 astonished at our gentlemen loading themselves, 

 besides the specimens of ores, with the piedra bruta, 



which they considered of no value. The manner of 

 labour in the mines is in as rude a state as it was 

 found in the agricultural branches of industry. A 

 clumsy pick-axe, a short crowbar, a stone-cutter's 

 chisel, and an oblong iron hammer of twenty-five 

 pounds weight, were the only tools. The hammer 

 is only used when the ore is too high to be reached 

 with the pick or crowbar. The miners, from the 

 constant exercise of their arms and chest, have 

 them well developed, and appear brawny figures. 

 When the ore is too tough to be removed by the 

 ordinary methods, they blast it off in small frag- 

 ments, not daring to use large blasts, lest the rock 

 should cave in upon them. Only a few weeks pre- 

 vious to their visit, the mayoral, while at the 

 furthest end of the gallery, was alarmed by the 

 rattling down of some stones, and before he could 

 retreat, the walls caved in for several yards outside 

 of where he was, leaving but a small space. It 

 required eighteen hours of unceasing effort by 

 nearly a hundred men to extricate him from his 

 perilous situation. 



The ore is brought to the mouth of the mine on 

 the backs of men, in sacks made of raw hide, and 

 holding about one hundred pounds. Whenever a 

 sufficient quantity to load a drove of mules is ex- 

 tracted, it is thrown down the mountain slide, 

 and then carried to the furnace at Jaquel. Only 

 seventeen miners were employed; previous to this 

 the number employed was one hundred. When- 

 ever a richer vein was struck a larger number 

 were employed, who could always be easily ob- 

 tained by foreigners, the natives preferring to 

 work for them, as they say whatever the profits or 

 losses may be, they are sure of being regularly 

 paid. The wages are small from three to four 

 dollars per month, in addition to their food. They 

 are allowed to draw a third of their pay on the 

 last Saturday of every month, and full settlement 

 is made twice a year. They are supplied with 

 clothing and other necessaries, out of which the 

 agent makes a per centage, and which is charged 

 against their wages. 



There is one admirable regulation of the Chilian 

 government, that of not permitting liquors to be 

 brought within a league of any mine, under a severe 

 penalty, which is strictly enforced. The cost of 

 the maintenance of each workman is not great ; 

 they are allowed as rations for breakfast four 

 handfuls of dried figs, and the same of walnuts : 

 value about three cents. For dinner they have 

 bread, and fresh beef or pork. Small stores, as 

 sugar and tea, they find themselves. One of the 

 greatest inconveniences, and which is attended 

 with some expense, is the supply of the miners 

 with water, which has to be brought up the moun- 

 tains. 



The miners' huts are the last dwellings on the 

 Chilian side of the Andes. Mr. Alderson men- 

 tioned, that in five hours' ride from thence, a lake 

 was reported to exist, three leagues in circum- 

 ference, on the summit of a conical mountain, 

 which is surrounded by a beach of sand and gravel, 

 and has no outlet. Several persons confirmed this 

 statement as to the existence of the lake, that it 

 had no visible outlet, and that the water was always 

 at the same level. Although desirous of visiting 

 so interesting a spot, they found they had not time 

 left to accomplish it. 



On the 22nd they set out on their return, after a j 



