1 8 BETAGH's account of PERU. 



It is very natural to fuppofe, that, in mines, as well as other things, there happen 

 great variations in their produ£ts, and in the value of the produ«5l. The mines which 

 very lately yielded moft filver, arc thofe of Oruro, a little town eighty leagues from 

 Arica. In the year 171 2, one fo rich was found at Ollachea, near Cufco, that it 

 yielded 2500 marks, of eight ounces each, out of every cheft, that is alniofl one-fifth 

 part of the ore ; but it has declined much, and is now reckoned but among the ordinary 

 fort. Next to thefe are thofe at Lipes, which have had the fame fate. Laftly, thofe 

 at Potofi yield but Httle, and caufe a vaft expence by reafon of their great depth. But, 

 notwithftanding the mines here are far diminifhed in their product, yet the quantity of 

 ore that has been already wrought, and lain many years upon the furface, is thought 

 capable to yield a fecond crop ; and, when I was at Lima, they were aftually turning 

 it up, and new-milling it, •w(ith great fuccefs ; which is a proof, that thefe minerals 

 generate in the earth like all other inanimate things ; and it is likewife certain, from all 

 accounts of the Spaniards, that gold and filver, as well as other metals, are contmually 

 growing and forming themfelves in the earth. This opinion is verified by experience 

 in the mountain of Potofi, where fevcral mines have fallen in, and buried the workmen, 

 with their tools ; after fome years, they have dug the fame place, and difcovered many 

 bones, and pieces of wood, with veins of filver actually running through them. Thefe 

 mines belong to him who firft difcovers them : he immediately prefents a petition to the 

 magiftrates to have fuch a piece of earth for his own ; which is no fooner done than 

 granted : they meafure eighty Spanifti yards in length, and forty over, which is about 

 1 200 foot in length, and 1 00 in breadth, and yield it to the difcoverer, who chufes 

 what fpacehe thinks fit, and does what he pleafes with it. Then they meafure jufl the 

 fame quantity for the king, which is fold to the beft bidder, there being many who are 

 willing to purchafe a treafure which may prove ineftimable. If any other perfon has a 

 mind to work part of the mine himfelf, he bargains with the proprietor for a particular 

 vein. All that fuch an one digs out is his own, paying the king's duty, which is for 

 gold a 20th part, and for filver a 5th j and fome landlords find fuch an account in let- 

 ting out their ground, and their mills, that they live upon the profit. 



At Copiapo there are gold mines jufl beyond the town, and all about the countiy 

 likewife, which have brought many pur chafers and workmen thither, to the great 

 damage of the Indians ; for the Spanifh magiftrates take away not only their lands, but 

 their horfes, which they fell to the new proprietors, under pretence of ferving the king, 

 and improving the fettlements : there is alfo a great deal of magnet and lapis lazuli, 

 which the Indians know not the value of: and, fome leagues in the country, there is 

 plenty of fait and faltpetre, which often lies an inch thick on the ground. About an 

 hundred miles eafl, upon the Cordelier mountains, there is a vein of fulphur two feet 

 wide, fo fine and pure, that it needs no cleaning. This part of the country is full of 

 all forts of mines ; but, in other refpefts, is fo barren, that the natives fetch all their 

 fubfiflence from Coquimbo, and that way, being a mere defert for 300 miles together ; 

 and the earth abounds fo much with fait and fulphur, that the mules often perifh for 

 want of grafs and fweet water. There is but one river in 200 miles, which the Indians 

 call Ancalulae, or Hypocrite, becaufe it runs only from fun-rife to fun-fet : this is 

 occafioned from the great quantity of fnow melted from the Cordeliers in the day-time, 

 which freezes again at night, where the cold is often fo great the people's features are 

 quite diftorted. Hence Chili takes its name, Chile fignifying cold in the Indian lan- 

 guage ; and we are certainly informed by the Spanifh hiflorians, that fome of their 

 countrymen, and others, who firfl traded this way, died fliff with cold upon their 

 mules 5 for which reafon the road is now always lower towards the coafl. 



9 The 



