32 BETAGH's account OF PERU. 



of one fingle crooked branch of a tree, drawn by two oxen ; and, though the gi^in is 

 fcarce covered, it feldom produces lefs than an hundredfold : nor do they take any 

 more pains in procuring their vines to have good wine ; but, as they know not how to 

 gla^e the jars they put it into, they are fain to pitch them, which, together with the 

 talle of the goats-fkins, in which they carry it about, gives it a bitternefs hke treacle, 

 3«|v«« ^ and a fcent, to which it is hard for ftrangers to accuflom themfelves. The fruit grows 

 after the fame manner, without any induftry, on their part, in grafting : apples and pears 

 grow naturally in the woods ; and, confidering the quantity there is of them, it is hard 

 to comprehend how thefe trees, fmce the conqueft, could multiply, and be diffufed 

 into fo many parts, if it is true there were none before, as they affirm. The mines of 

 Quilogoya and Quilacura lie within four leagues of this port, and afford vaft quantities 

 of gold ; and the Eftancia de Rel, or King's Farm, which is alfo at no great diftance, 

 is by very far the mofl plentiful Lavadero, or wafhing-place, in all Chili, where there 

 are fometimes found lumps of pure gold of a prodigious fize. The mountains of La 

 Cordillera are reported to be a continual chain of mines, for many hundred miles to- 

 gether ; which is fo much the more probable, becaufe, hitherto, fcarce any of thefe 

 mountains have been opened, but vaft quantities of metals have been found in them, 

 particularly copper, remarkably fine, of which all the artillery in the Spanifh Weft 

 Indies, or at leaft in the South Seas, are caft. 



There is another confiderable port in Chili, and indeed, the moft confiderable of 

 them all, which is that of Valparaifo, which is efteemed one of the beft harbours in the 

 South Seas. It lies upon a river, fifteen leagues below St. lago, the capital of Chili. 

 To this port all the riches of the gold mines behind it, and on every fide, are brought, 

 particularly from thofe of Tiltil, which are immenfely rich, and lie between this port 

 and the city of St. lago. The gold here is found in a very hard ftone, fome of which 

 fparkles, and betrays the inclofed treafure to the eye j but moft of it has not the leaft 

 fign of gold, but appears to be an hard harlh kind of ftone, of very different colours, 

 fome white, fome red, fome black. This ore, broken to pieces, is ground in a mill, 

 by the help of water, into a grofs powder, with which quickfilver is afterwards mixed : 

 to this pafte they let in a ftiarp ftream of water ; which having reduced it to a kind of 

 mud, the earthy particles are carried off by the current, and the gold and quickfilver 

 precipitated, by their own weight, to the bottom : when this mud has fettled a little 

 into a fort of pafte, they put it into a linen bag ; ftrain it very hard, by which opera- 

 tion the mercury is driven out, or at leaft the greateft part of it ; and the remainder 

 they evaporate by the help of fire ; fo that they have all the gold together in a little 

 wedge, like a pine-apple, and thence it derives its name of Pinna. In order to clear 

 the gold from the filver it is firft impregnated with, the lump muft be run ; and then 

 they know the exa£t weight, and the true finenefs ; it is not done any otherwife there. 

 The weightinefs of the gold, and the facility of its making amalgama, or pafte, with 

 . the mercury, make the drofs immediately part from it : this is an advantage the gold- 

 miners have over thofe of filver ; they every day know what they get ; whereas the 

 others fometimes do not know it till two months after, as has been faid in another 

 place. According to the nature of the mines, and the richnefs of the veins, every 

 caxon, or fifty quintals, that is, hundred weight, yields four, five, or fix ounces : when 

 it yields but two, the miner does not make good his charge, which often happens; but 

 he has alfo fometimes good amends made him, when he meets with good veins ; for 

 the gold mines are, of all mines, thofe which produce metals the moft unequally. They 

 follow a vein, which grows wider, then narrower, and fometimes feems to be loft in a 

 fmall fpace of ground. This fport of nature makes the miners live in hopes of finding 



what 



