ULLOA*S VOYAGE TO SOUTH AMERICA. 68^ 



This mine, for the length of time it has been worked, is equal to the moll celebrated 

 in Peru. 



In the country of Yapel, which is fituated in fhe fame quarter, but farther to the 

 northward along the Cordillera, are alfo rich gold-mines, and the metal twenty-three 

 carats fine* In 1 7 1 o, in the mountains of Lumpanqui near the Cordillera, were dif- 

 covered mines of gold, filver, copper, lead, tin, and iron, the gold between twenty- 

 one and twenty-two carats fine ; but the working, from the hardnefs of the ftone, 

 where, according to the miner's phrafe, " the metal arms," was very difficult and 

 laborious. This inconvenience does not however occur in the mountain Llaoin, where 

 the ilone is foft, and not lefs rich in metal, equal in finenefs to the former. Befides 

 thefe, there are other gold-mines, worked with good fuccefe'at Tiltil, near Santiago. 



Betwixt Quillota and Valparaifo, in a part called Ligua, is a very rich gold-mine/ 

 and the metal greatly efleemed, Coquimbo, Capiapo, and Guafco, have alfo gold- 

 mines, and the metal found in the two laft, is, by way of pre-eminence, called Oro 

 Capote, being the moft valuable of any yet difcovered. Another kind of mines of the 

 fame, metal has alfo been found in this kingdom ; but thefe were exhaufled almoll as 

 foon as they were opened. Mines of this kind are very common, as well as another 

 kind called Lavaderos *, moft of which are between Valparaifo and Las Pennuelas, and 

 about a league from the former. Some of them are alfo found at Yapel, on the fron- 

 tiers of the wild Indians, and near Conception. Thefe, together with the others known 

 in this kingdom, yield gold-duft. Sometimes, indeed, lumps of gold of confiderable 

 magnitude are found j and the hopes of difcovering thefe, animate many to work the 

 mines. 



All the gold thus colleded in Chili is brought up in the country, and fent to Lima to 

 be coined, there being no mint in Chili j and, by the accounts conftantly taken, it 

 amounts, one year with another, to fix hundred thoufand dollars ; but that clandef- 

 tinely fent by way of the Cordillera is faid to be nearly four hundred thoufand. Con- 

 fequently, the whole muft be at leaft a million. In the countries of Coquimbo and 

 Guafco, mines of all kinds of metals are fo very common, that the whole earth feems 

 wholly compofed of minerals ; and it is here thofe of copper are worked, and from 

 them all Peru and the kingdom of Chili are furniflied with that metal. But though 

 this copper exceeds every thing of the kind hitherto known, the mines are worked 

 with great caution, and no more metal extracted than is fufficient to anfwer the ufual 

 demand ; and other mines, though known to be equally rich, are left untouched. 



In exchange for the grain, fruits, provifions, and metals, which Chili fends to Peru, 

 it receives iron, cloth, and linen made at Quito, hats, bays, though not many of the 

 latter, there being manufactures of the fame Jiind at Chili, fugar^ cacao, fweetmeacs, 

 pickles, tobacco, oil, earthenware, and all kinds of European goods. A fmall com- 

 merce is alfo carried on between the kingdom of Chili, Paraguay, and Buenos Ayres, 

 of which the latter is the ftaple. The products of Paraguay, which indeed confift only 

 in its herb and wax, are carried thither, then forwarded to Chili, whence the herb is 

 exported to Peru. Large quantities of tallow are alfo fent to Mendoza for making of 

 foap. In exchange for thefe commodities, Chili fends to Buenos Ayres linen and wool- 

 len ftuffs, fome of which are imported from Peru, and others manufactured irt the 

 country ; alfo ponchos, fugar, fnuff, wine, and brandy, the two laft the traders chiefly 



* Thefe Lavaderos are pits dug in the angles of ravines or trenches made by rain, and in which it is ima- 

 gined there may be gold, and, in order to difcover the metal, a ftream of water is turned through it, and 

 the earth brifkly fpread, that the gojd may be carried down with the current, and depofited in the pits. 



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