THE CHILENO. 



131 



CHILE. 



unless the mine is six hundred feet deep. The average load 

 is considered as rather more than two hundred pounds, and 

 I have been assured that one 

 of three hundred pounds, by 

 way of a trial, had been brought 

 up from the deepest mine. At 

 this time the apires were bring- 

 ing up the usual load twelve 

 times in the day that is, twen- 

 ty-four hundred pounds from 

 eighty yards deep; and they 

 were employed in the intervals 

 in breaking and picking ore. 



These men, excepting from 

 accidents, are healthy, and ap- 

 pear cheerful. Their bodies are 

 not very muscular. They rarely 

 eat meat once a week, and nev- 

 er oftener. Although knowing 

 that their labor w r as not forced, 

 it was nevertheless quite re- 

 volting to see the state in which they reached the mouth 

 of the mine their bodies bent forward, their legs bowed, 

 their muscles quivering, the perspiration streaming from their 

 faces over their breasts, their nostrils distended, the corners of 

 their mouths forcibly drawn back, and the expulsion of their 

 breath most laborious. After staggering to the pile of ore, 

 they emptied the carpaclio ; in two or three seconds recov- 

 ering their breath, they wiped the sw r eat from their brows, 



TANATERO OKE CARRIER. 



