Sketch of the Mine of Pasco. 49 



ferent mines, as of silver, copper, iron, lead and combustibles, which 

 cause the wealth of the department of Junin. It continues uninter- 

 rupted, until united again a little beyond Huanuco. The chains which 

 form the circle of Pasco, are broken by the uneven ground of Quin- 

 lacocher, TuUuranco, and Pucayacu ; (see the map,) that of Quin- 

 lacocha, which opens towards the S. E. serves as a drain for the lake 

 of the same name, the waters of which are employed for grinding 

 with different machines. The others to the N. and E. lead to vari- 

 ous engines established in them, and grind with the waters which 

 flow from the contiguous chains ; these springs form the source of 

 the river MB^rmion formerly passing by the city of Huacho, in order 

 to form the river Guallagen ; but others affirm that the true source 

 of this river is in Lake Lauricocha near Cayatambo. In this basin 

 are three lakes, two of them, those of Partacocha, commAinicate, 

 and that of Quinlacocha which is the largest, serves as a drain 

 to tlie excavations ; there are also some plains in the northern 

 part, called pampas de St. Andres. Whithersoever you recede, to-' 

 wards the north, east and west, you are obliged to descend considera- 

 bly ; so, that in less than an hour, you find a milder climate, and a 

 vegetation no where seen in Yauricocha or Pasco. The aspect of 

 the mines is more gloomy than can be readily imagined. Naked rocks, 

 the sight of which at once indicates the barrenness of the metallic 

 mountains, the people torpid with cold, the want of respiration on ac- 

 count of the tenuity of the air, their clothes, countenances, plainly 

 show the labors which they endure, and the dangerous, disagreeable 

 life they lead in the caverns. — The range of Pasco, is situated in 

 10° 55' S. lat. and 75° 40' W. long, counting from the meridian of 

 Greenwich. Its height is five thousand, two hundred and six yards* 

 above the level of the sea ; it is sixty leagues from Lima, and contains 

 about five or six thousand souls, three fourths of whom are employed 

 in working the mines. The houses are irregular, all made of unburnt 

 brick, covered with j?«pa, and situated on a declivity at the mining 

 works. — Its climate is very disagreeable, as well on account of the 

 excessive cold, as its height. Its temperature in the months of June, 

 August and September, is on an average through the day 44° Fah, — 

 at night 35°. In these months I observed several falls of snow", and 

 hail in abundance, which made the thermometer descend considera- 



'^ Fifteen thousand, six hundred and eighteen feet ; about the height of Mount 

 Blanc, the highest point of Europe. — Ed. 



Vol. XVII.— No. 1. 7 



