50 Sketch of the Mine of Pasco, 



bly ; and even without this, in the months of August and September, 

 it descended to 28° and 30'' below freezing point. The water begins 

 to freeze when the sky is clear, at six in the evening ; and even that in 

 the rooms freezes very often ; it begins to boil at 180° Fah*. From 

 the middle of October to the end of April, this climate is insupport- 

 able, because of snow, hail, and storms which benumb the spirits 

 of the inhabitants, and hinder them from going out of tlieir houses ; 

 the lightning also does almost every year, a good deal of damage. 

 No branch of agriculture is pursued here, notwithstanding potatoes, 

 ocas, rellocas, mocas and barley are of a rigid temperament, and if 

 the last be sown in the rough ground, it does not produce grain ; but 

 still, good fruits, pulse, and other eatables are to he found in market, 

 which they bring from Huanuco, about twenty leagues distant, and from 

 the neighboring villages. The temperature is so severe that the fowls 

 cannot hatch, nor the lamas breed. The women that labor, are 

 obliged to go into a milder temperature, if they do not wish their 

 children to die 5 but for some time past, those who enjoy any con- 

 veniences, are spared this trouble by means of chimneys, which 

 were introduced by the English about two years ago, for although they 

 use the brasier, it does not warm them sufficiently. It is observ- 

 ed, that those who have just arrived, and those who are not accustom- 

 ed to the climate and have weak lungs, suffer from the breast, respi- 

 ration failing when they stir ; here it is called veta, since it is believed 

 the veins they dig in mining, produce this complaint ; the want of 

 breath (also called borochus,) arises to a considerable degree from 

 the tenuity of the air, owing to the great height ; so that even ani- 

 mals fall dead, when exhausted by dragging up hea\y burdens. The 

 disease which attacks the workmen, is the palsy, occasioned by the 

 sudden transition from a high temperature to a colder, and also by 

 the continued use they make of quicksilver. 



Those who suffer from this, are called azogados. I have seen 

 some, who, in consequence of breathing mercurial vapors for a few 

 moments, were rendered incapable, by palsy, of raising their fingers 

 to the mouth. But the most common disease is the pleurisy or pain 

 in the side, and putrid fever or tabardillo. The first is cured by tak- 

 ing an infusion of mullara, a very small herb which grows thereabouts, 

 or with that called " dead man's bone." The first plant has very small 



* This would indicate a greater height than that stated on the last page, since Saus- 

 sure found water to boil, on the top of Mount Blanc, at 1S7°.~E(L 



