XII YAQUIL GOLD-MINES 283 



farthest point southward ; for we here turned at right angles 

 towards the coast. We slept at the gold-mines of Yaquil, which 

 are worked by Mr. Nixon, an American gentleman, to whose 

 kindness I was much indebted during the four days I stayed at 

 his house. The next morning we rode to the mines, which are 

 situated at the distance of some leagues, near the summit of a 

 lofty hill. On the way we had a glimpse of the lake Tagua- 

 tagua, celebrated for its floating islands, which have been 

 described by M. Gay.^ They are composed of the stalks of 

 various dead plants intertwined together, and on the surface 

 of which other living ones take root. Their form is generally 

 circular, and their thickness from four to six feet, of which 

 the greater part is immersed in the water. As the wind blows, 

 they pass from one side of the lake to the other, and often carry 

 cattle and horses as passengers. 



When we arrived at the mine, I was struck by the pale 

 appearance of many of the men, and inquired from Mr. Nixon 

 respecting their condition. The mine is 450 feet deep, and 

 each man brings up about 200 pounds weight of stone. With 

 this load they have to climb up the alternate notches cut in 

 the trunks of trees, placed in a zigzag line up the shaft. Even 

 beardless young men, eighteen and twenty years old, with little 

 muscular development of their bodies (they are quite naked 

 excepting drawers) ascend with this great load from nearly the 

 same depth. A strong man, who is not accustomed to this 

 labour, perspires most profusely, with merely carrying up his 

 own body. With this very severe labour, they live entirely on 

 boiled beans and bread. They would prefer having bread 

 alone ; but their masters, finding that they cannot work so 

 hard upon this, treat them like horses, and make them eat the 

 beans. Their pay is here rather more than at the mines of 

 Jajuel, being from 24 to 28 shillings per month. They leave 

 the mine only once in three weeks ; when they stay with their 

 families for two days. One of the rules in this mine sounds 

 very harsh, but answers pretty well for the master. The only 

 method of stealing gold is to secrete pieces of the ore, and take 

 them out as occasion may offer. Whenever the major-domo 



' Annales des Sciences Naturelles, March 1833. M. Gay, a zealous and able 

 naturalist, was then occupied in studying every branch of natural histoiy throughout 

 the kingdom of Chile. 



