The Quicksilver mines of Alinaden, Spain. 9 
The labor at Sta. Barbara is necessarily Indian, and very inef- 
ficient, the extreme rarity of the air at an elevation of 14,975 
feet above the sea (according to Ulloa) adding to the natural 
inefficiency of the race. Great numbers of Indians formerly 
were employed in these mines. In 1621, there were 2,000 In-. 
ians, who were required by government edict to produce 3 
quintals (4 flasks) of quicksilver for each Indian per annum. 
“‘His majesty pays for the same, $47 per quintal.” In 1681 the 
cost of quicksilver to the government, including transpor- 
tation to Potosi, was $79 per quintal, and in 1678, its value 
at Potosi was $97 per quintal. In 1789 the cost rose to $195 
per quintal, so that the king lost that year $197,758, and in 
five years, $693,624. In 1681, and for some years about that 
time, the average product was 7,500 flasks per annum, with 
4,249 Indians at work. At New Almaden nearly six and a half 
_ times that quantity of quicksilver has been extracted in a sin- 
_ gle year by less than a thousand men. ee 
Art. IlI._—WNotes on the Quicksilver mines of Almaden, Spain. 
Condensed from a MSS. Report made to the New Almaden 
Company of California, by C. E. Hawtey, M. E. 
taken out. There are three veins of ore at present worked in 
this mine. Ist, the San Diego and San Pedro; 2d, San Fran- 
cisco; and 3d, San Nicholas. These are separated by masses of 
slate and sometimes enclose thin layers of slate in the ore. 
The linear extent of the mine is only about 600 feet, and near 
the surface, was much less. The mine is divided into ten dif- 
ferent floors or levels, separate from each other by an average eB 
P 
of about 90 feet, the lowest level being 921 feet fro 
* Pliny, lib. 33, chap. 7, a 
