1834.] INDIAN RELIC. 267 
dollars’ worth of gold. This is an exact counterpart of what takes 
place in nature. Mountains suffer degradation and wear away, 
and with them the metallic veins which they contain. The 
hardest rock is worn into impalpable mud, the ordinary metals 
oxidate, and both are removed; but gold, platina, and a few 
others are nearly indestructible, and from their weight, sinking 
to the bottom, are left: behind. After whole mountains have 
passed through this grinding-mill, and have beén washed by the 
hand of nature, the residue becomes metalliferous, and man finds 
it worth his while to complete the task of separation. 
Bad as the above treatment of the miners appears, it is gladly 
accepted of by them; for the condition of the labouring agri- 
culturists is much worse. Their wages are lower, and they live 
almost exclusively on beans. This poverty must be chiefly 
owing to the feudal-like system on which the land is tilled: 
the landowner gives a small plot of ground to the labourer, for 
building on and cultivating, and in return bas his services (or 
those of a proxy) for every day of his life, without any wages. 
Until a father has a grown-up son, who can by his labour pay 
the rent, there is no one, except on occasional days, to take care 
of his own patch of ground. Hence extreme poverty is very 
common among the labouring classes in this country. 
There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood, and I 
was shown one of the perforated stones, which Molina mentions 
as being found in many places in considerable numbers. They 
are of a circular flattened form, from five to six inches in dia- 
meter, with a hole passing quite through the centre. It has 
generally been supposed that they were used as heads to clubs, 
although their form does not appear at all well adapted for that 
purpose. Burchell * states that some of the tribes in Southern 
Africa dig up roots, by the aid of a stick pointed at one end, the 
force and weight of which is increased by a round stone with a 
hole in it, into which the other end is firmly wedged. It appears 
probable, that the Indians of Chile formerly used some such rude 
agricultural instrument. 
One day, a German collector in natural history, of the name 
of Renous, called, and nearly at the same time an old Spanish 
lawyer. I was amused at being told the conversation which took 
* Burchell’s Travels, vol. ii. p. 45. 
