THE COPPER MINES OF CHILI. 



give full verdure to the flat bottom of the valley 

 through which it flows, and to place it in agreeable 

 contrast to the rest of the country, which is a 

 sandy desert in every direction. 



Within the space of one month, we had now 

 witnessed all the different degrees of fertility and 

 desolation. At Conception, in the south of Chili, 

 the eye is delighted with the richest and most 

 luxuriant foliage ; at Valparaiso, which lies between 

 one and two hundred miles farther north, the 

 hills are poorly clad with a stunted brushwood, 

 and a faint attempt at grass, the ground looking 

 everywhere starved and naked ; at Coquimbo 

 even this brushwood is gone, and nothing left to 

 supply its place but a wretched sort of prickly- 

 pear bush, and a scanty sprinkling of wiry grass ; 

 at Guasco, four degrees nearer the Equator, there 

 is not a trace of vegetation to be seen, all the hills 

 and plains being covered with bare sand, excepting 

 where the little solitary stream of w r ater, caused 

 by the melting of the snow amongst the Andes, 

 gives animation to the channel, which conducts 

 it to the sea. The respective latitudes of these 

 places are 37°, 33°, 30°, and 28^-° south ; and I 

 fear that no degree of civilisation or industry can 

 ever ameliorate the desolation of the arid portion 

 of this coast. Beyond a certain latitude, no rain 

 ever falls ; and as no streams of any magnitude 

 flow from the Andes to the west, the desert must 

 remain for ever uncultivated. 



The village of Asiento is pleasantly situated on 

 the banks of the river, with gardens and trees 

 between the houses and the stream, and shady 

 walks reaching from the doors to the water. We 

 were kindly received by a gentleman connected in 

 the mining business with our Coquimbo host, who 

 accompanied us on this excursion. 



As our time was short, we proceeded imme- 

 diately to see the operation of smelting the 

 copper-ore, in the rude manner of the country. 

 On coming to the river, we found it unusually 

 swollen, owing to a thaw in the upper country : 

 the guide hesitated, for some time, as to the 

 possibility of crossing, till one of the officers of 

 the ship, followed by the rest of the party, cut the 

 matter short by plunging in ; and, although we 

 were all drifted a considerable way down, we at 

 length reached the opposite bank, soundly ducked, 

 but in safety. 



The Chilian smelting-furnace resembles a small 

 lime-kiln, covered at top with a sort of dome, 

 open on one side, and terminating in a chimney. 

 The copper-ore being broken into pieces of the 

 size of a walnut, is placed in layers alternately 

 with fire-wood, till the whole is filled up to the 

 open space. The wood being kindled, a steady 

 blast is introduced beneath from two pairs of 

 bellows, worked by cranks, attached to the axis 

 of a water-wheel, of a slight construction, which, 

 instead of being fitted with buckets, is encircled 

 with a series of projecting boards, shaped like 

 spoons, upon which the water, falling in a per- 

 pendicular stream, is made to play. The melted 

 ore is allowed to run out at a hole in the lower 

 part of the furnace, closed up by clay during the 

 smelting, and afterwards opened in the usual way, 

 by forcing in a heavy iron bar. The metal, which, 

 at the first operation, comes out in a very impure 

 state, is thrown into water while hot, and then 

 scraped by iron instruments to remove the slags 



and dross. It is next melted in the refining 

 furnace, and drawn off into moulds about twenty 

 inches long, twelve wide, and three or four thick. 

 In this state it is exported. 



We forded the river again with still more diffi- 

 culty, as it had risen considerably in the interval, 

 and, after getting fairly across, paid a visit to a 

 family, who had assembled before their door to 

 watch our dangerous navigation. It is a pleasant 

 fashion in these countries, that a stranger may 

 enter any house, at any hour, and always be sure 

 of a welcome reception. On the present occasion, 

 our visit was peculiarly well bestowed, as it af- 

 forded the people an opportunity of a nearer view 

 of the strangers, whom they seldom saw, and 

 who, we found, were objects of no small curiosity : 

 wherever we went, indeed, we were accompanied 

 by a train of wondering children ; and, on passing 

 along the streets, all the doors and windows were 

 filled with gaping heads. We were the last people 

 in the world to object to being thus made shows 

 of ; particularly as it afforded us in return an 

 opportunity of seeing all the inhabitants. The 

 women were much fairer in complexion than the 

 natives of the other parts of Chili ; and it may be 

 here remarked, that we did not find the depth of 

 colour in the skin so much dependent upon latitude 

 and temperature as it is usually supposed to be. 

 The men at Guasco are a fine race, well made, 

 and generally handsome ; with graceful, and rather 

 gentle manners. Most of the women we saw, 

 both in figure and countenance, were handsome ; 

 indeed, we scarcely met with one, out of many 

 hundreds, who had not something pleasing either 

 in look or person ; and what is more rare in hot 

 countries, this remark extends to elderly women. 

 Although considerably fairer than any South 

 Americans we had yet seen, the natives of Guasco 

 were all characterised by the dark eye and long 

 black hair of their Spanish ancestors. 



Immediately after breakfast, next morning, a 

 party was formed to explore a copper mine in 

 the neighbourhood. We had to wind by tiresome 

 sandy paths up a steep hill, at the top of which 

 we were met by one of the workmen, who led us 

 to the mouth of a mine called La Gloria. The 

 opening was hot more than six feet across, and, 

 as the descent was very crooked, we were soon 

 obliged to light candles, one of which each person 

 carried in a forked stick. The mine was so steep, 

 and the roof so low, that it was difficult, and 

 sometimes dangerous, to proceed ; but by per- 

 severing, we reached the bottom, at the depth of 

 a hundred and fifty feet from the surface. The 

 whole rock forming the mountain seemed to be 

 impregnated with copper ; some strata, however, 

 and occasionally quartz veins, which crossed the 

 strata, were so much richer than others, that it 

 had become worth the miner's while to incur the 

 expense of its carriage from the top of the hill, 

 whence the ore has been scooped out with great 

 labour, rather than work the more accessible but 

 poorer rocks which lie lower down. As the 

 workmen, therefore, had followed the rich veins 

 in all their windings, the shafts were very tor- 

 tuous, and branched off to the right and left 

 wherever the ore was to be found. We observed 

 that every crevice or rent in the rock, of whatever 

 size, was invariably coated with crystals of calca- 

 reous spar, or of quartz, but frequently metallic : 



