THE SILVER MINES OF CHILI. 



ations, massy walls, and ponderous buttresses, 

 devices all adapted, in my opinion, to co-operate 

 with the earthquake in the quick work of destruc- 

 tion. In point of fact, the only houses that had 

 stood the shocks were those built of the lightest 

 materials, and connected in the most superficial 

 manner with the ground. All the rest, with deep 

 foundations and thick walls, being riveted as it 

 were to the surface, were exposed to the full 

 violence of its movements. 



While we were viewing the church of La Merced, 

 one of the holy Fathers of the ruined establishment 

 came into the court, and pointed out the various 

 circumstances, describing how each had happened. 

 He himself was not a bad appendage to the ruin, 

 being nearly as much shattered as his church : a 

 connexion probably not quite accidental, for the 

 wealth and consequence of the priests had fled 

 when their shrine was destroyed ; and this worn- 

 out old man was the only remaining monk who 

 chose to abide by the ruins of the edifice which 

 had sheltered and enriched him for half a century. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



Visit to a Silver Mine.— Subterranean Pool of Water. — 

 Relative Value of Copper, Silver, and Gold Mines. — 

 Gold Mill.— Farther Notices of the Earthquake.— In- 

 creasing Terror which this' Phenomenon inspires on 

 the Minds of Persona frequently exposed to its Influ- 

 ence. 



After breakfast we set out to explore a silver- 

 mine, amongst the hills at some distance, on the 

 western side of the town. On reaching the height 

 of four or five hundred perpendicular feet above 

 the bottom of the valley, and turning round to 

 look at the ruins we had left, the general effect 

 of the earthquake was more distinctly marked 

 than when viewed from below. Each house had 

 formerly a garden attached to it, surrounded by 

 tall cypresses, many of which were drooping over 

 the ruins, or leaning against one another ; but 

 not a house was now to be seen, although the 

 situation of the streets, and quadras or divisions 

 of the town, were distinctly pointed out by the 

 lines of rubbish. It is a remarkable circum- 

 stance that an extensive district of the town, 

 called the Chimba, had suffered comparatively 

 nothing, though not a mile and a half from 

 this scene of devastation. Some of the houses 

 at the outskirts of the town were also still stand- 

 ing ; which led us to conclude that the shock had 

 been limited in its operation, by a line of no great 

 breadth. Possibly there may have been a vast rent, 

 or rather a crack in the earth ; and the ground 

 on one side of it may have been put into violent 

 motion, while that on the other side, not being 

 within reach of the same disturbing cause, may 

 have remained at rest. 



Our road, which lay along the bottom of a 

 ravine, soon carried us beyond the valley, where 

 nothing was to he seen but the vast sea of sandy 

 mountains composing the country. On reaching 

 the summit of the pass we had the satisfaction to 

 find ourselves on a spot wliich commanded a free 

 view on both Btdei to a great distance ; but the 

 ground in every direction was utterly desert. 

 Our guide took us first across a sandy plain, and 

 then along the sharp ridges of several hills, till he 



fairly bewildered us amongst the mountains ; and 

 every trace was lost of the entrance into this wild 

 labyrinth. At length he led us by a high, narrow 

 neck of land, to a solitary hill, in the middle of a 

 plain, round which the road turned in a spiral 

 manner, till it reached the mouth of La Santa 

 Clara, a silver mine. Here we dismounted, and 

 prepared for the descent, by taking off our coats 

 and hats, and providing ourselves with candles. 

 As the mine was inclined to the horizon, at an 

 angle of about twenty-five degrees, and its roof, 

 at some places, not above three feet high, it was 

 both difficult and disagreeable to proceed. The 

 seam, which originally contained the silver, had 

 been wrought to a great extent, so that there was 

 left a wide space between two strata of the rock. 

 The surface, fortunately, was irregular, but so 

 worn by the miners' feet, when bearing their load 

 upwards, and so much polished by their sliding 

 down again, that we found it no easy matter 

 to avoid slipping at once from the top to the 

 bottom. The guide had excited our curiosity by 

 the account of a lake, which, he said, lay at the 

 bottom of one of the great workings ; but in search- 

 ing for it, he mistook his way, and followed a 

 wrong course, and no lake was found to repay our 

 labour. As he was still confident, however, and 

 declared the next trial would be more successful, 

 we consented to renew the search. After ascending 

 for about a hundred and fifty paces, we went down 

 a second shaft, the inclination of which was so 

 great, as to make the adventure rather more 

 hazardous than the first. At length, after innu- 

 merable windings and turnings, when nearly ex- 

 hausted with the heat, which was excessive, we 

 reached a little cave, or nook, excavated in the 

 solid rock, with a little mysterious-looking lake 

 in the middle. We tasted the water, which was 

 intensely salt and acrid, but had unfortunately 

 provided no means of carrying away any of it. A 

 gentleman at Copiapo, who said he had examined 

 it, told us afterwards that it contained antimony, 

 sulphur, arsenic, and soda, in solution, besides a 

 little copper and silver. I cannot pretend to an- 

 swer for the accuracy of this analysis. The mar- 

 gin of the lake was fringed with crystals of salt ; 

 the roof and sides also of the cave sparkled with i 

 spangles sublimed from the liquid. Every crevice 

 and cavity in the rock, of which there were great 

 numbers, was lined with nests of crystals of quartz 

 and calcareous spar. 



The silver in this mine is mostly in union with i 

 limestone ; but much rich ore is also found in i 

 quartz veins traversing the strata. The miners 

 were not at work ; but we examined the spots where 

 they had been recently quarrying, and broke spe- 

 cimens from many different parts. There is no I 

 machinery of any sort in these mines ; and all the 

 ore, when wrought, is carried to the open air on the 

 backs of labourers. Gunpowder, indeed, is used 

 to blast the rock ; but, with this exception, the 

 whole business of the mine is conducted by manual | 

 labour alone. After the ore reaches the surface, . 

 mules are employed to carry it to the valley of 

 Copiapd, where it is extricated from the ore either 

 by amalgamation or by smelting, according to 

 circumstances. 



By counting the number of paces, and considei'- 

 ing the inclination of the shaft, it was calculated, 

 that we had descended in this mine two hundred 



