202 CHILI. 
small space. It required eighteen hours of unceasing efforts of nearly 
a hundred men to extricate him from his perilous situation. 
The ore is brought to the mouth of the mine on the backs of men, 
in sacks made of raw hide, and holding about one hundred pounds. 
Whenever a sufficient quantity to load a drove of mules is extracted, 
it is thrown down the mountain slide, and then carried to the furnace 
at Jaquel. Only seventeen miners were employed ; previous to this 
the number employed was one hundred. Whenever a richer vein 
was struck, a larger number were employed, who could always be 
easily obtained by foreigners, the natives preferring to work for them, 
as they say whatever the profits or losses may be, they are sure of 
being regularly paid. The wages are small — from three to four 
dollars per month, in addition to their food. They are allowed to 
draw a third of their pay on the last Saturday of every month, and 
full settlement is made twice a year. They are supplied with 
clothing and other necessaries, out of which the agent makes a per 
centage, and which is charged against their wages. 
There is one admirable regulation of the Chilian government, that 
of not permitting liquors to be brought within a league of any mine, 
under a severe penalty, which is strictly enforced. The cost of the 
maintenance of each workman is not great; they are allowed as 
rations for breakfast four handfuls of dried figs, and the same of 
walnuts: value about three cents. For dinner they have bread, and 
fresh beef or pork. Small stores, as sugar and tea, they find them- 
selves. One of the greatest inconveniences, and which is attended 
with some expense, is the supply of the miners with water, which 
must be brought up the mountains. 
The miners' huts are the last dwellings on the Chilian side of the 
Andes. Mr. Alderson mentioned that in five hours' ride from thence, 
a lake was reported to exist, three leagues in circumference, on the 
summit of a conical mountain, which is surrounded by a beach of 
sand and gravel, and has no outlet. Several persons confirmed this 
statement as to the existence of the lake, that it had no visible outlet, 
and that the water was always at the same level. Although desirous 
of visiting so interesting a spot, they found they had not time left to 
accomplish it. They therefore determined, instead, to make a visit 
to the coal mine which was reported as existing about two leagues 
farther on the Cordilleras. They reached this in about three hours. 
Leaving their mules, they scrambled up the face of a cliff for some 
