27() PERU. 
various quarters, and among them the general to whom they had 
brought letters to Obrajillo. They were received with great kind- 
ness and attention; the company insisted upon their dismounting, 
and gave them the cheer they had prepared for themselves, which 
was readily partaken of. It was served in a large gourd-shell, and 
consisted of a Spanish hotch-potch, or olla, with, carrots, pot garlic, 
pepper, and small bits of mutton. It was observed, as the eatables 
were disappearing, that the Spanish Dons now and then would 
partake of the tidbits by reaching over their shoulders from behind. 
This repast was well timed, for our party had been fasting sufficiently 
long to enable them to do ample justice to it. 
On further examination the hut proved to be provided with some 
few of the necessaries of life, although the supply was not large. 
The Peruvians sent for the superintendent of the mine, and in the 
mean time showed the process of extracting the silver, which was as 
follows : the ore is broken up until it resembles earth ; it is then 
thrown into a large round vat and mixed with mercury and water ; 
six or eight mules are then turned in and driven round and round, 
until the amalgam is formed ; it is then put into a vessel, and stirred 
with water until the earth mixes with it, and the water being poured 
oif, leaves the amalgam, whence the mercury is finally evaporated. 
The ore appears to be taken almost entirely from the surface. It 
is poor, and the mines do not yield much profit. There are many 
old veins that have been extensively w r orked, but owing to their 
depth have been abandoned. 
The superintendent arrived after a while; he proved to be an 
English miner (Mr. R. Bevan,) who had been twenty years in the 
country. He was delighted to see our party, saying that an Ame- 
rican and Englishman were all the same in Peru, and that he had 
not heard his own language spoken for two years. He informed 
them that the old Spaniards had worked the mines cheaper than any 
one has been able to do since. They were large landholders, and 
contrived to keep themselves in debt to their tenants; this they 
always paid in manufactured goods, very much in demand with the 
Indians who worked the mines, thus making a double profit on the 
wages. At the present time the mines are worked by Indians of a 
mixed blood, who have a language of their own. They are much 
addicted to the use of coca, and without a supply of this leaf they 
will not work. 
Mr. Bevan took the party to the mine, which is some distance up 
