120 THE NITRATE OF SODA AND BORATE DISTRICTS OF PERU. 



where the ground is free from salt, there the horate is first met with, in 

 some places, from the surface to three feet below it. We progressed along 

 an old dry watercourse (free from salt) into the tisas, or borate towns, at 

 3,200 feet ; the sky was very clear and blue, "and the sun intensely hot. 

 We visited the two small villages, built of salt ; around them excavating 

 and collecting the borate was going on to some extent, although against the 

 orders of government, and conveyed by unfrequented tracks to the coast, 

 and smuggled off. Some few persons have been allowed occasionally to 

 ship small parcels, but up to the present time (1860) the extraction of the 

 borate has not been permitted, although its exportation would be beneficial 

 to the province, and the substance of great use in the arts in Europe. 



The borate ground is generally flat, and the surface free from salt, the 

 making its appearance in uneven nodules of all sizes, but generally that of 

 a large potato (one was found at the jSIoria weighing fifty pounds). The 

 nodules are sparely or plentifully imbedded in a now dry, saline mud ; 

 however, in some places, this saline mud is damp and even wet, from its 

 proximity to the water of percolation of the Pampa. This water doubtless 

 plays an important part in the formation of the borate. Much glauberite, 

 in large and small crystals, is found at times combined with the borate, as 

 well as separate. Sometimes the ground or strata is made up entirely of 

 borate. This is the general position of the mineral, having water not far 

 off below ; and I cannot help thinking that surface waters in particular 

 have brought saline matters from the Andes into the Pampa, and with 

 boracic salts. In the Pampa they have found lime and soda, which has 

 given rise to the present borate of lime and soda formation. 



In working the borate grounds, the boratero has merely to open a hole 

 in the soft surface of the ground, and commence immediately picking out 

 the nodules of borate and bag them, the substance being ready for transit 

 to the coast and exportation. This requires little or no capital, whereas 

 quarrying and refining nitrate of soda is a serious matter on the score of 

 outlay. Up to March, 1854, some 10,000 quintals had been extracted, 

 selling in England for about <£30 per ton. 



Dr. Philippi, during his investigations in the desert of Atacama, in 1853, 

 did not observe any borate, but much salt and a little carbonate of soda. A 

 friend of mine gave me a specimen, said to have come from near Calama, in 

 the northern part of the desert. I have examined several saline materials 

 from that region, but salt and sulphate of lime have predominated. No 

 nitrate of soda has yet been brought from there, although it is said by some 

 to exist. 



The pure borate of lime is found in only few places, as in the Rinconada, 

 Cabreria, Tronco, and between the oficinas of Independencia and Colombia. 

 The borate found under the salitres is accompanied by glauberite. The 

 white pasty substance found in many places, particularly at the Pascana del 

 Tronco, as also in nearly all the spots covered with grama grass, is not 

 borate, but a mixture of sulphates of lime and soda and salt. The substance 

 collected near the Aguada del Sur has no value. 



