54 



THE HACIENDA. 



the biggest and heaviest bureau I had ever seen, I was somewhat 

 surprised at the sight of these — 



" Not that the things were very rich or rare, 

 I wonder'd how the devil they got there." 

 They must have come up in pieces, for nothing so large could have 

 been fastened on a mule's back, or passed entire in the narrow parts of 

 the road. 



The hacienda is situated near the head of a small valley, which de- 

 bouches upon the road just below San Mateo ; the stream which drains 

 it emptying into the Rimac there. It is a square, enclosed with one- 

 story buildings, consisting of the mill for grinding the ore, the ovens for 

 toasting it when ground, the workshops, store-houses, and dwelling- 

 houses. It is managed by a superintendent and three mayordomos, and 

 employs about forty working hands. These are Indians of the Sierra, 

 strong, hardy-looking fellows, though generally low in stature, and stupid 

 in expression. They are silent and patient, and, having coca enough 

 to chew, will do an extraordinary quantity of work. They have their 

 breakfast of caldo and cancha, (toasted maize,) and get to work by eight 

 o'clock. At eleven they have a recess of half an hour, when they sit 

 down near their place of work, chat lazily with each other, and chew 

 coca, mixed with a little lime, which each one carries in a small gourd, 

 putting it on the mass of coca leaves in his mouth with a wire pin 

 attached to the stopper of the gourd that carries the lime. Some dex- 

 terity is necessary to do this properly without cauterizing the lips or 

 tongue. They then go to work again until five, when they finish for the 

 da}^, and dine off chupe. It has made me, with my tropical habit of life, 

 shiver to see> these fellows puddling with their naked legs a mass of 

 mud and quicksilver in water at the temperature of thirty-eight Fahren- 

 heit. 



These Indians generally live in huts near the hacienda, and are sup- 

 plied from its store-houses. They are kept in debt by the supplies; and 

 by custom, though not by lav/, no one will employ an Indian who is in 

 debt to his patron ; so that he is compelled to work on with no hope of 

 getting free of the debt, except by running away to a distant part of the 

 country where he is not known, which some do. 



The diseases incident to this occupation are indigestion, called empa- 

 cho, pleurisy, and sometimes the lungs seem affected with the fumes 

 and dust of the ore; but on the whole, it does not seem an unhealthy 

 occupation. 



The principal articles furnished from the store-house are maize, coca, 

 mutton, charqui, rum, sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, chancaca, (cakes of 



