102 



CERHO DE PASCO. 



place owes nothing else to the Pasco Peruvian Company, it owes it (at 

 least) a debt of gratitude for the introduction of the grates. I found, 

 however, very little comfort in them ; for the houses are so open about 

 the doors and windows, that while my toes were burning, my back was 

 freezing ; and one has to be constantly twisting round, like a roasting 

 turkey, to get anything of their benefit. My companion, Ijurra, whose 

 fathers were rich miners and powerful men in these parts, had many 

 visitors. The talk of the company was of nothing but the mines, and 

 incessant was the complaining (which I have heard elsewhere) of the 

 miseries and uncertainties of the miner's life. All seem to agree that it 

 is a sort of gambling, in which most lose ; but there is the same sort of 

 feverish infatuation in it that there is in gaming with cards, and the 

 unlucky player cannot but persevere, in the hope that the luck will 

 change, and that the boy a, (striking the rich vein,) like "the bullets and 

 bragger oldest," will come at last. 



I went out with Mr. Jump to look at the town. It is a most curious 

 looking place, entirely honey- combed, and having the mouths of mines 

 (some two or three yards in diameter) gaping everywhere. From the 

 top of the hill called Sta. Catalina, the best view is obtained of the 

 whole. Vast pits, called " Tajos" surround this hill, from which many 

 millions of silver have been taken ; and the miners are still burrowing, 

 like so many rabbits, in their bottoms and sides. I estimate that the tajo 

 of Sta. Rosa is six hundred yards long, by four hundred broad and sixty 



deep; those of the " Descubridora" and are about half as large. 



The hill of Sta. Catalina is penetrated in every direction ; and I should 

 not be surprised if it were to cave in any day, and bury many in its ruins. 

 The falling in of mines is of frequent occurrence; that of "Mata-gente" 

 (kill people) caved in years ago, and buried three hundred persons; and 

 four days ago a mine fell in and buried five ; four have been recovered, 

 but one is still incarcerated, and the people are now hard at work for 

 him. We visited a machine-shop, and the hacienda for grinding ores 

 by steam, that Mr. Jump is erecting near the city. I should think the 

 hacienda would be a good speculation ; for the ores, which have now to 

 be transported on the backs of mules and llamas for a distance of four, 

 five, or six miles to the haciendas, may be taken to this by a railroad 

 in a few minutes; and Mr. Jump believes that he shall have water 

 enough for his boilers all the year ; whereas the other haciendas cannot 

 grind for more than three parts of the year. The cost of the machinery, 

 which is cast in England, in parts equal to a mule-load, and transported 

 from Lima on the backs of these animals ; the pay of machine and 



