MINES TRADE. 



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gain, has left. Manto, with all its machinery, stands a ruin. The mine 

 is falling in ; the canal-boats leak ; the engine is rusting, and the last 

 boat-load of silver ore was scattered over the ground. I am told that 

 the vein has been gradually decreasing in richness as the expensive 

 works have been going on. The machinery was brought from England, 

 and transported over the mountains from the coast on mules' backs, at 

 great expense. 



The necessity of bringing proper workmen with the machinery is also 

 costly. Provision is scarce in Puno, and people from other parts of the 

 country complain of the market. Thick clothing is required in this 

 climate, and tailoring appears to be the best business. Englishmen are 

 generous in their expenditures on machinery and preparations for mining. 

 There certainly has been a great deal of labor expended at the Manto 

 mine. There are a number of other mines in this department, and some 

 in this neighborhood ; but, with the exception of the gold mines of 

 Carabaya, there is very little profit gained under the present system of 

 management. 



The annual yield of silver in the departments of Huancavelica, Aya- 

 cucho, Cuzco, and Puno, has been decreasing for some time. The custom 

 has been to abandon the mine as soon as the chisel struck below the 

 water-line, and seek for a new vein; until now, when we want silver 

 more than ever, it is all under water. There are few new discoveries 

 made, and mining seems to have become, year after year, a less profit- 

 able business. Merchants are afraid to advance large sums of money, 

 lest it may be lost by the vein running out, leaving expensive machinery 

 on their hands. Yet there is undoubtedly immense riches in the- different 

 metals of these departments, which might be extracted after a scientific 

 exploration of the country, and with a judicious system of mining. 



From what we see, there is no reason to expect so large an amount 

 of silver to flow from South Peru as heretofore. The Creole portion of 

 the population shrink from all kinds of labor ; they sit at the mouth of 

 the mines to receive the silver, and live a life of ease upon it. To the 

 poor Indian mining is an harassing labor. He seldom reveals to the 

 Creole any new discovery ; he never seeks work at the mine, but turns 

 to the cultivation of the soil in the congenial climate of the valleys ; 

 tends his flocks on the mountain-side, where he is better fed and clothed, 

 and where his wild and honest feelings are gratified. The wool of sheep 

 and silver are the chief exports from these departments. Besides Peru- 

 vian bark, copper, alpaca wool, vicufia skins, matico, gold, hides, and 

 chinchilla skins, there were exported last year over five hundred thou- 

 sand quintals of nitrate of soda from the seaport of Arica. 

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