EL BRONCE DE PETORCA. 



207 



difficult to trace the foundation on which they had 

 stood, and the water was diverted from its course. 



In the evening our landlord gave us a most ex- 

 cellent supper, and the following morning, an hour 

 before sunrise, we started to inspect the gold mines 

 of El Bronce de Petorca, which were six miles from 

 the village, and about a hundred and sixty from 

 Santiago. 



I visited this mine accompanied by a very intelli- 

 gent Chilian miner, who with several of his com- 

 rades was in a mine on this lode a hundred fathoms 

 deep, when the great earthquake of the 19th of 

 November 1822, which almost destroyed Valparaiso, 

 took place. He told me that several of his com- 

 rades were killed, and that nothing could equal the 

 horror of their situation. He said that the moun- 

 tain shook so that he could scarcely ascend ; large 

 pieces of the lode were falling down, and every 

 instant they expected the Avails of the lode would 

 come together, and either crush them or shut them 

 up in a prison from which no human power could 

 liberate them. He added, that when he got to the 

 mouth of the mine the scene was very little better : 

 there was such a dust that he could not see his hand 



