MINING IN SOUTH AMERICA. SQl 



were in themselves emblems of the ignorance, 

 cruelty, and avarice of their masters. 



However, there is no situation of misery or suf- 

 fering to which the mind and body of man cannot 

 be enured. The miner by degrees became accus- 

 tomed to his labour and his tools ; the slave, toiling 

 under his load, ceased to complain ; the cry of the 

 sufferers became gradually silent, and in a short 

 time no sound issued from the gloomy chamber of 

 the mine but the occasional explosion of powder, 

 the ringing blow of the hammer, and the faint 

 whistle of the slaves, who thus informed the over- 

 seer that they had reached those points of the shafts 

 at which, by law, they were allowed to rest. 



The mine was said to have assumed a prosperous 

 appearance, and men were talking aloud of the 

 flourishing state of the South- American colonies, 

 and of the inexhaustible riches of the mines, when 

 the spell was gradually broken. The revolution at 

 last broke out, and, as if by magic, the miner found 

 himself in the plain surrounded by his countrymen, 

 marching forward in support of liberty, and lending 

 his arm to exterminate from la Patria the oppres- 

 sors who were now trembling before them. 



U 2 



