292 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 



All the poor mines in South America from this 

 moment were deserted, and the country was for 

 many years in a state of warfare which it is not 

 necessary to describe ; but as soon as the victory 

 was gained, and independence gradually established, 

 one of the first acts to which many people had 

 recourse, was the working of the deserted mines, 

 from which they naturally expected again to obtain 

 wealth. Several of the miners had been killed in 

 the wars, and others, wearing the spurs and poncho 

 of the Gaucho, enjoyed a life of wild and unre- 

 strained liberty. There were some, however, who 

 voluntarily returned to the profession in which they 

 had been trained, and were willing again to embrace 

 a life whose hardships had become habitual ; but 

 the forced labour of the Indian was now wanting ; 

 and although this system of cruelty had been long 

 abolished in many parts of South America, yet its 

 existence in some places, and the unjust encourage- 

 ment which the Spaniards had given to mining, in 

 exclusion of every other branch of industry, had, 

 up to the period of the Revolution, greatly assisted 

 the working of the mines. 



Operations were, however, recommenced at ai- 



