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CHILI. 



tageous a method as sharing the transaction with 

 an habilitador, who takes charge of the commer- 

 cial part of the business. Sometimes, however, 

 the owner makes the attempt to work his mine 

 single-handed, in which he usually fails. But to 

 elucidate the subject fully, I shall give the details 

 of a case, which involves most of the varieties, and 

 upon which I happen to possess exact information. 



A farmer, resident at the Asiento of Guasco, 

 with whom I had a good deal of conversation on 

 the subject, opened a copper mine about eighteen 

 months previous to our visit. He possessed some 

 capital, and a small farm near the river, and was 

 doing very well ; but he had set his heart upon a 

 larger and more fertile property, lying about a 

 league higher up the stream. Deluded by the 

 hope of soon realizing a sufficient sum of money 

 to purchase this ground, he rashly undertook to 

 work the mine himself : but he miscalculated his 

 means, and expended all his capital, before any 

 adequate returns had come in. His mine was rich 

 and promising, and he had raised a considerable 

 mass of ore to the surface ; but he had no money to 

 build furnaces, or to purchase fuel, and his work- 



