MINERALOGY. 



79 



mcnt, combined with a benevolence which experience has 

 confirmed, suffice to attra6t the Indians to the laborious ope- 

 rations of the mines, it is incumbent on the proprietors to sub- 

 mit to the determination of heaven, and to wait patiently 

 for that happy epoch when a remedy for their necessities may 

 be fallen on, which may be compatible with the liberty and 

 inclination of those by whom alone they can be efficaciously 

 served. 



** In what I have advanced, I have not been influenced by 

 any motive of self-interest, inasmuch as my situation secures 

 me from the necessities into the detail of which I have en- 

 tered. My mines are situated in the mountainous territory of 

 Colquijilca*, where I have a sufficient number of Indian la- 

 bourers for every pra6lical purpose. I have merely attempted 

 to illustrate the letter of Egerio, by proving that, without In- 

 dians, neither talents nor pecuniary advances are of any avail 

 to the miner, in the prosecution of his plans.'* 



Plate IV. represents an overseer of a royal Peruvian mine. 

 The portrait of the horse on which he rides, is after Nature ; 

 and this animal does not appear to have degenerated from the 

 primitive Spanish race by which Peru was stocked after the 

 conquest. 



* Tliis territory lies to the north-west of the city of Pasco, from which it is dis- 

 tant about half a mile. The mines it contains have been very recently discovered. 

 Their ores are of the kind denominated negrillos, on account of their dusky hue. 

 Although blended with a small proportion of copper, they are so rich as to yield from 

 ftfty to sixty marks of silver per caxon. 



PART 



