May, 1835. 



MINERS. 



419 



parts of England, where the system of selling part of the 

 vein is followed, the miners, from being obliged to act for 

 themselves, and to judge with clearness, are a singularly in- 

 telligent and well-conducted set of men. 



The dress of the Chilian miner is peculiar and rather pic- 

 turesque. He wears a very long shirt, of some dark-coloured 

 baize, with a leathern apron ; the whole being fastened round 

 his waist by a brightly-coloured sash. His trousers are very 

 broad, and his small cap of scarlet cloth is made to fit the 

 head closely. We met a party of these miners in full cos- 

 tume, carrying the body of one of their companions to be 

 buried. They marched at a very quick trot, four men sup- 

 porting the corpse. One set having run as hard as they 

 could for about two hundred yards, were relieved by four 

 others, who had previously dashed on ahead on horseback. 

 Thus they proceeded, encouraging each other by wild cries : 

 altogether the scene formed a most strange funeral. 



We continued travelling northward, in a zigzag line ; some- 

 times stopping a day to geologise. The country was so 

 thinly inhabited, and the track so obscure, that we often had 

 difficulty in finding our way. On the 12th I stayed at some 

 mines. The ore in this case was not considered particularly 

 good, but from being abundant it was supposed the mine 

 would sell for about thirty or forty thousand dollars (that is 

 6000 or 8000 pounds sterling) ; yet it was bought by one of 

 the English Associations for an ounce of gold (3/. 8s.). 

 The ore is yellow pyrites, which as I have already remarked, 

 before the arrival of the English, was not supposed to 

 contain a particle of copper. On a scale of profits, nearly 

 as great as in the above instance, piles of scorise abound- 

 ing with minute globules of metallic copper were pur- 

 chased ; yet with these advantages, the mining associations, 

 as is well known, contrived to lose immense sums of money. 

 The folly of the greater number of commissioners and share- 

 holders, amounted to infatuation : — a thousand pounds per 

 annum given in some cases to entertain the authorities; 

 libraries of well-bound geological books ; bringing out miners 



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