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plunderers ; so that, when a mine proves good, the hopes of the proprietor are 

 often frustrated through the poverty and envy of his neighbours. 



The copper mines of Guasco, Copiapo, and Coquimbo, are wretchedly worked, 

 nor would it perhaps be safe to introduce other methods. The copper is smelted 

 in a hearth with bellows and wood ; and if, when it is run into cakes, it has the 

 appearance of copper, they do not smelt it again, but if it is so covered and inter- 

 mixed with slag, as not to be known, it is broken up and undergoes a second 

 smelting, when not unfrequently slag is placed so as to be in the centre. These, 

 and other deceptions, have brought the trade into great discredit. The copper is 

 sold from eight to eleven dollars per 1 04 lb. It is considered a poor trade, though 

 the Spaniards always think the Chilian copper, and even the timber which serves 

 for fuel, to be full of gold. 



A. .p 



