THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 361 



the "Apires," truly beasts of burden, carry up from the 

 deepest mines. I confess I thought the account exaggerated ; 

 so that I was glad to take an opportunity of weighing one 

 of the loads, which I picked out by hazard. It required con- 

 siderable exertion on my part, when standing directly over 

 it, to lift it from the ground. The load was considered under 

 weight when found to be 197 pounds. The apire had car- 

 ried this up eighty perpendicular yards, — part of the way by 

 a steep passage, but the greater part up notched poles, placed 

 in a zigzag line up the shaft. According to the general 

 regulation, the apire is not allowed to halt for breath, ex- 

 cept the mine is six hundred feet deep. The average load is 

 considered as rather more than 200 pounds, and I have been 

 assured that one of 300 pounds (twenty-two stone and a half) 

 by way of a trial has been brought up from the deepest mine ! 

 At this time the apires were bringing up the usual load 

 twelve times in the day; that is 2400 pounds from eighty 

 yards deep ; and they were employed in the intervals in break- 

 ing and picking ore. 



These men, excepting from accidents, are healthy, and ap- 

 pear cheerful. Their bodies are not very muscular. They 

 rarely eat meat once a week, and never oftener, and then only 

 the hard dry charqui. Although with a knowledge that the 

 labour was voluntary, it was nevertheless quite revolting to 

 see the state in which they reached the mouth of the mine; 

 their bodies bent forward, leaning with their arms on the 

 steps, their legs bowed, their muscles quivering, the per- 

 spiration streaming from their faces over their breasts, their 

 nostrils distended, the corners of their mouth forcibly drawn 

 back, and the expulsion of their breath most laborious. 

 Each time they draw their breath, they utter an articulate 

 cry of "ay-ay," which ends in a sound rising from deep in 

 the chest, but shrill like the note of a fife. After staggering 

 to the pile of ore, they emptied the " carpacho ; " in two or 

 three seconds recovering their breath, they wiped the sweat 

 from their brows, and apparently quite fresh descended the 

 mine again at a quick pace. This appears to me a wonderful 

 instance of the amount of labour which habit, for it can be 

 nothing else, will enable a man to endure. 



In the evening, talking with the mayor-domo of these 



