64 THE QUICKSILVER MINES 
from the bottom to the surface, and for transporting it 
from the mine to the furnaces. This plan is preferred 
by the proprietors to that of employing the laborers 
directly themselves. The work is wholly performed 
by native Mexicans or Californians, the overseers and 
contractors who employ them being their countrymen, 
though of a better class. ‘These men understand the 
management of their countrymen better than Ameri- 
cans do; and the Mexican laborers are better arrieros, 
and understand all that appertains to the mule better 
than Americans. 
The laborers wore no clothing, save a breech- 
cloth, and a handkerchief around their heads. The 
arrieros had on but little more; a fancy colored 
calico shirt being the extent of their additional cos- 
tume. The laborers who bring up the ore to the sur- 
face make from forty to fifty trips a day. ‘The mules 
make but two journeys from the mine to the furnaces, 
completing their day’s labor by one o’clock. They are 
then turned out to feed in the valley or on the moun- 
tain side, where the grass is good. With so little 
labor, they are always in fine condition. About two 
hundred men are employed in the various operations 
carried on here. 
After being provided with torches, consisting of a 
candle fastened to the end of a stick, we commenced 
the descent of the mine, Mr. Bester, the engineer, 
taking the lead. We first advanced some sixty 
feet in a horizontal direction, after which the shaft 
takes a turn downwards, and soon after becomes perpen- 
dicular. In such places the descent is made on a single 
notched log, which is preferred by the miners to the 
