228 
VOYAGE TO THE 
morning, to visit the mines which lie at the foot of the Cor¬ 
dillera, about forty miles from Coquimbo. 
The discovery of the rich silver mine of Arqueros, like 
that of many others, was, as it appears, entirely owing to 
accident. Two wood-carriers, sauntering about in the neigh¬ 
bourhood, while their mules were grazing, picked up on the 
surface of the earth several lumps of stone having a metallic 
appearance. The compadre * of one of these men was a 
miner, and he therefore put two of the stones into his sack 
to show him, and thus determine their worth. The com¬ 
padre determined them at first sight to be native silver, and 
advised him to present a petition to the government, praying 
for a grant of such an extent of the vein as the Ordenanza 
de Minas allots to the first discoverers of a new mining dis¬ 
trict. The specimens picked up by the woodmen were 
Rodeados or rolled masses, and it was not difficult to trace 
the bed from whence they had been detached. They were 
so rich, that as soon as they were seen they excited an extra¬ 
ordinary avidity in all classes of people, and the town of Co¬ 
quimbo became in a manner deserted. Shopkeepers aban¬ 
doned their wares, physicians their patients, servants their 
* Compadre, the gossip, a relationship always more observed in Catholic 
countries than with us, and especially in South America. 
