which are absurdly large. I measured one which was six
inches in the diameter of the rowel, and the rowel itself contained
upwards of thirty points. The stirrups are on the
same scale, each consisting of a square, carved block of
wood, hollowed out, yet weighing three or four pounds.
The Guaso is perhaps more expert with the lazo than the
Gaucho; but, from the nature of the countiy, he does not
know the use of the holas.
A u g u s t I S t i i .— AVe descended the mountain, and passed
some beautiful little spots, with rii-ulets and fine trees. Having
slept at the same hacienda as before, we rode during the
two succeeding days up the valley, and passed through
Quillota, which is more like a collection of nursery-gardens
than a town. The orchards were beautiful, presenting one
mass of peach-blossoms. I saw also in one or two places the
date-palm. It is a most stately tree ; and I should think a
group of them in their native Asiatic and African deserts
must he superb. AA’e passed likewise San Felipe, a pretty
straggling town like Quillota. The valley in this part expands
into one of those great bays or plains, reaching to
the foot of the CordiUera, which have been mentioned as
forming so curious a part of the scenery of Chile.
In the evening we reached the mines of Jajuel, situated in
a ravine at the flank of the great chain. I staid here five
days. My host, the superintendent of the mine, was a shrewd
hut rather ignorant Cornish miner. He had married a
Spanish woman, and did not mean to return home; but
his admiration for the mines of Cornwall remained un-
Irounded. Amongst many other questions, he asked me,
“ Now that George Rex is dead, how many more of the
family of Rexes are yet alive ?” This Rex certainly must be
a relation of the great author Finis, who wrote all books !
These mines are of copper, and the ore is all shipped to
Swansea, to be smelted. Hence the mines have an aspect
singTilarly quiet, as compared to those in England: here no
smoke, furnaces, or great steam-engines, disturb the solitude
of the surrounding mountains.
The Chilian government, or rather the old Spanish law,
encourages by ever)' method the searching for mines. Tlie
discoverer may work a mine on any ground, by paying five
shillings ; and before paying this he may try, even in the
garden of another man, for twenty days.
It is now well known that the Chilian method of mining is
the cheapest. My host says the two principal improvements
introduced by foreigners have been, first, reducing by previous
roasting the copper pyrites—which, being the common
ore in Cornwall, the English miners were astounded
on their arrival to find thrown away as useless : secondly,
stamping and washing the scorioe from the furnaces—by
which process particles of metal are recovered in abundance.
I have actually seen mules carrying to the coast, for
transportation to England, a cargo of such cinders. But
the first case is much the most curious. The Chilian miners
were so convinced that copper pyrites contained not a particle
of copper, that they laughed at the Englishmen for
their ignorance, who laughed in turn, and bought their richest
veins for a few dollars. It is very odd that, in a country
where mining had been extensively carried on for many
years, so simple a process as gently roasting the ore, to
expel the sulphur previous to smelting it, had never been
discovered. A few improvements have likewise been introduced
in some of the simple machinery ; hut even to
the present day, water is removed from some mines by men
carrying it up the shaft in leathern bags !
The labouring men work very hard. They have little time
allowed for their meals, and during summer and winter they
begin when it is light, and leave off at dark. They are paid
one pound sterling a month, and their food is given them : this
for breakfast consists of sixteen figs and two small loaves of
bread ; for dinner boiled beans ; for supper broken roasted
wheatgrain. They scarcely ever taste meat; as, with the twelve
pounds per annum, they have to clothe themselves, and support
their families. The miners who work in the mine itself,
have twenty-five shillings per month, and are allowed a little