would prefer having the latter alone; but their masters, finding
they cannot work so hard upon this, treat them like
horses, and make them eat the beans. Their pay is here
rather more than at the mines of Jajuel, being from 24 to
28 shillings per month. They leave the mine only once in
three weeks; when they stay with their families for two
days.* One of the rules in this mine sounds very harsh,
hut answers pretty well for the master. The only method
of stealing gold, is to secrete pieces of the ore, and take them
out as occasion may offer. Whenever the major-domo finds
a lump thus hidden, its full value is stopped out of the wages
of all the men; who thus, without they all combine, are
obliged to keep watch over each other.
When the ore is brought to the mill, it is ground into an
impalpable powder; the process of washing removes all the
lighter particles, and amalgamation finally secures the gold
dust The washing, when described, sounds a very simple
process ; but it is beautiful to see how the exact adaption of
the current of water to the specific gravity of the gold, so
easily separates the powdered matrix from the metal. The
mud which passes from the mills is collected into pools,
where it subsides, and every now and then is cleared out, and
thrown into a common heap. A great deal of chemical action
then commences, salts of various kinds effloresce on the surface,
and the mass becomes hard. In the heap which I
examined, an angulo-concretionary structure was also superinduced,
and what was very remarkable, these pseudo-frag•
B ad as a ll th e ab o v e t r e a tm e n t a p p e a rs , i t is g lad ly a c c e p te d o f by th e
m in e r s ; for th e c o n d itio n o f th e lab o u r in g a g ric u ltu r is ts is m u ch worse.
T h e wages o f th e l a t t e r a re lowe r, a n d th e y liv e a lm o s t e x c lu s iv ely on
b e a n s. T h is p o v e rty m u s t b e ch ie fly owin g to th e f eu d a l-lik e system o n
w h ic h th e la n d is tille d . T h e la n d ow n e r gives a small p lo t o f g ro u n d to
th e lab o u re r, fo r b u ild in g a n d c u ltiv a tin g , a n d in r e tu r n h a s h is serv ices
(o r th a t o f a p ro x y ) for ev e ry d ay o f h is life, w i th o u t a n y wages. U n til a
f a th e r h a s a g row n u p so n who c an by h is l a b o u r p ay th e r e n t, th e r e is n o
o n e , e x c e p t o n c h a n c e days, to ta k e c a re o f th e p a tc h o f g ro u n d . H e n c e
e x tr em e p o v e rty is v e ry c om m o n am o n g th e la b o u rin g classes in th is
co u n trv .
ments possessed an even and well-defined .slaty structure ;
but the laminæ were not inclined at any uniform angle. The
mud, after having been left for a year or two, and then
rewashed, yields gold ; and this process may be repeated even
six or seven times ; but the gold each time becomes less in
quantity, and the intervals required (as the inhabitants say
to generate the metal) are longer. There can be no doubt
that the chemical action, already mentioned, each time liberates
fresh gold from some combination. The discovery of
a method to effect this before the first grinding, would without
doubt raise the value of gold ores many fold.
It is curious to find how the minute particles of gold, after
being scattered about, and from not corroding, at last accumulate
in some quantity. A short time since a few miners,
being out of work, obtained permission to scrape the ground
round the house and mill : they waslied the earth thus got
together, and so procured thirty dollars’ worth of gold.
Tliis is an exact counterpart of what takes place in nature.
Mountains suffer degradation and wear away, and with them
the metallic veins which they contain. The hardest rock is
worn into impalpable mud, the ordinary metals oxidate,
and both are removed ; but gold, platina, and a few others,
are nearly indestructible, and from their weight, sinking to
the bottom, are left behind. After whole mountains have
passed through this grinding mill, and have been washed
by the hand of nature, the residue becomes metalliferous,
and man finds it worth his while to complete the task of
separation.
There are some old Indian ruins in this neighbourhood,
and I was shown one of the perforated stones which Molina*
mentions, as being found in many places in considerable
numbers. They are of a circular flattened form, from five
to six inches in diameter, and with a hole passing quite
through the centre. It has generally been supposed, that
rll
11! 1
* M o lin a , C om p c n d io d c la H is to iia , &c. del l}e\-no d c C h ile , vol. i.,
p . 81.