CHAP. III.
Of the mines of Chili and Peru; and the method of working out the gold and silver from the mass.
Chili being the southermost division of the continent of America, is therefore cooler than Peru; and perhaps would sute an English constitution better. It is divided from Peru at the tropic of Capricorn; and is remarkable for that vast chain of mountains known by the name of Cordileer, which coast along from Magellan streights up to the istmus of Darien, being about 4000 mile. It is governd by a lieutenant general, stiled president of Chili, because he is at the head of all civil affairs as well as military: nevertheless he receives orders from the viceroy of Peru. The capital city is St. Jago; it was founded in 1541, and is a copy of Lima.
I shall here entertain the reader chiefly with an extract from Frezier’s voyage relating to the mines, and the manner of separating the mineral from the earth. He undertook the South-Sea voyage by permission of king Lewis the XIVth, and was there about six years before us, on purpose to make such discoveries, plans and observations as he thought fit. His account, as it is good and intirely new, will without doubt be agreeable to the curious reader:
In Chili, the mines which at present yield most gold, are about the towns of Conception and Copiapo; and the villages of Tiltil and Lampanqui near Valparaiso; tho’ the whole mountains are more or less impregnated with it. The silver mines of Peru are at Lipes, Guaico, Iquic and St. Anthony: gold ones being very scarce in that part of the continent. Potosi has originally afforded such surprising quantities of silver, that it has been proverbial for its treasure: the town stands at the bottom of the famous mountain where the mines lye, and is very populous. The country is obliged by the king’s order to send a great number of Indians yearly to work in those mines; for all white faces are excused from servitude, and the Nigros are not able to work in them because the cold will kill them: but they are imployd in all other business on the surface; so that the native Indians are only destined to this labour.
The Corregidors or magistrates who overlook those Indians appointed to work in the mines, summon them to set out all together on a certain day. They generally take their wives and children with them, who, with tears in their eyes, leave their native homes, and travel unwillingly on to the house of bondage. Many indeed forget their habitation, and after the years end settle at Potosi, which is the chief reason that town is so populous, and almost equals the city of Lima as to its number of inhabitants.
Tho’ the mines here are far diminisht in their produce, yet the quantity of ore that has been already wrought, and lain many years upon the surface, is thought capable to yield a second crop; and when I was at Lima, they were actually turning it up, and new milling it with great success: which is a proof that these minerals generate in the earth like all other inanimate things. And it is likewise certain from all accounts of the Spaniards, that gold and silver, as well as other metals, are continually growing and forming themselves in the earth. This opinion is verifyd by experience in the mountain of Potosi, where several mines have fallen in and buryd the workmen with their tools. After some years they have dug the same place, and discoverd many bones and pieces of wood with veins of silver actually running through them.
These mines belong to him who first discovers them. He immediately presents a petition to the magistrates to have such a piece of earth for his own; which is no sooner done than granted. They measure eighty Spanish yards in length and forty over, which is about two hundred foot in length and one hundred in breadth, and yield it to the discoverer; who chuses what space he thinks fit, and does what he pleases with it. Then they measure just the same quantity for the king, which is sold to the best bidders; there being many who are willing to purchase a treasure which may prove inestimable. If any other person has a mind to work part of the mine himself, he bargains with the proprietor for a particular vein. All that such a one digs out is his own, paying the king’s duty, which is for gold a 20th part, and for silver a 5th: And some landlords are so well satisfyd with letting out their ground and their mills, that they live upon the profit.
The mill for grinding and separating the gold from the ore is made after the manner of our cyder mills. There is first a round stone cistern about ten foot diameter, with a deep orbicular chanel at the bottom. This stone cistern is bored in the middle to let thro’ the long axil-tree of a horizontal wheel placed under it, and wider than the cistern: the wheel is set round with half pitchers, that it may turn as the water falls upon them. This wheel turning the axil, causes a milstone to roll along edgeways by another spindle in the chanel of the cistern above, which grinds the hard ore put in it.
When the stuff is a little broken, they put quick-silver to it, which immediately clings to the gold, and leaves the dross: then they let fall a stream of water, the force of which dissolves the earth, and drives it out at a notch made for that purpose. The gold with the mercury lyes at the bottom by its own weight; which, after they have done work, they gather up and put into a linen bag to squeese out the quick silver as well as they can: then they lay it to the fire, that the remainder may evaporate. This is what they call pinna gold, being clung together like a pine apple; and when this is once melted, it needs no more refining: so that a gold miner has a great advantage of a silver one; for the mercury, adhering so naturally to the gold, leaves all the dross immediately, and the workman knows every day what he gets: whereas the silver miner can’t know till a month or two after.
The silver ore is ground as the gold aforementiond, or sometimes broke with iron pounders of 200 weight to fall by a machine. But milling being the usual way, they grind the ore with water, which makes first a thin mud that runs out of the cistern into a receiver: whenas ’tis dry pounded, it must be steept in water and moulded with the feet, which occasions much more trouble.
The mud is disposed in square parcels of a hundred weight a piece, upon a smooth floor made on purpose. On each of these they throw a great quantity of salt, and mix it all together for two or three days; then they sprinkle it equally with quicksilver, on each mass perhaps about fifteen pound; for the richer it is, the more mercury it requires. An Indian moulds each of these squares seven or eight times a day, that the mercury may incorporate. Sometimes the ore is greasy, and then they put lime to it: wherein they are cautious; for it is very remarkable, that sometimes it is so burnt with heat, that the mercury and silver are both lost. Now and then they intermix a little lead to help the operation of the quicksilver, which is but slow in cold weather. So that at Lipes and Potosi they are a matter of six weeks kneading the ore: and at Puno particularly, they lay a brick pavement upon arches, under which they make fires to help the works: but in other countries they do it in eight or ten days.
When the workman thinks the mercury has attracted all the silver, he takes out a little bit, and washes it in a basin. If the mercury looks dark, the ore is too much heated; to remedy which, they add more salt, which makes the quicksilver evaporate. If the mercury is white, they squeeze a drop of it under the thumb: the silver sticks to the skin, and the mercury slips away. This they find will do; so that when all the silver is gatherd up by the mercury, they give the ore three different washings: and when all the dross is gone, they put the silver in a woollen bag, which they press between boards, to get the quicksilver out. After ’tis hung up, draind and prest as much as they can, they put it into a wooden mould, generally the form of a sugar loaf, with thin copper plates at the bottom full of holes.
After taking off the moulds, these pieces are calld pinnas, which are set upon a frame over an earthen vessel full of water coverd with a cap, which they surround with lighted coals. When the mass grows very hot, the quicksilver that still remains will come out in smoke, which having no passage, circulates between the mass and the cap, till descending to the water, it thickens and sinks to the bottom. Thus the mercury loses but little, and will serve several times, tho’ there must be a new supply because it grows weak with using.
According to Acosta, they use to spend 7000 hundred weight at Potosi in a year: by which one may judge what vast loads of silver they got.
When the mercury is quite evaporated, the silver remains a spongey hollow lump: and this is calld virgin silver; being pure and unadulterated. All this according to law must be carryd to the mint, and pay the fifth part to his majesty. There the silver is cast into ingots or bars of different weight, about a foot long or more. These bars which have paid the duty can have no fraud in them, but it may be otherwise with the pinnas uncast: for the maker often intermixes iron or lead; therefore they should all be opend, and tryd by fire, which would discover another cheat of wetting them, to make them heavy: for their weight may be increased near a third part by dipping them in water, when they are very hot. There are also different degrees of fineness in the same piece, which might be found out: but the Spaniards not having convenient places to discover these frauds, and not caring for it, they e’en let them go.
There are many sorts of silver ore, according to the different consistence of the earth. Some is blackish mixt with iron, calld nigrillo: another greenish of a copper mixture, calld cobrisso: some white with real silver veins, calld plata blanca; and sometimes the ore is black with lead particles, this is calld plomo ronco, and is commonly the best: because instead of kneading it with quicksilver, it may be melted in a fornace, and easily parted from the lead. The old Indians not having, or knowing the use of mercury, got all their silver from these sort of mines; and having but little wood, used to heat their fornaces with the leaves of plants, and the dung of their sheep: they made their fornaces upon the mountains, that the wind might pass thro’ and keep the fire strong. There is another brown ore like this last mentiond, where the silver is not seen at all; but if wetted and rubd against iron, it turns ruddy, calld rosicler, and yields the finest of all silver. There is another sort calld zaroche which shines like isinglass; and the paco soft and clayish, but neither of them valuable. Lastly, there is a very choice ore found in one of the mines of Potosi containing many threads of pure silver, wound up like lumps of burnt lace: this is calld arana, or spider, being something like a cobweb.
At Copiapo there are gold mines just behind the town, and all about the country, which have brought many purchasers and workmen thither, to the great damage of the Indians: for the Spanish magistrates take away not only their lands, but their horses, which they sell to the new proprietors, under pretence of serving the king and improving the settlement. Here is a great deal of Magnet and Lapis lazuli which the Indians know not the value of: and some leagues in the country there is plenty of saltpetre, which often lies an inch thick on the ground. About 100 mile east upon the Cordileer mountains, there is a vein of sulphur two foot wide, so fine and pure that it needs no cleaning. This part of the country is full of all sorts of mines; but in other respects is so barren, that the natives fetch all their subsistence from Coquimbo and that way, being a mere desert for 300 mile together: and the earth abounds so much with salt and sulphur that the mules often perish for want of grass and sweet water. There is but one river in 200 mile, which the Indians call Ancalulac, or hypocrite, because it runs only from sun-rise to sun-set. This is occasiond by the great quantity of snow melted from the Cordileers in the day time, which freezes again at night; where the cold is often so great, that people’s features are quite distorted. Hence Chili takes its name, Chile signifying cold in the Indian language: and we are certainly informd by the Spanish historians, that some of their countrymen and others, who first traded this way, died stiff with cold upon their mules: for which reason the road is now always lower along the coast.
The mine countries are all so cold and barren that the inhabitants get most of their provision from the coast: this is caused by the salts and sulphurs exhaled from the earth, which destroy the seed of all vegetables. The Spaniards who live thereabout find them so stifling, that they drink often of the mattea to moisten their mouths. The mules that trip it nimbly over the mountains, are forced to walk gently about the mines and stop often to fetch breath. If those vapours are so strong without, what must they be within the mine it self, where if a fresh man goes, he is suddenly benumbd with pain? and this is the case of many a one; but the distemper seldom lasts above a day; and they are not so affected the second time: But vapours have often burst out so furiously, that workmen have been killd on the spot: so that one way or other, multitudes of Indians die in their calling. To fortify themselves against the aforesaid steams, they are continually chewing coca, a herb which is their common preservative.
An observation occurs here to my memory; that upon the road to Piura, the night when we lay down to sleep, our mules went eagerly to search for a certain root not unlike a parsnip, tho’ much bigger; which affords a great deal of juice, and in such a sandy plain often serves instead of water: but when the mules are very thirsty, and they can’t easily rake up the root with their feet, they will stand over it and bray till the Indians come to their assistance.
Tho’ the gold mines are more peculiar to Chili, yet there are one or two washing places for gold in the south of Peru near Chili, which I shall now speak of, being the next thing remarkable. About the year 1709 there were two surprising large lumps of virgin gold found in one of those places; one of which weighd thirty two pound complete, and was purchased by the count de Moncloa then viceroy of Peru and presented to the king of Spain. The other was shaped somewhat like an oxe’s heart. It weighd twenty two pound and a half, and was bought by the corregidor of Arica.
To find these lavaderos or washing places, they dig in the corners of a little brook, where by certain tokens they judge the grains of gold to lye. To help carry away the mud, they let a fresh stream into it, and keep turning it up, that the current may send it along. When they are come to the golden sand, they turn off the stream another way, and dig with mattocks; and this earth they carry upon mules to certain basins joynd together by small chanels. Into these they let a smart stream of water to loosen the earth, and carry all the gross part away, the Indians standing in the basins and throwing out all the stones. The gold at bottom is still mixt with a black sand, and hardly to be seen till it is farther cleard and separated, which is easily done. But these washing places differ, for in some there are gold grains as big as bird shot: and in one belonging to the priests near Valparaiso, some were found from two or three ounces to a pound and half weight. This way of getting gold is much better than from the mines: here is no need of iron crows, mills, or quicksilver; so that both the trouble and expense are much less. The Creolians are not so curious in washing their gold as the people in Europe: but great plenty makes them careless in that and many other articles.
There are abundance of iron mines in Peru and Chili; besides lead, tin and copper, which the Spaniards intirely neglect, as not worth their while to work them. Copper serves for a little kitchen furniture; but most of their utensils are of silver, even those for vulgar uses.
About the town of Coquimbo there is plenty of gold found in the streams that come down from the mountains after the rain showers. These showers are only at certain times of the year: but if they came oftner, they would undoubtedly always have the same effect. And now I speak of Coquimbo, it would be a fault not to mention the charms of its scituation. It lies in the 30th degree south, a short mile from the sea. It stands on a green rising ground about ten yards high, which nature has regularly formd like a terras north and south in a direct line of more than half a mile, turning at each end to the eastward. The first street makes a delightful walk, having the prospect of the country round it, and the bay before it. All this is sweetly placed in a valley ever green, and waterd with a river, which having taken its rise from among the mountains, flows through the vales and meadows in a winding stream to the sea.
Baldivia, who built this town in the year 1544, to serve as a resting place between Chili and Peru, pleased with the beauty of the scituation, and the happiness of the climate, calld it la Serena; signifying tranquillity and mildness; which name it deserved more than any place in the world. The whole country puts one in mind of the poets golden age: there the sharp north winds never blow; and the heats are fand with refreshing gales; so that the revolving year is only spring and autumn joind together.
Conception lies six degrees higher in a part of the country abounding, like Serena, with all the comforts of life, as well as inestimable mines of gold. At the king’s station a little to eastward they have a washing-place, where they have got pepitas or gold grains of four pound weight: and these sort of washes are innumerable, but remain as it were undiscovered thro’ negligence and incuriosity. The Cordileer mountains abound with hardly any thing else but minerals: this is true of those which have been opend; and very likely all the rest are so. About 300 miles inwards from Conception, there’s one hill yields copper so remarkable, that Melendes who discovered it, found lumps weighing a hundred quintals a piece, each quintal being a hundred weight. Mr. Frezier says he saw one of forty quintals making into six field pieces, six pounders each. Some are part copper and part stone, which the inhabitants affirm do all in time breed and grow intirely to copper. There is another hill adjoyning which is scarce any thing but loadstone: and many of them afford sulphur and salt: About the town it self there is pit-coal a few foot under ground. In the year 1510, many mines were found near the Cordileer mountains, affording at once gold, silver, copper, iron, lead and tin: which destroys the notion, that different metals are never formd together in one mine.
About twenty mile to the eastward of Serena are the washing places of Andacol, whose gold is twenty three carats fine: and the inhabitants all affirm that after seventy or eighty years they find them recruited with gold as plentifully as at first. And the governer of Coquimbo as well as others have assured, that on the mountains the gold mines are so numerous that, forty or fifty thousand men might easily be imployd: but for want of hands, the king of Spain must content himself without the treasure.
Spain in America had two designs;
To plant the gospel and to seise the mines:
For where there is no real supply of wealth
Men’s souls are never worth the charge of health.
And had the kings of that new world been poor,
No Spaniard twice had landed on their shore
’Twas gold the Pope’s religion there that planted,
Which, if they had been poor, they still had wanted.
