Of the riches in Porco, and how there are large veins of silver near
that town.
It appears from what the Indians now say that, in the times when the
Kings Yncas governed this kingdom of Peru, they obtained a great
quantity of silver from some parts of this province of Charcas, and
Indians were stationed there, who gave the metal to the overseers or
their deputies.[509] In the hill of Porco, which is near the town of
Plata, there were mines out of which the Indians got silver for their
lords. Much of the silver which was in the temple of the sun, called
_Ccuri-cancha_, is said to have been taken from this hill, and the
Spaniards have also got a great deal out of it. In the present year a
mine belonging to the captain Hernando Pizarro has been cleaned out,
which was worth more than two hundred thousand _pesos_ of gold every
year. Antonio Alvarez, an inhabitant of this town, showed me, in the
City of the Kings, a little ore taken from this hill of Porco, which
appeared to be nearly all silver. In short, Porco was in former times
extremely rich, and is so still, and it may be believed that it always
will be. In many neighbouring hills, within the jurisdiction of this
town of Plata, rich mines of gold and silver have been found. It may be
held for certain that there is so much of this metal that if there were
those to seek and extract it, they would get little less than, in the
province of Biscay, they get iron. But as it must be got out by Indians,
and as the country is too cold for Negroes, there are reasons enough why
such great wealth is lost. I have also to say that in some parts of the
district belonging to the town of Plata there are rivers which bring
down very fine gold. In the Chichas, villages given in _encomienda_ to
Hernando Pizarro, and subject to this town, it is said that there are
some silver mines; and great rivers rise in the Andes, near which, if
gold mines were sought for, I hold that they would be found.[510]