Division of the party—Acobamba—Plain of Junin—Lake
Chinchaycocha—Preservation of potatoes—Cerro Pasco—Drainage
of the mines—Boliches.
Gibbon and I had long and earnest consultations about the propriety
of dividing the party; and I now determined to do so, giving to him
the task of exploring the Bolivian tributaries, while I took the
headwaters and main trunk of the Amazon. It was a bold, almost a rash
determination, for the party seemed small enough as it was; and we might
readily encounter difficulties on our route which would require our
united exertions to overcome. I had many misgivings, and told Gibbon at
first that it seemed midsummer madness; but the prospect of covering
such an extent of territory; of being enabled to give an account of
countries and rivers so little known; and the reflection that I need
not abandon routes that I had looked upon with a longing eye, were so
tempting that they overrode all objections; and we set about making our
preparations for the separation.
We divided the equipage, the tocuyo, or cotton cloth, (which we had not
yet touched,) the hatchets, the knives, the beads, the mirrors, the
arms and ammunition. I gave Gibbon fifteen hundred dollars in money,
and all the instruments, except some thermometers and the boiling-point
apparatus, because I was to travel a route over which sextants and
chronometers had been already carried; and he might go where these had
never been. I directed him to hire a guide in Tarma, and, so soon as
Richards (who was still sick) should be able to travel, to start for
Cuzco, and search for the headwaters of the "Madre de Dios."
On the 29th, we dined with General Otero, this being his wife's birthday
and festival of St. Peter. The General, being an Argentine born, gave us
the national dish—the celebrated _carne con cuero_, or beef, seasoned
with spices, and roasted under ground in the hide, which is said to
preserve its juices, and make it more palatable. I observed that the
soups and the stews were colored with "_achote_." This is the _urucu_ of
the Brazilians, of which the dye called annatto is made. It grows wild
in great abundance all over the Montaña, and is extensively used by the
Indians for painting their bodies and dyeing their cotton cloths. It is
a bush of eight or ten feet in height, and bears a prickly burr like our
chincapin. This burr contains a number of small red seeds, the skin or
covering of which contains the coloring matter.
The General gave us some "_quinua_," the seed of a broom-like bush,
which, boiled in milk, makes a pleasant and nutritious article of food.
The grains are something like rice, though smaller, and contain a sort
of mucilaginous matter. He also gave us some flower seeds, and valuable
specimens of silver ore from his mines at Cerro Pasco. He has large
flocks of sheep, the wool of which he sends to Lima; and has introduced
the Merino, which thrives. He gave us some asbestos from Cuzco, and
stalactites from a cave on a sheep farm, which, he says, the sheep
are fond of licking, and which Von Tschudi pronounced to contain Epsom
salts. I could detect no taste, and thought it a kind of magnesia. We
parted from our agreeable host and kind friend with regret.
_July 1._—I started at noon with Ijurra and Mauricio, accompanied
by Gibbon and Captain Noel, with one of the Señores, Sta. Marias. At
General Otero's gate, Noel left us. A very pleasant gentleman this; and
I shall long remember his kindness. Soon after, Gibbon and I lingered
behind the company; and at the entrance of the valley of the Acobamba,
which route I was to take, we shook hands and parted. I had deliberated
long and painfully on the propriety of this separation; I felt that I
was exposing him to unknown perils; and I knew that I was depriving
myself of a pleasant companion and a most efficient auxiliary. My
manhood, under the depressing influence of these feelings, fairly gave
way, and I felt again that "_hysterico passio_," that swelling of the
heart and filling of the eyes, that I have so often been called upon to
endure in parting from my gallant and generous comrades of the navy.
He returned to make the necessary arrangements for his expedition.
We crossed the Chanchamayo by a stone bridge, and passed through the
village of Acobamba. This town contains about fifteen hundred or two
thousand inhabitants; but, like all the towns in the Sierra at this
season, it appears deserted—no one in the streets, and most of the doors
closed. The road is a steady and tolerably smooth ascent of the valley,
which is narrow, pretty, and well cultivated. As usual, the hills facing
the north are bare and rugged; those facing the south present more
vegetation, but this is scant. Cactus and long clump grass run to within
two-thirds of the top, and then the rock shoots perpendicularly up in
naked majesty.
Three miles above Acobamba we passed the village of Picoi, which has
its plaza, church and cemetery, with about one hundred houses.
Six miles further brought us to Palcamayo, a village of one thousand
inhabitants, belonging to the "Doctrina" of Acobamba. A justice of the
peace, a good-looking Indian, whom we encountered sitting at the door of
a grog-shop in the plaza, conducted us to the house of the alcalde. We
found this worthy drunk, and asleep on the floor, and were much annoyed
with the attentions of another individual, who had a very dirty poultice
on his jaws; this was his worship's secretary, who was in little better
condition than his patron. Two drunken "_regidores_" came in to see
us; and it seemed that all the magistracy of Palcamayo had been "on a
spree." They required the money of us before they would get us or our
cattle anything to eat.
It would be difficult to find a clearer sky and a purer atmosphere than
we had here. The sky, at twilight, looked white or gray, rather than
blue; and I thought it was cloudy until my eye fell upon the young moon,
with edges as distinct and clear as if it were cut out of silver, and
near at hand. The elevation of Palcamayo is ten thousand five hundred
and thirty-nine feet above the level of the sea.
_July 2._—Thermometer, at 6 a. m., 37; clear and calm. Three miles above
Palcamayo we left the maize and alfalfa, and encountered potatoes and
barley. The road a league above this point turns sharp to the westward,
and ascends a steep and rugged "_cuesta_." This brought us out upon
a small plain, bounded by low hills, and dotted with small detached
houses, built of stone and covered with conical roofs of straw. They
were circular, and looked like bee-hives. The plain was covered with a
short grass, and many tolerably looking cattle and sheep were feeding
on it. A small stream, coming from the westward, ran through its midst.
The water had been carried by a canal half-way up the sides of the hills
that bounded the plain to the northward, so as to enable the people to
irrigate the whole plain. Where the water had broken through the canal,
and spread itself over the side of the hill, it had frozen, and the boys
were amusing themselves sliding down it.
At the western edge of the plain is the village of "_Cacas_," of
two hundred and fifty or three hundred inhabitants. The people were
celebrating the festival of St. Peter, for they are not particular about
days. The church was lighted and decorated with all the frippery that
could be mustered; and preparations were making for a great procession.
There were two Indians, or Meztizos, dressed in some old-fashioned
infantry uniform, with epaulets; flaming red sashes, tied in monstrous
bows behind, and white gloves. (The cocked hats, for size and variegated
plumage, beggar description.) These were evidently the military part
of the procession; one was mounted on a little shaggy nag, with his
sword hanging on the right-hand side; and the other was strutting about,
nearly buried in his cocked hat, while just fourteen men were employed
in caparisoning his horse. The drinking had already commenced; most of
the population were getting drunk fast, and I have no doubt there was
a grand row that night.
Drinking seems a very general vice amongst the inhabitants of these wet,
cold, and highly-elevated plains. The liquor is invariably the Pisco
or Ica brandy, made in that province. It is pleasant to the taste and
of good quality. In the Montaña we had often occasion to regret the
exchange of this for new-made cane rum.
The hills that bound the plain on the west have two salt springs, from
which the inhabitants of the village get their salt by evaporation. The
hill over which we rode is called the "_Cuesta de la Veta_," because
travellers suffer from this sickness in passing it. As I had felt
nothing of it, even at the Pass of Antarangra, I watched very closely
for any symptoms of it here; but perceived none, though I sucked a cigar
all the way to the top. The road to the top of the Cuesta is about three
miles in length, and its ascent brought us to the historical plain of
Junin, where Bolivar, on the 6th of August, 1824, gave the Spaniards a
heavy and very nearly conclusive overthrow. Half an hour's ride over the
plain brought into view the Western Cordillera, the Lake Chinchaycocha,
and the pyramid erected by Mariano Rivero (then prefect of the province)
to commemorate the battle. It stands off to the left of the road about a
league, and is at the foot of a little hill, where the liberator stood
to direct the fight; it is white, and seemed seventy or eighty feet
high. Our day's ride of eighteen miles brought us to the town of Junin,
where we took lodgings in the house of the governor; more drunken people
there.
_July 3._—Junin is a village of one thousand inhabitants, situated about
a mile and a half from the southern extremity of the lake Chinchaycocha,
and twelve thousand nine hundred and forty-seven feet above the level of
the sea. This lake is twenty miles long, in a N. W. and S. E. direction,
and has an average breadth of about six miles. It is said to discharge
its waters into the Amazon by the river of Jauxa, which we crossed at
Oroya, and which is a tributary of the Ucayali.
The inhabitants of Junin, and the other towns of this plain, are
herdsmen. They raise cattle for the supply of Cerro Pasco and Tarma,
and mules for beasts of burden. Their houses are built of mud and
straw; and they eat mutton and _macas_, (a root of the potato kind, but
looking, and when boiled tasting, more like a turnip.) The people of
these regions find it very difficult to procure vegetables, as quinua
and barley will not grain, nor potatoes grow, in the wet soil and cold
atmosphere of the plain. They therefore have to resort to means for
preserving the potato and its varieties, which are got from the valleys
of the Andes. These means are, generally, drying and freezing; and they
make a variety of preparations from the potato in this way. The macas
are simply exposed to the frost and sun for a number of days, and then
put away in a dry room. The inhabitants make a sort of soup or sirup
of them, the smell of which, Rivero says, "is a little disagreeable to
people unaccustomed to it," (it is really very offensive;) and it is
the general opinion that it is a stimulant to reproduction.
"_Caya_" is made from the _oca_ and the _mashua_, (a variety of the
oca,) by putting them in water till they rot, and then exposing them to
the sun and cold. This, when cooked, smells worse than the macas, and
no stomach but that of an Indian or a beast could possibly tolerate it.
There are two kinds of "_chuno_." One (the black) is made from the
common potato by soaking it some days in water, then pressing it to
express all the moisture, and freezing it. The white (called _moray_)
is made from a large, bitter potato, which abounds in the departments
of Junin, Cuzco, and Puno. The potatoes are put in water, in a bag, at
the setting of the sun, and taken out before sunrise. This operation
is carried on for fifteen or twenty days. It is an especial condition
of this chuno's turning out well that it shall be put in water after
sunset, and taken out before sunrise; for, if it is touched by the sun,
it immediately turns black. It is then pressed and exposed to the sun
for a few days.
"_Chochoca_" is the common potato, first cooked and peeled, and then
frozen. This and the chuno are healthy and nutritive articles of diet.
I quote these means of preserving the potato and its varieties from
Rivero, who thinks that these articles of food will, in time, become of
great importance, particularly in the supply of the army and navy, and
for long journeys or voyages; and that if the European nations knew of
these productions, and the means of preserving them, they would draw
great advantages from the knowledge.
The plain, about forty-five miles long, and from six to twelve broad,
is generally wet, and in some places marshy. The soil is gravelly, with
a light covering of mould, producing a short grass, scarcely adequate
for the support of the flocks, which are indeed of small size, but
sometimes fat and good. A great number of large beautiful waterfowl,
including the scarlet flamingo and several varieties of snipe, frequent
the banks of the lake and marshy places. The people cut their supply of
fuel from the turf of the bogs, in the dry, and stack it up for use in
the rainy season. There is said to be much thunder and lightning here
at the commencement of the rainy season, (about the first of October,)
and the lightning frequently falls on a hill about four miles to the
eastward of the town, where the inhabitants say there is much loadstone.
The plain is about thirteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. It
has a gentle slope downwards from west to east. I found the difference
in elevation (by temperature of boiling water) between the villages of
Junin and _Ninaccaca_ (the latter about twenty miles to the west of the
former) to be four hundred and forty-five feet.
The road onward from Junin runs not far from the banks of the lake.
On the left we had the grand snow-covered domes and pinnacles of the
Western Cordillera sleeping in the sunlight, while clouds and storm
enveloped the Eastern. About 2 p. m., a breeze from the northward
brought some of the storm down upon us. It snowed fast; the flakes were
small and round, like hail, but soft and white. The thermometer, which
was 54 at the commencement of the storm, fell, during its continuance
of ten minutes, to 46. We found an overcoat very comfortable.
About fifteen miles from Junin we passed the village of _Carhuamayo_.
Here I saw the only really pretty face I have met with in the Sierra,
and bought a glass of pisco from it. The road between Junin and
Carhuamayo is a broad and elevated one, built of stones and earth by
the Spaniards. Without this the plain would be impassable in the rainy
season. Six miles further we stopped at the tambo of Ninaccaca.
_July 4._—The village of Ninaccaca, of two or three hundred inhabitants,
lies off to the right of the road, on which the tambo is situated, about
half a mile. I would have gone there, but I was desirous of sleeping
in a tambo, for the purpose of testing the accounts of other travellers
who complain so bitterly of them. We were fortunate enough to have the
tambo to ourselves, there being no other travellers; and I had quite as
comfortable a time as in the alcalde's house at Palcamayo, or in that of
the governor of Junin. My bed is generally made on the baggage in the
middle of the floor; while Ijurra takes to the mud standing bed-places
which are to be found in every house. Last night I woke up, and finding
him very uneasy, I asked "if he had fleas up there." He replied, with
the utmost _sang-froid_, and as if he were discussing some abstract
philosophical question with which he had no personal concern whatever,
that "this country was too cold for fleas, but that his bed-place was
full of lice." It made my blood run cold; but long before I got out of
the mouth of the Amazon I was effectually cured of fastidiousness upon
this or any similar subject.
We were somewhat annoyed by the attentions of the master of the house,
who was very drunk. His wife told us next morning that he came near
killing her with his knife, and would infallibly have beaten her, but
that she told him "those strangers were soldiers, and would shoot him
if he did." Her naïve way of telling how she managed the man, and got
off from the beating, was quite amusing. The accent of these people
is a sort of sliding drawl that makes every voice alike. They use an
imperfect Quichua or Inca language, which I am told is only spoken
perfectly in the neighborhood of Cuzco.
Our route now approached the Western Cordillera fast. About three miles
from the tambo the plain began to be broken into rolling hills. The
direction of the road, which had been W. N. W., changed to N. W. by
N., and crossed them. After crossing a range we stopped to breakfast
at a collection of a few huts, where I was amused at an instance of
the apathy of the people. A very common reply to the inquiry of the
traveller if he can have such and such things, is "_manam cancha_,"
(there is none; we haven't it). We rode up to the door of a hut, the
mistress of which was sitting "knitting in the sun" at the back of
it. She heard our horses' tread, and too lazy to change her position,
without seeing us or ascertaining if we wanted anything, she screamed
out "manam cancha." Ijurra abused her terribly; and we had our water
boiled (which was all we wanted) at another hut. The _Viuda_ pass of the
Cordillera, which is generally crossed by travellers between Lima and
Cerro Pasco, was in view from this place, bearing S. 30° W. Immediately
after starting, we began passing haciendas for the grinding of ores
and getting out silver. They are situated on small streams that come
from either the Eastern or Western Cordillera, and that find their way
into Lake Chinchaycocha. They all seem dry at this season; and none of
the haciendas are at work. Passed the old village of Pasco. This was
once the great mining station, but, since the discovery of the mines at
the Cerro, it is falling into decay. Three miles from this the country
becomes more hilly and rocky, losing the character of Pampa. The passage
of a low, but abrupt chain of hills, brings the traveller in view of
Cerro Pasco. The view from this point is a most extraordinary one. I
can compare it to nothing so fitly as the looking from the broken and
rugged edges of a volcano into the crater beneath. The traveller sees
small houses, built, without regard to regularity, on small hills, with
mounds of earth and deep cavities in their very midst; and mud chimneys
of ancient furnaces, contrasting strikingly with the more graceful
funnel of the modern steam engine; the huge cross erected on the hill of
Sta. Catalina, near the middle of the city, which his fancy may suppose
placed there to guard, with its holy presence, the untold treasures
beneath; two beautiful little lakes, only divided by a wide causeway
at the southern extremity of the crater, and another embedded among the
hills to the westward; hills (on one of which he stands) of five hundred
feet in height, with bold white heads of rock, surrounding these; and
the magnificent Cordillera from the right and left overlooking the
whole.
[Illustration: FORT SAN RAMON (PERU)
Pl. 9.
Lt. Gibbon del.
Wagner & McGuigan's Lith. Phila.]
These are the objects that strike the eye of the traveller at his first
view. As he rides down the hill, he sees the earth open everywhere with
the mouths of mines now abandoned; he is astonished at their number,
and feels a sense of insecurity as if the whole might cave in at once
and bury him quick. He rides into the narrow, ill-paved streets of the
city, and, if he can divert his attention for a moment from the watching
of his horse's footsteps, he will observe the motliest population to be
met with anywhere out of the dominions of the Sultan. I believe that he
may see, in a single ride through the city, men of all nations, and of
almost every condition; and if he don't see plenty of drunken people,
it will be a marvel.
I was delighted when we turned into the patio of the house of the
sub-prefect of the province, Don Jose Mier y Teran, and escaped the rude
stare and drunken impertinence of the Indians, thronging the streets,
and doors of the grog-shops. This gentleman, whose kindness we had
experienced at Tarma, gave us quarters in his house, and pressed us
to make ourselves at home, to which his blunt, abrupt, and evidently
sincere manners particularly invited.
After a wash, to which the coldness of the weather and the water by
no means invited, I put on my uniform in honor of the day, and went
out to see Mr. Jump, director of the machinery, and Mr. Fletcher, an
employé of the _Gremio_, (Board of Miners,) to whom I brought letters
of introduction from Lima. These gentlemen received me with great
cordiality. Mr. Jump offered me a room in his house, and Mr. Fletcher
handed me a number of letters from friends at home, at Lima, and at
Santiago. These letters were cordial medicines to me; I had arrived
cold, sick, and dispirited, and but for them should have passed the
first night of mental and physical suffering that I had been called upon
to endure since leaving Lima.
_July 6._—Rain nearly all night; I was cold and sick, and sat by the
fire all day, trying to keep myself warm. The houses in Cerro Pasco
are generally built of stones and mud, and covered in with tiles or
straw; most of them have grates, with mud chimneys, and are plentifully
supplied with good coal, both bituminous and hard. Mier says that if
the place owes nothing else to the Pasco Peruvian Company, it owes
it (at least) a debt of gratitude for the introduction of the grates.
I found, however, very little comfort in them; for the houses are so
open about the doors and windows, that while my toes were burning, my
back was freezing; and one has to be constantly twisting round, like a
roasting turkey, to get anything of their benefit. My companion, Ijurra,
whose fathers were rich miners and powerful men in these parts, had
many visitors. The talk of the company was of nothing but the mines,
and incessant was the complaining (which I have heard elsewhere) of the
miseries and uncertainties of the miner's life. All seem to agree that
it is a sort of gambling, in which most lose; but there is the same sort
of feverish infatuation in it that there is in gaming with cards, and
the unlucky player cannot but persevere, in the hope that the luck will
change, and that the _boya_ (striking the rich vein,) like "the bullets
and bragger oldest," will come at last.
I went out with Mr. Jump to look at the town. It was a most curious
looking place, entirely honey-combed, and having the mouths of mines
(some two or three yards in diameter) gaping everywhere. From the top
of the hill called Sta. Catalina, the best view is obtained of the
whole. Vast pits, called "_Tajos_," surround this hill, from which many
millions of silver have been taken; and the miners are still burrowing,
like so many rabbits, in their bottoms and sides. I estimate that the
tajo of Sta. Rosa is six hundred yards long, by four hundred broad
and sixty deep; those of the "_Descubridora_" and —— are about half as
large. The hill of Sta. Catalina is penetrated in every direction; and
I should not be surprised if it were to cave in any day, and bury many
in its ruins. The falling in of mines is of frequent occurrence; that
of "_Mata-gente_" (kill people) caved in years ago, and buried three
hundred persons; and four days ago a mine fell in and buried five: four
have been recovered, but one is still incarcerated, and the people are
now hard at work for him. We visited a machine-shop, and the hacienda
for grinding ores by steam, that Mr. Jump is erecting near the city.
I should think the hacienda would be a good speculation; for the ores,
which have now to be transported on the backs of mules and llamas for
a distance of four, five, or six miles to the haciendas, may be taken
to this by a railroad in a few minutes; and Mr. Jump believes that
he shall have water enough for his boilers all the year; whereas the
other haciendas cannot grind for more than three parts of the year. The
cost of the machinery, which is cast in England, in parts equal to a
mule-load, and transported from Lima on the backs of these animals; the
pay of machine and engine drivers; the digging of ditches for the supply
of water; fuel; and all such expenses to which the other haciendas are
not subject, I could not well calculate.
Mr. Fletcher, who has lived a long time in Cerro Pasco, says that a
purchaser of the ores (making sure of his "_guias_" or experiments on
the yield of the ore) can count his gains as easily and certainly as he
can the dollars in his pocket; that those men who lose are either the
lazy and the careless, or the speculators and lookers after rich ores,
to make a fortune at once. The most common and easily obtained ores here
are called "_cascajos_." They do not require roasting, as do the ores
at Párac; but otherwise the silver is got out in the same manner as I
have described it to be at that place. Instead, however, of the ground
ore being placed in small piles, and, after being mixed with salt and
mercury, trodden with the feet, and worked with hoes as it is at Párac,
a large quantity is placed in a circular enclosure, with a stone floor
and mud wall, and it is trodden with horses (as we used in old times
to "tread wheat" in Virginia) until the amalgamation is completed. The
general yield of the cascajos is six marks to the caxon. Their cost,
according to the hardness of the rock in which they are enclosed, or
their distance from the surface, is from six to sixteen dollars. Here
is a calculation to show that, even at their highest price, of sixteen
dollars, (being assured by the guia that the caxon will yield six
marks,) their working, or benificiation, as it is called here, will pay.
The complete amalgamation in the "_circo_," or circle, requires from
forty to fifty days.
DR. Circo of six caxones, _a_ $16 caxon $96 00
150 mule loads, (transportation to the
hacienda,) _a_ 25 cents 37 50
Grinding, _a_ $10 60 00
Magistral, (calcined iron pyrites,) 1 00
1 arroba
40 arrobas of salt, _a_ 50 cents 20 00
5 tramplings by horses, _a_ $5 25 00
Working and washing the amalgam 11 50
Loss of 35 lbs. quicksilver, _a_ $1 35 00
------
286 00
CR. 6 caxones, at 6 marks caxon, 36 marks.
(Mark is worth in Cerro Pasco $8 50) 306 00
======
I had this statement from Mr. Jump. I did not examine it at the time,
but I observed afterwards that there is no charge for driving off the
mercury of the amalgam, and leaving the pure silver, which is worth
eight dollars and fifty cents the mark. This would amount to six dollars
more, leaving the profit to the purchaser, for the two months that he
has been engaged in getting his silver, but fourteen dollars. This,
of course, is but a poor business; for, though any quantity of the ore
maybe purchased, there are not haciendas enough to grind, or circos to
amalgamate, a sufficient quantity to make the speculation good; and thus
many millions of this ore are left unworked. The ore, however, rarely
costs sixteen dollars, and will frequently give seven or eight marks to
the caxon.
Statement showing the cost of a mark of silver placed on board ship for
exportation:
Cost of a mark of piña in the Cerro $8 50
Impost for steam machines for pumping water from the mines.
(This has been 12½ cents, and soon will be 50 cents) 25
Socabon (or great drain) duty 12½
Public works 6¼
Government or export duty 50
Mineral tribunal duty 12½
Loss in running the piña into bars 12½
Carriage to Lima, and other petty expenses 6¼
Profit of the purchaser in the Cerro 37½
------
10 12½
======
Twelve dwts. is the standard of pure silver in the mint at Lima. All
the bars that go from this place are marked 11.22. They are assayed in
Lima. If they come up to that standard they are worth $8.6746 the mark.
For every grain under this 11.22 there is a deduction in the price of
.0303 of a dollar.
To-day there was a meeting of the gremio, to take into consideration
a question that had arisen whether the contractors for putting up the
steam machinery for draining the mines had fulfilled their part of the
contract. A short history of the draining of these mines may not be
uninteresting, and will at all events put persons on their guard how
they make contracts with miners.
The mines of Cerro Pasco were discovered in 1630, by an Indian making
a fire on some stones and observing melted silver. They were worked,
with little or no drainage, and with great success, up to the year 1780,
when the _socabon_ (or drain) of _San Judas_ was commenced. This is a
great ditch of five and a half feet in breadth and six feet ten inches
in height, which drains the mines into the lake of San Judas. Its length
is about thirty-five hundred feet, and it cost one hundred thousand
dollars. It was finished in 1800. This would drain, by percolation, all
the mines above it. For those below it, it was necessary to pump the
water up by hand. This was found so inefficient a means, (the socabon
also not being sufficiently large,) that in 1806 the gremio commenced
the construction of the socabon of _Quiulacocha_, eighty-eight feet
below that of San Judas, six feet ten inches broad, and eight feet three
inches high. The work is continued upon it to this day. The part that
I saw is arched, well walled with solid masonry, and the water rushes
through it like a small river. Many _lumbreras_, or light holes, are
sunk down upon it in various directions to give light and air, and to
carry into the socabon the drainage of the neighboring mines.
In 1816, the gremio contracted with two Spaniards, Abadia and Arismendi,
for the drainage of the mines by steam machinery. These persons put up
three steam machines for working pumps, and the results were very happy,
the ores being found much richer the farther down the mines reached.
The war of independence broke them up; their miners being taken away
for soldiers, and their machines used up for horse-shoes.
In 1825, an English company, styling itself the "_Pasco Peruvian_,"
undertook the drainage. This company contracted to be paid in ores,
which they were to beneficiate themselves. They were never fairly paid.
They employed English officials and operatives at high salaries; and
after having dug one hundred and ten feet, at a cost of forty thousand
dollars, between September, 1825, and January, 1827, they failed.
The government then took it up, and gave two thousand dollars monthly
towards the work, the miners also taxing themselves twelve and a half
cents on the mark of silver obtained. Rivero took charge of the work,
and from the first of June, 1827, to the first of January, 1828, he
perforated one hundred and twenty-two feet in the socabon, the workmen
finding powder and candles, and he supplying tools. In an official
statement, afterwards made by Rivero, he shows that to excavate a vara
cost him eighty-six dollars, while it cost the Pasco Peruvian Company
one thousand dollars; though he says that in the lumbrera of Sta. Rosa
the Pasco Peruvian Company found the rock so hard that twelve men could
not perforate more than half a vara a month. The socabon at present is
eight thousand two hundred and fifty feet long, and three hundred feet
below the surface. About a million of dollars have been spent upon it,
though it is said it has not really cost so much.
A few years ago it was determined to try steam again, for the purpose of
carrying on the mining below the great drain, and the gremio contracted
with Mr. Jump to undertake it. He bound himself to put up four sets of
engines, to work those engines for a year at his own expense, and then
turn them over to the gremio; the gremio, on the other hand, binding
itself to sink the shafts and to pay weekly twelve and a half cents
on every mark of silver produced by the mines for a certain length of
time, then twenty-five, and then fifty cents, till six hundred thousand
dollars were paid.
The work is carried on with unexampled despatch on the part of Mr. Jump,
so that now two sets of engines are at work, a third is going up, and
the fourth has arrived from England, though the shaft is not yet ready
for it. But there are two parties in the gremio, representing distinct
interests. One party, of which General Bermudez (at the time of making
the contract prefect of the department and ex-officio president of
the gremio) is the leader, represents the speculative men, who look
for "boyas," and think that great and sudden riches are to be had by
draining the mines below the socabon. The other party (and the majority)
represents the men who, content with moderate and certain gain, work
the cascajos which are generally above the drain, and therefore need
no machinery. These men were probably borne down by the influence
of Bermudez during his prefecture, and a majority was obtained for
the contract; but since his retirement they rise up and say, "It is
a hard case that we should contribute to pay for machines that do us
no good;" and they seek for means to avoid this. They find it in the
wording of the contract; and although they see that the machines are
doing, and more than doing, the work required, they take advantage of
the wording, and raise the question now under consideration. The words
of the contract are, that "he, the contractor, shall bind himself to
put up four sets of engines, each set to consist of two engines of
fifteen-horse power each, and to drive three pumps; each engine to be
entirely independent of the other in such a manner that, if an accident
happen to one engine, the other shall be able to drive two pumps."
I thought, from examination of the engines, that a case might occur
whereby the wording of the contract would fail to be fulfilled; but it
seemed to me that this arose from the nature of the contract, and was
not at all chargeable on Mr. Jump; for it appears to me that, for two
engines to drive three pumps, and in such a manner that if one breaks
the other may drive two, it is necessary to have a connexion between
those engines, which connexion breaking, although either engine may be
intact and able to drive its own pump, (thus keeping two pumps going,)
yet the engines must stop to repair the connexion, so as to drive all
three again. That the pretended objection is a quibble, may be seen from
the fact that the engines keep the shafts clear with only two pumps,
and do not work the third; but I suspect that news recently received
from Lima of the discovery of large quicksilver mines in California,
which would bring down the price of that article one-half, and double
the value of the cascajos, (thus still diminishing the necessity for
drainage,) had something to do with the movement. A committee of the
gremio, appointed for the investigation of the matter, did report in
favor of stopping the payments; but before this was decided upon, some
rich ores were discovered by the operation of the pumps. This changed
their tune, for, although they now only work the ores above the socabon,
they may, if they choose, penetrate below it; and if these machines
should show conclusively that there are richer ores below, they of
course would be glad to have them, and the gremio, therefore, (including
even some of the members of the committee,) voted that the works and
the payments should continue, and the matter should be arbitrated. I of
course get my knowledge and views pretty much from Mr. Jump, one of the
parties; but I meet at his house and elsewhere with men of the opposite
party, and hear the matter very fully discussed. I would have advised
Mr. Jump, in any other country, to reject arbitration and appeal to the
law; but the less a man has to do with law in this country the better,
not so much on account of its ill administration as of its vexatious
delay.
I removed from the sub-prefect's house to that of Mr. Jump, Ijurra
staying with his relations, and Mauricio and the mules at board.
The "_callana_," or smelting-house, where the "piña" is run into bars,
is a government establishment, and is farmed out. All the produce of the
mines has to pass through it; is here run into bars, weighed, stamped,
and the duties charged upon it. It is very rude in its appointments,
a mere straw-covered hut, with an iron smelting pot in the middle,
mounted by arms, on two iron uprights like anvils. The pot melts at
one operation sufficient silver to make a bar of two hundred and fifty
marks, or one hundred and twenty-five pounds. Alternate layers of piña
and charcoal are put in the smelting pot; fire is applied, and air
furnished by a rude bellows. When the silver is melted, the pot is
turned on its arms, and the silver poured out of a sort of ear at the
top of the pot into an iron mould below. From one and a half to one
and three-fourths per cent. is lost in this operation; much seems to
be driven off by the irregular and excessive heat, and the sides and
roof of the hut are covered with a deposit of fine particles of silver,
looking like frost. They are frequently swept; I did not think to ask
to whom these sweepings belong, but I imagine to the farmers of the
"callana." The bars are marked with the number of the bar for the year,
the number of marks it contains, the initials of the owner, and the
invariable 11.22, which designates its "ley" or quality.
Remittances of bars are made to Lima every week. Last week the
remittance amounted to seven thousand five hundred marks—a large yield.
Since my return, I cut from a Lima paper a letter from Cerro Pasco,
of April, 1851, (a few months before the date of my visit,) in which
the writer states the remittances for the week at eighteen bars, or
four thousand five hundred marks. He says, "The drainage by steam is
progressing rapidly. Another vein of ore has been discovered in the
mine of Peña Blanca, but I believe not very rich. The advices from
Lima are constant that the quicksilver mines of California will yield
a sufficient supply for Peru, at a price not exceeding fifty or sixty
dollars the '_quintal_', (or hundred pounds). Should this be the case,
there will be no need of suspending the working of the cascajos, as
ore of six marks to the caxon, with quicksilver at seventy dollars the
quintal, and piña at eight dollars the mark, will leave fifty dollars
of profit in the circo. The price of quicksilver at present is from
one hundred to one hundred and seven dollars the quintal; that of piña,
eight dollars and forty-three and three-fourth cents."
The yield of these mines is about two millions a year, which is nearly
equal to the yield of all the rest of the mines of Peru together.
M. Castelnau makes a calculation from all the data within his reach,
by which it appears that the yield of the mines of Cerro Pasco, since
the date of their discovery in 1630 to the year 1849, amounts to about
the sum of four hundred and seventy-five millions of dollars, which
would give a yearly mean of about two millions one hundred and seventy
thousand.
About two hundred miles-to the southward and eastward of Cerro Pasco
are situated the celebrated quicksilver mines of _Huancavelica_. The
viceroys of the regal and the presidents of the republican government
have made many efforts to keep up the working of these mines, but of
late years entirely without success. M. Castelnau states that their
produce since the opening in 1751 to the year 1789, inclusive, (since
which time they have yielded nothing of importance,) has been one
million forty thousand four hundred and fifty-two quintals, which, at
a mean price of sixty-five dollars the quintal, will give the sum of
sixty-seven million six hundred and twenty-nine thousand three hundred
and eighty dollars. In the same time have been expended on them ten
million five hundred and eighty-seven thousand eight hundred and
forty-five dollars.
S. S. Rivero and Pierola formed a society in the year 1828 for the
working of these mines, but the scheme fell through. Many other
propositions have been also made to the Peruvian government, since
the independence, for the working of them, but have failed of success.
The liberator (Bolivar) refused to sell them for a sum of six or seven
hundred thousand dollars. (Castelnau, vol. 4, page 226.)
I met a gentleman in Cerro Pasco who was then on his way to examine and
report upon the mines of Huancavelica.
_July 8._—Visited the mines. We entered a mouth which seemed only a
little larger than that of a common well; each of the party furnished
with a tallow candle, shipped in an iron contrivance at the end of a
staff. The descent was disagreeable, and, to the tyro, seemed dangerous;
it was at an angle of at least 75° from the horizontal line. The earth
was moist, and the steps merely holes dug for the heels at irregular
distances. I feared every moment that my boot-heel would slip, and
that I should "come with a surge" upon my next in advance, sending him
and myself into some gulf profound. I was heartily glad when we got
upon the apparently level and broad bank of the great socabon, and had
made up my mind that I would tempt Providence no more. But, reflecting
that I should never, probably, visit the mines of Cerro Pasco again,
I took courage and descended one hundred and ten feet further, by an
even worse descent than the former, to the bottom of the pump shafts.
A burly and muscular Cornishman, whom I at first took to be a yankee,
with a bit of candle stuck into a lump of mud in front of his hat,
was superintending here, and growling at the laziness and inefficiency
of his Indian subordinates. I should think that these pumps were not
well attended to, so far from the eye of the master. They are worked
by chains and long copper rods. All the metal work of the pumps is
of copper. Iron is corroded very quickly, on account of the sulphuric
acid and sulphates which the water of the mines holds in solution. The
fish are said to have abandoned the lake of Quiulacocha, into which the
waters are forced, on this account. The sides of the mines were covered
in many places with beautiful sulphates of iron and copper.
Our exploration lasted about four hours; and we emerged at the tajo of
Sta. Rosa, where, seated upon piles of silver ore, we partook of some
bread and cheese, and a glass of pisco, which we found as welcome and
as grateful as manna in the desert. This freshened us up, and we went
to see the "boliches." These are hand-mills, or rather foot-mills,
for grinding ore; generally owned by Frenchmen or Italians, who grind
the ore that is brought to them in small quantities by the workmen
in the mines. Rivero's account of their charges is amusing. He says:
"One of these speculators commences with fifty dollars, (the value of
a boliche,) and at the end of two or three years is known to be worth
a fortune of eight or ten thousand dollars. He exacts from the workman
in the mine, who brings it to him, fifty or sixty-two and a half cents
for grinding a "_carga_," which is a very uncertain measure—sometimes a
mule-load, sometimes a man-load; but in this case a small hamper-full.
He charges twenty-five cents for the water used in the beneficiation,
twelve and a half cents for the man who pours the water on, twelve and
a half cents for him who breaks the ore into small bits for grinding,
sixty-two and a half cents for the grinder, twelve and a half cents for
the hole where the mass of ground metal is deposited, (and if this is
boarded, he exacts twenty-five cents more,) and twelve and a half cents
to clear the water out of it, twelve and a half cents for taking the
metal out of this hole and putting it in a bull's hide, for the hire
of which he charges twenty-five cents; so that the hide will yield the
decent sum of sixty or seventy dollars before it wears out and becomes
useless. A hoe will give as much more, for the hire of which twelve and
a half cents is charged, and six and a quarter cents besides for every
time it is used in incorporating the mass. He gains at least fifty cents
in every arroba of salt which he furnishes. For a pound of magistral,
which is worth fifty cents, he exacts two dollars. He gains fifty cents
in every pound of quicksilver; so that, calculating these expenses with
regard to a caxon, they amount to about fifty dollars, which is just so
much profit to the _bolichero_. The '_relabes_,' moreover, are his; and
they are frequently very valuable. He then expresses all the quicksilver
from the _pella_ that he can, and receives it of the workman at three
pounds the mark, paying him six dollars and twenty-five cents; by
which negotiation he gains a mark in every nine, after the quicksilver
is driven off by heat, bating to the workman at the same time half a
pound in the extraction of the quicksilver. The workman is contented
with all this, because, however little profit he makes, the ore which
he delivered to the bolichero for grinding cost him nothing but the
stealing." This, however, is not always the case. The laborer frequently
demands his wages in a portion of ore. Custom seems to give him this
right; and the proprietor of the mine complains, with justice, that he
has to pay in ores when they are rich, and in money when the ores are
poor.
A boliche consists of a large flat stone laid on an elevated platform
of rock or earth, and another, convex on its lower side, resting upon
it. The grinder, standing upon this upper stone, spreads his feet apart,
and gives it motion by the movement of his body. The bits of ore are
placed between these stones, and a small stream of water from a barrel
above mixes with the _harina_, and carries it off to a receptacle below.
It may be imagined that, to draw any profit from so rude a contrivance
as this, it is necessary that the ores ground by it should be of the
richest kind.
The apparatus for driving off the mercury by heat is as rude as the
boliche. The pella is placed in a kind of earthen jar or bottle made in
the neighborhood, and worth from two to three reals. An iron tube, of
about two yards long, is introduced into the mouth of the jar, which is
then closed with a yellowish clay. The other end of this tube (which is
bent) is put into an earthen jar half-full of water, where the fumes of
the mercury are condensed. Fire is kindled around the earthen bottles
which contain the pella, and continued for three or four hours, when
the bottles are broken and the piña taken out.
The man who was buried by the falling in of one of the mines was got out
yesterday. He seemed strong, though he had had no food for nearly seven
days. He had lost the account of time, and thought he had been enclosed
in the earth but three days.
_July 9._—Suffering to-day from an affection called _macolca_, which is
incident to nearly every one on his first visit to the mines. This is a
painful soreness of the muscles, particularly on the front of the thigh.
I could scarcely bear that my legs should be touched, and locomotion
was anything but agreeable.
The town of Cerro Pasco is (by temperature of boiling water) thirteen
thousand eight hundred and two feet above the level of the sea.
Rivero states it at fourteen thousand two hundred and seventy-nine.
The population varies from six to fifteen thousand souls, according
to the greater or less yield of the mines. Most of the adult part of
this population are, of course, engaged in mining. This seems to be
a calling that distorts much the moral perception, and engenders very
confused ideas of right and wrong. The lust for money-making seems to
have swallowed up all the finer feelings of the heart, and cut off all
the amenities of society. There are no ladies—at least I saw none in
society; and the men meet to discuss the mines, the probable price of
quicksilver, and to slander and abuse each other. There seems to be no
religion here even in form. The churches are mere barns, going to decay;
and I saw no processions or religious ceremonies. Smyth saw a procession
in 1834, but I should doubt if there had been one of these contemptible
mockeries since. Not that the people are getting better, but that their
love of gain is swallowing up even their love of display. Rivero speaks
of the wretched condition of society, and tells of drunkenness, gaming,
assassination, and bad faith, as of things of common occurrence.
I met with much kindness on the part of the few gentlemen whose
acquaintance I made, particularly on that of the sub-prefect, who lodged
me in his house, and, by his frank and sincere manner, made me feel at
home; and I do not say that men here are individually bad; but only
speak of the philosophical fact that mining, as an occupation, has a
tendency to debase men's characters, and destroy those sensibilities
and affections that smooth and soften the rugged path of life. Moreover,
I don't speak half so badly of them as they do of themselves; for one,
if he were to seek it, might easily hear that every individual in the
Cerro was a rascal.
The climate of this place is exceedingly uncomfortable, and I should
suppose unhealthy. I could not sleep between sheets, but preferred "the
wollens," with an abundance of them. Rivero states the mean temperature,
during the months of July, August, and September, at 44° in the day, and
35° at night. In these months there is an abundance of snow and hail,
which lowers the thermometer considerably; and even without these it
goes down to 30° and 28° in August. From the middle of October to the
end of April the climate is insupportable from the rains, tempests and
lightnings, which almost every year cause damage. There is a period
of fine weather from the middle of December to the middle of January,
called, in the poetic language and religious turn of thought of the
Spaniards, _El verano del niño_, or the summer of the child, from its
happening about Christmas. The streams, which are fed from the rains
of this country, invariably stop rising, and fall a little after this
period. The temperature is so rigorous here that the hens do not hatch,
nor the llamas procreate; and women, at the period of their confinement,
are obliged to seek a more genial climate, or their offspring will not
live.
Persons recently arrived, particularly if they have weak lungs, suffer
from affections of the chest and difficulty of breathing. The miners
suffer paralysis from the sudden changes of temperature to which they
are exposed in and out of the mines, and from inhaling the fumes of
the mercury in the operation of distilling. Those who suffer in this
way are called _azogados_, from _azogue_, (quicksilver.) The most
common diseases are pleurisies, rheumatisms, and a putrid fever called
_tabardillo_. Pleurisies are said to be cured by taking an infusion of
_mullaca_, an herb which grows in the neighborhood. It has very small
leaves, and gives a small, round, red fruit.
There is no cultivation in this neighborhood, with the exception of a
little barley, which gives no grain, but is cut for fodder. The market,
however, is well supplied from _Huanuco_, and the neighboring valleys.
Expenses of living are great, particularly where articles of luxury from
the coast are used.
_July 12._—I visited some of the haciendas for grinding the ores. These
mills are also rude. A horizontal water-wheel turns an upright axis,
which passes up through a hole in the centre of the lower stone. The
upper stone is bolted to the side of the axis, and is carried round
on its edge upon the lower one. A very small stream of water trickles
continually on the stones, and carries off the ground ore into a
receptacle below, prepared for it, where the water drains off, and
leaves the _harina_ to be carried to the circo. A pair of stones will
grind nearly a caxon a day. A stone of granite, nine feet in diameter,
and twenty inches thick, costs, delivered, one hundred and thirty-five
dollars. It will wear away in six or seven months so as to be unfit for
an upper stone; it then answers for a lower one.
I had a visit from an enthusiastic old gentleman, the Intendente of
_Pozuzu_, who says that he is about to memorialize Congress for funds
and assistance to carry on a work which he has himself commenced—that
is, the opening of a road from the Cerro direct to Pozuzu, without
taking the roundabout way by Huanuco. He says that he is practically
acquainted with the ground; that it is nearly all _pampa_, or
plain; (people told us the same thing of the road between Tarma and
Chanchamayo;) and that part of it is over a _pajonal_, or grassy plain,
where there will be no forest to clear. He says that when the road is
opened from the Cerro to Pozuzu, and thence to _Mayro_, (the head of
navigation on the _Pachitea_,) communication may be had and burdens
carried between the Cerro and Mayro in four days; also, that roads may
run to the southward from Pozuzu, over a plain, by which the commerce
of foreign countries, coming up the Amazon, may reach Tarma, Jauxa, and
all the towns of the Sierra.
This is the day-dream of the Peruvians of that district. They know
the difficulties of the Cordillera passage, and look earnestly to the
eastward for communication with the world. Though this gentleman is led
away by his enthusiasm, and probably misstates, yet I think he is in the
main correct; for between the Cerro and Mayro there is but one range of
the Andes to pass to arrive at the Montaña, (as is also the case between
Tarma and Chanchamayo;) whereas, by the route through Huanuco there are
at least two, and these very broken, elevated, and rugged. I think that
the Ucayali affords the best means of communication with the interior
of Peru, and my impression is that it is best approached by the way of
Chanchamayo. I hinted this, but my friend hooted at the idea; and I find
the same jealousy in him that I found in the Tarma people. Both here
and there they say it will be a great day for them when the Americans
get near them with a steamer.
_July 13._—I had unfortunately selected a feast-day, and one, too, on
which there was a regular bull fight, (the first that had been seen
in the Cerro,) for my departure, and found great difficulty in getting
off. The muleteers I had engaged were drunk at an early hour, and not
making their appearance, I had to send the police after them. It is
really curious to observe how entirely indifferent to the fulfilment
of a promise these people are, and how very general the vice is. These
muleteers had given me the strongest assurances that they would be at
my door by daylight, and yet when they made the promise they had not
the slightest idea of keeping it. The habit seems to be acquiesced in
and borne with patience by even the true and promise-keeping English. My
friend, Mr. Jump, did not sympathize in the least with my fretfulness,
and seemed surprised that I expected to get off.
I desire to express my thanks to him, and the amiable members of his
family, Mr. and Mrs. Biggs, for those kind attentions that cheer the
heart and renew the energies of the worn wayfarer.