Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests Part 16

The messenger stations have by some travellers been confounded with the forts, of which remains are met with along the great Inca road. The forts were buildings destined for totally different purposes. They were magazines for grain, and were built by the Incas to secure to their armies in these barren regions the requisite supplies of food. Vestiges of these forts are frequently seen in the Altos of Southern and Central Peru. They are broad round towers, usually built against a rocky declivity, and with numerous long apertures for the admission of air.

Even the broad level heights in which no trace of human habitations is discoverable, have been excavated by the mercenary Peruvian mestizos and creoles in search of hidden treasures. Their faith in the existence of concealed riches is founded on the following tradition. When the last reigning Inca, Atabiliba or Atahuallpa, was made prisoner by Don Francisco Pizarro, in Caxamarca, he proposed to ransom himself from the Spanish commander. The price he offered for his liberty was to fill with gold the cell in which he was confined, to the height of a certain line on the wall, which Pizarro marked with his sword. The cell, it may be mentioned, was twenty-two feet long and seventeen broad. A quant.i.ty of gold which the Inca ordered to be collected in Caxamarca and its vicinity, when piled up on the floor of the cell, did not reach above halfway to the given mark. The Inca then despatched messengers to Cuzco to obtain from the royal treasury the gold required to make up the deficiency; and accordingly eleven thousand llamas were despatched from Cuzco to Caxamarca, each laden with one hundred pounds of gold. But ere the treasure reached its destination, Atahuallpa was hanged by the advice of Don Diego de Almangra and the Dominican monk Vicente de Valverde. The terror-stirring news flew like wild-fire through the land, and speedily reached the convoy of Indians, who were driving their richly-laden llamas over the level heights into Central Peru. On the spot where the intelligence of Atahuallpa's death was communicated to them, the dismayed Indians concealed the treasure, and then dispersed.

Whether the number of the llamas was really so considerable as it is stated to have been, may fairly be doubted; but that a vast quant.i.ty of gold was on its way to Caxamarca, and was concealed, is a well-authenticated fact. That the Indians should never have made any attempt to recover this treasure is quite consistent with their character. It is not improbable that even now some particular individuals among them may know the place of concealment; but a certain feeling of awe transmitted through several centuries from father to son, has, in their minds, a.s.sociated the hidden treasure with the blood of their last king, and this feeling doubtless prompts them to keep the secret inviolate.

From traditionary accounts, which bear the appearance of probability, it would appear that the gold was buried somewhere in the Altos of Mito, near the valley of Jauja. Searches have frequently been made in that vicinity, but no clue to the hiding-place has yet been discovered.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 65: Some derive the word Andes from the people called Antis, who dwelt at the foot of these chains of mountains. A province in the department of Cuzco, which was probably the chief settlement of that nation, still bears the name of Antas.]

[Footnote 66: From the most remote times the Ratanhia has been employed by the Indians as a medicine. It is one of their favorite remedies against spitting of blood and dysentery. Most of the Ratanhia exported to Europe is obtained in the southern provinces of Peru, particularly in Arica and Islay. The extract which is prepared in Peru, and which was formerly sent in large quant.i.ties to Europe, is now scarcely an object of traffic. For several years past no Ratanhia has been s.h.i.+pped from Callao, and but very little from Truxillo.]

[Footnote 67: More lengthened information respecting them may be found in the "Fauna Peruana." I have there noted all their specific varieties, and have corrected the erroneous accounts given of them by some previous travellers.]

[Footnote 68: _Phalcoboenus monta.n.u.s_, Orb.]

[Footnote 69: The Magay is the stem of the American Agave. It has a sort of spungy sap; but it is covered externally with a strong tough bast.

The Magay supplies the inhabitants of Upper Peru with an excellent kind of light and strong building wood.]

CHAPTER XII.

Cerro de Pasco--First discovery of the Mines--Careless mode of working them--Mine Owners and Mine Laborers--Amalgamating and Refining--Produce of the Mines--Life in Cerro de Pasco--Different Cla.s.ses of the Population--Gaming and Drunkenness--Extravagance and Improvidence of the Indian Mine Laborers--The Cerro de San Fernando--Other Important Mining Districts in Peru--The Salcedo Mine--Castrovireyna--Vast Productiveness of the Silver Mines of Peru--Rich Mines secretly known to the Indians--Roads leading from Cerro de Pasco--The Laguna of Chinchaycocha--Battle of Junin--Indian Robbers--A Day and a Night in the Puna Wilds.

Having traversed the long and difficult route from the capital of Peru, by way of the wild Cordillera to the level heights of Bombon, and from thence having ascended the steep winding acclivities of the mountain chain of Olachin, the traveller suddenly beholds in the distance a large and populous city. This is the celebrated Cerro de Pasco, famed throughout the world for its rich silver mines. It is situated in 10 48' S. lat.i.tude and 76 23' W. longitude, and at the height of 13,673 feet above the sea level. It is built in a basin-shaped hollow, encircled by barren and precipitous rocks. Between these rocks difficult winding roads or paths lead down to the city, which spreads out in irregular divisions, surrounded on all sides by little lagunes, or swamps. The pleasing impression created by the first view of Cerro de Pasco from the heights is very greatly modified on entering the town.

Crooked, narrow, and dirty streets are bordered by rows of irregularly-built houses; and miserable Indian huts abut close against well-built dwellings, whose size and structure give a certain European character to the city when viewed from a distance. Without bestowing a glance on the busy throng which circulates through the streets and squares, the varied styles of the buildings sufficiently indicate to the observer how many different cla.s.ses of people have united together to found, in the tropics, and on the very confines of the perpetual snow, a city of such magnitude, and of so motley an aspect. The wild barrenness of the surrounding scenery, and the extreme cold of the rigorous climate--the remote and solitary position of the city--all denote that one common bond of union must have drawn together the diversified elements which compose the population of Cerro de Pasco. And so it really is. In this inhospitable region, where the surface of the soil produces nothing, nature has buried boundless stores of wealth in the bowels of the earth, and the silver mines of Cerro de Pasco have drawn people from all parts of the world to one point, and for one object.

History relates that about two hundred and fifteen years ago an Indian shepherd, named Huari Capcha, tended his flocks on a small pampa to the south-east of the Lake of Llauricocha, the mother of the great river Amazon. One day, when the shepherd had wandered farther than usual from his hut, he sought a resting-place on a declivity of the Cerro de Santiestevan, and when evening drew in he kindled a fire to protect himself against the cold; he then lay down to sleep. When he awoke on the following morning, he was amazed to find the stone beneath the ashes of his fire melted and turned to silver. He joyfully communicated the discovery to his master, Don Jose Ugarte, a Spaniard, who owned a hacienda in the Quebrada de Huariaca. Ugarte forthwith repaired to the spot, where he found indications of a very rich vein of silver ore, which he immediately made active preparations for working. In this mine, which is distinguished by the name of _La Descubridora_ (the discoverer), silver is still obtained. From the village of Pasco, about two leagues distant, where already productive mines were worked, several rich mine owners removed to Llauricocha; here they sought and discovered new veins, and established new mining works. The vast abundance of the ore drew new speculators to the spot; some to work the mines, and others to supply the necessary wants of the increasing population. In this manner was rapidly founded a city, which, at times when the produce of metal is very considerable, counts 18,000 inhabitants.

In Cerro de Pasco there are two very remarkable veins of silver. One of them, the Veta de Colquirirca, runs nearly in a straight line from north to south, and has already been traced to the length of 9,600 feet, and the breadth of 412; the other vein is the Veta de Pariarirca, which takes a direction from east-south-east to west-north-west, and which intersects the Veta de Colquirirca precisely, it is supposed, under the market-place of the city. Its known extent is 6,400 feet in length, and 380 feet in breadth. From these large veins numberless smaller ones branch off in various directions, so that a net-work of silver may be supposed to spread beneath the surface of the earth. Some thousand openings or mouths (_bocaminas_) are the entrances to these mines. Most of these entrances are within the city itself, in small houses; and some are in the dwellings of the mine-owners. Many of them are exceedingly shallow, and not more than five hundred deserve the name of shafts. All are worked in a very disorderly and careless way; the grand object of their owners being to avoid expense. The dangerous parts in the shafts are never walled up, and the excavations proceed without the adoption of any measures of security. The consequence is, that accidents caused by the falling in of the galleries are of frequent occurrence; and every year the lives of numbers of the Indian miners are sacrificed. A melancholy example of the effects of this negligence is presented by the now ruined mine of Matagente (literally _Kill People_), in which three hundred laborers were killed by the falling in of a shaft. I descended into several of the mines, among others into the _Descubridora_, which is one of the deepest, and I always felt that I had good reason to congratulate myself on returning to the surface of the earth in safety. Rotten blocks of wood and loose stones serve for steps, and, where these cannot be placed, the shaft, which in most instances runs nearly perpendicular, is descended by the help of rusty chains and ropes, whilst loose fragments of rubbish are continually falling from the damp walls.

The mine laborers, all of whom are Indians, are of two cla.s.ses. One cla.s.s consists of those who work in the mines all the year round without intermission, and who receive regular wages from the mine owners;--the other cla.s.s consists of those who make only temporary visits to Cerro de Pasco, when they are attracted thither by the _boyas_.[70] This latter cla.s.s of laborers are called _maquipuros_. Most of them come from the distant provinces, and they return to their homes when the boya is at an end. The mine laborers are also subdivided into two cla.s.ses, the one called _barreteros_, whose employment consists in breaking the ore; and the other called _hapires_, or _chaquiris_, who bring up the ore from the shaft. The work allotted to the hapires is exceedingly laborious.

Each load consists of from fifty to seventy-five pounds of metal, which is carried in a very irksome and inconvenient manner in an untanned hide, called a capacho. The hapire performs his toilsome duty in a state of nudity, for, notwithstanding the coldness of the climate, he becomes so heated by his laborious exertion, that he is glad to divest himself of his clothing. As the work is carried on incessantly day and night, the miners are divided into parties called _puntas_, each party working for twelve successive hours. At six o'clock morning and evening the _puntas_ are relieved. Each one is under the inspection of a mayor-domo.

When a mine yields a scanty supply of metal, the laborers are paid in money; the barreteros receiving six reals per day, and the hapires only four. During the _boyas_ the laborers receive instead of their wages in money, a share of the ore. The Indians often try to appropriate to themselves surrept.i.tiously pieces of ore; but to do this requires great cunning and dexterity, so narrowly are they watched by the mayor-domos.

Nevertheless, they sometimes succeed. One of the hapires related to me how he had contrived to carry off a most valuable piece of silver. He fastened it on his back, and then wrapping himself in his poncho, he pretended to be so ill, that he obtained permission to quit the mine.

Two of his confederates who helped him out, a.s.sisted him in concealing the treasure. The _polvorilla_, a dark powdery kind of ore, very full of silver, used to be abstracted from the mines by the following stratagem.

The workmen would strip off their clothes, and having moistened the whole of their bodies with water, would roll themselves in the _polvorilla_ which stuck to them. On their return home they washed off the silver-dust and sold it for several dollars. But this trick being detected, a stop was soon put to it, for, before leaving the mines, the laborers are now required to strip in order to be searched.

The operation of separating the silver from the dross is performed at some distance from Cerro de Pasco, in haciendas, belonging to the great mine owners. The process is executed in a very clumsy, imperfect, and at the same time, a very expensive manner. The amalgamation of the quicksilver with the metal is effected by the tramping of horses. The animals employed in this way are a small ill-looking race, brought from Ayacucho and Cuzco, where they are found in numerous herds. The quicksilver speedily has a fatal effect on their hoofs, and after a few years the animals become unfit for work. The separation of the metals is managed with as little judgment as the amalgamation, and the waste of quicksilver is enormous. It is computed that on each mark of silver, half a pound of quicksilver is expended. The quicksilver, with the exception of some little brought from Idria and Huancavelica, comes from Spain in iron jars, each containing about seventy-five pounds weight of the metal. In Lima the price of these jars is from sixty to 100 dollars each, but they are occasionally sold as high as 135 or 140 dollars.

Considering the vast losses which the Peruvian mine owners sustain by the waste of quicksilver and the defective mode of refining, it may fairly be inferred, that their profits are about one-third less than they would be under a better system of management.

In Cerro de Pasco there are places called _boliches_, in which the silver is separated from the dross by the same process as that practised in the _haciendas_, only on a smaller scale. In the _boliches_ the amalgamation is performed, not by horses but by Indians, who mix the quicksilver with the ore by stamping on it with their feet for several hours in succession. This occupation they usually perform barefooted, and the consequence is, that paralysis and other diseases caused by the action of mercury, are very frequent among the persons thus employed.

The owners of the _boliches_, who are mostly Italians, are not mine proprietors. They obtain the metal from the Indians, who give them their _huachacas_[71] in exchange for brandy and other articles. On the other hand, the owners of the _boliches_ obtain the money required for their speculations from capitalists, who make them pay an enormous interest.

Nevertheless, many ama.s.s considerable fortunes in the course of a few years; for they scruple not to take the most unjust advantage of the Indians, whose laborious toil is rewarded by little gain.

The law requires that all the silver drawn from the mines of Cerro de Pasco shall be conveyed to a government smelting-house, called the _Callana_, there to be cast into bars of one hundred pounds weight, to be stamped, and charged with certain imposts. The value of silver in Cerro de Pasco varies from seven to eight dollars per mark. The standard value in Lima is eight dollars and a half.

It is impossible to form anything like an accurate estimate of the yearly produce of the mines of Cerro de Pasco; for a vast quant.i.ty of silver is never taken to the Callana, but is smuggled to the coast, and from thence s.h.i.+pped for Europe. In the year 1838, no less than 85,000 marks of contraband silver were conveyed to the sea port of Huacho, and safely s.h.i.+pped on board a schooner. The quant.i.ty of silver annually smelted and stamped in the Callana is from two to three hundred thousand marks--seldom exceeding the latter amount. From 1784 to 1820, 1826, and 1827, the amount was 8,051,409 marks; in the year 1784 it was 68,208 marks; and in 1785, 73,455 marks. During seventeen years it was under 200,000 marks; and only during three years above 300,000. The produce of the mines is exceedingly fluctuating. The successive revolutions which have agitated the country have tended very considerably to check mining operations. On the overthrow of Santa Cruz, Don Miguel Otero, the most active and intelligent mine owner of Cerro de Pasco, was banished; an event which had a very depressing influence on all the mining transactions of that part of South America. Within the last few years, however, mining has received a new impetus, and attention has been directed to the adoption of a more speedy and less expensive system of amalgamation.

As a place of residence Cerro de Pasco is exceedingly disagreeable; nothing but the pursuit of wealth can reconcile any one to a long abode in it. The climate, like that of the higher Puna, is cold and stormy. The better sort of houses are well built, and are provided with good English fire-places and chimneys. But however comfortably lodged, the new comer cannot easily reconcile himself to the reflection that the earth is hollow beneath his feet. Still less agreeable is it to be awakened in the night by the incessant hammering of the Indian miners. Luckily earthquakes are of rare occurrence in those parts: it would require no very violent shock to bury the whole city in the bosom of the earth.

Silver being the only produce of the soil, the necessaries of life are all exceedingly dear in the Cerro, as they have to be brought from distant places. The warehouses are, it is true, always plentifully supplied even with the choicest luxuries; but the extortion of venders and the abundance of money render prices most exorbitant. The market is so well supplied with provisions that it may vie with that of Lima.

The products of the coast, of the table-lands and the forests, are all to be procured in the market of Cerro de Pasco; but the price demanded for every article is invariably more than double its worth. House rents are also extravagantly high; and the keep of horses is exceedingly expensive.

The population of Cerro de Pasco presents a motley a.s.semblage of human beings, such as one would scarcely expect to find in a city situated at 14,000 feet above the sea, and encircled by wild mountains. The Old and the New Worlds seem there to have joined hands, and there is scarcely any nation of Europe or America that has not its representative in Cerro de Pusco. The Swede and the Sicilian, the Canadian and the Argentinian, are all united here at one point, and for one object. The inhabitants of this city may be ranked in two divisions, viz., traders and miners--taking both terms in their most comprehensive sense. The mercantile population consists chiefly of Europeans or white Creoles, particularly those who are owners of large magazines. The keepers of coffee houses and brandy shops are here, as in Lima, chiefly Italians from Genoa. Other shops are kept by the Mestizos, and the provision-dealers are chiefly Indians, who bring their supplies from remote places.

The mining population may be divided into mine owners (_mineros_) and Indian laborers. The majority of the mineros are descendants of the old Spanish families, who, at an early period, became possessors of the mines, whence they derived enormous wealth, which most of them dissipated in prodigal extravagance. At the present time, only a very few of the mineros are rich enough to defray, from their own resources, the vast expense attending the operations of mining. They consequently raise the required money by loans from the capitalists of Lima, who require interest of 100 or 120 per cent., and, moreover, insist on having bars of silver at a price below standard value. To these hard conditions, together with the custom that has been forced upon the miners of paying their laborers in metal, at times when it is very abundant, may be traced the cause of the miserable system of mine-working practised in Cerro de Pasco. To liquidate his burthensome debts the minero makes his laborers dig as much ore as possible from the mine, without any precautions being taken to guard against accidents.

The money-lenders, on the other hand, have no other security for the recovery of their re-payment than the promise of the minero, and a failure of the usual produce of a mine exposes them to the risk of losing the money they have advanced.

Under these circ.u.mstances it can scarcely be expected that the character and habits of the minero should qualify him to take a high rank in the social scale. His insatiable thirst for wealth continually prompts him to embark in new enterprises, whereby he frequently loses in one what he gains in another. After a mine has been worked without gain for a series of years, an unexpected _boya_ probably occurs, and an immense quant.i.ty of silver may be extracted. But a minero retiring on the proceeds of a boya is an event of rare occurrence. A vain hope of increasing fortune prompts him to risk the certain for the uncertain: and the result frequently is, that the once prosperous minero has nothing to bequeath to his children but a mine heavily burthened with debt. The persevering ardor of persons engaged in mining is truly remarkable.

Unchecked by disappointment, they pursue the career in which they have embarked. Even when ruin appears inevitable, the love of money subdues the warnings of reason, and hope conjures up, from year to year, visionary pictures of riches yet to come.

Joined to this infatuated pursuit of the career once entered on, an inordinate pa.s.sion for cards and dice contributes to ruin many of the mineros of Cerro de Pasco. In few other places are such vast sums staked at the gaming-table; for the superabundance of silver feeds that national vice of the Spaniards and their descendants. From the earliest hours of morning cards and dice are in requisition. The mine owner leaves his silver stores, and the shop-keeper forsakes his counter, to pa.s.s a few hours every day at the gaming-table; and card-playing is the only amus.e.m.e.nt in the best houses of the town. The mayordomos, after being engaged in the mines throughout the whole day, a.s.semble with their comrades in the evening, round the gaming-table, from which they often do not rise until six in the morning, when the bell summons them to resume their subterraneous occupations. They not unfrequently gamble away their share of a boya before any indication of one is discernible in the mine.

The working cla.s.s of miners is composed of Indians, who throng to Cerro de Pasco from all the provinces, far and near, especially when boyas are expected. At times, when the mines are not very productive, the number of Indian laborers amounts to between three and four thousand; but when there is a great supply of metal, the ordinary number of mine-workers is more than tripled. The Indians labor with a degree of patient industry, which it would be vain to expect from European workmen similarly circ.u.mstanced. This observation applies to the hapires in particular.

Content with wretched food, and still more wretched lodging, the hapire goes through his hard day's work, partaking of no refreshment but coca, and at the end of the week (deduction being made for the food, &c., obtained on credit from the minero), he, possibly, finds himself in possession of a dollar. This sum he spends on his Sunday holiday in chicha and brandy, of which he takes as much as his money will pay for, or as he can get on credit. When excited by strong drinks, such as maize beer, chicha, and brandy, to which they are very much addicted, the Indian miners are exceedingly quarrelsome. The laborers belonging to the different mines go about the streets rioting and attacking each other, and they frequently get involved in dangerous affrays. No Sunday or Friday pa.s.ses over without the occurrence of battles, in which knives, sticks, and stones are used as weapons; and the actors in these scenes of violence inflict on each other severe and often fatal wounds. Any effective police interference to quell these street riots, is out of the question.

When an unusually abundant produce of the mines throws extra payment into the hands of the mine laborers, they squander their money with the most absurd extravagance, and they are excellent customers to the European dealers in dress and other articles of luxury. Prompted by a ludicrous spirit of imitation, the Indian, in his fits of drunkenness, will purchase costly things which he can have no possible use for, and which he becomes weary of, after an hour's possession. I once saw an Indian purchase a cloak of fine cloth, for which he paid ninety-two dollars. He then repaired to a neighboring pulperia,[72] where he drank till he became intoxicated, and then, staggering into the street, he fell down, and rolled in the kennel. On rising, and discovering that his cloak was besmeared with mud, he threw it off, and left it in the street, for any one who might choose to pick it up. Such acts of reckless prodigality are of daily occurrence. A watchmaker in Cerro de Pasco informed me that one day an Indian came to his shop to purchase a gold watch. He showed him one, observing that the price was twelve gold ounces (204 dollars), and that it would probably be too dear for him. The Cholo paid the money, and took the watch; then, after having examined it for a few minutes, he dashed it on the ground, observing that the thing was of no use to him. When the Indian miner possesses money, he never thinks of laying by a part of it, as neither he nor any of his family feel the least ambition to improve their miserable way of life. With them, drinking is the highest of all gratifications, and in the enjoyment of the present moment, they lose sight of all considerations for the future. Even those Cholos who come from distant parts of the country to share in the rich harvest of the mines of Cerro de Pasco, return to their homes as poor as when they left them, and with manners and morals vastly deteriorated.

Besides the mines of Cerro de Pasco, which in point of importance are nowise inferior to those of Potosi, there are numerous very rich mining districts in Peru. Among the most prolific may be ranked the provinces of Pataz, Huamanchuco, Caxamarca, and Hualgayoc. In this last-named province is situated the Cerro de San Fernando, on which Alexander Von Humboldt has conferred so much celebrity. The rich silver veins were discovered there in the year 1771; and there are now upwards of 1400 bocaminas. On the insulated mountain the veins of metal intersect each other in every direction, and they are alike remarkable for being easily worked and exceedingly prolific. The mines of Huantaxaya, situated on the coast in the neighborhood of Iquique, were also very rich, and the silver obtained from them was either pure or containing a very slight admixture of foreign substances. They yielded an incredible quant.i.ty of metal, but they were speedily exhausted; and are now totally barren. The chains of hills in the southern districts of Peru contain a mult.i.tude of very rich mines, of which the most remarkable are those of San Antonio de Esquilache, Tamayos, Picotani, Cancharani, and Chupicos; but owing to bad working and defective drainage, many of the veins are in a very ruinous state, and the metal drawn from them bears no proportion to the quant.i.ty they contain. The Salcedo mine is very celebrated for the vast abundance of its produce, and the tragical end of its original owner.

Don Jose Salcedo, a poor Spaniard, who dwelt in Puno, was in love with a young Indian girl, whose mother promised, on condition of his marrying her daughter, that she would show him a rich silver mine. Salcedo fulfilled the condition, obtained possession of the mine, and worked it with the greatest success. The report of his wealth soon roused the envy of the Count de Lemos, then viceroy of Peru, who sought to possess himself of the mine. By his generosity and benevolence Salcedo had become a great favorite with the Indian population, and the viceroy took advantage of this circ.u.mstance to accuse him of high treason, on the ground that he was exciting the Indians against the Spanish government.

Salcedo was arrested, tried, and condemned to death. Whilst he was in prison, he begged to be permitted to send to Madrid the doc.u.ments relating to his trial, and to appeal to the mercy of the king. He proposed, if the viceroy would grant his request, that he would pay him the daily tribute of a bar of silver, from the time when the s.h.i.+p left the port of Callao with the doc.u.ments, until the day of her return. When it is recollected that at that period the voyage from Callao to Spain occupied from twelve to sixteen months, some idea may be formed of the enormous wealth of Salcedo and his mine. The viceroy rejected this proposition, ordered Salcedo to be hanged, and set out for Puno to take possession of the mine.[73]

But this cruel and unjust proceeding failed in the attainment of its object. As soon as Salcedo's death-doom was p.r.o.nounced, his mother-in-law, accompanied by a number of relations and friends, repaired to the mine, flooded it with water, destroyed the works, and closed up the entrance so effectually that it was impossible to trace it out. They then dispersed; but some of them, who were afterwards captured, could not be induced, either by promises or tortures, to reveal the position of the mouth of the mine, which to this day remains undiscovered. All that is known about it is that it was situated in the neighborhood of Cerro de Laycacota and Cananchari.

Another extraordinary example of the productiveness of the Peruvian mines, is found at San Jose, in the department of Huancavelica. The owner of the mines of San Jose requested the viceroy Castro, whose friend he was, to become G.o.dfather to his first child. The viceroy consented, but at the time fixed for the christening, some important affair of state prevented him from quitting the capital, and he sent the vice-queen to officiate as his proxy. To render honor to his ill.u.s.trious guest, the owner of the San Jose mines laid down a triple row of silver bars along the whole way (and it was no very short distance), from his house to church. Over this silver pavement the vice-queen accompanied the infant to the church, where it was baptized. On her return, her munificent host presented to her the whole of the silver road, in token of his grat.i.tude for the honor she had conferred on him. Since that time, the mines and the province in which they are situated have borne the name of Castrovireyna. In most of these mines the works have been discontinued. Owing to defective arrangements, one of the richest of these mines fell in, and 122 workmen were buried in the ruins. Since that catastrophe, the Indians refuse to enter the mines. Many stories are related of spirits and apparitions said to haunt the mines of Castrovireyna. I was surprised to hear these tales, for the imagination of the Indian miners is not very fertile in the creation of this sort of superst.i.tious terrors.

Notwithstanding the enormous amount of wealth, which the mines of Peru have already yielded, and still continue to yield, only a very small portion of the silver veins has been worked. It is a well-known fact, that the Indians are aware of the existence of many rich mines, the situation of which they will never disclose to the whites, nor to the detested mestizos. Heretofore mining has been to them all toil and little profit, and it has bound them in chains from which they will not easily emanc.i.p.ate themselves. For centuries past, the knowledge of some of the richest silver mines has been with inviolable secresy transmitted from father to son. All endeavors to prevail on them to divulge these secrets have hitherto been fruitless. In the village of Huancayo, there lived, a few years ago, two brothers, Don Jose and Don Pedro Yriarte, two of the most eminent mineros of Peru. Having obtained certain intelligence that in the neighboring mountains there existed some veins of pure silver, they sent a young man, their agent, to endeavor to gain further information on the subject. The agent took up his abode in the cottage of a shepherd, to whom, however, he gave not the slightest intimation of the object of his mission. After a little time, an attachment arose between the young man and the shepherd's daughter, and the girl promised to disclose to her lover the position of a very rich mine. On a certain day, when she was going out to tend her sheep, she told him to follow her at a distance, and to notice the spot where she would let fall her _manta_; by turning up the earth on that spot, she a.s.sured him he would find the mouth of a mine. The young man did as he was directed, and after digging for a little time, he discovered a mine of considerable depth, containing rich ore. Whilst busily engaged in breaking out the metal, he was joined by the girl's father, who expressed himself delighted at the discovery, and offered to a.s.sist him. After they had been at work for some hours, the old Indian handed to his companion a cup of chicha, which the young man thankfully accepted. But he had no sooner tasted the liquor than he felt ill, and he soon became convinced that poison had been mixed with the beverage.

He s.n.a.t.c.hed up the bag containing the metal he had collected, mounted his horse, and with the utmost speed galloped off to Huancayo. There, he related to Yriarte all that had occurred, described as accurately as he could the situation of the mine, and died on the following night. Active measures were immediately set on foot, to trace out the mine, but without effect. The Indian and all his family had disappeared, and the mine was never discovered.

In Huancayo there also dwelt a Franciscan monk. He was an inveterate gamester, and was involved in pecuniary embarra.s.sments. The Indians in the neighborhood of his dwelling-place were much attached to him, and frequently sent him presents of poultry, cheese, b.u.t.ter, &c. One day, after he had been a loser at the gaming-table, he complained bitterly of his misfortunes to an Indian, who was his particular friend. After some deliberation, the Indian observed, that possibly he could render him some a.s.sistance; and, accordingly, on the following evening, he brought him a large bag full of rich silver ore. This present was several times repeated; but the monk, not satisfied, pressed the Indian to show him the mine from whence the treasure was drawn. The Indian consented, and on an appointed night he came, accompanied by two of his comrades, to the dwelling of the Franciscan. They blindfolded him, and each in turn carried him on his shoulders to a distance of several leagues, into the mountain pa.s.ses. At length they set him down, and the bandage being removed from his eyes, he discovered that he was in a small and somewhat shallow shaft, and was surrounded by bright ma.s.ses of silver. He was allowed to take as much as he could carry, and when laden with the rich prize, he was again blindfolded, and conveyed home in the same manner as he had been brought to the mine. Whilst the Indians were conducting him home, he hit on the following stratagem. He unfastened his rosary, and here and there dropped one of the beads, hoping by this means to be enabled to trace his way back on the following day; but in the course of a couple of hours his Indian friend again knocked at his door, and presenting to him a handful of beads, said, "Father, you dropped your rosary on the way, and I have picked it up."

When I was in Jauja, in the year 1841, an Indian whom I had previously known, from his having accompanied me on one of my journeys in the Sierra, came to me and asked me to lend him a crow-bar. I did so, and after a few days, when he returned it, I observed that the end was covered with silver. Some time afterwards I learned that this Indian had been imprisoned by order of the sub-prefect, because he had offered for sale some very rich silver ore, and on being questioned as to where he had obtained it, his answer was that he found it on the road; a tale, the truth of which was very naturally doubted. The following year, when I was again in Jauja, the Indian paid me another visit. He then informed me that he had been for several months confined in a dark dungeon and half-starved, because the sub-prefect wanted to compel him to reveal the situation of a mine which he knew of, but that he would not disclose the secret, and adhered firmly to the statement he had made of having found the ore. After a little further conversation, he became more communicative than I had any reason to expect, though he was fully convinced I would not betray him. He confessed to me that he actually knew of a large vein containing valuable silver, of which he showed me a specimen. He further told me that it was only when he was much in want of money that he had recourse to the mine, of which the shaft was not very deep; and, moreover, that after closing it up, he always carried the loose rubbish away to a distance of some miles, and then covered the opening so carefully with turf and cactus, that it was impossible for any one to discern it. This Indian dwelt in a miserable hut, about three leagues from Jauja, and his occupation was making wooden stirrups, which employment scarcely enabled him to earn a scanty subsistence. He a.s.sured me it was only when he was called upon to pay contributions, which the government exacts with merciless rigor, that he had recourse to the mine. He then extracted about half an aroba of ore, and sold it in Jauja, in order to pay the tax levied on him.

I could quote many well-authenticated instances of the same kind; but the above examples sufficiently prove the reluctance of the Indians to disclose the secret of their hidden treasures, and their indifference about obtaining wealth for themselves. It is true that the Indians are not, in all parts of the country, so resolutely reserved as they are in Huancayo and Jauja, for all the most important mines have been made known to the Spaniards by the natives. But the Peruvian Indians are composed of many different races, and though all were united by the Incas into one nation, yet they still differ from each other in manners and character. The sentiment of hatred towards the whites and their descendants has not been kept up in an equal degree among them all. In proportion as some are friendly and social with the Creoles, others are reserved and distrustful. In general, the Indians regard with unfriendly feelings those whites who seek to trace out new mines; for they cherish a bitter recollection of the fate of Huari Capcha, the discoverer of the mines of Cerro de Pasco, who, it is said, was thrown into a dungeon by the Spaniard, Ugarte, and ended his days in captivity. I have not met with any proofs of the authenticity of this story, but I frequently heard it related by the Indians, who referred to it as their justification for withholding from the whites any directions for finding mines.

But to return to Cerro de Pasco. That city has, by its wealth, become one of the most important in the Peruvian Republic; and under improved legislation, and a judicious mining system, it might be rendered still more prosperous and fully deserving of its t.i.tle of "Treasury of Peru." Though from its situation Cerro de Pasco is cut off from the princ.i.p.al lines of communication with other parts of Peru, yet the city is itself the central point of four roads, on which there is considerable traffic. Westward runs the road to Lima, through the Quebrada of Canta, by which all the silver that is not contraband is transported to the capital. The silver, when melted into bars, is consigned to the care of the mule-drivers, merely on their giving a receipt for it; and in this manner they are sometimes entrusted with loads of the value of several hundred thousand dollars, which they convey to Lima unattended by any guards or escort. There is, however, no danger of their being plundered; for the robbers do not take the stamped bars of silver. The silver specie, on the other hand, which is sent from Lima, is escorted by a military guard as far as Llanga or Santa Rosa de Quibe. The escort is not, however, very adequate to resist the highway robbers, consisting of numerous bands of armed negroes. On the east is the road running through the Quebrada de Huarriaca to the town of Huanuco and the Huallaga Forests. The road on the north of Cerro de Pasco leads to the village of Huanuco el Viejo, one of the most remarkable places of Peru, being full of interesting ruins of the time of the Incas. From Huanuco the road leads to Huaraz, and from thence to the north coast. The south road pa.s.ses over the level heights to Tarma, Jauja, and the other southern provinces.

From the village of Pasco two roads diverge, the one leading to Lima, the other to Tarma. The former crosses the Pampa of Bombon and the Diezmo, and continues onward to the Pa.s.s of La Viuda. The latter leads by way of the Tambo Ninacaca, and the village of Carhuamayo[74] to Junin, pa.s.sing near a very large lake, situated at the height of 13,000 feet above the sea. This lake is the Laguna de Chinchaycocha,[75] which is twelve leagues long, and at its utmost breadth measures two leagues and a half. It is the largest of the South American lakes, next to the Laguna de t.i.ticaca, which is eighty-four English miles long and forty-one broad. As the lake of Chinchaycocha loses by various outlets much more water than it receives from its tributary sources, it is evident that it must be fed by subterraneous springs. Its marshy banks are overgrown by totora (_Malacochaete Totora_), and are inhabited by numerous water fowl. The Indians entertain a superst.i.tious belief that this lake is haunted by huge, fish-like animals, who at certain hours of the night leave their watery abode to prowl about the adjacent pasture lands, where they commit great havoc among the cattle. The southwestern end of the lake is intersected by a marshy piece of ground, interspersed with stones, called the Calzada, which forms a communication between the two banks of the lake. At the distance of about half a league from the lake is a village, which, under the Spanish domination, was called Reyes. Adjacent to it is the celebrated Pampa of Junin, which, on the 24th of August, 1824, was the scene of a battle between the Spanish forces, commanded by General Canterac, and the insurgents, headed by Don Simon Bolivar. The result of this battle had an important influence on the destiny of Peru. It is generally believed that treachery in the Spanish army threw the victory into the hands of the insurgents. A few days prior to the battle Bolivar is said to have received, from the Spanish camp, a letter in cypher, which he transmitted for explanation to his minister, Monteagudo, in Cerro de Pasco. The answer received from the minister was, that the letter recommended Bolivar to attack the enemy without a moment's delay, for that on the part of the Spaniards the victory was insured to him. The bearer of the letter is still living, and he does not deny that he was in the secret of the whole plot. The insurgents were victorious, and in commemoration of their triumph they gave to the village of Reyes, and to the whole province, the name of Junin, calling them after the plain on which the battle was fought.

From Junin, the road runs to the distance of eight leagues across a difficult level height, to Cacas, a hamlet containing only a few huts. From thence, it is continued three leagues further, through several narrow Quebradas, and finally terminates in the beautiful valley of Tarma.

Many of the Indians in the neighborhood of Cerro de Pasco, especially those who dwell in the Puna, in the direction of Cacas, infest the roads for the purpose of plunder. They conceal themselves behind the rocks, where they lie in wait for travellers, whom they severely wound, and sometimes even kill, by stones hurled from their slings. When great boyas occur in the mines of the Cerro, these roads are so unsafe that it is not prudent to travel, except in well-armed parties. The solitary traveller who seeks a night's lodging in one of the Puna huts, exposes himself to great peril; for the host not unfrequently a.s.sa.s.sinates his sleeping guest. Nor is there much greater security in villages, such as Junin and Carhuamayo. Only a few years ago, the bodies of three travellers were found in the house of the Alcalde of Junin, the princ.i.p.al authority in the village. The travellers had sought shelter for the night, and were inhumanly murdered. Every year persons known to have been travelling in these parts, mysteriously disappear, and there is every reason to believe they have been murdered by the Indians. Many of these Indians are mine laborers, who, for their incorrigible turpitude, have been banished from the Cerro, and who live by pillage.