This Feeling Of Inequality Is A
Necessary Consequence Of The Existence Of An Aristocracy Of
Wealth.
It is said that some few of the greater landowners
possess from five to ten thousand pounds sterling per
Annum:
an inequality of riches which I believe is not met with in
any of the cattle-breeding countries eastward of the Andes.
A traveller does not here meet that unbounded hospitality
which refuses all payment, but yet is so kindly offered that
no scruples can be raised in accepting it. Almost every house
in Chile will receive you for the night, but a trifle is
expected to be given in the morning; even a rich man will
accept two or three shillings. The Gaucho, although he may be
a cutthroat, is a gentleman; the Guaso is in few respects
better, but at the same time a vulgar, ordinary fellow. The
two men, although employed much in the same manner, are
different in their habits and attire; and the peculiarities
of each are universal in their respective countries. The Gaucho
seems part of his horse, and scorns to exert himself except when
on his back: the Guaso may be hired to work as a labourer in
the fields. The former lives entirely on animal food; the latter
almost wholly on vegetable. We do not here see the white
boots, the broad drawers and scarlet chilipa; the picturesque
costume of the Pampas. Here, common trousers are protected
by black and green worsted leggings. The poncho,
however, is common to both. The chief pride of the Guaso
lies in his spurs, which are absurdly large. I measured one
which was six inches in the _diameter_ of the rowel, and the
rowel itself contained upwards of thirty points. The stirrups
are on the same scale, each consisting of a square, carved
block of wood, hollowed out, yet weighing three or four
pounds. The Guaso is perhaps more expert with the lazo
than the Gaucho; but, from the nature of the country, he
does not know the use of the bolas.
August 18th. - We descended the mountain, and passed
some beautiful little spots, with rivulets and fine trees.
Having slept at the same hacienda as before, we rode during the
two succeeding days up the valley, and passed through Quillota,
which is more like a collection of nursery-gardens than
a town. The orchards were beautiful, presenting one mass
of peach-blossoms. I saw, also, in one or two places the
date-palm; it is a most stately tree; and I should think a
group of them in their native Asiatic or African deserts must
be superb. We passed likewise San Felipe, a pretty straggling
town like Quillota. The valley in this part expands into
one of those great bays or plains, reaching to the foot of the
Cordillera, which have been mentioned as forming so curious
a part of the scenery of Chile. In the evening we reached
the mines of Jajuel, situated in a ravine at the flank of the
great chain. I stayed here five days. My host the superintendent
of the mine, was a shrewd but rather ignorant Cornish
miner. He had married a Spanish woman, and did not
mean to return home; but his admiration for the mines of
Cornwall remained unbounded. Amongst many other questions,
he asked me, "Now that George Rex is dead, how
many more of the family of Rexes are yet alive?" This Rex
certainly must be a relation of the great author Finis, who
wrote all books!
These mines are of copper, and the ore is all shipped to
Swansea, to be smelted. Hence the mines have an aspect
singularly quiet, as compared to those in England: here no
smoke, furnaces, or great steam-engines, disturb the solitude
of the surrounding mountains.
The Chilian government, or rather the old Spanish law,
encourages by every method the searching for mines. The
discoverer may work a mine on any ground, by paying five
shillings; and before paying this he may try, even in the
garden of another man, for twenty days.
It is now well known that the Chilian method of mining
is the cheapest. My host says that the two principal
improvements introduced by foreigners have been, first,
reducing by previous roasting the copper pyrites - which,
being the common ore in Cornwall, the English miners were
astounded on their arrival to find thrown away as useless:
secondly, stamping and washing the scoriae from the old
furnaces - by which process particles of metal are recovered
in abundance. I have actually seen mules carrying to the
coast, for transportation to England, a cargo of such cinders.
But the first case is much the most curious. The Chilian
miners were so convinced that copper pyrites contained not
a particle of copper, that they laughed at the Englishmen
for their ignorance, who laughed in turn, and bought their
richest veins for a few dollars. It is very odd that, in a
country where mining had been extensively carried on for many
years, so simple a process as gently roasting the ore to expel
the sulphur previous to smelting it, had never been discovered.
A few improvements have likewise been introduced in some of the
simple machinery; but even to the present day, water is
removed from some mines by men carrying it up the shaft in
leathern bags!
The labouring men work very hard. They have little time
allowed for their meals, and during summer and winter they
begin when it is light, and leave off at dark. They are paid
one pound sterling a month, and their food is given them:
this for breakfast consists of sixteen figs and two small loaves
of bread; for dinner, boiled beans; for supper, broken roasted
wheat grain. They scarcely ever taste meat; as, with the
twelve pounds per annum, they have to clothe themselves, and
support their families. The miners who work in the mine
itself have twenty-five shillings per month, and are allowed
a little charqui.
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