The Folly
Of The Greater Number Of The Commissioners And Shareholders
Amounted To Infatuation; - A Thousand Pounds Per Annum
Given
In some cases to entertain the Chilian authorities;
libraries of well-bound geological books; miners brought out
for particular metals,
As tin, which are not found in Chile;
contracts to supply the miners with milk, in parts where
there are no cows; machinery, where it could not possibly
be used; and a hundred similar arrangements, bore witness
to our absurdity, and to this day afford amusement to the
natives. Yet there can be no doubt, that the same capital
well employed in these mines would have yielded an immense
return, a confidential man of business, a practical
miner and assayer, would have been all that was required.
Captain Head has described the wonderful load which
the "Apires," truly beasts of burden, carry up from the
deepest mines. I confess I thought the account exaggerated:
so that I was glad to take an opportunity of weighing one
of the loads, which I picked out by hazard. It required
considerable exertion on my part, when standing directly over
it, to lift it from the ground. The load was considered under
weight when found to be 197 pounds. The apire had carried
this up eighty perpendicular yards, - part of the way by
a steep passage, but the greater part up notched poles, placed
in a zigzag line up the shaft. According to the general
regulation, the apire is not allowed to halt for breath, except
the mine is six hundred feet deep. The average load is
considered as rather more than 200 pounds, and I have been
assured that one of 300 pounds (twenty-two stone and a half)
by way of a trial has been brought up from the deepest mine!
At this time the apires were bringing up the usual load
twelve times in the day; that is 2400 pounds from eighty
yards deep; and they were employed in the intervals in breaking
and picking ore.
These men, excepting from accidents, are healthy, and appear
cheerful. Their bodies are not very muscular. They
rarely eat meat once a week, and never oftener, and then only
the hard dry charqui. Although with a knowledge that the
labour was voluntary, it was nevertheless quite revolting to
see the state in which they reached the mouth of the mine;
their bodies bent forward, leaning with their arms on the
steps, their legs bowed, their muscles quivering, the
perspiration streaming from their faces over their breasts,
their nostrils distended, the corners of their mouth forcibly
drawn back, and the expulsion of their breath most laborious.
Each time they draw their breath, they utter an articulate
cry of "ay-ay," which ends in a sound rising from deep in
the chest, but shrill like the note of a fife. After staggering
to the pile of ore, they emptied the "carpacho;" in two or
three seconds recovering their breath, they wiped the sweat
from their brows, and apparently quite fresh descended the
mine again at a quick pace. This appears to me a wonderful
instance of the amount of labour which habit, for it can be
nothing else, will enable a man to endure.
In the evening, talking with the _mayor-domo_ of these
mines about the number of foreigners now scattered over
the whole country, he told me that, though quite a young
man, he remembers when he was a boy at school at
Coquimbo, a holiday being given to see the captain of an
English ship, who was brought to the city to speak to the
governor. He believes that nothing would have induced
any boy in the school, himself included, to have gone close
to the Englishman; so deeply had they been impressed with
an idea of the heresy, contamination, and evil to be derived
from contact with such a person. To this day they relate
the atrocious actions of the bucaniers; and especially of
one man, who took away the figure of the Virgin Mary, and
returned the year after for that of St. Joseph, saying it
was a pity the lady should not have a husband. I heard
also of an old lady who, at a dinner at Coquimbo, remarked
how wonderfully strange it was that she should have lived
to dine in the same room with an Englishman; for she
remembered as a girl, that twice, at the mere cry of "Los
Ingleses," every soul, carrying what valuables they could,
had taken to the mountains.
14th. - We reached Coquimbo, where we stayed a few
days. The town is remarkable for nothing but its extreme
quietness. It is said to contain from 6000 to 8000 inhabitants.
On the morning of the 17th it rained lightly, the first time
this year, for about five hours. The farmers, who plant
corn near the sea-coast where the atmosphere is most humid,
taking advantage of this shower, would break up the ground;
after a second they would put the seed in; and if a third
shower should fall, they would reap a good harvest in the
spring. It was interesting to watch the effect of this trifling
amount of moisture. Twelve hours afterwards the ground
appeared as dry as ever; yet after an interval of ten days,
all the hills were faintly tinged with green patches; the
grass being sparingly scattered in hair-like fibres a full
inch in length. Before this shower every part of the surface
was bare as on a high road.
In the evening, Captain Fitz Roy and myself were dining
with Mr. Edwards, an English resident well known for his
hospitality by all who have visited Coquimbo, when a sharp
earthquake happened. I heard the forecoming rumble, but
from the screams of the ladies, the running of the servants,
and the rush of several of the gentlemen to the doorway, I
could not distinguish the motion. Some of the women afterwards
were crying with terror, and one gentleman said he
should not be able to sleep all night, or if he did, it would
only be to dream of falling houses.
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