Some proprietors pay the labourers, who are indians and mestizos, daily, but others allow them a bonus of twenty-four hours in each week, during which time the ore which they extract belongs to themselves; and purchasers are always ready on the Saturday night to buy it of them. In this case a great deal of roguery is generally practised. If the labourers find a rich vein they endeavour to hide it till the Friday night and then extract it for themselves; and it is no uncommon thing for this ore to yield twenty or thirty marks to the caxon, when that taken out during the week will not average above eight or ten. The ore is carried to the mouth of the mine in bags made of hide, called capachos, on the shoulders of men called capacheros; it is there received by the mayor domo, and laid on the ground in a heap; hence it is conveyed on the backs of mules or llamas to the taona or ingenio. The first is a mill similar to a bark mill, a stone, like a mill stone, is placed vertically on a wooden axletree, on which it revolves; to the end of this a mule or bullock, or sometimes two, are fastened, and drag the stone round. The stone moves in a groove, into which the ore is thrown; a small stream of water runs along the groove, and washes away many of the impurities, particularly the earth. When the ore is ground sufficiently small it forms a mass with the water, and is taken out of the taona and mixed with a quantity of quicksilver; it is thus allowed to remain a few days, when it is turned over with a spade, and trod on, in order to incorporate the mercury with the mass. This operation is repeated two, three, or more times, till the amalgam is formed; more mercury is added when necessary, which is known by taking a small portion of the mass and washing away the extraneous matter; if the amalgam, pella, be hard and granulous, more is added; if not, the whole mass is thrown into a cistern, and a small stream of water allowed to run into it. A man keeps this in motion with a pole till the water has washed away all the earth and other impurities when the amalgam has collected into one mass; it is then put into a strainer of coarse linen or hair, and the superabundant mercury is pressed out; the silver, containing some mercury, is placed in a heated furnace, by which means the remaining quicksilver is evaporated, and the porous ball is called plata de piña. Before this can be sold it is carried to the callana, royal office, where it is melted, the royal fifth paid, and the bar marked with the initials of the treasurer, the date of the year, and the weight. The exportation of plata piña was strictly forbidden by the Spanish colonial laws, and some persons who have run the risk of purchasing it have been most miserably deceived; for, on cutting the lumps, they have found adulterated silver in the centre, lead, and even stones, which could not be discovered except by cutting the lumps into pieces. Another method of cheating was, by allowing part of the mercury to remain in the mass, which increases its weight, and can only be detected by subjecting it to the heat of a furnace. Base metals were sometimes included in the bars which had not the mark of the treasury on them; but by putting these into a proper box containing water, and comparing the quantity of water displaced with the weight of the bar, the trick might easily be discovered.
The ingenio differs from the taona only in the operation being performed with the aid of a water-wheel instead of mules or bullocks. Some of the taonas are so rudely constructed, that they have two or three stones lashed to the horizontal pole or axletree, and these are dragged round by mules or bullocks, and grind the ore on a stone floor laid below them. Some ores require roasting in a furnace before they are crushed; but others are carried from the mine to the mill. The silver is extracted from a few kinds of ore by smelting, which has induced several foreigners to try various experiments, as the saving of labour and other expensive operations would be of serious advantage; but universal failures have been the result; for the ore always came out of the furnaces converted into a hard black ponderous cinder, and was sometimes vitrified.
The town of Chiquian has a very neat appearance: a large square forms the centre of it, on one side of which there is a well built stone church, and the house of the cura; on another stands the cabildo, and two or three respectable looking houses with stone doorways, large folding doors, white walls, and the roofs tiled—but they are only one story high. The other two sides are filled with houses and shops, and in the centre of the square is a large wooden cross on a stone pedestal. Streets lead from the corners of the square, in which there are some neat small houses with pretty gardens. Excellent cheese is made on some of the farms in the neighbourhood—not surpassed in richness of flavour by the best parmesan: the butter here is also good, but it is churned from boiled milk, and has a peculiar taste, which, however, is not disagreeable.
During my stay, I visited Cajatambo, the capital of the district, and the residence of the subdelegado: the town is larger than Chiquian; but not so pleasantly situated. The corregidores, as the governors were formerly called, had the privilege of repartimientos, or distributions, which was certainly the most oppressive law that was ever enacted. The corregidor, according to this establishment, monopolized the whole trade of the province or district; he had a store of goods and distributed them among the inhabitants, particularly the indians, telling them the price, and when the payment would become due; at which time the debt was exacted with the greatest rigour. It was in vain for any person to resist either to receive the goods, or to pay the value of them. During the repartimientos, that of Cajatambo amounted to a hundred and thirty thousand dollars annually; and the alcavala, or duty on sales of property, to twelve hundred dollars; but this tax was never paid by the indians, because they were exempted by law.
The order for the establishment of repartimientos of goods was obtained in the same manner as Ovando obtained his from Isabella for that of the indians at Hispaniola. The laziness and slothful habits of these unfortunate beings were urged to procure an order or edict, allowing the corregidores to distribute such articles among them as were necessary for their comfort, and oblige them to pay at a reasonable time, leaving to the distributor a necessary profit; but the abuse of this institution became so great as to be almost beyond description. Many corregidores, who were not possessed of property to purchase what they wanted of the merchants, would receive on credit their most miserable stock of commodities, and then distribute them to the indians, laying on an enormous profit. Gauzes, stained velvets, muslins, unfashionable calicoes, and all the dregs of a draper's store were sent to the houses of the indians, probably in a climate severely cold, where these suffering wretches had not a blanket to cover themselves, nor perhaps a shirt on their backs. Spirituous liquors were distributed in the same manner; a jar worth forty dollars would be sent to the house of an indian who had a few mules, horses, or other cattle, which, when the time of payment arrived, were often sold to meet the demand of the governor. I was assured, that a corregidor of Huamalies took on credit several large cases of common spectacles, and issued an order in his district, that no indian should present himself before him, in his judicial capacity, without having a pair on his nose; by which means he obliged them to purchase such useless articles, and to advance the sale, whenever a complaint was made, he would summon as many witnesses as he possibly could.
A considerable quantity of wool, some of which is of a short staple, but very fine, is carried to Lima, where it is principally made up into mattresses: this district sends also large flocks of sheep and some oxen to the Lima market. Copperas is found in several parts of it, and great quantities of gypsum, yeso, which is carried to different places on the coast, and used in whitewashing the houses.
The dress of the inhabitants is similar to the dress of those who reside on the coast; the poncho is seldom or never dispensed with among the men, indeed the cold makes it quite necessary. In Caxatambo and Chiquian, evening parties are very common; no invitation is necessary except the sound of the guitar, and I have spent many very agreeable hours in listening to the cachuas, and yarabis—it is delightful to hear both their merry tunes, and their doleful songs. To the former they generally dance, the figure ending with each verse; this dance is somewhat similar to the Spanish fandango, or boleras; two persons dance it; and with few variations it consists of tripping backwards and forwards, then forming a semi-circle, the man dancing towards the right, whilst his partner dances in the opposite direction; this is repeated two or three times, and the dance generally concludes with a sapateo, beating time to the music with their feet. The dance is something like a minuet, but the movements are quicker. If a couple dance a minuet, they generally receive the noisy applause of the lookers on, and not unfrequently a handful of money is thrown at the feet of the lady by some enamorado, when the boys and girls immediately run to pick it up; this creates a bustle, and it is not uncommon for the young lady to be almost unable to extricate herself from the rabble, even with the assistance of her partner. The following was the favourite cachua in Cajatambo, introduced, I believe, by an Andalusian:—
Yo tengo una cachucha, en que camino de noche
Y andando mi cachuchita, parece que ando en coche