"On the 27th July, 1816, the first steam-engine was set to work at Santa Rosa, one of the mines of Pasco, under the direction of Mr. Bull (vide despatch of that date, signed José G. de Prada).
"On the 20th October, 1816, Capt. Trevithick sailed for Lima in the 'Asp,' South Sea whaler, Capt. Kenny, accompanied by Mr. Page, a gentleman of London, and James Saunders, of Camborne, an engine maker; and on the 6th February, 1817, they arrived at Lima, where Capt. Trevithick was immediately introduced to the Viceroy by Don P. Abadia, and he received the most marked attention from the inhabitants (vide 'Lima Gazette' of 12th February).
"Perhaps you will think it proper to notice the furnaces which Captain Trevithick took out in the 'Asp' to Lima for the purpose of purifying the silver by sulphur. A great expense will be saved by these means. Any further information which I can afford you I will readily give.
"I am, dear Sir,
"Your very obedient and humble servant,
"Rd. Edmonds.
"H. F. Boaze, Esq."
This statement, from a solicitor more than fifty years ago, inadvertently points out the difference between the steam-engine of Watt and that of Trevithick. The former said it was impossible to make engines having the required power small enough to be carried to the mountain mines, whereas a small high-pressure engine by the latter had sufficient power.
Day and Page were lawyers advising Mr. Uville in London. Page sailed from Penzance with Trevithick and James Saunders, a boiler maker, in the 'Asp,' a South Sea whaler, on the 20th October, 1816, just two years after the departure of Uville with the machinery and engines. The difficulty of conveying heavy weights up the mountain foot-paths was almost insurmountable.
Mr. Rowe, who went to these mines in 1850, says,—
"The Cerro de Pasco mines are about 170 miles from Lima; we crossed a ridge 25,000 feet high. The mines were about 13,400 feet high above the sea. There was but one road; no wheel vehicle could be used; everything was carried on mules. Sometimes the road was only 2½ feet wide, cut in precipices three or four hundred feet perpendicular: some of the men were afraid to walk, and dared not ride.