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 Classes 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. latitude 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 classes 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 classes. One class 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 class consists of those who make only temporary visits to Cerro de Pasco, when they are attracted thither by the boyas.[70] This latter class 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 classes, 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 surreptitiously 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, assisted 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 amass 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.