According to this table, the quantity of mercury extracted from the great mine of Huancavelica, amounted in the first 96 years, to the sum of 523,472 quintals. There has been obtained in the following periods,

From 1667 to 1672

1673 to 1683

49,026 quintals.

60,000

We find no mention in the archives of the

treasury, of the produce of the mine between 1684 and 1713; but it was

From these data, it appears that the mine has generally yielded from four to six thousand quintals of mercury per annum. In the most abundant years between 1586 and 1589, the produce amounted to 10,500 quintals.

Besides the cinnabar which is contained in the bed of quartz freestone, of the Cerro de Santa Barbara de Huancavelica, there is also some in this same part of the Cordilleras, especially near Sillacasa, in small veins which traverse the alpine limestone (alpenkalkstein); but these veins which are frequently full of calcedony, do not follow regular directions; they cross and drag frequently, and form nests

or metallic masses*. For these fifteen years, all the mercury which Huancavelica supplies to the miners of Peru, is derived from these last mineral depositories, the metalliferous bed (erzflöz) of the great mine of Santa Barbara, having been completely abandoned, owing to the falling in which took place in the pertinencia of the Brocal. Avarice and carelessness were the cause of this unfortunate accident. So early as 1780, the directors of the mine had difficulty in furnishing the quantity of mercury required, for the continually increasing wants of the Peruvian amalgamation. The deeper the works became, the cinnabar grew also more impure, and mixed with sulphuretted arsenic. As the bed forms a mass of an extraordinary volume, it could only be worked by longitudinal and transversal galleries. support the roof, pillars were left from distance to distance, as is practised in the coal and salt mines. An intendant of Huancavelica, a lawyer, and a praise-worthy man in other respects for his knowledge and integrity, had the temerity to remove these pillars to increase the produce of the mine. This operation had the effect which every intelligent miner might have easily predicted; the rock deprived of

To

Nidos, bolsas y clavos (Zusammen-scharende Trümmer).
In quer und pfeiler-bau,

support yielded to the pressure; the roof tumbled in, and as this falling in took place in the greater part of the upper pertinencia, that of the Brocal, the works in the two inferior pertinencias, Comedio, and Cochapata; were also obliged to be given up. The master miners accused the intendant, of having removed the pillars to ingratiate himself at the Court of Madrid, by procuring in a very few years a great quantity of mercury. The intendant on his part affirmed, that he had acted altogether with the consent of the master miners, who thought the pillars might be replaced by heaps of rubbish. In place of taking a decisive part, and working the metalliferous bed in other points, they lost eight years in sending from time to time commissaries to the spot to institute a process, and dispute about vain formalities. When I left Lima, they were waiting for a decision of the Court; the great mine was shut up; but they had given free permission to the Indians from 1795, to work the cinnabar veins which traverse the alpine lime stone, between Huancavelica and Sillacasa. The annual produce of these petty operations, amounted to 3200 or 3500 quintals. As by law, all the mercury must be delivered into the treasury (caxas reales) of Huancavelica, I shall give from the account books the produce between 1790 and 1800.

It has been asked whether in the present state of things it would be prudent to clear out the old works of the great mine*, or if they ought to engage in new trials. From the memoirs drawn up by the Baron de Nordenflycht, it appears to be absolutely false that the mine of Santa Barbara was exhausted when they were so imprudent as to remove the pillars. In the pertinenca de Cochapata, at 228 varas of depth, cinnabar minerals have been found, equally rich with those of the Brocal; but as for ages, the works have been under the direction of ignorant men, detitute of all knowledge of subterra

*Before the year 1795, seven thousand alpacas and llamas led and governed by intelligent dogs carried the mercury minerals from the Cerro De Santa Barbara, to the furnaces supplied with aludel which are situated near the Town of Huancavelica.

neous geometry, they have given the work the form of a cylinder, whose axis is inclined from north to south. Near the surface in the Brocal, the metalliferous bed has almost never been wrought on the south side; but on the other hand, in the depth at Cochapata, the galleries have been for a very small way carried northwards. This particular disposition of the works has given reason for believing the cinnabar is lost towards the bottom of the mine; but if it has been found in less abundance, it is because, in perpetually deepening towards the south, they entered insensibly into the sterile part of the bed of quartz or freestone.

Notwithstanding the justness of these considerations, it seems by no means prudent to advise the clearing out of the old mine; for this operation would require an immense expense, and the old works were so badly disposed that it is impossible to derive any advantage from them. The metalliferous bed of the Cerro de Santa Barbara, extends many leagues beyond Sillacasa, even as far as above the village of Guachucalpa: and by beginning to work on points which have hitherto remained untouched, there would hardly be a doubt of the success of the operations; for nothing can be a stronger proof of the abundance of the mercury in this part of the