as bright a green as verdigris, from the beds of alfalfa, a kind of
clover. We proceeded to Los Hornos, another mining district, where the
principal hill was drilled with holes, like a great ants'-nest. The
Chilian miners are a peculiar race of men in their habits. Living for
weeks together in the most desolate spots, when they descend to the
villages on feast-days, there is no excess of extravagance into which
they do not run. They sometimes gain a considerable sum, and then,
like sailors with prize-money, they try how soon they can contrive to
squander it. They drink excessively, buy quantities of clothes, and in
a few days return penniless to their miserable abodes, there to work
harder than beasts of burden. This thoughtlessness, as with sailors,
is evidently the result of a similar manner of life. Their daily food
is found them, and they acquire no habits of carefulness: moreover,
temptation and the means of yielding to it are placed in their power at
the same time. On the other hand, in Cornwall, and some other parts of
England, where the system of selling part of the vein is followed, the
miners, from being obliged to act and think for themselves, are a
singularly intelligent and well-conducted set of men.
The dress of the Chilian miner is peculiar and rather picturesque He
wears a very long shirt of some dark-coloured baize, with a leathern
apron; the whole being fastened round his waist by a bright-coloured
sash. His trousers are very broad, and his small cap of scarlet cloth
is made to fit the head closely. We met a party of these miners in
full costume, carrying the body of one of their companions to be
buried. They marched at a very quick trot, four men supporting the
corpse. One set having run as hard as they could for about two hundred
yards, were relieved by four others, who had previously dashed on ahead
on horseback. Thus they proceeded, encouraging each other by wild
cries: altogether the scene formed a most strange funeral.
We continued travelling northward, in a zigzag line; sometimes stopping
a day to geologize. The country was so thinly inhabited, and the track
so obscure, that we often had difficulty in finding our way. On the
12th I stayed at some mines. The ore in this case was not considered
particularly good, but from being abundant it was supposed the mine
would sell for about thirty or forty thousand dollars (that is, 6000 or
8000 pounds sterling); yet it had been bought by one of the English
Associations for an ounce of gold (3l. 8s.). The ore is yellow
pyrites, which, as I have already remarked, before the arrival of the
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