Potosí

“ The city of Potosi, included in this jurisdiction, is in 19° 47' south latitude, and 67° 22' west longitude, east-south-east of Lima in Peru, in a country inclosed by the mountainous district of Porco; the climate is cold, and the environs very barren, the valleys being destitute of wood, the sides of the hills covered only with moss, and their summits capped with eternal snows. ”

“ Potosi is a little native settlement at the junction of the two rivers, a hundred miles above Bolivar, and Bolivar, as you know, is two hundred and fifty miles up the Orinoco from here. They run the gold into bars at the mines, pack it two bars in a box, and send the box in a big canoe down to Potosi, with a guard of three or four armed men. From Potosi it goes in the steamer to Bolivar, and from Bolivar it is carried, along with other things, by great teams of forty and sixty bullocks over the mountains to Caracas, the capital, where it is coined in the mint. ”

“ The trees hide every thing but those dancing lights on the church tops. Even in the chief cities every thing is lowly but the church. That is every thing. San Luis Potosi is that congregation of flashing minarets, the chief city of Central Mexico. All over the green valley are corresponding points of glittering gray and gold, telling where subordinate churches rule subordinate towns. Clouds that have hugged us close all day lift a little to let us drink in the beauty of the scene. ”

“ The mountains are bare of timber, and a camping expedition would run grave danger of freezing.
“For three hundred years, Potosi has been the center of a silver mining region that has given up wealth seemingly without exhaustion. More than two billion ounces of silver have been taken from the mountain on which it stands, and the mines are still in operation. It is probably the most famous mountain in the world, this Cerro of Potosi.
“It was from Bolivia,” Mr. Hampton added, “that the Inca civilization started on its career of conquest. ”

“ At night, the cold returns, and it seems almost as chill as during our New England March. Potosi is situated at an elevation of 13,265 feet above the level of the sea, and is the highest inhabited place on the face of the globe. ”

“ Before I proceed with my narrative, I must give some little account of the celebrated town in which I now found myself. Potosi is situated within a circle of mountains, and stands at the foot of a lofty peak which rises far above the rest. ”

“ On the high plateau of the Andes there are great cities: Potosi with a hundred thousand inhabitants is at 4,165 meters, and the partial pressure of oxygen there is about 13 per cent. of an atmosphere in place of 71 per cent, at sea-level; railways and mines have been worked up to altitudes of 14,000 to 15,000 feet. At Potosi girls dance half the night, and toreadors display their skill in the ring. On the slopes of the Himalayas shepherds take their flocks to altitudes of 18,000 feet. No disturbance is felt by the inhabitants or those who reach these great altitudes slowly and by easy stages. ”

“ The State of San Luis Potosi is another centre of mineral wealth, its silver mines having been known of old to the ancient Mexicans. Indeed, it was named by the Spaniards after the famous silver-bearing country of Potosi in Peru. It has a population to-day of over half a million, a delightfully mild climate, mountainous scenery in parts, and San Luis
Potosi. it is watered by several large rivers. Agriculture is in a high state of advancement, the sugar-cane and the maguey both yielding large returns, as do the native textile plants, the crops of which have a high annual value. ”

“ The famous, though not fabulous, silver field of Bolivia was the Potosi. It is said that there may be people in the world who never have heard of Bolivia, but there can be no one to whom the name Potosi is unknown. ”

“ San Luis Potosí has hardly proved a more fruitful field of archæological research. Mayer gives a cut representing a stone axe from this state; Cabrera reports some ancient tombs, or cuicillos,—which he calls cuiztillos; the word being written differently by different authors, and as applied to different states—in the suburbs of the city of San Luis Potosí; and according to a newspaper report two idols and a sacrificial basin, cut from a concrete sandstone, were found in the sierra near the city and brought to New Orleans. ”

“ Potosi suffers for lack of modern methods, as much as do the mines of Peru and other South American countries; nearly all the mining is done by Indians, who adhere to the processes that have been in use for centuries; the spirit of enterprise does not prevail here, and until it does there will be no revival of the business. ”

“ All the Yanaconas who had been employed in searching for gold in the province of Carabaya, and in the auriferous rivers in different parts of southern Peru, flocked to Potosi, where they were able to make vastly more profit by their labour than in any other place. From various indications, those who are most experienced in mining believe that Potosi will always continue productive and cannot be easily exhausted [27] . ”

“ Leaving this richly endowed agricultural region for the still richer location of Bolivia’s mineral wealth, the traveler ascends to the great plateau on which the capital and important cities are built. At Potosí one is in the heart of the great silver country. From one mountain here, the Cerro de Potosí itself, over three billion dollars’ worth of silver has been taken since its discovery in 1545. ”

“ In South America, the mines of Potosi, Cerro di Pasco, and Gualgayoc, are the most renowned for their richness. In 1545, an Indian, while pursuing some deer along the declivity of a steep mountain, took hold of a shrub, the roots of which, giving way, brought to view a mass of silver, the first discovery of the riches which have rendered Potosi the proverbial symbol of wealth. ”

“ Potosi has originally afforded such surprising quantities of silver, that it has been proverbial for its treasure: the town stands at the bottom of the famous mountain where the mines lye, and is very populous. The country is obliged by the 281 king’s order to send a great number of Indians yearly to work in those mines; for all white faces are excused from servitude, and the Nigros are not able to work in them because the cold will kill them: but they are imployd in all other business on the surface; so that the native Indians are only destined to this labour. ”

“ The Peruvian Indians are a strong, healthy race, though not very tall, and generally laborious, for every kind of labor is performed by them. In Potosi, however, the miners, all Indians, have acquired a character for habits of idleness and a propensity to defraud their employers, which it must be admitted is not altogether without foundation, though I think the cause of the evils complained of may be traced to harsh treatment, or to unwarrantable exactions of some sort, aggression being as frequent on one side as delinquency on the other. ”

“ The climate of Potosi is healthy, especially for the Indians, for few or none fall ill there. The silver is conveyed by the royal road to Cuzco, or to the city of Arequipa, which is near the port of Quilca. Most of it is carried by sheep, without which it would be very difficult to travel in this kingdom, owing to the great distance between the cities, and the want of other beasts. ”

“ Potosi, which is the heart of the Indias, is threatening to give out; for it alone yielded for forty years an amount that it cannot now yield, although aided by the opening of many mines which [154] sustain its reputation. The mines of Nueva Reino [i.e., New Granada] and of Nueva España have lost a part of what they had. The cost of mining is greater, the mines are poorer, and, consequently, the gains less, and less the amount obtained. Therefore, since this was the first cause of the greatness of the Indias, it is not remarkable that with its deficiency their commerce has declined. ”

“ About four years before the appointment of the marshal Alonzo de Alvarado to the mayoralty and government of Cuzco, a party of two hundred soldiers marched from Potosi towards the province of Tucuman; most of whom, contrary to the orders of the judges, had Indians to carry their baggage. On this occasion, the licentiate Esquival, who was governor of Potosi, seized upon one Aguira, who had two Indians to carry his baggage ”

“ Beyond this desert, the most inaccessible chain in the Andes rises and forbids approach to the fair country enclosed within. On the summit of this chain is the celebrated mountain Potosi, now nearly exhausted of its treasures: the town is situated in a district wholly destitute of vegetation. Passing from the Ceno de Pasco through the town of Larma, we enter the valley of Janja, and shortly find ourselves in a country presenting a strange contrast to the one we have just left. A succession of the most fertile valleys in the world. ”

“ At Potosi, however, the encouragement was equal to the abundance of the acquired riches. Thirteen thousand Indians were placed on a permanent establishment, and constantly engaged in the different tasks assigned to them; at the same time that five thousand quintals of mercury were annually consumed, in separating the metal from the ores. This extraordinary consumption was owing to the ignorant method of assigning to each quintal of silver, an equal quantity of that necessary ingredient. ”

“ The climate of the mountain region and table lands is cold, while that of the lower elevations and flats towards the eastern boundary is much warmer, and, at certain seasons, very unhealthy.
The State of San Luis Potosi is divided into four departments, ten cantons, and fifty-two municipalities, with a population of over 300,000. ”

“ Subsequently, in 1546, when Gonzalo Pizarro, in opposition to the crown, was master of Peru, large quantities of metal were extracted by his general Francisco de Carbajal. So rich were the veins opened at Potosí that almost all other mines were abandoned as unprofitable, and so common became this metal that iron at Potosi was worth nearly its weight in silver. ”

“ The two intendancies New Biscay and Sonora, then part of San Luis Potosi, belonged to the provinces of Coahuila and Texas. The interior provinces of the viceroyalty were the intendancy of San Luis Potosi, including the provinces of New Leon and New Santander. The actual kingdom of New Spain was composed of the intendancies of Mexico, Puebla, Vera Cruz, Guadalajara, Valladolid, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Oajaca, Merida, and San Luis, proper, and the two Californias. ”

“ At present the farms and lands are very valuable by reason of the rich mines that have been discovered at Potosi. Several rivers of very good water flow near, and many cows, mares, and goats are bred on the estates of the Spaniards. Some of the citizens of this town are among the richest and most prosperous people in the Indies, for in the years 1548 and{383} 1549 a repartimiento belonging to the general Pedro de Hinojosa [507] yielded a rent of more than one hundred thousand castellanos, and others yielded eighty thousand, some even more. ”

“ The Mines of Potosi exceed all other, because the Diggers never meet with any Water, notwithstanding they work above two hundred Fathom under Ground, whereas the other Silver Mines suffer great damage by the Water; which was also the reason why the Spaniards left off digging of Silver in Porco, because they were not onely forc’d to cut through hard Rocks, but ran greater danger, or at least bestow’d extraordinary labor to get out the Water which broke in upon them. ”

“ At Potosi there are a vast number of mines; and those of Tomina, Chocaia, Atacuna, Xuxui, Calchaques, Guasco, Iquique, &c. are all wrought with more or less profit, according to the skill of the proprietors or managers. ”

“ The Corregidors or magistrates who overlook those Indians appointed to work in the mines, summon them to set out all together on a certain day. They generally take their wives and children with them, who, with tears in their eyes, leave their native homes, and travel unwillingly on to the house of bondage. Many indeed forget their habitation, and after the years end settle at Potosi, which is the chief reason that town is so populous, and almost equals the city of Lima as to its number of inhabitants. ”

“ The ore of Potosi is very rich, but, for that matter, so are the ores of Puno and Cerro de Pasco. Some deposits yield as high as two hundred dollars a ton. When you bear in mind that the miners of California find a profit in working mineral at ten dollars a ton you can realize the wealth of the silver deposits of the Andes. ”

“ Potosí is essentially a mining department, though agriculture and grazing occupy some attention in the eastern valleys. The western plateau is rich in minerals, especially silver and copper. The Huanchaca group of mines, situated on the slopes of the eastern Cordillera, overlooking the Pampa de Empeza, has the largest output of silver in Bolivia. ”

“ This fear of water may be the result of the constant coldness of the climate and the piercing winds which are seldom absent from the bleak heights of the Andes. The Indians all have a dreadfully unwashed look about them, and their places of public resort, such as the “recoba,” or market-place, are perfect pig-sties. The principal object of interest in Potosí is the mint, where is to be seen the only steam-engine at work in Bolivia. ”