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various situations at home and abroad. Too happy was Mr. Temple to have been appointed Secretary to the establishment at Potosi. He was assured that his situation would give independence and luxury, not only to his own precious self, but to all his posterity for ever and ever. The first act which the Secretary did was to buy up all the shares that could be had in the market, issued by his Association, a step which we are afraid leaves him minus, at this day, of the whole of his little patrimony.

Having laid, as he thought, the foundation of a country mansion and estate, with a dim prospect in the distance of the House of Commons and a peerage, our Secretary set off for Buenos Ayres, in the latter part of the glorious year already mentioned. The commencement of his journey was characteristic. Orders having been issued by the Board of Directors for the departure of the tribe of employés, they were all handed into a highly fashionable carriage provided for the occasion, and drawn by four horses. From Falmouth they made the best of their way to Buenos Ayres, and thence over the Pampas to Peru. As there are but few of our readers who are not already familiar with the route pursued by our traveller as far as Potosi, we shall take leave to join him just as he arrives within view of the celebrated mountain which has given its name to that town.

The road, as I advanced, although in no respect improved in itself, indicated the approach to a town of consideration. It was no longer an unfrequented solitude, as I had been accustomed to find it. Peasantry, with droves of asses and flocks of beautiful llamas, were to be seen passing to and fro; some strolling lazily to the city, laden with fruits, vegetables, Indian corn, flour, charcoal, fire-wood, and other necessaries; some returning from the market at a brisk pace, after disposing of their burdens, and hastening many leagues into the fruitful valleys of the country to renew them. Indians, male and female, with poultry, milk, eggs, and sundry commodities for consumption, enlivened the way, and apprized the hungry traveller that, although surrounded by bleak, uncultivated, and uncultivatable, mountains, he was still in the land of the living.

'Suddenly appeared before me, in the distance, a high mountain of a reddish brown colour, in the shape of a perfect cone, and altogether distinct in its appearance from any thing of the kind I had ever seen. There was no mistaking it: it was that mountain which was made known to the world by the merest accident, by an Indian, who, in pursuit of a llama up the steep, to save himself from falling caught hold of a shrub, which being torn from the soil exposed a mass of solid silver at the roots; it was that mountain, incapable of producing even a blade of grass, which yet had attractions sufficient to cause a city to be built at its base, at one time containing a hundred thousand inhabitants;-it was that mountain, whose hidden treasures have withstood the laborious plunder of two hundred and fifty years, and still remain unexhausted. Having said thus much of the new and striking object before me, I need scarcely add that it was the celebrated mountain of Potosi.

'Onward I rode, cheered by seeing the beacon which indicated the ter

mination of my long journey; not so my jaded mule; it received no stimulus from that which to me acted as an exhilarating draught. Forty miles upon a bad road (my mule assured me it was full forty-five) is a wearisome distance before breakfast for either man or beast; and mine, every mile I now advanced, gave indubitable evidence of exhausted strength yet the means of refreshment were far distant from us both. Patience and perseverance were our only solace; and with these two efficacious virtues, I believe in my heart honestly adhered to by both of us, we mutually assisted each other; I by alighting to walk up hills and steeps, the mule, when I remounted, by jogging on, if the path happened to be free from rocks and stones; for the approach even to the Imperial City is nothing more than a rugged path tracked out by the footsteps of men and animals.

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From the top of every eminence that I ascended for the last two hours of my journey, I felt a longing expectation of obtaining a view of the town; because to behold even at a distance the abode of rest, at the conclusion of a long voyage or journey, is a consolation, which every tra veller anxiously seeks and enjoys with sensations of real pleasure; but this consolation is denied in approaching Potosi; neither house, nor dome, nor steeple, is to be seen at a distance. The last curve round the base of the silver mountain, whose pointed top was now far above my head in a cloudless deep blue sky, brought me at once upon the town, which, with its ruined suburbs, covered a vast extent beneath me, and in ten minutes more I was at the post-house in the centre of it.

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But it is not in the post-house that the traveller is to expect repose or comfort, for even here that abode is no better than the worst in any miserable village; there is no decent apartment to retire to, no refreshment to be obtained, no bed to rest upon, not even a chair to sit on, or accommodation of any kind.

After throwing some barley to my poor mule, I sallied forth with my letters of introduction in search of a dinner; for, although I had not breakfasted, dinner hour had arrived, and there being no tavern in Potosi wherein to obtain one, I was obliged to sponge, and succeeded to my infinite gratification in the house of Don Raymundo Herena, a respectable shopkeeper, who probably never before had such a famished guest at his table.'-vol. i. pp. 282-286.

We admire the eloquence with which a certain South American author, the Senor Pazo, was inspired when he first beheld the mountain of Potosi. The splendid scenery around him did not so much engage his meditations, as the streams-no, that is not the word the rivers-nor that either the lavas-ay, that is the phrase the lavas of silver which it poured upon the world, "to animate enterprise and reward industry; to disseminate knowledge and religion, and to spread the desolations of war; marshalling armies in the field, and pointing the thunder of navies upon the ocean," &c. &c. But before we ascend the mountain let us take a survey of the town at its feet.

The streets were cleaner than those of any town I had hitherto seen in South America, and the practice of white-washing the outside of all the houses added considerably to the appearance of cleanliness. This, how

ever, does not apply to the inside, where every thing is filthy, with few exceptions, even in the first houses, some of which, like the stable of Augeas, seem not to have been cleaned for thirty years.

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'The Indians, who compose one half of the inhabitants, are, in every sense of the expression, a swinish multitude," but those who consider themselves so much their superiors are not, in every particular, a great deal better. Twenty years ago, the population of this city was reduced to half of what it once contained, and now it does not exceed twelve thousand souls.

'I entered two or three of the plundered and dismantled churches, the walls of which formerly were, in some instances, literally covered with decorations of pure silver. I strolled round that immense uncouth pile, the Casa Moneda, or Royal Mint, erected at the cost of two millions of dollars. The common average coined within its walls for many years was four millions annually, being at the rate of upwards of ten thousand dollars a-day the whole year round.

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On one side of the principal square of the city stands the government house, a long, low range of building, including Salas de Justicia, the gaol, and the guard-house. Another side of the square is occupied by a prodigious heap of gray granite, a work which the Spaniards commenced twenty years ago, and which the present government are slowly continuing: when finished, it is to be consecrated, and called the Cathedral. unsightly mass of stone I never before beheld. It has been profanely imagined, that if the pains and expense which it has cost had been bestowed in making fit approaches to the town, it would have been a work to the full as profitable for the souls and bodies of the public. In the middle of the same square, a sample of architecture worthy of the architect of the Cathedral has lately been erected. I supposed it to be a shot-manufactory, and my servant, whom I had occasion to send in that direction, inquired: "If his way was not past the big chimney?" We were both mistaken: it is a national trophy in honour of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar.'-vol. i. pp. 290, 291.

Upon the whole, our author found his situation comfortable enough, though not quite so splendid as the Secretary of the "Potosi La Paz and Peruvian Mining Association" had a right to expect. To be sure his house was not very elegantly furnished. Indeed, correctly speaking, it was not furnished at all, as he had not even a table to dine upon; however he obtained plenty of good chocolate, fresh eggs, tolerable milk, abundance of fruit and vegetables, so that in the main point of having enough to eat, he was not at all to be pitied. These delicacies did not save him from an attack of dysentery, which is the common lot of all strangers, but the serenity of the climate soon brought him round again.

The climate of Potosi I have found, as had been previously mentioned to me, to present each day the changes of the four seasons of the year. The early part of the morning is piercing cold; the forenoon is like our finest March day; from noon till about two or three o'clock the sun is broiling hot, whilst in the shade it is not only cool, but. very cold. It was out of my power to ascertain the exact difference of temperature, for there

is not in the imperial city one single thermometer, and those which we brought from England have all been broken on our journey. The evenings and early part of the nights are usually serene, and sometimes of a summer's mildness. The Creoles seem to be extremely sensible of cold, for they consider this climate an eternal winter, which they divide into "the dry winter and wet winter; but the Indians (although like the Irish peasantry, half naked,) are not so delicate. My own opinion, and I am inclined to think that all my countrymen who visit this place must be of the same, is, that, upon a fair estimate, we may consider it fine, wholesome, bracing, and by no means unpleasant weather.

I have observed that we are all liable, upon arriving here, to a severe attack of illness, but if it passes away, and good health returns as quickly as it has to me, there can be no cause for complaint.'—vol. i. pp. 297, 298.

The Baron de Humboldt remarked that the farm of Antisana, in the province of Quito, which is about 13,000 feet above the level of the sea," is, without doubt, one of the highest inhabited spots on the earth." If the more recent computations of Dr. Redhead and Mr. Pentland be correct, the town of Potosi stands at an elevation of 13,265 feet above the same level, and, consequently, may be said to be the highest inhabited spot on the earth, the Baron having mentioned no place that is higher than Antisana. Notwithstauding the lavas of the Senor Pazo, and indeed a very general notion, that all the South American mountains are of volcanic origin, our Secretary takes leave to doubt the fact with respect to the mountain of Potosi. We are not about to enter into a dissertation upon that question, still less are we disposed to bother ourselves and our amiable readers with the process of mining and amalgamation, as detailed by the Secretary in very learned language. It is but justice, however, to hear him upon one point connected with the speculation in which he was concerned, the more particularly as we have differed, and shall probably always differ, with him upon the subject, until he presents us with three or four waggon loads of real Potosian silver, to remove our scruples. Audi alteram partem is our motto.

'The remarks that were published in many of the newspapers on mining speculations, at the time of the great mania, were, if sometimes true, frequently the reverse, but very seldom free from prejudice, arising either from party spirit, the disappointment of extravagant hopes, or the design of accomplishing some private end. I recollect to have seen in a periodical, which has particularly distinguished itself for its indefatigable zeal in detecting, and its uncompromising spirit in opposing and exposing, the numerous schemes that have been concocted, some in ignorance and folly, others in absolute fraud,-the following observations on mining companies being "Extracts of a letter from Peru." "To us, at so great a distance from England, these things appear very strange, to see on the lists of directors names of men pretending to character, and many of them rich” (this climax of character, by the way, to us, who have no such ingredient to boast of, savours strongly of the city), " thus exposing themselves to be

covered with disgrace, for not one of these companies can do any good." We are not told why they cannot do any good; but had the writer stopped here, with reference to those companies, their establishments, and their plans, he would, notwithstanding the vagueness of his assertion, have been perfectly correct. But when he continues thus," It is physically impossible they can succeed, and this must be known to every man who has been here, or who would take the trouble of inquiring."-This, I reply, in his own words, every man who has been here must know, is perfectly ridiculous. What has occurred in the realms of nature, science, or art, to make it now "physically impossible" to work to advantage the silver mines of Peru? Have they not been worked for three centuries to advantage, without any other interruption than that which has taken place solely in consequence of the political events of the country? I think I hear the writer reply, that it is precisely because they have been worked for such a length of time, that they are now unproductive, nay, exhausted. But as well might it be said, that the coal-pits of Newcastle are exhausted, because they have been worked for a series of years.

"Agents from London," continues the writer," are seen or heard of in every province, bargaining for mines; they have turned the brains of the Spaniards, who had long given up mining in despair." In despair of what? I may be permitted to ask this question, because, here again, the why and the wherefore are not mentioned. The only despair that could have troubled the Spaniards, with respect to their mines, was despair of the produce, with which they annually loaded their ships, ever reaching a port of Spain when that country was at war with England. The chances then were, that every galleon which sailed for Spain would be either captured or blown up by British cruisers. Our history informs us that, even at the time of the Commonwealth, the capture of Spanish ships laden with the produce of the mines of America was considered so certain, that Cromwell expected to pay his troops from the booty, without laying new burthens on the people.

There could not have been cause for despair, under an idea that their mines were exhausted, or that there was any improbability of finding new ones. But I need not intrude any opinion of my own, when I can adduce the evidence of a distinguished authority, whose laborious investigations in the new world have been particularly directed to the subject of its mines. "The abundance of silver in the chain of the Andes is in general such, that when we reflect on the number of mineral depositories which remain untouched, or which have been very superficially wrought, we are tempted to believe that Europeans have yet scarcely begun to enjoy the inexhaustible fund of wealth contained in the New World." "I am not ignorant, that in thus expressing myself, I am directly opposed to the authors of a great number of works on political economy, in which it is affirmed, that the mines of America are partly exhausted and partly too deep ever to be worked with advantage, &c."-"It appears to me superfluous to refute opinions at variance with innumerable facts, and we ought not to be astonished at the extreme levity with which people in Europe judge of the state of the mines of the New World."*

*Humboldt, Political Essay on New Spain, vol. iii. chap. xi., where all the facts alluded to may be seen, and the corroboration of them in "Ward's Mexico."'

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