mining
districts in Peru. Among the most prolific may be ranked the provinces
of Pataz, Huamanchuco, Caxamarca, and Hualgayoc. In this last-named
province is situated the Cerro de San Fernando, on which Alexander Von
Humboldt has conferred so much celebrity. The rich silver veins were
discovered there in the year 1771; and there are now upwards of 1400
bocaminas. On the insulated mountain the veins of metal intersect each
other in every direction, and they are alike remarkable for being easily
worked and exceedingly prolific. The mines of Huantaxaya, situated on
the coast in the neighborhood of Iquique, were also very rich, and the
silver obtained from them was either pure or containing a very slight
admixture of foreign substances. They yielded an incredible quantity of
metal, but they were speedily exhausted; and are now totally barren. The
chains of hills in the southern districts of Peru contain a multitude of
very rich mines, of which the most remarkable are those of San Antonio
de Esquilache, Tamayos, Picotani, Cancharani, and Chupicos; but owing to
bad working and defective drainage, many of the veins are in a very
ruinous state, and the metal drawn from them bears no proportion to the
quantity they contain. The Salcedo mine is very celebrated for the vast
abundance of its produce, and the tragical end of its original owner.

Don Jose Salcedo, a poor Spaniard, who dwelt in Puno, was in love with a
young Indian girl, whose mother promised, on condition of his marrying
her daughter, that she would show him a rich silver mine. Salcedo
fulfilled the condition, obtained possession of the mine, and worked it
with the greatest success. The report of his wealth soon roused the envy
of the Count de Lemos, then viceroy of Peru, who sought to possess
himself of the mine. By his generosity and benevolence Salcedo had
become a great favorite with the Indian population, and the viceroy took
advantage of this circumstance to accuse him of high treason, on the
ground that he was exciting the Indians against the Spanish government.
Salcedo was arrested, tried, and condemned to death. Whilst he was in
prison, he begged to be permitted to send to Madrid the documents
relating to his trial, and to appeal to the mercy of the king. He
proposed, if the viceroy would grant his request, that he would pay him
the daily tribute of a bar of silver, from the time when the ship left
the port of Callao with the documents, until the day of her