They scarcely ever
taste meat; as, with the twelve pounds per annum, they have to
clothe themselves and support their families. The miners who work
in the mine itself have twenty-five shillings per month, and are
allowed a little charqui. But these men come down from their bleak
habitations only once in every fortnight or three weeks.
(PLATE 63. CACTUS (Cereus Peruviana).)
During my stay here I thoroughly enjoyed scrambling about these
huge mountains. The geology, as might have been expected, was very
interesting. The shattered and baked rocks, traversed by
innumerable dikes of greenstone, showed what commotions had
formerly taken place. The scenery was much the same as that near
the Bell of Quillota--dry barren mountains, dotted at intervals by
bushes with a scanty foliage. The cactuses, or rather opuntias,
were here very numerous. I measured one of a spherical figure,
which, including the spines, was six feet and four inches in
circumference. The height of the common cylindrical, branching
kind, is from twelve to fifteen feet, and the girth (with spines)
of the branches between three and four feet.
A heavy fall of snow on the mountains prevented me, during the last
two days, from making some interesting excursions.
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