# The Present State of Peru/3c

ACCOUNT OF THE QUICKSILVER MINE OF HUANCAVELICA.
Until about the middle of the sixteenth century, the method of refining silver by the means of amalgamation, or by the incorporation of mercury with the particles of that metal contained in the pulverized ores, was not perfectly known. The usual mode of refining was anteriorly reduced to a fusion effected by means more or less complicated, or to the trituration of the ores, and the deposition of the metallic particles in hydrostatic machines. Pedro Fernandez Velasco was the first to employ mercury in the refining of silver, in the year 1571; and to this respectable Spaniard America is indebted for the progress which, in pursuance of the track he struck out, has been since made in the science of mineralogy.
The mine of Huancavelica was discovered about the year 1566. It is of little import whether this discovery originated in a lump of crystallized cinnabar, accidentally found by Enrique Garces, a Portuguese, in the hand of an Indian; or whether a portion of that substance fell, by a fortunate ​casualty, in the way of Navincopa, a domestic belonging to Amador Cabrera. It is certain that in the month of September, 1570, Philip II. of Spain, purchased this mine of the above-mentioned Amador Cabrera, and that the different processes employed in working it, were immediately undertaken by the superintendant, Don Pedro De Los Rios. The first governor was Don Francisco De Angulo, during whose administration, which lasted five years, from 1571 to 1576, upwards of nine thousand quintals of mercury were extracted. The mine of Huancavelica has continued to be the exclusive property of the crown.
In the year 1735, the political system of its government was changed. It had before been confided to one of the members of the Royal Audience of Lima; but was at length invested in a particular governor, who had nothing in common with his predecessors, except the title of superintendant. About the middle of the year 1790, the superintendency was taken from the then governor, and united to the titles and domination of the viceroyalty of Lima. From the epoch of the discovery of this very valuable mine, up to the date of 1792, there were sixty-six governors, comprehending Don Manuel Ruiz De Castilla, who then held that employment.
In the course of the two hundred and nineteen years, from the earliest fusion of the ores contained in this mine, to the close of the year 1789, one million forty thousand four ​hundred and fifty-two quintals, twenty-five pounds, and two ounces of mercury were extracted, and lodged in the royal magazines. This amount being divided among the aforesaid two hundred and nineteen years, will give to each of them an average product of four thousand seven hundred and fifty quintals, twenty-nine pounds, and five ounces.
Under the head of charges and disbursements, eight millions two hundred and eighty thousand six hundred piastres were expended on the mine, and on the processes for the extraction, fusion, &c. of the ores, between the years 1571 and 1748. From the last date to the end of the year 1789, it appears, by the entries made in the royal books, that there has been an expenditure of the gross sum of two millions three hundred and four thousand two hundred and forty-five piastres, and four reals. The total amount of ten millions five hundred and eighty-seven thousand eight hundred and forty-five piastres four reals, being divided among the two hundred and nineteen years, will allow to each of them a sum of expenditure equal to forty-eight thousand three hundred and forty-six piastres, two reals and a half.
The price of quicksilver has been subject to many variations. In the year 1786, this metal produced sixty piastres per quintal; and rose gradually to seventy- three, which was its current value at the commencement of 1791. There have been times when it has been still dearer, and other moments when it has even brought less than the former of the above prices, ​according to the correspondences the mine has kept up with the interior; to the ratio of the charges incurred in working it; and, lastly, to the abundance or scarcity of the extracted ore. By estimating, however, the above cited quantity of one million forty thousand four hundred and fifty-two quintals, twenty-five pounds, and two ounces, of mercury extracted from the mine, at the fair average of the different prices at which it has been sold, it will be found to have yielded a total produce of the value of sixty-seven millions six hundred and twenty-nine thousand three hundred and ninety-six piastres, and two reals.
In this concise statement, care has been taken to correal the erroneous notices, relatively to the mine of Huancavelica, which have been published by various historians and geographers, at the same time that much novel information has been added. In the city of Huancavelica there is a fountain of hot water, which has a petrific quality, and is considered as a great curiosity in the country.
* ↑ The greatest quantity of mercury extracted in a given space of time, was under the government of Don Martin De Valanzequi. In the interval of two years, from 1646 to 1648, the mine yielded between seventeen and eighteen thousand quintals of that metal.
* ↑ From the 1st of January 1790, to the end of August of the same year when Don Pedro De Tagle y Bracho resigned his intendency of this mine, one thousand four hundred aud six quintals only were extracted.
* ↑ By deducing the expenditures, as above stated, and estimating the piastre, or dollar, at four shillings and sixpence English, it will be found that the mine of Huancavelica has yielded to Spain nearly thirteen millions sterling in the above space of time. It enjoys the exclusive privilege of supplying to the proprietors of the gold and silver mines of Peru, the quicksilver employed in the extraction of the metals from the ores.
* ↑ Among the writers who have published defective and erroneous information on this head, may be cited M. Berenger, in his continuation of Busching; the authors of the Encyclopedie Methodique; those of the Encyclopedie de Geographic; Echart, &c. &c.