New-York daily tribune., 1858-11-19


and beans, at each meal, nor can they Be- ''an' a.
ss.n wages. At a. The best mines, 'he men re-
eeive the above prices, <nd their i0oh, or az rn''
portion Of H. on the worts whereby much lest nne =
sssei.
syo the morning after oar arrival st Don Lens. we
started early n u whit O. Mouteinaynr, the os'Ancs
beng only two leagues Ihe roed an easy a1c ofo"l
Hu!epa;h, winds ogeT i',a upper ndge- ~ =, .tn ..
psna. ,hickly.vcodei tirs, running parallel u ire
f;,:iu rai ge cf the LomO Erende. From the hIh
y.oiu Of this ridge ex,ensive ard n"et Tnef"-tn-
siw j. obtained of the l'ng liDe 81 vOicsnc-' " TINS
p.rt the Pacific coast. s3>gnnlng on the e'' nrnd
tie Cd veteran FL yieie' Iises in the fsT distasce,
the deep ridges the cone perfectly dist. sct'
"Co2egnina the first gse dian oi Fonsecs, 1t'er
IsIand Saccate Grande, the present real hshh' oi
uur,o,u,,s .igars: ConchagTa San Miguel, the hos,
rrglo- in outline # the whole, errayet iI brilliant
c9nds of smoke from the active crater on the wesirn
sl,,ne. 4, Chnameca," Saail Helena, JucHpa, Ie-
caps and finally the dstapt can Nincente.
Tbetsty of San Miguel, from its lower fltuatoI
and ns., Of tropical vegetgtoa surrounding It, is
visible iou: Jocorro San Jago Sociedad, aEd many
other Ind IN pueblos at tbe iE2ses OF the volcanoes
are clearly il -.yht Leaving ths beautiful scenery
with ueerrt g., began 10 descend a rugged cnrffa,
and in bsjf an hour reacheitbe rgenio Of Monte
MAYOR 70 breakfast. On entering the temporary
palrl-novered rancho, We rere greatly pleased 10
meet with GENERAL Cab-nas and eerai OF his Trends,
" no h.<i yida. n over thus early fOm his nine, the
ousrte 70 invite the party 70 his house their
turn This was agreed 10, the 0stera spending the
remainder Of the day with rs.
The first ohie: Of Interest 10 the visitor at Houte
mayor If an i1anense Of derk gray limestone, in
errupin the co,nus,ion Of The range Of mountains.
This magnificent pile of blocks jsttir ont in all drec-
tons is sbsas two thousand feet IN hight from the
river and nearly 800 yards vide. narrow path
lendp You 10 the basin large end deep excavation,
formed by the fall Of considerable body Of water
from the nights shove. This Dassa is same
four hundred feet higher than tie location OF the
works Of the nine Gnd during the tix months oi the
rainy season, oveIhoving furnishes abundant sup
plv If water 10 the mins, forming May bcsuiIl cas-
cades "a j. leaps from mIOck to rock smoag gigantic
cotton trees, wide-sp.eading vines, and Towering
shrubs Of every hue The Ioise Of TIE falling waters
is heard at the distance C several miles.
y'he principal vein ae this mine was discovered in
1850 by Don Leon, and was declared and held by
himself ard rotheriD-la~, Sr Dr. Carlos Dardano
untl asi year, when II wes cold TO the present com
paDy Dr. Leon retaining certain rights II is il reality
a continuation Of the TebG0co Shortly after, four
more were found running ID the same direction, bat
slightly snclDDg toward the tys; or main vein. whose
direction is :. f.. by r. ard y. w by w. incining 30
degrees These veins are above the other, the
sprce between each averaging eight varas and II il
supposed that from 20 TO 80 yeEss distance from the
preIent canon or shaft the five veins will be found
united.
Two canons of "a and ~ varas respectively have
beep sunk enttipg the veins and mp Ia the present
time scarcely any water has made its appearance.
horizontal shaft of 20 varas has also been cut,
the entrance teing about 100 yards from the small
river. The metal is in semi-transparent spar, the
walls OF the vein being principally here dark gray
limestone a. is the with nearly al the mines in
this vicinity. The veins contain silver, geld, arsenic
one or two suphstes altile and chloride OF fseca
the latter lying above the vein correct aud salts
factory analysis bas, however not yet been made
About 30 montones of rich brosas have been ex
tracted from the cahons and main shaft since the pur
chase Of the property. OF inferior brosas several
montones were transported TO- and worked up, at the
small ingenio Of Don Leon, the Benefcio by patio
and barres-the result 5l marks of silver and
Of gold TO the montone BY the very imperfect man
ner Of extracting the latter metal much lost during
the grinding Of the little quicksilver is thrown
into The mill which takes up the gold and is procured
at the first washing. Some Of the fine picked ore
gave by barrels % marks of silver and u ounce of
are Of snch favorable quality that they need 10
magistral in the patio process
Early in the morning of the following day visited
several openings lately declared, and proceeded
to climb TO the upper part ofthe mountain. Here fell
in with several miners working hilos threads metal
their account These poor people, mostly miners
from Honduras, generally the small Arastr turned
by an VI or mule by which they grind about a
munone in ten twelve days, and finally extract the
metal by means Of "La GAIA" cheap aud economi-
cal process, although they do not procure one-ha of
the silver.
The GAIA consists Of wooden barrel, with copper
or iron bottom, and placed over charcoal furnace.
The ground Lamas or ore, well mixed with water, is
put in and the whole is allowed to boil for time;
salt is then added in certain proportion and after
wsrd quicksilver. The whole is continually stirred
with an iron pa dde until after five six hours,
analgam is formed. The barrel is then empted into
a wooden trough the brosas washed, and the refnse
thrown away when fresh qlantity OF Lamas is in-
troduced. BY these means sklfnl workman can
easily make two three marks per week. The Plata,
silver then sold by weight for what they can get
With slight modification the same process is applied
to gold Lamas.
In the above process the proportion of mercury used
ie as follows: For every ounce OF silver supposed 10
be contained in the Lamas there are added three or
four ounces Of quicksilver. The boiling lasts about
three hours; stirring, about tso hours. The common
price of Arastre made by native carpenter, and
for one OK power il s. % without the grinding stones
or chains; these may cost 81 more The va ue Of the
GAIA is only in the iron pan and couple OF iron
paddles.
The next mine examined was the Carao. belonging
to the same company. and situated in the same FORM
alton as the above. There several veins OF some
value two Of which only have been worked. Ihla,
as well as the Banadero and La Paz, is situated high
up the mountain, and has location water for an
ingeno. The Bansdero vein. opened last year, and
worked to the extent OF thirty is three ai
a bali varas in width. running nearly east and west,
and inclined - degme stone calcareous pars fields
path ironstone and quartz. A few select montones
gave ten marks silver and one and half OF. god-the
Carao which is being steadily worked at present.
gives regularly five and half marks OF silver per
moptone. The quantity Of gold. however, varies con
siderably. Al La Paz, but little has been done; the
mine is for sale, and will probably be purchased by
the French company of the Credit Moblier.
On the opposite side of this range, there are many
vers known 20 the miners and wanderers from the
Puebos. which can easily he purchased for small
sums and creditaby informed that the facilities
for mill sites superior TO those on this side.
The extensive plains between this range of noun
tains ard the Rio Lempa are inhabited by lndiins,
an industrious and quiet people, occupied principally
in making pottery, whchis is sold weekly in San Miguel
large portion OF this land is also devoted the cu
ture of indigo description of which will send you
hereafter.
The miners and laborers occupying the fast iucreas-
ing Pueblo of Sociedad, and the huts scat,
tered about the Valley Of Lomolsrgo, for the most
part Hondurasns, who left with Csbanas during the
last revolution. They are generally hardy and in.
dusirous set Of men, although in the latter quality
are snrnassed by the natives nf San Lahrador The