ing 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[1].
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[2], 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.
- ↑ 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.
