Bolivar's cavalry were short of fire-arms. Trevithick invented and made a carbine with a short barrel of large bore, having a hollow frame-work stock. The whole was cast of brass, stock and barrel in one piece, with the necessary recess for the lock; the bullet was a flat piece of lead, cut into four quarters, held in their places in a cartridge until fired, when they spread, inflicting jagged wounds. He was obliged to serve in the army, and to prove the efficiency of his own gun. He was never a good shot, nor particularly fond of shooting; and, after a long time, Bolivar allowed him to return to his engineering and mining. Scarcely had he got to work again when the Royal Spanish troops, getting the best of it, overran the mines, and drove Trevithick away penniless, leaving 5000_l._ worth of ore behind him ready for sale. The 300 tons of ore, valued at 24,000_l._, never reached England; and the writer, who was to have returned to Peru in the ship that had been engaged to convey it, lost the chance of being a youthful traveller in foreign lands. Trevithick left Lima about 1821 or 1822, for Bogota, in Colombia, on a special mission for Bolivar. On his way, putting in at Guayaquil, he heard of rich mines in Costa Rica, and thinking they would pay better than Bolivar's promises, he threw up his engagement and made for the new venture. It was probably at Guayaquil that he met Mr. Gerard, a Scotchman of good family and education, then sailing on the Pacific coast as a speculator. Since Trevithick left the mines of Cerro de Pasco, more than one English adventurer has attempted to work them. At the present time they are in the hands of a large company, and are thus spoken of in the 'Cornish Telegraph' of May 10, 1871:-- "_Cerro de Pasco and its Silver Mines._ "This place, in the Republic of Peru, is situated on the top of the Andes, on the eastern side of the Western Cordillera. It stands about 15,000 feet above the sea level, and is said to be one of the highest, if not the highest, inhabited place of importance in the whole world. "From Callao to here is a distance of 160 miles, but, in consequence of the rapid ascent in such a comparatively short distance, it is considered a quick journey if mules make it in six days; it more frequently takes them a week, and at times, during the season of snow and rain, the pampas, which are the table-lands of these mountains, are impassable for several days together. "The town of Cerro de Pasco, which at present numbers 10,000 souls, is of no small importance, considering its great altitude and inconvenient distance from the coast, but it lacks order and design in every part. The streets are crooked and uneven; and the houses are stuck about anywhere and everywhere, with the greatest display of uneducated taste that I have ever before witnessed; moreover, it would be difficult to find another such place so equally dirty.