"From the beginning to the end of the work the whole business is very slow and primitive. The ore is broken out of the veins by sheer force of labor, powder or other blasting material being rarely employed. It is carried on the backs of men to the surface of the ground; the _tanateros_, or ore-carriers, load the substance into baskets or bags of rawhide, and climb patiently upwards along perpendicular logs that are notched to give holding-places for the feet. [Illustration: BREAKING ORE.] "With a hammer a native breaks the ore into pieces suitable for the crushing-wheels; then it is reduced to mud by the slow operation I have described; it is roasted or treated with quicksilver according to its requirements; and finally the pure silver is obtained, and smelted into bars for transportation to the coast. "Now, here is the difference between this way of working and the modern methods. The American or English miner would hoist the ore from the mine by machinery instead of carrying it out by man-power. Then he would use machinery for reducing it to powder, allowing none to be wasted, and after the reduction he would extract the silver from the rock in such a way as to save every grain of metal it contained, and preserve all the quicksilver to be used over and over again. A great part of the silver is lost at present, together with much of the quicksilver used in the work of amalgamation. Where there is a profit of ten dollars by the old process in working a ton of ore there would be fifty dollars of profit under the new. And yet it is hard to convince these people that it is worth their while to try the new system! "Some of the mines are in the sides of the mountains, where no hoisting is required, and the ore is brought directly to the open air without the necessity of climbing. Such mines are more profitable than the others, as they can be readily drained, and the expense of carrying the ore upwards is saved. "The ore of Potosi is very rich, but, for that matter, so are the ores of Puno and Cerro de Pasco. Some deposits yield as high as two hundred dollars a ton. When you bear in mind that the miners of California find a profit in working mineral at ten dollars a ton you can realize the wealth of the silver deposits of the Andes. "When I first came here," he continued, "I was fresh from the mines of Nevada. The rudeness of the Bolivian work was in very marked contrast to what I was so lately familiar with. "Near the entrance of the first mine I visited I saw some specimens of rich ore lying on the ground. There was a group of three natives lounging around the place, a man, a woman, and a boy. The mine had been deserted for some time, and I found these people helped themselves to the mineral whenever they wanted it. Telling them I wished to see how they operated, and promising a reward for their trouble, I induced them to go to work. [Illustration: INDIANS EXTRACTING SILVER FROM ORE.]