The mountain of Potosi formerly produced weekly about five thousand marks of silver, that is, from thirty to forty thousand dollars; a surprising produce, when it is considered that it has been wrought since 1545, at which time it was accidentally discovered by an Indian, or native, as represented in the cut. In hunting some goats, he slipped from a slight elevation, and to save himself caught hold of a shrub, which coming away from the ground, laid bare the silver at its root. At the commencement it was still more abundant, and the metal was dug up in a purer state. [Illustration: DISCOVERY OF SILVER IN PERU.] The silver was often found in shoots like roots, imbedded in the earth. Six thousand Indians were sent every eighteen months, from the provinces of the viceroyalty, to work this mine. The expedition was called _mita_; and these Indians, having been enrolled and formed into parties, were distributed by the governor of Potosi, and received a small daily stipend, (equal to about thirty-four cents of our currency,) until the period of their labor was completed. They were thus doomed to a forced service, nothing less than slavery, so long as it lasted, which the Spaniards have endeavored to justify by the plea that laborers could not otherwise be procured. Lumps of pure gold and silver, called =papas=, from their resemblance to the potato, were often found in the sands. The poor likewise occupied themselves in =lavaderos=, or in washing the sands of the rivers and rivulets, in order to find particles of the precious metals. To compensate for the mines rendered useless by the irruption of water, or other accidents, rich and new ones were daily discovered. They were all found in the chains of mountains, commonly in dry and barren spots, and sometimes in the sides of the =quebredas=, or astonishing precipitous breaks in the ridges. However certain this rule might be in the region of Bolivia, it was contradicted in that of Peru, where, at three leagues’ distance from the Pacific ocean, not far from Tagna, in the province of Arica, there was discovered the famous mine of Huantajaya, in a sandy plain at a distance from the mountains, of such exuberant wealth that the pure metal was cut out with a chisel. From this mine a large specimen of virgin silver is preserved in the royal cabinet of natural history at Madrid. It attracted a considerable population, although neither water nor the common conveniences for labor could be found there, neither any pasturage for the cattle. In the mint of Potosi, about six millions of dollars were annually coined; and the mines of the old viceroyalty of La Plata, taken collectively, are reckoned to have yielded about sixteen millions.