It is one of the great evils arising from the political condition of Peru since the independence that there is a complete want of confidence in each other amongst the moneyed classes, and an absence, to a great extent, of the spirit of enterprise; so that any combination on a large scale for mining, or other purposes of a similar nature, is almost impossible. Peru is still a very young country, and there is reason to hope that this state of things will not continue; but now a feeling of suspicion, added to a want of energy, prevents the formation of native companies. Thus the _manto_ is abandoned, and the numerous mines which once covered the hills of Cancharani and Laycaycota, and actually created the city of Puno, which nestles at their feet, are not worked. At present there is only one small mine at work, high up on the hill of Cancharani, called the Cachi Vieja. Its proprietor, Don Manuel Ferrandis, is an upright, intelligent, and most kind-hearted old gentleman, who has had much experience in mining operations; and on the 29th of March he took me to visit the abandoned _manto_, and his own works at Cachi Vieja. About two miles south of Puno is the establishment built by Mr. Begg, at the foot of the Laycaycota mountain, and facing the lake. The buildings stand round a long courtyard, containing four trees of the _oliva silvestre_, probably, as the only trees in the country, once carefully tended by the former English residents. There is a steam-engine which turns a large stone wheel, twelve feet in diameter, for grinding the ores; and the quicksilver was separated by the heat of fires of llama-dung and _tola_,[140] the only fuel to be had. In the house there were papered rooms, fire-grates, and English conveniences, now all in ruins, and the rooms used as stables for donkeys. At a short distance from Mr. Begg's ruined house, and a little higher up the mountain, is the entrance to the famous "_Socabon de Vera Cruz_" of the _manto_ mine, commenced by the Marquis of Villa Rica, and finished by Mr. Begg. The "_socabon_" penetrates into the mountain, in a generally south-west direction, for a distance of a mile and a quarter; the first 900 yards having a depth of some feet of water, which is dammed up at a little distance outside the entrance. This part of the gallery is navigated by an iron canoe about a foot and a half wide; but the canal is so narrow that the canoe frequently grates on both sides at once against the rocks. The roof of the excavation, too, is very low, and several times we actually had to crouch down in the bottom of the canoe, to avoid knocking our heads. Thus we penetrated into the bowels of the earth by this subterranean navigation, with an Indian holding a burning torch in the bows. From the entrance, for about 300 yards, the excavation traverses a mass of grey porphyry. In the 900 yards of navigation there are six locks; and when the water terminates, the