When an unusually abundant produce of the mines throws extra payment into the hands of the mine laborers, they squander their money with the most absurd extravagance, and they are excellent customers to the European dealers in dress and other articles of luxury. Prompted by a ludicrous spirit of imitation, the Indian, in his fits of drunkenness, will purchase costly things which he can have no possible use for, and which he becomes weary of, after an hour's possession. I once saw an Indian purchase a cloak of fine cloth, for which he paid ninety-two dollars. He then repaired to a neighboring pulperia,[72] where he drank till he became intoxicated, and then, staggering into the street, he fell down, and rolled in the kennel. On rising, and discovering that his cloak was besmeared with mud, he threw it off, and left it in the street, for any one who might choose to pick it up. Such acts of reckless prodigality are of daily occurrence. A watchmaker in Cerro de Pasco informed me that one day an Indian came to his shop to purchase a gold watch. He showed him one, observing that the price was twelve gold ounces (204 dollars), and that it would probably be too dear for him. The Cholo paid the money, and took the watch; then, after having examined it for a few minutes, he dashed it on the ground, observing that the thing was of no use to him. When the Indian miner possesses money, he never thinks of laying by a part of it, as neither he nor any of his family feel the least ambition to improve their miserable way of life. With them, drinking is the highest of all gratifications, and in the enjoyment of the present moment, they lose sight of all considerations for the future. Even those Cholos who come from distant parts of the country to share in the rich harvest of the mines of Cerro de Pasco, return to their homes as poor as when they left them, and with manners and morals vastly deteriorated.
Besides the mines of Cerro de Pasco, which in point of importance are nowise inferior to those of Potosi, there are numerous very rich mining districts in Peru. Among the most prolific may be ranked the provinces of Pataz, Huamanchuco, Caxamarca, and Hualgayoc. In this last-named province is situated the Cerro de San Fernando, on which Alexander Von Humboldt has conferred so much celebrity. The rich silver veins were discovered there in the year 1771; and there are now upwards of 1400 bocaminas. On the insulated mountain the veins of metal intersect each other in every direction, and they are alike remarkable for being easily worked and exceedingly prolific. The mines of Huantaxaya, situated on the coast in the neighborhood of Iquique, were also very rich, and the silver obtained from them was either pure or containing a very slight admixture of foreign substances. They yielded an incredible quantity of metal, but they were speedily exhausted; and are now totally barren. The chains of hills in the southern districts of Peru contain a multitude of very rich mines, of which the most remarkable are those of San Antonio de Esquilache, Tamayos, Picotani, Cancharani, and Chupicos; but owing to bad working and defective drainage, many of the veins are in a very ruinous state, and the metal drawn from them bears no proportion to the quantity they contain. The Salcedo mine is very celebrated for the vast abundance of its produce, and the tragical end of its original owner.