The population of Chiquian is composed of white creoles, indians, and mestizos; their principal occupation is farming and grazing; ponchos of wool and cotton are manufactured by the women, some of which are very fine. Near to Chiquian is a silver mine, formerly worked with tolerable advantage, but at present abandoned. The ore contains iron, arsenic, and sulphur, and is always roasted before it is mixed with the mercury; it was calculated, that if a _caxon_, fifty quintals, of ore produced eight marks of silver, that the proprietor lost nothing; but this calculation is very erroneous, because different ores require different portions of labour, and the loss of mercury is also much greater in some ores than in others; the _paco_, red oxide of silver, pays much better if it yield six marks each _caxon_, than the _bronce_, micaceous pyriferous ores, if they yield ten. Some few small veins of ore had produced forty marks; but this may be looked upon generally as a mere temptation to the miner to carry on the work, often to his own ruin.
According to the mining laws, the discoverer has one hundred and sixty square yards of surface, and must not extend his works beyond the perpendicular limits of his share; he must first present a sample of ore to the _Tribunal de Mineria_, and take out a document called _registro_, before he can begin to work; the limits are marked out by the Subdelegado, political governor of the district, and the proprietor takes possession by rolling himself on the ground, digging holes, throwing stones, and shouting three times, possession! Other persons who solicit as hare petition the Tribunal de Mineria, and receive a registro of eighty yards only, half the quantity to which the discoverer is entitled.