him Resident Director. Mr. Riestra may be in many respects almost considered an Englishman, and his sympathies and regard for everything English are well-known. We need not add that he is a strenuous friend of immigration, and of all Anglo-Argentine enterprises. In May 1865, en the occasion of the Paraguayan war, he was sent to London to negotiate a loan voted by Congress, for two and a-half millions sterling: this he concluded at 724 per cent. although the Home Bonds of the Republic were quoted at the time, at forty-four, in Buenos Ayres. Failing health prevented his presenting his credentials as Plenipotentiary near the Court of St. James.

DON MARIANO BALCARCE.

This gentleman is accredited Argentine Minister near the courts of Paris, London, and Madrid, but he resides within a few miles of Paris. He is married to the daughter of the famous General San Martin, of 'the epoch of Independence. He belongs to a wealthy family of Buenos Ayres, and is said to be very hospitable to friends or residents coming from the River Plate. His last official business was in connection with the Argentine stall at the Paris Exhibition.

SR. POSADAS, POSTMASTER-GENERAL.

Gervacio A. Posadas is son of the late Supreme Director, Juan Antonio Posadas. In his youth he spent some years in England, where he became acquainted with many leading men, including Sir Rowland Hill and others. He speaks English and French fluently, and has introduced many postal improvements, but, the revenue at his disposal is much too limited, and the premises are wholly unsuitable. No other department shows so much increase as the 'Corrco,' the number of letters and papers regularly doubling every two years.

MR. O'GORMAN CHIEF OF POLICE.

Enrique O'Gorman is descended of an old and respectable French family whose ancestors were, of course, Irish, as the name indicates. He is an active and intelligent official, but the present police department is a relic of the old Spanish system, quite inadequate to the necessities of the time.

CHAP. XII.

MINING IN THE CUYO PROVINCES.

SAN JUAN.

To the indomitable energy and untiring perseverance of the actual President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. Don Domingo F. Sarmiento (during his Governorship of San Juan), is duc, in a great measure, the rapid development of the mining industry in this province. In the year 1862 he had the mining districts examined by Major F. 1. Rickard, F.G.S., &c. (engaged in Chile for that purpose), and in sight of his various reports, and impartial statements, a Limited Liability Company was established in San Juan, with. the small capital of $110,000 s., destined to be the pioneer undertaking in developing the hidden riches of Tontal, distant some thirty leagues S.S.W. from the city.

Although the mines of La Huerta, fifty leagues to the N.E., had been some time previously in operation, and a crude system of smelting had been essayed by the owners of Santo Domingo, the political disturbances and constant changes in the administration precluded the possibility of their being worked to advantage. The ores were rich in silver, and of plumbiferous nature, with a tolerably fusible gangue; but, with such appliances as existed at that establishment for the extraction of the precious metals, and the want of knowledge and practice on the part of the owners or managers, large deficits resulted instead of gain. The smelting works were consequently abandoned, and the mines only kept partially worked, awaiting brighter times.

KLAPPENBACH'S MINES.

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Meanwhile, a Frenchman, who had been employed in the works as smelter, erected a small blast furnace a short distance from the mines, on the site now occupied by the Messrs. Klappenbach, who purchased his miserable attempt at a metallurgical establishment, in a good round sum. They have, however, completely remodelled it, and now possess works— small, it is true, but still sufficiently perfect for the object for which they are intended. The system employed is similar to the old method adopted in former years at Pontgibaud, Puy-de-Dôme, France, but now obsolete and replaced by another far superior, by the Anglo-French Company.

As no official statistics can be obtained, it is very difficult to estimate correctly the annual produce of silver from the La Huerta mines; all of which, however, passes through the Messrs. Klappenbach's hands. Since the year 1863, the mining industry in the district has been gradually improving, and is still advancing. Santo Domingo has lately had some splendid «alcances» or bunches of rich ore, with native silver visible, and silver glance in fair abundance. The general impulse given by the Messrs. Klappenbach is now bearing fruit, and numerous old mines are being resuscitated and worked with profit. The annual produce of silver from the Messrs. Klappenbach's works may be set down at about 7,000 marks Spanish, or about 51,800 oz. Troy, whose value in Buenos Ayres may be taken in round numbers at $70,000 s.

The Tontal district, rich in «dry» non-plumbiferous silver ores, is much more abundant than La Huerta, but the nature of the accompanying gangue, which is invariably silicious, presents many difficulties to the metallurgist, in the course of operations necessary for the extraction of the silver. But, in order to counterbalance, as it were, this mistake of nature, another new district, a little to the north, was discovered in 1861, yielding abundant supplies of galenas (sulphides of lead), as also carbonates and sulphates, together with other combinations, all more or less plumbiferous, and highly necessary as a flux or medium by which to extract the precious metals from the refractory dry ores of Tontal. This new district is Castaño, about twenty-five leagues from Tontal, in a north-westerly direction towards the Cordillera, and some fifty leagues N.W. from San Juan.

The beginning of 1861, saw the commencement of the metallurgical establishment at Hilario, belonging to the already mentioned limited company, distant some seven leagues from Tontal and twenty from Castaño, agrecably situated on the border of the San Juan River called at this point Los Patos. This spot was selected by Major Rickard, the manager, as being best suited for the works, owing to the facility of obtaining water power for the machinery, the abundance of firewood necessary for the furnaces, and

above all as being the only fertile and inhabited valley in the whole district where pasture for animals and the necessaries of life are obtainable.

A great drawback, however, existed, namely, its isolation from all the highways of traffic, and entire absence of anything like transitable roads. Heavy machinery for crushing and amalgamating the orcs was necessary, and those pieces which could not be made sufficiently light for transport on mules, had necessarily to be taken up on carts. Here lay the difficultyHilario is separated from San Juan by three lofty ranges of mountains; that of Tontal, on the actual mule track, being åt an elevation of 12,117 feet above the sea. Narrow defiles and impassable gorges traversed by mountain torrents, intercept the route at various points, and make the idea of forming a cart road there, the wildest dream of impossibility. This insurmountable difficulty was however overcome by taking a very circuitous route to the north; and, by traversing some fifty leagues of extra march, a road was made, partly by the Government and partly by the Company, which, if not macadamized and level, was sufficiently transitable for lightly laden carts. But alas, the freight on machinery from San Juan to Hilario almost exceeded the amount paid on it from Liverpool to San Juan.

In April 1864 the limited Company got short of funds, and it was found that the capital was too small. Major Rickard then came forward and offered to purchase all the shares at par and continue the works for his own account, with the ulterior view of forming an extensive company in London. His offer was accepted, and towards the close of 1865 the Hilario works began to extract silver and silver lead in large quantities. During about ten months of active operations some 250 tons of lead and 9,000 marks of silver were produced and remitted to Europe for realization.

In addition to over 200 employés at the works, including wood-cutters, charcoal-burners, muleteers, and peones, upwards of 500 were employed in the mines of Tontal and Castaño, and solely in those belonging to Major Rickard.

At the same time, large numbers of miners worked mines on their own account, and in all over 100 were at one time in active exploration. Hundreds of tons of ore were produced, and lay at the mines' mouths, ready for transmission to the works; but, unfortunately, the means of transport were fearfully inadequate to the production of ore, or even the requirements of Hilario. The furnaces alone were capable of smelting six tons per day, and the amalgamation machinery of passing through four tons more; yet the daily deliveries of ore only reached about three tons on the

average. Hence, the works, and European staff of expensive operatives, were more than half the time idle, waiting for ore which lay in abundance at the mines, but could not be transported to Hilario. In vain were the rates of freight raised, until almost double their normal or just value. The muleteers could not be persuaded or induced to abandon their accustomed haunts on the Pampa, and bury themselves in the Andes. The industry and undertaking were new in the province, on such an extended scale; the routine and habits of centuries had been disturbed by the busy, and not to be defeated Anglo-Saxon. Order, discipline, and industrious habits, as engendered and exacted by Europeans in matters of business, were distasteful to the indolent, casy-living, and independent denizens of the South. But, alas! in this country these are not the only evils against which Industry has to struggle and do battle.

The spring of 1866 saw the flame of civil war and revolution kindled in Cuyo, and the unbridled passions of the masses obtain full sway in society. This fatal barrier to the progress of civilisation and industry, coming at a moment so critical, served to complete the ruin of the mining prospects in the province. The mines were abandoned by their owners, who fled in numbers across the Andes, seeking refuge in Chile. The peons and workmen fled to the towns, too eager to join in the orgies of their fellows, and accumulate in a day, by their vandalism, more than the gains of a whole life dedicated to honest toil! Muleteers sought refuge in the mountain fastnesses, amongst unfrequented streams, where suflicient pasture could be obtained for their mules, and in order to save them from the general confiscation decreed by the vandalic hordes on the plains! All these circumstances together were too much for a new industry to withstand— and so Hilario was obliged to suspend operations. Later on, when tranquillity was restored in the interior, the works were resuscitated on a small scale, and so continued up to recently, when a new English Company having been formed for the purpose, it proposed to take over the concern, mines, &c., and re-establish work on a large scale. The arrangements are now being carried out, and the coming year, 1869, will see the industry, probably in a more advanced state than at any period heretofore. The mines are as abundant as ever, and are capable of producing much, but capital and intelligence are sadly wanting on the part of the owners.

In Toutal an unproductive band of blende (sulphide of zinc) has appeared at a depth of sixty yards, and it has not as yet been passed in those mines where active work is being carried on. The inducement to cut through this mass of ore is however very great, as it is almost certain a rich deposit of precious metal exists beyond. Indeed we have almost a proof of this