CHAP. XVIII.

OF POTOSI.

pose that Potosi , in the earlier years of its working,yielded much more than is here estimated; butwhoever has paid much attention to the more an-ient Spanish writers, especially when they speak111 1'ound numbers, will receive their relations withconsiderable hesitation.

There are some considerations which wouldlead to a doubt whether Potosi produced, in the®rst ten years of its being worked, so large aquantity of silver as in the years that followedafter 1556. The Indians, who had been com-pelled to perform the labour, must have beenUnaccustomed to it, and would require time togain the habit of working with effective expedition.The method of extracting the silver by the pro-cess of amalgamation had not been introduced, asit was not discovered in Mexico , from whence itWas carried to Peru , till the year 1557 j and the’wines of mercury in Guancavelica had not thenbeen opened, and till they were, the amalgamationProcess could not have been used. As the miners°f Potosi could only obtain the silver by smelting,an d as fuel was not to be procured near the Cerro,a difficulty would present itself which could notbe overcome so completely as it must afterwardshave been when the practice of amalgamation was

introduced.

The feeling of confidence in Humboldt is sowiuch increased by every examination of his state-ments, that any slight difference from his repre-