Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/573

Rh. In this part of the wood we saw seven crosses fixed on the spot where the seven men had been killed by the Indians.

I must confess that I did not feel quite secure: the melancholy stillness which reigned around, broken occasionally by the rustling of a falling leaf or a distant echo, added to the corroborating monuments before me, awakened a lively recollection of the tales which had so alarmed my servant, and caused me, perhaps, rather more speedily than I might otherwise have done, to retrace my steps to the pine-trees, seventy of which I marked, and returned late in the evening to Solida. On the two subsequent days I continued to visit the cañada, and marked two hundred and twenty trees, making altogether four hundred yards of pumpwood.

Thus, after a great deal of fatigue and disappointment, I at length succeeded in my object, and on the 21st of April arrived again at Catorce.

The week after my return, I set about getting the boilers and cylinder up to the mine. To the eyes of the natives it appeared impossible ever to convey them entire up the mountains; but in less than four days, by means of pullies and a six inch rope, I succeeded in drawing these heavy pieces of machinery to the top: the zig-zag shape of the road rendered the task more difficult than it otherwise might have been.

The next thing I had to do was to fix a boring-mill, for boring the pumps, to which I applied a winch, that we had brought with us for lifting our heavy pieces of machinery: four of the natives could turn it quite easily, and bore about twelve feet of seven and eight inch caliber per day; whereas two Englishmen in the same time would have done double the work. The indolent sluggish sort of patience to be observed among the labouring classes of this country appears truly surprising to the eye of an Englishman. A man, while turning the winch one day, no doubt half asleep, allowed the pinion to catch his thumb, which was immediately jammed between the wheels, and separated from the hand.

This little accident, although a serious inconvenience to the individual, proved advantageous to the concern, for none of them were afterwards seen sleeping, and they paid more attention to their work.