from 30 to 40 Indians to drag a single stone to the top. Señor Villamil's celebrated Indian bucket brigade being unable to longer drain the mines of the increasing flow of water that filtered through the sands from, the Tipuani River, he was obliged to abandon the property in 1822. He retired, however, with $140,000 as the net earnings of his four years' work.
Thus stood the record of gold-mining in Bolivia up to the date of her national independence, in 1825, with the exception of the work of the early Spaniards in the quartz mines of Araca, 12 leagues south of La Paz, and of the Jesuits in the gold washings and quartz veins of Choquecamata, in the province of Cochabamba, of which, however, there is no obtainable data of value. While Choquecamata is said to have yielded, down to 1847, some $40,000,000, it was soon after abandoned, and no further attempt at reviving the gold-mining industry was made until 1851, when Señor Villamil again entered Tipuani and began operations at "Gritado," immediately opposite the old washings of "Salomon." Employing Chinese pumps worked by overshot wheels, cranes, derricks, and other improved appliances, he met with uninterrupted success until 1861, when his advanced years and impaired health forced him to abandon "Gritado" and retire from business.
While the fabulous stories afloat in relation to the results obtained during this period have given to Tipuani a world-wide fame, it may be well to add that, although the amount of gold secured by Señor Villamil during these ten years is generally placed at 5,000 pounds, the fact is that the yield was but 1,500 pounds, an amount equal, however, to an annual net profit of 40 per cent on the capital invested.
This closes the history of gold-mining in northwestern Bolivia. For thirty years, these rich gold fields have been given up to the Indians, who only work them when forced to it by their limited demands for ready cash. And this is practically true of every
