They extracted the ore
also in considerable quantities from the valley of Curimayo,
northeast of Caxamarca, as well as from other places; and the
silver mines of Porco, in particular, yielded them considerable
returns. Yet they did not attempt to penetrate into the bowels
of the earth by sinking a shaft, but simply excavated a cavern in
the steep sides of the mountain, or, at most, opened a horizontal
vein of moderate depth. They were equally deficient in the
knowledge of the best means of detaching the precious metal from
the dross with which it was united, and had no idea of the
virtues of quicksilver, - a mineral not rare in Peru, - as an
amalgam to effect this decomposition. *22 Their method of
smelting the ore was by means of furnaces built in elevated and
exposed situations, where they might be fanned by the strong
breezes of the mountains. The subjects of the Incas, in short,
with all their patient perseverance, did little more than
penetrate below the crust, the outer rind, as it were, formed
over those golden caverns which lie hidden in the dark depths of
the Andes. Yet what they gleaned from the surface was more than
adequate for all their demands. For they were not a commercial
people, and had no knowledge of money. *23 In this they differed
from the ancient Mexicans, who had an established currency of a
determinate value. In one respect, however, they were superior
to their American rivals, since they made use of weights to
determine the quantity of their commodities, a thing wholly
unknown to the Aztecs.
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