Ana, La Manta, San Juan, and El Christo de Laxas) were good that is to say, good for Spanish America. A moderate amount of labour would have rendered them passable for wheeled carriages, except at certain points where it was clear that wheels could never run. In these precipitous portions of the route, which mules took two hours to cross, Robert Stephenson saw at a glance difficulties of which he had not been forewarned, and for which he consequently was unprovided. The heavier portion of the machinery could not be moved across country except on wheeled carriages.

In due course the first party of miners arrived, but they had to leave the greater part of their machinery on the banks of the Magdalena, and proceed to the mines with only the lighter implements, which could be packed upon the backs of mules. Of course an urgent request was despatched to London that other machinery might be sent out, so constructed, that each large machine could be taken to pieces, small enough for transport on mules. But before this message reached the directors, they had shipped off from Newcastle a large quantity of iron goods, which, on being thrown upon shore by the peons at Honda, remained, and to this day probably remain, useless and cased with rust. Robert Stephenson, however, did not lose heart. Taking his men, and the few implements which they could carry with them, he hastened to the mines, reopened them, explored their workings, and commenced working for ore.

The best mines, of which the Association had obtained leases from the Colombian Government, were those of St. Ana and La Manta, adjacent to the village of St. Ana. The distance between Mariquita and St. Ana is about

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twelve miles; but those twelve miles comprised the worst portions of the way from the river. After leaving Mariquita, the miners had to traverse a plain for six miles, when they entered on a broken tract watered by two rivers, which it was necessary to ford. The next six miles lay up the sides of mountains. Often the way ran over bare rocks, through narrow passages worn by the floods of the wet season, and down declivities so nearly perpendicular that no beast of burden, except a mule, could descend them. Standing on an eastern slope of the Andes, the village of Santa Ana (containing when the miners first reached it about nine cottages) afforded a grateful contrast to the desolate grandeur of the city in the plain. Instead of the intense heat of the valley beneath, its temperature was about 75° in the shade, and during the night 6° or 8° lower. A breeze played through the trees; and the soil, rich as the mould of an artificial garden, yielded fruit and vegetables in abundance.

On all sides (Robert Stephenson wrote to his stepmother) is an immense forest of fine trees, which are always green, no winter being known in these climates. The leaves are always gradually falling, but they are immediately succeeded by fresh green leaves. The ground descends suddenly from the front of our house for above a mile, in which small distance the fall is no less than 800 feet. From the bottom of this descent, the ground rises rapidly to the height of 1,000 feet, forming a mountain ridge which is covered to the very summit with strong trees that are always green. Beyond this small ridge of hills rise others still higher and higher, until their tops are covered with everlasting snows, and where not a spot of vegetation is to be seen, all being white with snow and ice.

A grander panorama than that enormous ravine, walled by forests, and crowned with peaks of gleaming whiteness,

cannot be conceived. Clothing the curves of the interior hills were tree-ferns and magnolias, groves of bamboo, acacias, palms, and cedars. Another picturesque feature added charm to the landscape. Fed by the gradual dissolution of distant snow, a river ran from the cool heights into the hot air of the valley. By tranquil pools pelicans watched for their prey, and overhead, in the branches, parrots and mocking-birds, monkeys and macaws, gave colour and animation to the picture. Flashing with metallic lustre humming-birds darted from flower to flower, disturbing the clouds of butterflies which floated through the luxurious atmosphere.

Amidst such scenery Robert Stephenson spent more than two years, endeavouring with inadequate means to cope with gigantic difficulties, and suffering under those petty troubles which are more vexatious than greater miseries.

In the immediate vicinity of Santa Ana, the mountainriver, falling over ledges of granite, had worn deep basins in the rock. One of these tarns Robert Stephenson selected for a swimming bath. The granite sides of the pit being almost perpendicular, bathers could not walk gradually into the deep water. In the centre, however, was fixed a flat block of stone, the top of which was about thirty-six inches below the surface of the water, the distance between the bank and the stone being at one point not more than three feet. Bathers who could not swim used to jump from the side to this natural table. Unfortunately a sudden fall of rain caused a torrent of water to raise this ponderous mass of stone, and bear it downwards to the plain. A few days later, a gentleman attached to the mining expedition, who was

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unable to swim, went to the tarn. Having leaped from the point, where he expected to alight on the block, the bather in another instant was struggling in the pool. Fortunately Robert Stephenson, who was an expert swimmer, came up just in time to plunge into the basin, and catching the sinking man by the back of his neck, conveyed him safe to shore.

It was not till the end of October, 1825, that miners had been collected in sufficient numbers to commence great operations. In that month a strong staff of Cornish miners made their appearance, and with them for a time Robert Stephenson's troubles greatly increased. Proper care had not been taken to select sober and steady men. It was right that English workmen engaged to encounter the perils of a South American climate should be well paid, but the terms on which these miners had been hired were far too high. Insolent from prosperity, and demoralised by the long-continued idleness of the voyage, they no sooner entered Honda than they roused the indignation of the inhabitants by excesses which outraged even South American morals. Before Robert Stephenson made the acquaintance of the men, he received a formal and angry remonstrance from the Governor of Honda with regard to their conduct. The only thing to be done was to get them to work with all speed.

I have no idea, (wrote Robert Stephenson from Mariquita to Mr. Illingworth, the commercial manager at Bogota,) of letting them linger out another week without some work being done. Indeed, some of them are anxious to get on with something. Many of them, however, are ungovernable. I dread the management of them. They have already commenced to drink in the most outrageous manner. Their behaviour in Honda

has, I am afraid, incurred for ever the displeasure of the Governor, at all events so far as induces me to despair of being able to calculate upon his friendly cooperation in any of our future proceedings. I hope when they are once quietly settled at Santa Ana and the works regularly advancing, that some improvement may take place. To accomplish this, I propose residing at Santa Ana with them for awhile.

There was reason for uneasiness. Robert Stephenson spoke firmly to the men, but he saw that his language, though moderate and judicious, merely roused their resentment. Scarcely a day passed without some petty exhibition of disrespect and hostility; and though in Santa Ana they had fewer opportunities for gross licentiousness, they could not be weaned at once from habitual drunkenness and indolence. The supervisors or captains,' as they were called, according to the custom of the Cornish miners, were the most mutinous. Mere workmen, and altogether ignorant of the science of their vocation, they were incredulous that any man could understand mining operations who had not risen from the lowest employments connected with them. In the Northumbrian coal field, a distich popular a generation since runs

Trapper, trammer, hewer,

Under, overman, and then viewer.

The Cornish captains' in like manner were strongly in favour of promotion from the ranks, and were reluctant to obey the orders of a mere lad, and, what was worse still, a north-country lad. Their insolence was fostered by the ludicrous respect paid to the captains' by the natives, both Spaniards and Indians, who, misled by the title, regarded them as superior to the young engineer-in-chief. The 'captains' themselves immediately saw their advantage