lieve that no man of weaker mind could have survived. In the agony of pain, in the exhaustion of nature, and almost in the absence of hope, the firmness and placidity, nay the cheerfulness of his temper never forsook him; and when we have sat by the side of his bed or his couch, in that gloomy mood which steals over one on such occasions, some bright saying, which came but in a half-articulated whisper, has compelled us to laugh, at the same time that the undiminished force and lustre of his mind, amid a physical wreck so nearly total, afforded a very strong argument for mental immortality. We have seen Dr. Chalmers in many attitudes; in the glee of social enjoyment, in the sublimity of science, and in the terrible power of a Christian orator; but we are not sure that we ever saw him more truly in the character of a great man, than when, to all appearances, the scale of life was doubtful, and his friends were trembling for his fate. Since that time he has come more before the world, and commanded admiration from quarters which he then little thought of; but physically, he has never been the same man; and mentally, though his experience has been enlarged, his powers did not admit of enlargement.

The grand feature in the theology of Dr. Chalmers, apart from his power as a practical divine, is his meeting the sceptic on grounds, and combating him with weapons, to which he cannot object. Instead of taking up what is called the internal evidence of Christianity, which is a matter of feeling and not of argument, he rests the whole upon the external, upon that which has the same evidence as any other fact; and the truth being demonstrated upon this basis, cannot be shaken. Now we know, that this was the mode in which he proposed to treat the subject, for we heard him mention it, a long time previous to his illness, at which time, it has been erroneously stated, a change took place in his opinions on this subject.

29 ATHENEUM, VOL. 2, 3d series.

In a few years he was invited to St. John's Church, Glasgow, in a manner highly complimentary to his talents; and though many of his friends dissuaded him, from an idea that the labor would be too much for his bodily strength, and tried to persuade him that he would be more useful living in comparative literary ease at Kilmeny, he resolved, at all hazards, to go. The impression which he made at Glasgow was very great; and his fame soon spread over the whole country. When he visited London, the hold that he took on the minds of men was quite unprecedented.

It was a time of

strong political feeling; but even that was unheeded, and all parties thronged to hear the Scottish preacher. The very best judges were not prepared for the display they heard. Canning and Wilberforce went together; and got into a pew near the door. The elder in attendance stood close by the pew. Chalmers began in his usual unpromising way, by stating a few nearly self-evident propositions, neither in the choicest language, nor in the most impressive voice.

"If this be all," said Canning to his companion, "it will never do." Chalmers went on the shuffling of the congregation gradually subsided. He got into the mass of his subject; his weakness became strength; his hesitation was turned into energy; and, bringing the whole volume of his mind to bear upon it, he poured forth a torrent of the most close and conclusive argument, brilliant with all the exuberance of an imagination which ranged over all nature for illustrations, and yet managed and applied each of them with the

same unerring dexterity, as if that single one had been the study of a whole life. "The tartan beats us," said Canning, "we have no preaching like that in England."

The measure of his pulpit celebrity was now full; and after about two years in Glasgow, during which he published several works, he was appointed to the chair of Moral Philoso

phy in St. Andrew's. Of his conduct there we are not informed; but we are inclined to think that the place was too confined for him. In Edinburgh his office is more important; and if his life be continued, he will do much to extend sound and liberal views among the Scottish clergy. Of his tolerance we have just had an example.

THE great mountain of Famatina, situated in the province of Rioja, has long been looked upon traditionally as the depositary of enormous wealth in the form of gold and silver ore; but the turning this wealth to any important practical account is a circumstance of very recent date; partly owing to the superstitious feelings which the native Indians have always connected, and still connect, with the supposed demons and other supernatural beings who are believed to inhabit the mountain; but chiefly, no doubt, from the absence of any sufficient motive, on the part of the occupiers of the surrounding country, to encounter the perils and hardships attendant on exploring the scene of those, to them, useless and unnecessary treasures; for so rich and fertile are the surrounding plains of the Rioja, and the Pampas, and so comparatively trifling is the labor required to obtain from them all which the simple-minded inhabitants need for their subsistence and comfort, that probably nothing but an actual

display of the physical consequences (in wealth and consideration) to be gained by the enterprise in question, could have induced them to commence or continue the prosecution of it, even since the revolution, and the new train of motives and feelings which that event has introduced. But before that period the wealth of the Famatina mountain remained a treasure of the imagination merely; and was, as such, as much superior to the actual possessions of the miser, who has not the heart to use what he has hoarded, as the feeling of having all one's wants supplied is to that of wants increasing in the exact ratio of the supply to which they refer. The innumerable herds of the Pampas, to be had almost by seeking for-the inexhaustible fertility of the soil, requiring nothing worthy the name of toil in its tillage

the peculiar character of some portion of the vegetation, serving for almost every purpose connected with the actual wants of human life;† and, finally, the beautiful, but enervating

and relaxing climate; all these things united, afforded ample means of content to the comparatively few inhabitants of the vast province of Rioja; which, even at the present time, does not number more than twenty thousand souls. It is true the King of Spain and his government have made repeated attempts to work the mines, known to have formerly existed in this mountain. But they could never hit upon any inducements sufficiently strong to secure the earnest and active coöperation of the inhabitants, or even to overcome that superstitious horror which had been left as a legacy to them by their simple, but in this instance, perhaps, wise ancestors, relative to the dangers-unnamed and unknown, but not the less effectual in their influence-attendant on the task of exploring the vast and naturally terrific solitudes immediately surrounding the objects of search. The early Indians, just referred to, had also adopted another precaution, as if with the view of deterring their descendants from the perilous enterprise in question-perilous even, more on account of the cupidity, which its results excited in their European masters, than in the actual physical hardships and evils connected with it. On ceasing to work the mines, they carefully built up and concealed, by every means in their power, the various openings to them, so as to remove all clue, if possible, to the exploring of them in future.

It should be mentioned, however, that just before the great discovery, now about to be described in detail, a slight impulse had been given to the Riojanos, to avail themselves of the wealth which all believed to be at their disposal, if needed, by the smuggling trade, which commenced at the opening of the present century, between the province and Buenos Ayres, in articles of English clothing. The desire of being more gaily clad than their neighbors a desire always easy to be put in action, in idle and unoccupied bosoms-had induced a few of the inhabitants to undertake mining

expeditions into the heart of the desolate mountain; and the consequence was that a little silver got into circulation in the province-a thing, till then, almost unknown. At length, in the year 1805, about four years after the slight and insignificant attempts just referred to, there were seen one day, riding into the village of Chilecito, two wretchedly clad men, both mounted on one sorry mule, and armed with one old musket. On inquiry, it appeared that these men had travelled from Peru in the manner just described, and had supported themselves on their journey, entirely by the aid of their old gun, with which they had killed, from time to time, what they needed for their subsistence. It was ascertained, too, that, having been long engaged as laborers in the Peruvian mines, and having acquired the knowledge necessary for their purpose, they had left that country solely with the view of seeking their fortune in the mountain of Famatina-the traditional reports of its wealth having long ago reached the country from which they came. These two men were named Juan Leita, and Juan Echavaria; and I have been told by persons who were eye-witnesses to their first entry into Chilecito, that nothing could exceed the astonishment excited in the inhabitants of the village, at the idea of two poverty-stricken and almost naked beings attempting to contend with the dangers and rigors of the so dreaded solitudes of the Famatina mountain. But these men, unlike the happier inhabitants of the fertile plains of Rioja, had long felt the evils of poverty, and craved the advantages which they had been accustomed to see enjoyed by the possessors of wealth alone; and they determined to risk, and to bear everything, with the view of bettering their condition. These are the class of persons from whom we are to look for those discoveries and achievements, which demand unwearying perseverance, and suppose and include constant privation. The two pennyless and friendless adventurers, from a distant land, looked on the wondrous

much; and seeing in its now visible form literally "a mine of wealth," they determined within themselves to explore and take possession of its treasures, or perish in the attempt. On their arrival at Chilecito, they were literally destitute of everything necessary to their enterprise, except that unquenchable desire and determination to accomplish it which constitutes in such cases great part of the required power. They had not even brought with them any of the mining tools necessary for the commencemet of their operations; nor a farthing of money to purchase them. These, therefore, together with the supply of provisions indispensable to their very existence, while working on a spot, near which none could, by possibility, be procured, they contrived to obtain on credit, from a curate of Chilecito, named Granillo, who agreed to supply them with what they needed, to the amount of thirty dollars, on condition, that if they succeeded in their undertaking, they were to repay him double the amount within a certain time; and, with these supplies they started for the mountain, the very day after their arrival in its neighborhood. They proceeded on foot themselves, as it was necessary to load their mule with the provisions, tools, &c., which they were enabled by the curate to take with them. It is said that the hardships they endured, for the first three or four days, were almost incredible; for, during the whole of that time, they were exposed to the fury of a snow storm, almost naked, and without firing or even shelter. At the end of that time they had contrived to dig out a small cave in the side of the rock to shelter them at night from the snow and rain; and there they used to lie close together, with no other means of avoiding being frozen to death, but that of receiving the animal warmth of each other. Their only provisions were biscuit, and a little dried beef, or charqui, which they were obliged to eat cold-having, as I have said, no means of procuring firing of any kind.

first attempt being made at that part of the mountain, called the Cerro Negro, where, after working for some time, they discovered a small vein of virgin silver, mixed with sulphuret of silver. They continued working upon this for about a month, never quitting the mountain during that period; at the end of which time, having collected together as much ore as they could carry, they returned with it to Chilecito. As all mining speculations had ceased in that neighborhood, they were now at a loss how to turn their little treasure to account, by reducing it to a tangible form. This, however, they at last effected, by grinding the ore to powder, on a large flat stone, as painters grind their colors, and then triturating it with mercury to extract the silver.

The produce of this their first adventure was about one hundred dollars; with which, having first paid the curate his promised sixty dollars, they purchased more provisions, and a little clothing, and then returned to the mountain, and were heard of no more for three months. At the end of that time one of them came back to the village, with sufficient silver ore to purchase two additional mules, for the purpose of bringing back the increasing produce of their labors. And thus they went on for about twelve months, never quitting the mountain but when compelled to return in search of provisions. It was understood that, by this time, they had accumulated a capital of about two thousand dollars; and about this time it was that they discovered the rich mine called Santo Domingo. They now found themselves sufficiently beforehand with the world to feel justified in hiring laborrers from the village to work for them; and having also purchased a spot of ground in the valley of Famatina, in which there was a convenient fall of water from one of the mountain rivulets, Juan Leita, who was a man of great mechanical ingenuity, constructed with his own hands a trapichi mill, for the purpose of grinding the ore on a larger scale. The whole of this

construction he completed without assistance; and then, being the hardier man of the two, he returned to the mountain, to work and superintend the operations there, while Echavaria came to reside at the mill, and attend to the extraction of the metal from the ore.

In this manner they proceeded for ten years, by which time they had accumulated a capital of a hundred thousand dollars. But in doing this they had excited the malicious envy of the Riojanos, whose cupidity made them covet the wealth which their want of industry prevented them from even attempting to compass for themselves by similar means. At this period, too, the revolution broke out, and afforded the means of, in some measure, accomplishing the object which was now contemplated by some of the heads of the people. The first step taken against them was to order them to pay a contribution of a thousand dollars for the service of the state. This was no sooner complied with than another was sent for a similar sum, and shortly afterwards others to the amount of five thousand dollars more. On this, Echavaria, who was at once a shrewd and a timorous man, and foresaw the storm that was brewing, endeavored to prevail on Leita to join him in retiring to Peru with the property they had amassed. But

Leita refused to consent; and the result was, that they came to the resolution of dividing their property, and Echavaria made his escape immediately after having first buried in a spot, near the mill, that portion of his gains which he was not able to carry with him. Shortly after the departure of Echavaria, it was reported that Leita had discovered another mine, still richer than any of those they had hitherto been working upon. Whether this was true or not, it had the effect of exciting still further the cupidity of the new government, and an order was speedily sent to Leita, requiring him to furnish a still larger contribution. This he had expected, and had prepared himself for, by burying in the ground nearly all his trea

sures; and his reply to the government order was that they had already deprived him of all his gains. But they were not to be put off in this manner. On receiving the above reply, they immediately had a meeting of the Cabildo, in the town of Rioja; and the result was the sending a militia officer, and twenty men, to take Leita into custody, and lodge him in prison, under the pretence that he was an old Spaniard, and an enemy to the state. The party arrived at his house, in the Escaleras, just as he was sitting down to dinner; and having immediately taken him, and placed heavy fetters upon his legs, they were about to place him on a horse, and carry him away. But he determined on having recourse to stratagem, with the view of, if possible, gaining his liberty, and escaping from their hands. Accordingly, pretending the utmost submission to the commands of the government, he invited the party to take some dinner with him before they set out, and offered to supply them with some excellent wine, which he possessed. This proposal was immediately accepted by the officer commanding the party; and, as the only servant of Leita, a black slave, had run away on the approach of the military party, Leita offered to wait on them himself, and fetch the wine, serve the dinner, &c. This he did for some time with great apparent good humor, and with great satisfaction to the party; who, as their spirits waxed higher with Leita's excellent wine, grew more favorably disposed towards their prisoner; and the head of them, seeing with what alacrity he went in and out in their service, observed that it was a pity he should be so much inconvenienced by his fetters, and ordered that they should be taken off. Freed from this incumbrance, he still kept running in and out doing their bidding, and supplying them with more wine; till at length, having ascertained the position and arms of the three sentinels who had been placed without, he watched his opportunity, and suddenly closed