Left, Contemporary Huancavelica, Peru;
Right, Mine works and mercury stills, Huancavelica, Peru, 18th century

Penetrated to the Very Marrow

Between 1616 and 1619, Governor Juan de Solorzano carried out a survey of work conditions in the Huancavelica mercury mines (directly exploited by the Crown, in distinction to the silver mines, which were in private hands): "The poison penetrated to the very marrow, debilitating all the members and causing a constant shaking, and the workers usually died within four years," he reported to the Council of the Indies and to the king. But in 1631 Philip IV ordered that the same system be continued, and his successor Charles II later reaffirmed the decree.

Open Veins of Latin America, Galeano