great expense.

Moreover, in the district of mines of Guanaxuato nearly two hundred and fifty workmen perished in the space of a few minutes on the 14th June, 1780, because, not having measured the distance between the works of San Ramon and the old works of Santo Christo de Burgos, they had imprudently approached this last mine while carrying on a gallery of investigation in that direction. The water with which the works of Santo Christo were full, flowed with impetuosity through this new gallery of San Ramon into the mine of Valenciana. Many of the workmen perished by, the effect of the sudden compression of the air, which, in taking a vent, threw to great distances pieces of timber, and large masses of rock. This accident would not have happened, if in regulating the operations they could have consulted a plan of the mines.

After the picture which we have just drawn of the actual state of the mining operations, and of the bad economy which prevails in the administration of the mines of New Spain, we ought not to be astonished at seeing works, which for a long time have been most productive, abandoned whenever they have reached a considerable depth, or whenever the veins have appeared less abundant in metals. We have already observed, that in the famous mine of Valenciana,

the annual expenses rose in the space of fifteen years from two millions of francs to four millions and a half. Indeed, if there be much water in this mine, and if it require a number of horse baritels to draw it off, the profit must, to the proprietors, be little or nothing. The greatest part of the defects in the management which I have been pointing out, have been long known to a respectable and enlightened body, the Tribunal de Mineria of Mexico, to the professors of the school of mines, and even to several of the native miners, who without having ever quitted their country, know the imperfection of the old methods; but we must repeat here, that changes can only take place very slowly among a people who are not fond of innovations, and in a country where the government possesses so little influence on the works which are generally the property of individuals, and not of shareholders. It is a prejudice to imagine, that the mines of New Spain on account of their wealth, do not require in their management the same intelligence and the same economy which are necessary to the preservation of the mines of Saxony and the Harz. We must not confound the abundance of ores with their intrinsic value. The most

*From 90,000l. to 180,000l. Sterling. Trans.

part of the minerals of Mexico being very poor, as we have already proved, and as all those who do not allow themselves to be dazzled by false calculations very well know, an enormous quantity of gangue impregnated with metals must be extracted, in order to produce two millions and a half of marcs of silver. Now it is easy to conceive that in mines of which the different works are badly disposed, and without any communication with one another, the expense of extraction must be increased in an alarming manner, in proportion as the shafts (pozos) increase in depth, and the galleries cañones) become more extended.

The labour of a miner is entirely free throughout the whole kingdom of New Spain; and no Indian or Mestizoe can be forced to dedicate themselves to the working of mines. It is absolutely false, though the assertion has been repeated in works of the greatest estimation, that the court of Madrid sends out galley slaves to America, to work in the gold and silver mines. The mines of Siberia have been peopled by Russian malefactors; but in the Spanish colonies this species of punishment has been fortunately unknown for centuries. The Mexican miner is the best paid of all miners; he gains at the least from 25 to 30 francs* per

* From 1. to 11. 4s. sterling. Trans.

week of six days, while the wages of labourers who work in the open air, husbandmen for example, are seven livres sixteen sous, on the central table land, and nine livres twelve sous * near the coast. The miners, tenateros and faeneros occupied in transporting the minerals to the place of assemblage (despachos) frequently gain more than six francs † per day, of six hours. Honesty is by no means so common among the Mexican as among the German or Swedish miners; and they make use of a thousand tricks to steal very rich specimens of ores. As they are almost naked, and are searched on leaving the mine in the most indecent manner, they conceal small morsels of native silver, or red sulphuret and muriate of silver in their hair, under their arm-pits, and in their mouths; and they even lodge in their anus, cylinders of clay which contain the metal. These cylinders are called longanas, and they are sometimes found of the length of thirteeen centimetres, (five inches). It is a most shocking spectacle to see in the large mines of Mexico, hundreds of workmen, among whom there are a great number of very respectable men, all compelled to allow

* 6s. 3d. and 7s. 6d. Trans.

† 4s. 10d. Trans.

At Freiberg in Saxony the miner gains per week of five days, from four livres, to four livres ten sous, (from 3s. 3d. to 3s. 8d. Trans.)

themselves to be searched on leaving the pit or the gallery. A register is kept of the minerals found in the hair, in the mouth, or other parts of the miners' bodies. In the mine of Valenciana at Guanaxuato, the value of these stolen minerals, of which a great part was composed of the longanas, amounted between 1774 and 1787, to the sum of 900,000 francs. *

In the interior of the mines much care is employed in controuling the tenateros, by whom the ores are carried towards the pit from the place of operation. At Valenciana, for example, they know to within a few pounds the quantity of metalliferous gangue which daily goes out of the mine. I say, the gangue, for the rock is never there an object of extraction, and is employed to fill up the vacancies formed by the extraction of the minerals. At the place of assemblage of the great shafts, two chambers are dug in the wall, in each of which two persons (despachadores) are seated at a table, with a book before them containing the names of all the miners employed in the carriage. Two balances are suspended before them, near the counter. Each tenatero loaded with minerals presents himself at the counter; and two persons stationed near the balances, judge of the weight of this load by raising it lightly up. If

* 63,000 sterling. Trans.