became richer than the mines of Pachuca, Zacatecas, and Bolaños. Their metallic produce, as we shall hereafter explain, is now greater than the produce of Potosi or any other mine in the two continents ever was.

There are in the intendancy of Guanaxuato 3 ciudades (viz. Guanaxuato, Celayo, and Salvatierra); 4 villas (viz. San Miguel el Grande, Leon, San Felipe and Salamanca); 37 villages or pueblos; 33 parishes (paroquias); 448 farms or haciendas }; 225 individuals of the secular clergy, 170 monks and 30 nuns; and in a population of more than 180,000 Indians, 52,000 subject to tribute.

The most remarkable towns of this intendancy are the following:

Guanaxuato, or Santa Fe de Gonna

joato. The building of this city was begun by the Spaniards in 1554. It received the royal privilege of villa in 1619; and that of ciudad the 8th December 1741. Its present population is:

Within the city (en el casco de la ciudad)

In the mines surrounding the city, of which the buildings are contiguous, at Marfil Santa Ana, Santa Rosa, Valenciana, Rayas, and Mellado

Population.

41,000

29,600

70,600

TOWNS.

HOT-WELLS.

231

Among whom there are 4500 Indians. Height of the city at the Plaza Mayor near 6836 feet. Height of Valenciana at the mouth of the new pit (tiro nuevo) 7586 feet. Height of Rayas at the mouth of the gallery 7075 feet.

Salamanca, a pretty little town, situated in a plain which rises insensibly by Temascatio, Burras and Cuevas, towards Guanaxuato. Height 5762 feet.

Celaya. Sumptuous edifices have recently been constructed at Celaya, Queretaro, and Guanaxuato. The church of the Carmelites at Celaya has a fine appearance. It is adorned with Corinthian and Ionic columns. Height 6018 feet.

Villa de Leon, in a plain eminently fertile in grain. From this town to San Juan del Rio are to be seen the finest fields of wheat, barley, and maize.

San Miguel el Grande, celebrated for the industry of its inhabitants, who manufacture cotton cloth.

The hot wells of San Jose de Comangillas are in this province. They issue from a basaltic opening. The temperature of the water, according to experiments made jointly by myself and Mr. Roxas, is 205°3 Fahr. thermometer.

Disputaciones de Mineria, or Districts.

1. Guanaxuato.

Reales, or places surrounded with Mines :

Guanaxuato: Villalpando; Monte de San Nicolas; Santa Rosa; Santa Ana; San Antonio de las Minas; Comanja; Capulin; Comanjilla; Gigante; San Luis de la Paz; San Rafael de los Lobos ; Durasno; San Juan de la Chica; Rincon de Centeno; San Pedro de los Pozos; Palmos de Vega; San Miguel el Grande; San Felipe.

The district of Guanaxuato is as remarkable for its natural wealth as for the gigantic labours of man in the bowels of the mountains.

In the centre of the intendancy of Guanaxuato on the ridge of the Cordillera of Anahuac, rises a group of porphyritic summits known by the name of the Sierra de Santa Rosa. This group of mountains, partly arid, and partly covered with strawberry trees and evergreen oaks, is surrounded with fertile and well cultivated fields. To the north of the Sierra, the Llanos of San Felipe extend as far as the eye can reach; and to the south, the plains of Irapuato and Salamanca exhibit the delightful spectacle of a rich and populous country. The Cierro de los Llanitos, and the Puerto de Santa Rosa, are the most elevated summits of this

group

ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.

233

of mountains. Their absolute height is from 9000 to 9300; but as the neighbouring plains, which are part of the great central table-land of Mexico, are more than 6000 feet above the level of the sea, these porphyritic summits appear but as inconsiderable hills to the eye of a traveller accustomed to the striking appearance of the Cordilleras. The famous vein of Guanaxuato, which has alone, since the end of the sixteenth century, produced a mass of silver equal to nearly 58,000,000l., crosses the southern slope of the Sierra Santa de Rosa.

In going from Salamanca to Burras and Temascatio, we perceive a chain of mountains which, bounding the plains, stretches from the south-east to the north-west. The crest of the vein follows this direction. At the foot of the Sierra, after passing the farm of Xalapita, we discover a narrow ravine, dangerous to pass at the period of the great swells, called the Canada de Marfil, which leads to the town of Guanaxuato. The population of that town, as we have already observed, is more than 70,000 souls. One is astonished to see in this wild spot, large and beautiful edifices in the midst of miserable Indian huts. The house of Colonel Don Diego Rul, who is one of the proprietors of the Valenciana mine, would be an ornament to the finest streets of Paris and Naples. It is fronted with columns of the Ionic order, and the architecture is simple, and remarkable for great purity of

234 PRODUCE OF THE VEIN OF GUANAXUATO.

style. The erection of this edifice, which is almost uninhabited, cost more than 33,0007.—a considerable sum in a country where the price of labour and materials is very moderate.

The name of Guanaxuato is scarcely known in Europe; yet the riches of the mines of this district are much greater than those of the metalliferous depositary of Potosi. The latter was discovered in 1545 by Diego Hualca an Indian, and has produced, (according to information never yet made public,) in the space of two hundred and thirtythree years, 57,068,488 lbs. troy of silver, worth 170,789,3447. sterling.

The produce of the vein of Guanaxuato is almost double that of the Cerro de Potosi. There is actually drawn from this vein (for it alone furnishes all the silver of the mines of the district of Guanaxuato), in average years, about 300,000lbs. troy of silver, and 1000 lbs. troy of gold.

It is found from official papers, that the district of mines of Guanaxuato has produced in 38 years gold and silver to the value of 35,750,000. ster