of minerals are annually amalgamated; but in New Spain the quantity is nearly ten millons of quintals; and how is it possible to contain this enormous mass of minerals in tubs. How can we find sufficient power to turn a million of these casks or tubs ?* How shall we work which wants com the minerals of a country bustibles, and where the mines are on table lands destitute of forests? After treating of the amalgamation in use in America, it remains for us to touch upon a very important problem, that of the quantity of mercury annually required by the mines of New Spain. Mexico and Peru depend very much upon the abundance and low price of the mercury for the quantity of silver which they produce. When the mercury fails them, which happens often in periods of maritime war, the mines are not so briskly worked; and the mineral accumulates in their hands without their being able to extract the silver from it. Rich proprietors, who possess in their magazines minerals to the amount of two or three millions of francs, are frequently in want of the necessary money to make head * It would undoubtedly require a million of casks to receive at once the 17 quintals of minerals; but supposing that we could amalgamate as rapidly as in Saxony, 3330 tubs would be sufficient to supply the place of the beneficio del patio of all Mexico. against the daily expenses of their mines. On the other hand the more mercury is wanted in Spanish America, either on account of the flourishing state of the mines, or the process of amalgamation followed there, the more the price of this metal rises in Europe. The small number of countries which nature has supplied with it, Spain, the department of Mont-Tonnerre, Carniola, and Transilvania, gain by this rise; but the districts of silver mines in which the process of amalgamation is the more desirable, as they are in want of the necessary combustibles for smelting, feel very disadvantageously the effect of the great importations of mercury into America. New Spain consumes annually 16,000 quintals of mercury*. The court of Madrid having reserved to itself the exclusive right of selling mercury, both Spanish and foreign, entered in 1784, into a contract with the Emperor of Austria, by which the latter was to furnish mercury at a price of 52 piastres. The court sends annually in time of peace by vessels of the Royal Navy, sometimes 9000, and sometimes 24,000 quintals. In 1803, a very useful project was formed of supplying Mexico for several years, in order that in the unforeseen case of a war, the amalgamation should not be * 2,100,212 lb. troy. Trans. impeded by the want of mercury; but this project (del repuesto) shared the fate of so many others which have never been executed. Before 1770, when the working of mines was far from being so considerable as at present, New Spain received no other mercury but that of Almaden and Huancavelica. The German mercury furnished by the Austrian government, of which the greatest part is from Idria, was only introduced into Mexico after the falling in of the subterraneous works of Huancavelica, at a time when the mine of Almaden was inundated in the greatest part of its works*, and yielded only a very inconsiderable produce. But in 1800 and 1802, this last mine was again in such a flourishing state, that it could alone have furnished more than 20,000 quintals of mercury per annum, and there were sufficient grounds to conceive the hope of not having any necessity of recurring to German mercury, for supplying Mexico and Peru. There have been thousand quintals years, when ten or twelve of this last mercury, have been imported at Vera Cruz. Upon the whole, from 1762 to 1781, the amalgamation works of New Spain, destroyed the enormous sum of 191,405 quin * For these mines, and those of Almadenejos, see the interesting researches of M. Coquebert de Montbret, n the Journal des Mines, No. 17. p. 396. tals*, of which the value in America amounted to more than 60 millions of livres tournoist. When the price of mercury has progressively lowered, the working of the mines has gone on increasing. In 1590, under the Viceroy Don Luis de Velasco II., a quintal of mercury was sold in Mexico for 187 piastres. But in the 18th century, the value of this metal had diminished to such a degree, that in 1750, the court distributed it to the miners at 82 piastres. Between 1767 and 1776, its price was 62 piastres the quintal. In 1777, under the administration of the Minister Galvez, a royal decree fixed the price of the mercury of Almaden at 41 piastres, two reals, and that of Germany at 63 piastres. At Guanaxuato, these two sorts of mercury are increased by the expensive carriage on the backs of mules, from 2 to 24 piastres per quintal. The king gains account of the on the mercury of Idria, on difference of the weight used in Germany and in Mexico, 23 per cent; so that a wise politician ought to engage the mother country to sell it at a cheaper rate. According to an old custom, the miners of certain districts of mines, for example, those of Guanaxuato and Zacatecas, are allowed to purchase two thirds of * 25,124,200 lb. Troy. Trans. Spanish mercury, and only one third of German mercury. Other districts are forced to take more of the mercury of Idria, than that of Almaden. As the former is the dearest, there is a repugnance to taking it, and the miners affect to consider it as impure. The impartial distribution of mercury (el repartimiento del azogue) is of the greatest consequence for the prosperi y of the mines of New Spain. So long as this branch of commerce shall not be free, the distribution should be entrusted to the Tribunal de Mineria, which is alone in a condition to judge of the number of quintals, indispensably necessary to the amalgamation works of the different districts. Unfortunately, however, the viceroys and those persons who are about them, are jealous of the right of administering themselves this branch of the royal revenue. They know very well that to distribute mercury, and especially that of Almaden, which is one third cheaper than that of Idria, is conceding a favour; and in the colonies as every where else, it isprofitable to favour the richest and most powerful individuals. From this state of things, the poorest miners, those of Tasco, Temascaltepec, or Copala, cannot procure mercury, when the great works of Guanaxuato and Real del Monte have it in abundance. The general superintendency of the mines in |