262 PRODUCE OF MINES OF CATORCE.

Zacatecas. These mines possess also the great advantage of being almost entirely dry, so that they have no need of costly machines to draw off the water.

In 1773, Sebastian Caronado and Antonio Llanas, two very poor individuals, discovered veins in a situation now called Cerro de Catorce Viejo, on the western slope of the Pichaco de la Variga de Plata. They began to work these veins, which were poor and inconstant in their produce. In 1778, Don Barnabé Antonio de Zepeda, a miner of the Ojo del Agua de Matchuala, investigated during three months this group of arid and calcareous mountains. After attentively examining the ravines, he was fortunate enough to find the crest or surface of the veta grande, on which he immediately dug the pit of Guadalupe. He drew from it an immense quantity of muriate of silver, and colorados mixed with native gold; and gained in a short time more than 108,3831. From that period, the mines of Catorce were wrought with the greatest activity. That of Padre Flores alone produced in the first year upwards of 350,000Z.; but the vein only displayed great riches from 160 to 330 feet of perpendicular depth. The famous mine of Purissima, belonging to Colonel Obregon, has scarcely ever ceased since 1788, to yield annually a net profit of 43,7527.; and its produce in 1796 amounted to 260,0007, while the expenses of working did not amount to more than 17,3007. The

vein of Purissima, which is not the same with that of Padre Flores, sometimes reaches the extraordinary extent of 130 feet; and it was worked in 1802 to the depth of 226 fathoms. Since 1798, the value of the minerals of Catorce has singularly diminished: the native silver is now rarely to be seen; and the metales colorados, which are an intimate mixture of muriate of silver, earthy carbonate of lead, and red ochre, begin to give place to pyritous and coppery minerals. The actual produce of these mines is nearly 262,526 lbs. of silver annually.

Intendancy of Mexico-extent-climate-physical aspect -roads-principal towns-mines-Real del Monte, Moran Biscaina, Tasco-state of mining operationsgeological structure.

THE whole of this intendancy is situated under the torrid zone. It extends from the 16° 34' to the 21° 57' of north latitude. It is bounded on the north by the intendancy of San Luis Potosi, on the west by the intendancies of Guanaxuato and Valladolid, and on the east by those of Vera Cruz and La Puebla. It is washed towards the south by the South Sea, or Great Ocean, for a length of coast of 246 miles, from Acapulco to Zacatula.

Its greatest length from Zacatula to the mines.

of the Doctor is 408 miles; and its greatest breadth from Zacatula to the mountains situated to the east of Chilpansingo is 276 miles. In its northern part, towards the celebrated mines of Zimapan and the Doctor, it is separated by a narrow stripe from the Gulf of Mexico. Near Mextitlan, this stripe is only 27 miles in breadth.

More than two thirds of the intendancy of Mexico are mountainous, and contain immense plains, elevated from 6561 to 7545 feet above the level of the ocean. From Chalco to Queretaro are almost uninterrupted plains of 450 miles in length, and 80 or 90 in breadth. In the neighbourhood of the western coast the climate is burning and very unhealthy. One summit only, the Nevado de Toluca, situated in a fertile plain, of 8857 feet in height, enters the region of perpetual snow. The elevation of the Pico del Fraile, or the highest summit of the Nevado de Toluca, is 15,156 feet. No mountain in this intendancy equals the height of Mont Blanc.

The valley of Mexico, or Tenochtitlan, is situated in the centre of the Cordillera of Anahuac, on the ridge of the porphyritical and basaltic amygdaloid mountains, which run from the S.S.E. to the N.N.W. This valley is of an oval form; it contains 55 miles in length, and 37 in breadth. The territorial extent of the valley is 2,200 square miles, of which only 198 square miles are occupied by

the lakes, which is less than a tenth of the whole surface.

The circumference of the valley, reckoning from the crest of the mountains which surround it like a circular wall, is 201 miles. This crest is most elevated on the south, particularly on the southeast, where the great volcanos of La Puebla, the Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, bound the valley.

Six great roads cross the Cordillera which incloses the valley, of which the medium height is 9842 feet above the level of the ocean: 1. the road from Acapulco to Guchilaque and Cuervaracca, by the high summit called la Cruz del Marques; 2. the road of Toluca by Tianguillo and Lerma, a magnificent causeway, which I could not sufficiently admire, constructed with great art, partly over arches; 3. the road of Queretaro, Guanaxuato and Durango el camino de tierra adentro, which passes by Guautitlan, Huehuetoca, and the Puerto de Reyes, near Bata, through hills scarcely 262 feet above the pavement of the great square (place) of Mexico; 4. the road of Pachuco, which leads to the celebrated mines of Real del Monte, by the Cerro Ventoso, covered with oak, cyprus, and rose trees, almost continually in flower; 5. the old road of La Puebla, by S. Bonaventura and the Llanos de Apan; and, 6. the new road of La Puebla by Rio Frio and Tesmelucos, south-east from the Cerro del Telapon.