596 " Mexico;" and " Mexican Illustrations" [\TuNE 



The Mexican mode of working the mines varies according to circum- 

 stances in different establishments ; and the descriptions of this business 

 in detail are too long to be extracted. We may give some general notion 

 of the manner of operation from the account of Mr. Beaufoy : 



" The veins of silver were no doubt originally discovered by fires being acci- 

 dentally lighted on spots where the ore " cropped out" on the surface; and 

 some portion of metal became smelted and seen ; adventurers then began to 

 sink a shaft ; or, much more commonly, to dig a hole in the vein itself, follow- 

 ing the richer lodes in all their sinuosities, groping about, sometimes above, 

 sometimes below, but leaving nothing behind that was worth taking away. 



" I have heard many professional European miners declare, that no work- 

 ings could be carried on more devoid of all system than those of the Mexicans ; 

 and yet, in despite of all the very best of theories, the ignoramuses had con- 

 trived to extract the precious contents. 



" Whether I am correct or not in the conjecture, I cannot say ; but I have 

 often thought, when visiting the old, narrow winding excavations of the 

 natives, that men were capable of going farther under ground, in that pure 

 atmosphere, without a circulation of air, than in denser climates : fire-damps 

 are, I believe, unknown, and, wherever a candle will burn, there the air is not 

 so much stagnated as to prevent breathing. 



" If the shaft is perpendicular, a large wooden drum, turned by horses, 

 raises to the surface a sort of sack, made of three great skins, firmly sewed 

 together, and filled with water ; for the use and mode of making tubs with 

 staves is utterly unknown, and there are very few mines which have a level 

 deep enough to drain a third part of their galleries. While this is going for- 

 ward, the carriers work their way to the surface by means of notched poles 

 put across a part of the shaft in a zigzag fashion ; and they then give their 

 load to the breakers, who knock the ore into pieces exactly as if they were 

 going to macadamize a road. 



" The quantity brought " to grass" by each individual would appear ridicu- 

 lously small to those who are unacquainted with the difficulties of the low 

 underground passages, and the fatigue of mounting several hundred feet of 

 notched sticks ; but it is the long-established usage of the natives, and can 

 only be got rid of by degrees, even in those mines where the shafts will allow 

 of a bucket. 



" At the manufactory, the ore is ground, or else pounded very fine under 

 stampers, and then placed on an area, most frequently open to the weather, 

 but preferable if covered from the rain and cold ; it is there wetted, and mixed 

 with certain proportions of salt and burnt pyrites, which vary in quantity on 

 every occasion, and can only be known from long experience. This mud, which 

 strongly resembles the scrapings of London streets, is well trodden and mixed 

 together by men or horses ; quicksilver is then squeezed through a fine cloth 

 all over the heap, and the mass is again turned over and kicked about for a 

 long succession of days. Thus, according to circumstances of the state of the 

 atmosphere and various other causes, the mud remains from three to six weeks 

 before it is fit to be washed; then it is put into a cistern of water, well stirred 

 up, and allowed to run very gently down a long inclined plane or trough, as 

 represented in the figure. The quicksilver having united itself with the minute 

 particles of the precious metal, they are together heavy enough to sink and 

 collect at the stops on the board, while the refuse dirt is carried off with the 

 water. 



" As the great mass of Mexican mine proprietors had not manufactories of 

 their own, they were obliged to send their ore to be amalgamated by other per- 

 sons ; paying them a fixed sum for a given quantity, and all the additional 

 expenses of salt, pyrites, and mercury. It must, therefore be evident, with- 

 out my entering into prolix details, that the owner of the manufactory had 

 very numerous opportunities of cheating the miner; and that all the energies of 

 the latter were continually exercised to prevent his being grossly robbed. 



