1828.] "Mexico;" and Mexican Illustrations.'* 590 



The ores of Pastrana (another) 



" were so rich, that the lode was worked by bars, with a point at one end, 

 and a chisel at the other, for cutting out the silver. The owner of Pastrana 

 used to bring the ores from the mine with flags flying, and the mules adorned 

 with cloths of all colours. The same man received a reproof from the Bishop 

 of Durango, when he visited Batopilas, for placing bars of silver from the door 

 of his house to the sala, for the Bishop to walk upon." 



Buen Suceso was discovered by an Indian, who swam across the river 

 after a great flood : 



" On arriving at the other side, he found the crest of an immense lode laid 

 bare by the force of the water. The greater part of this crest was pure and 

 massive silver, and sparkling in the sun. The whole town of Batopilas went 

 to witness this extraordinary sight as soon as the river became fordable. The 

 Indian extracted great wealth from his mine ; but, on arriving at the depth of 

 three varas, the abundance of the water obliged him to abandon it, and no 

 attempt has been since made to resume the working." 



And these are not tales of the olden time. These masses of wealth, 

 and the people who hold it, are, in many cases, still in existence : . 



The mine of Morelos was found 



" in the spring of 1826, by two brothers (Indians), by name Arauco, to one of 

 whom a little maize for tortillas had been refused upon credit the night 

 before. In two months they extracted from their mine 270,000 dollars ! yet, 

 in December 1826, they were still living in a wretched hovel close to the source 

 of their wealth, bare-headed and bare-legged, with upwards of 40,000/. sterling 

 in silver locked up in their hut. But never was the utter worthlessness of 

 the metal, as such, so clearly demonstrated, as it has been in the case of the 

 Araucos, whose only pleasure consists in contemplating their hoards, and in 

 occasionally throwing away a portion of their richest ores to be scrambled for 

 by their former companions, the workmen." 



The mine of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe is very celebrated : 



" It belongs to Don Francisco Iriarte, a relation of the President's, who 

 refused an offer of one million of dollars, made in 1825, by an association of 

 Foreigners, on condition that he should allow them to work his mine for a 

 term of three years. Guadalupe is free from water, and situated at a conside- 

 rable elevation above the plain ; it contains a vein of gold of considerable 

 breadth, and its produce might be increased to ten times its present amount ; 

 but the proprietor, a man of very peculiar habits, often refuses to work the 

 mine for months together; and, when compelled to employ labourers upon it, 

 in order to prevent the loss of his title by exposing the mine to a denunciation 

 from some other quarter, never allows more than four arrobas of gold (lOOlbs. 

 weight) to be raised in the week. 



" The idea of a man possessed of boundless wealth, but refusing to make 

 any use of the treasures within his reach, will seem incredible in Europe ; 

 but Iriarte really does not know the value of money. With at least a million 

 of dollars in gold and silver in his house, he lives in a habitation, the furniture 

 of which is composed of buffaloe-skins, with wooden tables, and chairs of so 

 massive a construction, that it requires two or three men to lift them from one 

 part of the room to the other. His sons, whom he never permits to leave the 

 town, are forced to attend to a little retail shop in Cosala ; and his daughter, 

 who is pretty, is suffered to grow up in uneducated idleness. His own habits 

 are abstemious ; arid his religious notions extremely strict. He dislikes allu- 

 sions to his wealth, and considers any inquiry respecting his mine almost as a 

 personal offence. To all proposals for a cession of the right of working it> 

 oven for a limited time, he has constantly given the same answer namely, 



