110 SEVIN'S JOURNEY IN MEXICO. [Jan. 24, 1859. 



but the old mine of S. Rosario is still the richest of all. The 

 advent of Mr. Sevin's party created quite a sensation, for the want 

 of a new element to elevate the population from its present miser- 

 able condition is severely felt among all classes in Mexico, and 

 Mr. Sevin feels assured that energetic foreigners, with a bona fide 

 purpose of trade and industry, would be cordially welcomed by the 

 natives. His next point was Huacaybo, in reaching which he 

 passed the famous mines of; Jesus Maria, which are now worked in 

 a most desultory manner by mining squatters ; the richest of them 

 is flooded with water. The^ copper lode at Huacaybo appears to be 

 on an immense scale, and its position and capabilities are minutely 

 described. At this point Mr. Sevin turned back ; his mules were 

 lamedj his stock of provisions and necessary luxuries were con- 

 sumed, and h© went back to Mazatlan by another route. 



He reports on numerous mining districts, Bastoseagochic, Sen- 

 tentrion, Ceroeahuic, Monterde, Guadalupe el Calvo, El Parral, 

 Hydalgo, San Diego, and Santa Eulalia. In the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of the last of these more than 250 mines have been 

 worked, 60 of which a,re more than 200 yards deep and remarkably 

 extensive, but the working of all of them has been checked since 

 the expulsion of the Spaniards. He then passed to Batropilas ; 

 and, after visiting another group of mining districts as numerous as 

 the lastj and all of which are minutely described in Mr. Sevin's paper, 

 that gentleman and his companions reached Mazatlan in November. 



Mr. Sevin finds great fault with the cartography of the country 

 he saw : — *' As for the difi'erent rivers, mountains, and villages laid 

 down in the diJBferent English and Spanish maps known to me, I 

 have not seen . one . in which their geographical position was in 

 accordance with my daily observations, and where the names of the 

 localities were rightly spelled." 



The paper concludes with a minute description of the physical 

 geography of Chihuahua. . 



The President. — Geographers must be well pleased to know that a gentle- 

 man going to remote parts of Mexico without any mission to carry out our 

 special objects, has of his own accord, and at his own expense, devoted so 

 much labour and talent in laying before us a picture of a country, some 

 parts of which have been visited by various -British miners, but of which we 

 have not yet had so clear a general sketch. The journey was not performed 

 without difficulty ; fire-arms having to be employed occasionally in those 

 parts where the road was beset by robbers. We have, indeed, every reason 

 to thank Mr. Sevin for having so successfully accomplished the object of his 

 travels, and for having made the remote parts of Mexico much better known 

 to us. 



Mr. J. Crawfurd, f.r.g.s. — Mr. Sevin, perhaps, will have the goodness to 

 give us some estimate of the amount of silver produced within the republic of 

 Mexico. At the same time 1 would ask him, has the price of quicksilver 



