34 MEXICAiV Jx'ESOURCES. 



HISTORY OF MEXICAN MINES. 



" The mountains of Anahuac," wrote the celebrated historian Clavigero, a century 

 ago, "abound in ores of eyery kind of metal. The Mexicans found gold in the 

 countries of the. Cohuixcas, the Miztecs, the Zapotecs and several others. They 

 gathered it chiefly in grains amongst the sands of the rivers, and the above men- 

 tioned people paid a certain quantity in tribute to the crown of Mexico. Silver 

 was dug out of the mines of Tlachco and Tzompanco. Of copper they had two 

 sorts, — one hard, which they used instead of iron to make axes, mattocks, and 

 other instruments of war and agriculture ; the other flexible for the making of 

 basins and other vessels. This metal abounded formerly in the provinces of 

 Zacatollan and the Cohuixchas ; at present it is found in the kingdom of Michoacan. 



They dug tin from the mines of Tlachco, and lead from the mines of Izmiquilpan, 

 a place in the country of the Otomies. Of tin they made money, and they sold lead 

 in the market ; there were likewise mines of iron in Tlascala, in Tlachco (Tlasco) 

 and other places; but they either did not find out these mines, — or, at least did 

 not know how to benefit themselves by the discovery. Mines of quicksilver they 

 had in Chilapan, and in many places mines of sulphur, alum, vitriol, cinnabar, 

 ochre, and a white earth strongly resembling white lead. Of amber and asphaltum, 

 there was, and still is, a great abundance on both coasts, and they were both paid 

 in tribute to the king of Mexico from many places of the empire. With respect to 

 precious stones, there were, and still are, diamonds, though few in number ; ame- 

 thysts, cats-eyes, turquoises, cornelians, and some green stones, resembling emeralds 

 [Chalchiuith) ; and of all these stones the Miztecs, Zapotecs, and Cohuixcas, in 

 whose mountains they were found, paid a tribute to the king. The mountains 

 which lie on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, between the port of Vera Cruz and 

 the river Coatzacoalco, namely, those of Chinantla, furnished them with crystal. 

 There were quarries of jasper, and marble of different colors, in the mountains 

 of Calpolalpan, to the east of Mexico, in the Monte de las Cruces, and in the 

 Zapotec couutry ; of alabaster (Mexican onyx) in Tecalco (now Tecale) State of 

 Puebla, and in the country of the Miztecs ; of tezontli, in the vale of Mexico itself, 

 and in many other places of the empire. There are, besides, mountains of load- 

 stone (magnetic iron), of the Quitzalitztli, or nephritic stone ; the Mexicans formed 

 various and curious figures ; ChimaltizatI, which is a kind of talc, on calcination, 

 gives a fine plaster, which the Mexicans used to whiten their paintings ; the Mez- 

 cuitlatl was the opal, very abundant. But no stone was more common with the 

 Mexicans, than ^le itztli, or obsidian, of w'hich they made mirrors, knives, etc." 



That the ancient Toltecs and Aztecs obtained gold and silver, not only from the 

 beds of mountain torrents and the auriferous sands of the coast streams, but from 

 shafts and galleries sunk at great expense of time and toil, we have»abundant proof. 

 Like the native of Peru, they worked mines that dated their origin from a period 

 so remote that no man knew when they were begun. The abundance of gold and 

 silver vessels and bars of the precious metals at the time of the arrival of the 

 Spaniards proves the above statement, aside from their own historic records. 

 They possessed, besides gems, also cinnabar, lead, tin, and copper. The southern 

 provinces paid tribute, not only in the peculiar products of their fields and forests, 

 but in golden grains, as found in the rivers, and cast into bars, and wonderfully 

 wrought ornaments. 



