40 MEXICAN RESOURCES. 



GOLD. 



" Rivers become less auriferous," wrote Humboldt, " in proportion as, in the 

 course of ages, their flow becomes less rapid. A horde of savages who settle in a 

 valley where man has never before penetrated, find grains of gold, accumulated 

 there for thousands of years ; while in our day, the most careful washings hardly 

 produce a few particles." 



In corroboration of this we may cite the golden streams of Hayti and San Domingo 

 which were so productive in the few years succeeding the discovery of the West 

 Indies, but which now contain nothing of value. Mexican gold, the same great 

 authority states, is for the most part extracted from alluvial ground, by means 

 of washing. These grounds are common in the province of Sonora ; a great deal 

 of gold has been collected among the sands of the valley of the Rio Hiaqui (Yaqui). 

 Farther to the north in Pimeria Alta, under the thirty-first degree of latitude, lumps 

 of native gold, pepitas, have been found of the weight of from five to six pounds. 

 In these desert regions, the incursions of the Indians, the excessive price of pro- 

 visions, and the want of the necessary water for working, are all great obstacles to 

 the extraction of gold. 



Another part of the Mexican gold is extracted from the veins which traverse the 

 primitive mountains, which are most frequent in _Oaxaca (State), either in gneiss 

 or micaceous slate, which last rock is particularly rich in gold. These veins, of 

 .which the ga7igiie is milk quartz, are more than half a metre in thickness, but their 

 richness is very unequal, as they are frequently "strangled," and the extraction of 

 gold in the mines of Oaxaca is in general by no means considerable. Gold is to be 

 found, either pure or mixed with silver ore, and there is scarcely a single silver 

 mine which does not also contain gold. Native gold is frequently found crystal- 

 lized in octahedrons, or as laminae, or in a reticulated form, in the silver ores 

 of the mines of Villalpando and Rayas, near Guanajuato; Guarisamay, west of 

 Durango; and Mezquitl, in Guadalajara, which last yields the purest metal. 



Among the ancient Aztecs, the Spaniards found a great quantity of ornaments 

 and works in gold, such as a golden disk, as large as a cart wheel, etc. Of presents 

 to royalty, from- the conquistadores of the New World, probably few have sur- 

 passed, in novelty of design, and intrinsic value, that golden culverin sent to the 

 king of Spain by Cortes, in 1523. It was a superbly executed work, and valued at 

 20,000 ducats. In the great market of ancient Mexico, gold dust was sold in tubes, 

 or quills of aquatic birds, made transparent, so that the size of the golden grains 

 could be seen. 



Although long celebrated' as the Land of Gold, Mexico has not actually shown 

 any great extent of territory that may be called auriferous. A glittering thread 

 of gold runs, indeed, the entire length of the Sierra Madre, but it is only at rare 

 intervals that it has been taken up and pursued with profit. Placer gold has been 

 discovered in the north, but it is mainly in the south, in. Oaxaca, th at the ore has 

 of late years been mined. The following list identifies auriferous localities : 



Native Gold. — State of Guerrero, mineral de Tepantitlan ; State of Mexico* 

 mineral del Oro; State of Oaxaca, mineral de San Antonio. 



Auriferous Placers. — ; Several districts in the states of Chihuahua, Sonora, 

 and Ixtapa in Mexico. 



Gold combined with other Metals. — State of Chihuahua: Guadalupe y 



