QUICKSILVER, IRON, COPPER, LEAD, ETC. 43 



IRON. 



Meteoric iron is found in the desert of San Carlos, State of Coahuila, and Jiqui- 

 pilco, State of Mexico. Magnetic iron in "Encarnacion," State of Hidalgo, and 

 in the State of Chihuahua. Red globular iron in Cerro del Mercado, in the State 

 of Durango. Plumbago in the district of Zimapan, State of Hidalgo. 



Further allusion to the great mass of iron ore known as el Cerro del Mercado 

 will be found under the Mines of Durango. Meteoric masses have been discovered 

 in various portions of Mexico. Says a writer on Mexico ; "The 'Arabian Nights ' 

 story of the mountain which consisted of a single loadstone finds its literal fulfil- 

 ment in Mexico. Not far from Huetamo, on the road to the Pacific, there is 

 a conical hill, composed entirely of magnetic iron ore. The blacksmiths in the 

 neighborhood, with no other apparatus than their common forges, make it directly 

 into wrought-iron, which they use for all ordinary purposes." 



COPPER, LEAD, SULPHUR, AND VARIOUS MINERALS. 



Common pyrites are found in mine of La Mala Noche, Zacatecas. Radiated 

 pyrites in mines of Guanajuato and Zacatecas. Lead in Galena and Zimapan, State 

 of Hidalgo ; and Asientos, State of Aguascalientes. Carbonate of lead in mine of 

 San Nicola and Maconi, State of Queretaro; mine Negra in Jacala and Zimapan, 

 State of Hidalgo. Sulphite of copper in Tepezala, State of Aguascalientes. Yel- 

 low copper in Santa Clara, State of Michoacan ; Santa Rosalia, Chihuahua, and 

 Agua Blanca, Jalisco. Native bismuth, in mine of Orito and in Ojo Caliente, State 

 of Zacatecas. Bismuth silenide in mine of Santa Rosa, State of Guanajuato. 

 Carbonate of bismuth in the Cerros del Desierto, State of San Luis Potosi. 

 Ochre of bismuth in Vizarron, State of Queretaro. Zinc in mines of Tasco, State 

 of Guerrero. Native sulphur in volcano of Popocatepetl; Orizaba, State of Vera 

 Cruz, and Taximaroa, Michoacan. 



Regarding the ancient use of copper, Humboldt wrote : " Of all the metals, 

 copper was that which was most commonly employed in the mechanical arts: it 

 supplied the place of iron and steel to a certain extent ; and the arms of the 

 Aztecs, axes, chisels, and all their tools, were made of the copper which they 

 extracted from the mountains of Zacotollan and Cohuixco. Several men of great 

 learning, but unacquainted with chemical knowledge, have maintained that the 

 Mexicans and Peruvians possessed a particular secret for tempering copper, and 

 converting it into steel. There is no doubt that the a.xes, and other Mexican tools, 

 were almost as sharp as steel instruments ; but it was by the admixture of //;/, and 

 not by any tempering, that they acquired this extreme hardness. ... In several 

 provinces (of Anahuac), pieces of copper to which the form of a T was given, were 

 used as currency. Cortes relates, that having undertaken to found cannons in 

 Mexico, and having despatched emissaries for the discovery of mines of tin and 

 copper, he learned, that, in the environs of Tasco, the natives employed in exchange 

 pieces of melted tin, which were as thin as the smallest coins of Spain." See also 

 the author's text and cuts of ancient copper utensils, in " Travels in Mexico," 

 P- 544- 



