DISCOVERY OF NEW ALMADEN. 9 



said to liave visited the mines. He shortly afterwards returned, and what 



occurred, according- to the testimony of Jacob P. Leese, is so curious and 



interesting as to l)e worth quoting: 



About tbe latter part of jSTovember, or first of December, lSt."», 1 went into the 

 mission of Santa Clara to dine with Padre Real, of the mission. Mr. C.istillero was 

 there. Our general couversatiou through dinner was about this mine and of esperi- 

 meuts which Castillero had been trying to find out what tlie mineral was. He made 

 a remark and said he thought he knew what it was. If it was what he supposed it 

 was he had made his fortune. We were anxious to know what it was. He got up 

 from the table and ordered the servant to pulverize a portion of this ore. After it 

 was pulverized he ordered the servant to bring in a hollow tile full of lighted coals. 

 He took some of the powdered ore and threw it on the coals. After it got perfectly 

 hot he took a tumbler of water and sprinkled it on the coals with his fingers. He 

 then emptied the tumbler and put it over the coals upside down ; then took the tum- 

 bler off and went to the light to look at it; then made the remark that it was what 

 he supposed it was — "quicksilver." He showed all who were there the tumbler, and 

 we found that it was frosted with minute globules of metal, which Castillero collected 

 with his finger and said it was quicksilver. He then said to morrow he would test it 

 thoroughly and find out what it was worth. He considered it very rich on account of 

 the weight of the ore, and if it proved as rich as the quicksilver mines in Spain, that 

 the Mexican government bad offered to any one for the discovery of such a mine iu 

 tbe Republic of Mexico one hundred thousand dollars. 



Like so many Mexican practices, this test has a very quaint and medi- 

 eval cliaracter, but it was nevertheless founded upon correct principles and 

 was calculated to afford a demonstration of the presence of quicksilver 

 without the use of reagents which were, perhaps, inaccessible to Castillero. 

 Bv the use of glowing coals and water he effected a steam-roasting- of the 

 ore, which was sure to liberate metallic mercui-y if cinnabar was present, 

 and the cold wet tumbler acted as an efficient closed condenser. The test 

 was, in fact, equivalent to the ordinary blow-pipe test in a closed tube, the 

 action of alkaline reducing agents being- replaced by that of steam. 



Castillero laid claim to the property as a mine containing silver, gold, 

 and quicksilver. He either had difficulty in thinking- of a mine contain- 

 ing no precious metals or thought it expedient to make his claim sufficiently 

 broad. There was nothing unnatural in the association, for the three metals 

 are found together at almost innumerable points in America and Europe. 

 In the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States, indeed, this as- 

 sociation constitutes an inconsistency which tended strongly to impair the 

 validity of the entire claim, but judicial geology is well known to belong 



