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Ex. Doc. No. 41. ' . 487 



specimens. He gave me a book containing the laws of the minesy- 

 and spoke much of the productiveness* of the "labores" of Man- 

 zano, which he represented as greatly superior to those of Sororro, 

 as he had once worked those of the latter place. This man was 

 the wonder of the village; he had'been to Matamoras and to New; 

 Orleans; and while I was there, took ,the opportunity to give a 

 long account to his friends of the great steamboats on water, and 

 the little steamboats on land, that run along on roads of irori; and 

 concluded bis discourse by saying, *^what in the whole world shows 

 more beautifully the wonderful genius of man than steamboats and 

 steam rars'?^' The rest of the time was consumed in looking over 

 some plants; he pointed out a species of wuld marjorem, that he 



called '' Ort'gon." ^ . 



At \\\ o'clock, the man that was sent returned, bringing numer- 

 ous specimens of silver ore. He said that he could have got me 

 specimens of the copper, and other silver oj-es, but the mines were, 

 too far for him to go and return by 12 o'clock. My friend called 

 ^he quartz *^qulxa;" also *hnadre de la plata.'^ 



I now, bade adieu to my generous entertainers, and with thou* 

 sands of extravagant compliments from the kind people, I set out 

 to overtake the party. x\!ter travelling southeast for 6 miles, B 

 reached the ancient village of '^Quarra." Here there is y*< stand- 

 in^ the walls of a time-worn cathedral; it is cooiposed entirely of 

 'Stone, red sandstone; the pieces are not more than 2 inches thick. 

 The walls are 2 feet wide, and the outer face dressed off to a per- 

 fectly plain surface. The ground plan presents the form of ^ 

 cross, with rectangular projections in each of the angles. The short. 

 arm of the cross is 33 feet 2 inches w^ide; the long arm is 18 feet 

 9 inches wide; their axis are, respectively, 50 feet long, and 112 

 feet lo.Tg, and their intersection is 39 feet from the heat! of tUe 

 'Cro^-s. The rectangular projections that partly fill the angles 

 formed by the arms, are 6 feet square. At the foot of the cross 

 are rectangular projections, that measure 10 feet in the direction of 

 the lono- axis, and 6 feet in the other direction. Around the 

 church are the less conspicuous remains of numerous house?, that 

 had been built of the same material, and the surfaces of the walls 

 finished with tools; but these houses are almost level with the 

 earth, while the walls of the ancient church rises to the height of 

 60 feet. While making my measurements, assisted by one of the 

 men who had remained wiih me, a Mexican came up to me and 

 said in the most mysterious way, '^I know something of great mo- 

 ment, and want to speak to you, to you alone; no one must be 

 near; come with me to my house.'' 1 went; but when we arrived 

 there, we found an old ruia fitted up with such modern addition a? 

 was necessary to render it habitable. Here were several womeu, 

 I .at some time, talking of indifferent matters, waiting ^^^'^^ff 

 the important secret; but my friend did not hke the P^^^^^^"^^^ 

 the women, and would not tell me then; so I got ^^^^^^ to recom 

 mence my ourney, while he endeavored ..a -"--^^-r; ^^ 



detain me. I asked him some questions '^^^.^^V^GrfrQ^^^^^ 

 the country, and about the famous place called Gran tiuiv.r 



