60 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
Rosa contain quite a percentage of gold; selected ores have assayed $15.20 gold, 
$103.50 silver per ton. From Cueva Santa selected ore has assayed up to $350 
per ton of silver. 
Pachuca has a population of 25,000, which is increasing rapidly by the in- 
coming of miners, drawn thither by mines in bonanza. A considerable part of the 
population is made up of Cornishmen, who are for the most part the skilled la- 
borers in the mines. They make $3 per head a day, while Mexican skilled labor 
can only claim $1 a day, and common labor thirty-seven and a half cents. The 
miner working at $1 a day is entitled to one eighth of the ore he obtains. Owing 
to this he loses no time, and bends all his energies to make his eighth as large 
as possible. A man is only employed twenty-four hours a week, in order that all 
may have a chance at work. This, however, may be the case only in some of 
the mines. The Real del Monte Mining Company pays as much as $30,000 a 
week to miners, and it is estimated that as much as $75,000 is paid out by the 
four mining districts together. 
Of all objects of interest in Pachuca and its vicinity there is nothing so beau- 
tiful as the road from Pachuca to El Chico. A narrow bridle-path runs over the 
mountains fifteen miles. The mountains themselves from their very height lend 
a grandeur to the scene. For some distance they are crowned with huge, 
perpendicular rocks, which are called the "Frailes," perhaps because they 
look so stern and grave. One points a great stone finger up to heaven. At 
one spot is passed a great rock projecting from the mountainside under 
which twenty persons could find a shelter if not made nervous by its curious 
poise; but this and other great boulders that the stone monks have rolled down 
from above, seem to have stopped a moment (grown into centuries) in their 
downward course. Another mountain with a rocky crown has on its summit 
a huge stone eye to which the heavens give a blue pupil. Still another bears 
on its crest a solitary tree for which the birds of the air must have sown a seed 
long years ago. At the most beautiful point in the road two huge moss cov- 
ered boulders meet in a bend, and above them two others. Over these mossy 
steps from opposite directions two laughing streams come dancing ; they take the 
fall together, and dash down the ravine, jumping moss-grown trees that fall across 
the way, and curving great round rocks encased in moss and dotted with ane- 
mones. The trees around have a hidden ambition for ship- masts, or great beams 
in the mines, they stand so tall and straight, holding their heads high even on 
the edge of a ravine, never deigning to stoop forward or bend in their dignity. 
Here and there a red cross is thrown out against the green, marking the kilometers 
of the way, and redeeming the pass from a devil's haunt. This region is so high 
it never knows the drouth and parched aspect of the dusty dry season ; it is al- 
ways an emerald, one of Mexico's jewels without price. 
The road from Santa Rosa to El Chico is rugged and picturesque, but lacks 
the verdant freshness of that of El Chico. It was on this road that v/e travelers 
sought shelter in a "palqueria," "El Angel." It was rather surprising to find 
ourselves sitting on " The Angel's" bar. It is wonderful with what rapidity the 
