438 CHIHUAHUA 
teen acres he had realized in one year two thousand 
one hundred and eighty dollars. This field when I 
saw it, on the last day of October, was as green as our 
meadows in June.* 
I shall not enter into any particulars as to the 
great number and variety of mines in the State of 
Chihuahua, as the subject is too extensive to be treated 
of in a work like the present. I have, however, col-— 
lected much information respecting it, which may 
hereafter be given to the public. At present I will 
merely say, that the mineral wealth of Chihuahua is 
not surpassed, if equalled, in variety and extent by any 
State in the world. Silver is the most abundant; but 
there is also gold, copper, lead, iron, and tin. Cinnabar 
is also said to be found; but I cannot speak of it with a 
certainty. Of bituminous coal I saw a fine specimen. 
* A late San Francisco paper, in speaking of the introduction of 
alfalfa into California, where it is known as “Chilian clover,” says it is 
greatly in use in the mining districts of Chili, where the lands are very 
~ sterile, and rain is of seldom occurrence. “ Natural grasses are, there- 
fore, of scanty growth; and the miners are compelled to rely for the 
maintenance of their animals upon the alfalfa estates, which lie within the 
narrow valleys of that mountainous region. The supply would, how- 
ever, be wholly inadequate, were not the plant so remarkably prolific, 
and possessed of such extraordinary nutritious properties. With the 
addition of a little barley, it is found to keep mules in the best working 
condition ; and consequently the owner of one of these alfalfa haciendas 
is able to draw from his estates a much larger revenue than if culti- 
vated in grain. In its green state, cattle feed upon it with the utmost 
avidity, and acquire flesh so fast, that it is the practice in Chili to drive 
herds from the grass pastures of the south, for hundreds of miles, in 
order to obtain the benefit of its use. The land is prepared for the 
seed of this plant in the same manner as for clover, it being, in truth, 
of the same family as the latter.” ee Te a 
