520 SPANISH AMERICA. 



united by a canal. The lower lake, or lake Tetzuco, was formerly 

 20 miles long and 1 7 broad ; and lying at the bottom of the vale, 

 is the reservoir of all the waters from the surrounding mountains. 

 The city of Mexico stands on an island in this lake. 



Metals, minerals..-. Mexico abounds in mines of gold and sil- 

 ver, of the latter of which it is said they reckon above 1000. Gold 

 is also found in the brooks and rivers, as well as in the mines. The 

 chief mines of gold are in Veragua and New Granada, bordering 

 upon Darien and Terra Firma. Those of silver, which are much 

 more rich, as well as numerous, are. found in several parts, but in 

 none so much as in the province of Mexico. The mines of both 

 kinds are always found in the most barren and mountainous parts 

 of the country ; nature making amends in one respect for her de- 

 fects in another. The working of the gold and silver mines de- 

 pends on the same principles. When the ore is dug out, com- 

 pounded of several heterogeneous substances mixed with the pre- 

 cious metals, it is broken into small pieces by a mill, and after- 

 wards washed, by which means it is disengaged from the earth, 

 and other soft bodies which clung to it. Then it is mixed with 

 mercury, which, of all substances, has the strongest attraction for 

 gold ; and likewise a stronger attraction for silver than the other 

 substances which are united with it in the ore. By means of the 

 mercury, therefore, the gold and silver are first separated from 

 the heterogeneous matter, and then, by straining and evaporation, 

 they are disunited from the mercury itself. It has been computed 

 that the revenues of Mexico amount to twenty-four millions of our 

 money; and it is well known that this, with the other provinces of 

 Spanish America, supply the whole world with silver. The moun- 

 tains of Mexico likewise abound in mines of iron, copper, and lead. 

 Here are also found various kinds of precious stones; as emeralds, 

 turquoises, amethysts, and a few diamonds. Mineral springs are 

 likewise abundant. 



Climate, soil... .Mexico, lying for the most part within the tor- 

 rid zone, is excessively hot ; and on the eastern coast, where the 

 land is low, marshy, and constantly flooded in the rainy seasons; it 

 is likewise extremely unwholesome The inland country, howev- 

 er, assumes a better aspect, and the air is of a milder temperament. 

 On the western side the land is not so low as on the eastern, much 

 better in quality, and full of plantations. The soil of Mexico in ge- 

 neral is of a good variety; and would not refuse any sort of grain, 

 were the industry of the inhabitants to correspond with their natu- 

 ral advantages. 



Produce.. ..Mexico, like all the tropical countries, is rather more 

 abundant in fruits than in grain. Pine-apples, pomegranates, oran- 

 ges, lemons, citrons, figs, and cocoa nuts, are here in the greatest 

 plenty and perfection. Mexico produces also a prodigious quantity 

 of sugar, especially towards the gulf of Mexico, and the provinces 

 of Guaxaca and Guatimala ; so that here are more sugar-mills than 

 in any other part of Spanish America. Cedar-trees and logwood 

 abound about the bays of Campeachy and Honduras : the maho-tree 

 also, which has a bark with such strong fibres that they twist and 

 make ropes of it. They have alsoatree which is called light-wood, 

 being as light as cork, of which they make floats to carry their mer- 

 chandise on the sea-coasts. But the two most valuable products of 

 this country, next to its gold and silver, are cochineal and cocoa. 



