be 
GOLD AND SILVER OF AMERICA. 397 
The total value of gold and silver extracted from 
the mines of America, between 1499 and 1808, is 
estimated by Humboldt at 5,706,700,000 piasters, or 
(valuing the piaster at 4s. 43d.) £1,248,340,625 
sterling. 
The annual produce of the mines of the New 
World, at the beginning of the present century, is 
estimated as follows :-— 
Gold Silver Value in 
Marks. Marks: Dollars. 
New Spaitye....c.csccseee 7,000 2,338,220 23,000,000 
Ne reac ane sas 3,400 611,090 6,240,000 
Ti Le 12,212 29,700 2,060,000 
Buenos Ayres,............ 2,200 481,830 4,850,000 
New Grenada,............ 20,505 pee kl 2,990,000 
7 29,900 . . . 4,360,000 
75,217 3,460,840 43,500,000 
Valuing the dollar at 4s. 3d., the total annual pro- 
duce would be £9,243,750.* 
* According to Mr Ward (Mexico in 1827, vol. ii. p. 38), the 
annual average produce of the Mexican mines, before the revolution 
in 1810, amounted to 24,000,000 dollars, or £5,250,000, and the 
average exports to 22,000,000, or £4,812,500; but since the revo- 
lution the produce has been reduced to 11,000,000 dollars, or 
£2,406,250, while the exports in specie have averaged 13,587,052 
dollars, or £2,970,198 each year. This reduction, it is unnecessary 
to say, has been caused by the unsettled state of the country, the 
emigration of the Old Spaniards, and the withdrawing of the funds 
which kept the mines in operation. In 1812, according to the same 
authority, the coinage had fallen to four and a half millions of dol- 
lars. It rose successively to six, nine, eleven, and twelve millions, 
which was the amount in 1819 in the capital alone. In 1820, the 
revolution in Spain caused a considerable fluctuation, and the coin- 
age fell to 10,406,154 dollars. In ]821, when the separation from 
the mother-country became inevitable, the coinage sunk to five 
millions; from which it fell to three and a half, and continued in 
that state during 18238 and 1824. In 1825, the foreign capitals in- 
vested began to produce some effect; but in 1826, the total amount 
of coinage in the five mints of the Mexican republic did not exceed 
7,463,300 dollars, or £1,632,594. 
In 1827, seven English companies, one German, and two Ame- 
rican, were employed in working mines in different parts of Mexico. 
ENGLISH COMPANIES. 
i. The Real del Monte Company, Captain Vetch, director, with 
an invested capital of £400,000. 
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