338 METALS OF THE ANCIENT MEXICANS. 



vana. Cochineal is obtained to a considerable 

 amount. 



Although pearls were formerly found in great 

 abundance in various parts of America, the fisheries 

 have now almost entirely ceased. The western 

 coast of Mexico abounds in cachalots or spermaceti 

 whales (Physeter macrocephalus) ; but the natives 

 have hitherto left the pursuit of these animals to 

 Europeans. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



Mines of New- Spain. 



Mining Districts — Metalliferous Veins and Beds— Geological Relations 

 of the Ores— Produce of the Mines— Recapitulation. 



The mines of Mexico have of late years engaged 

 the attention and excited the enterprise of the Eng- 

 lish in a more than ordinary degree. The subject 

 is therefore one of much interest ; but as later in- 

 formation may be obtained in several works, and es- 

 pecially in Ward's " Mexico in 1827," it is unneces- 

 sary to follow our author in all his details. 



Long before the voyage of Columbus, the natives 

 of Mexico were acquainted with the uses of several 

 metals, and had made considerable proficiency in the 

 various operations necessary for obtaining them in 

 a pure state. Cortes, in the historical account of 

 his expedition, states that gold, silver, copper, lead, 

 and tin were publicly sold in the great market of 

 Tenochtitlan. In all the large towns of Anahuac 

 gold and silver vessels were manufactured ; and the 

 foreigners, on their first advance to Tenochtitlan, 

 could not refrain from admiring the ingenuity of the 

 Mexican goldsmiths. The Aztec tribes extracted 



