SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



157 



monds, pearls, and some very fine rubies and 

 emeralds, impress upon the beholder, at once, 

 the past opulence and present reduced con- 

 dition of the country. Property sent here re- 

 mains for a certain time on the payment of a 

 small interest, when, if not redeemed, it is 

 offered for sale by private contract, with the 

 lowest price affixed to each article ; if, in a 

 given period, it remains unsold, it is then put 

 up in a monthly sale by auction, sold to the 

 best bidder, and the overplus of what has been 

 advanced, after deducting interest and ex- 

 penses, paid over to the original proprietor. 



The establishment is open every afternoon. 

 The crowd that filled the court attested the 

 humble fortunes of the bulk of the people. 

 We remarked that the jewellery deposits were 

 less in proportion than any other species of 

 property ; and the conductor accounted for 

 it by observing, that those Spaniards who 

 had, or were about to return to the mother- 



