SIX MONTHS IN MKX1CO. 



CHAPTER XI. 



The Mineria. — Academy of Fine Arts, 



The Mineria, or School of Mines, has been 

 erected but a few years. It is, perhaps, not 

 equalled in point of extent, or beauty of 

 architecture, by any thing of the kind in Eu- 

 rope : it has been constructed at an immense 

 expense and liberally furnished by the mine- 

 holders, and other wealthy inhabitants. But 

 alas ! this noble structure is doomed never 

 to be finished: its foundation, placed on the 

 swampy bottom of the lake, has already given 

 way : its elegant columns are inclining from 

 the perpendicular, and its architraves sepa- 

 rating and cracking in every direction, Part 



