70 



REGLA. 



amalgamation of the silver ores, which the enterprise 

 and unlimited means of a former Count of Regla have 

 constructed within this horrible gulf, at the cost of nine 

 millions of dollars. At the present time, this property, 

 together with an almost boundless extent of country on 

 the neighbouring cordillera and in the plain, including the 

 silver mines of Real del Monte, has been, since 1824, 

 rented in perpetuity of the noble possessor, by a British 

 mining company, for the paltry sum of sixteen thousand 

 dollars per annum. 



We were hospitably received and entertained for some 

 hours by Mr. M., the company's superintendent at the 

 hacienda; and through his kindness were furnished with 

 every facility for a detailed inspection of the various 

 works, which of course have been brought to far greater 

 perfection by the present proprietors. Not the least re- 

 markable feature of these immense works, are the pon- 

 derous bulwarks of hewn stone, built to protect the works 

 from the impetuous torrents of debris brought down by 

 the river in the rainy season. We did not of course fail, 

 to ascend the barranca to the celebrated cascade, which 

 you reach by tracing the course of the stream between 

 two walls of basaltic columns, upward of a hundred feet 

 in height. It is to be found at some distance above the 

 hacienda, where a screen of the same singular geological 

 structure, composed of perpendicular columns of twenty- 

 five or thirty feet in elevation, stretches across the ravine, 

 and bars the course of the river which pours over it from 

 the upper part of the barranca ; disjointed sections of 

 rock half covered with moss, and shaded by trees, lie at 

 the foot of either precipice. In the rainy season, the 

 whole scene must be very grand. The colour and texture 

 of the basalt differ in some respects from any I have 

 seen in Europe, if I except that on Ben More, in the 

 north of Ireland. The form of the columns, however, is 

 very complete, and in most cases hexagonal or pentag- 

 onal. The barranca of Regla lies about seven thou- 

 sand feet above the gulf. 



The kindness of our entertainer made us prolong our 



