535 



question, whether the province of Venezuela 

 contains mines rich enough to be wrought, is 

 yet problematical. Though in countries where 

 hands are wanting, the culture of the soil 

 demands unquestionably the first care of go- 

 vernment, yet the example of New Spain is 

 sufficient to prove, that the working of metals 

 is not always unfavourable to the progress of 

 agriculture. The best cultivated Mexican fields, 

 those which recall to the memory of the tra- 

 veller the most beautiful parts of France and 

 the south of Germany, extend from Silao toward 

 the Villa of Leon : they are in the neighbour- 

 hood of the mines of Guanaxuato, which alone 

 furnish a sixth part of all the silver of the New 

 World. 



