A34 CHIHUAHUA 
This church was erected from a fund raised by a 
tax of one real (twelve and a half cents) on every 
mark of silver (eight dollars) obtained from the 
mines of Santa Hulalia, five leagues from the city. 
The fund was collected during a period of seventy-two 
years, commencing in the year 1717, and terminating 
in 1789. From it was built the Cathedral of Chihua- 
hua, at a cost of eight hundred thousand dollars, and a 
church at Santa Hulalia at a cost of one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars, leaving a considerable sum unex- 
pended. From this may be formed some idea of the 
richness of the mines of this country. These sums, 
raised by a tax at the rate mentioned, would require a 
gross income on the part of the mine of fifty-one mil- 
dion two hundred thousand dollars to erect the former, 
and nine million six hundred thousand dollars for the 
latter edifice, or, together, sixty million eight hundred 
thousand dollars. Nearly a million of dollars a year, 
for seventy-two years. 
The square on which this church stands is occupied 
with various public buildings; among which, on the 
east side, is the Governor’s Palace, as it is called, but 
which merely embraces his reception room and the 
State offices. 
There are several other churches in the city, which, 
though small, are built with much taste. One of these, 
Santa Rita, is shown in the sketch. 
There is a Casa de Moneda, or Mint, here, which I 
visited. In it silver and gold are coined, but chiefly 
silver, and that by a most primitive process of manual 
power. Each State in which there are many mines has 
a mint, which is let to an individual or firm, and is 
