URIQUE AND ITS MINES. 293 
had to say, and in giving it utterance 
let me compare them with our own 
countrymen. Individually the Mexican is 
never so bitter against foreigners as the 
American, although the latter nation is 
much more an aggregation of foreigners 
than the former, and of much later date 
from other countries. I often heard quite 
caustic comparisons from sensible Mexi¬ 
cans as to foreign methods of mining, 
railroading, etc., which I think were some¬ 
times exaggerative, and they even ex¬ 
pressed opposition to their coming in at 
all, but never in a manner so pronounced 
as with us. 
The whole of the rich Urique district, 
formerly an old Spanish grant many 
square miles in extent, was granted the 
Becerra family of three brothers by the 
Mexican Government. Their wealth is 
