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VII -J!L iia|taacauKa*u OCTlAi ATLANTIC OCEAN I vm Engraved hy W.loH'iy. l^olitim €00ap 14 ON THE KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. i CONTAIN INO Researches relatire to the Geo- graphy of Mexico, the Extent of its Surface and its political Division into Intendancies.the physical Aspect of the Coun- try, the Population, the State of Agricultiirc and Manufac- turing and Commercial In- ,1 .1 1/*' s*. h ill |i <<■*; ->'H-'. H. Bryer, Printer, Bridgc-Strwt, Blacktriars, Loudon. r • /-^ ' I ADVERTISKMENT. u : ii >ii«lun. rir* The conclusion of Humboldt's Political Essay on New Spain is now laid before the Public. The Translator in these con- cluding volumes hhs continued to convert the weights, measures, and coins of the original, into those used in England, with all the accuracy in his power; but he bag cautiously and perhaps prudently abstained from taking notice of any seemii.if over- sight or inconsistency of M. de Humboldt, occurring to him in the course of tra..sla- t«on. It is hardly possible for a Translator of the ,„ost obtuse intellect not oc-ca«ionally to perceive a vulnerable point in his original ; and what the present Translator perceived or imagines he perceives, he is at no time ^^^956 ii ■ I ADVERTISEMENT. very willing to keep locked up from others; but wht;ther from his former notes being intrinsically without merit, or from its being expected that so humble a being as a Trans- lator, should steer at as great a distance as possible from the higher parts of author- ship, the Translator candidly confesses that the reception of these notes so far as he has had occasion to learn, was not such as to induce him to resumse the office of Commentator. . ,. . From an idea that the weights used in the original, where the contrary was not ex- pressly stated, were French, the Translator uniformly considered marcs to mean marcs of France ; and it was not till near the end of the third volume, he discovered that the author meant marcs of Castille, which are to the French as 541 to 576 : the con- versions of marcs therefore as far as page 394 of the third volume are all in a slight degree erroneous, and to be reduced to accuracy require to be multiplied by .93923. Ti others; :es being its being a Trans- distance f author- confesses so far as not such office of ADVERTISEMENT. The Translator in printing a hst of Errata has no doubt that it might be -^ ily in- creased by an attentive and in '.jgent reader. Those who know the difficulty of carrying a work through the press with a tolerable degree of correctness will not perhaps be the most forward to accuse him of inaccuracy. 2d in the not ex- ranslator in marcs the end ed that e, which the con- as page a slight uced to ied by ^■m ' , .'t' .:f 'A 3 I Ift •♦I Si. I ERRATA. Vol. Ill, page 131 line 1 for alluvious read ttttwviat. 122 IS for grammalite, read grctmmatke. 15 for gyenats, read garnets* 134 13 for clayei/, read clai/. 145 — 5 2nd column, for 7500, read ISCl 153 6 {or viirouSyTe&A vitreous. 181 — 2d note, for 9842, read 384)2. , 261 — 6 dele That, \f it i in ■I. •li .1 ■; BOOK IV. CHAPTER X. -=)'J>y the Spaniards in the be^innino- of the 16th century, some of them were already put in motion not by horses but by hydraulical wheels, ilthonpfh these same water mills (irapiches) or molinos de a^na, have been introduced in our days into the Island of Cuba, as a foreign invention, by refug^ecs from Cjipe Francois. In \iV)Sthc abundance of suyfar was already so g'rcat in Mexico, that it was exported from Vera Cru/ and vVcapuIco into Spain and Peru*. This last exportation lias long ceased, as Peru produces now more sugar than is necessary * " Besides gold and silver, Mexico furnisheg also much sugar and cochineal, two very precious commodities, fea- thers and cotton. — Few Spanish vessels return without a cargo, which is not the case in Peru, that has however falsely the reputation of being richer than Mexico. This last country has also preserved a much greater number of its inhabitants. — It is a very fine and very populous country, to which nothing is wanting but more frequent rains.— -New Spain exports to Peru, horses, beef, and sugar." —This remarkable passage of Lopez de Gomara, who describes so v/ell the state of the Spanish Colonies to- wards the middle of the 16th century, is only to be found in the edition de la conquista de Mexico, published at Medina del Caropo, 155S, fol. 139. It is wanting in the French translation printed at Paris in 1587, p. 191. >l^ [book IV iucats in le enouirli lis (fra- Is in the ! of them ses Init l)v me Avater have been of Cii})a, oni Cjipe s already rted from id Pern*, as Peru necessary also much >ditie8, fea- without a s however ico. This r number populous frequent nd sugar." nara, who onies to- be found lished at anting in. p. 191. CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 6 for its own consumption. As the pojmlation of New Spain is concentrated in the interior of the country, we find fewer sui^ar works along* the coast, where the i*-reat heats and abundant rains are favoiu-able to the cidtivation of the sugar, than on the ascent of the Cordilleras, and in the more elevated parts of the central table land. The principal plantations are in the in- tendancy of Vera Cruz, near the towns of Ori- zaba and Cordova ; in the intendancy of Puebia, near Guautla de las Amilpas, at the foot of the Volcan de Popocatepetl ; in the intendancy of Mexico, to the westward of the Nevado de Toluca, and to the south of Cuernavacca, in the plains of San Gabriel ; in the intendancy of Guanaxuato, near Celaya, Salvatierra and Pen- jamo, and in the valley of Santiago; in the intendancies of Yalladolid and Guadalaxara, to the southwest of Pazcuaro and Tecolotlan. Although the mean temperature most suitable to the sugar cane is 24° or 25° of the centigrade Thermometer*, this plant may however be suc- cessfully cultivated in places where the mean an- nual heat does not exceed 19° or 20°f . Now the decrease of the caloric being nearly a degree of the Centigrade Thermometer for ''every 200 metres J of devation, we find in general, * From 75" to 77° of Fahrenheit. Trans, t From 66" to 68'» of Fahrenheit. Trans. t 200 metres =: 656 English feet Trans. I 'I ii I 1 fc ' fii ; I 6. POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. under the tropics, on the rapid declivitv of moun- tains, this mean temperature of 20° at 1000 metres of elevation* above the level of the ocean. On table land of a great extent, the heat is increased to such a degree by the reverbera- tion of the earth, that the mean temperature of the City of Mexico is 17° instead of 13^ Tf ; that of Quito, is 15°. 8 instead of 11°. ^J. The result of these data, is, that on the central table land of Mexico, the maximum of heat at which the sugar cane vegetates vigorously without suffering from frost in winter, is not 1000 but from 1400 to 1500 iretres^. In favourable exposures, especially in valleys sheltered by mountains from the north winds, the highest limit of sugar cultivation reaches as high as 2000 metres. In fact, if the height of the plains of San Gabriel which contain many fine sugar plantations, is only 980 metres, on the other hand the environs of Celaya, Salvatierra, Irapuato and Santiago, are beyond 1800 metres of absolute elevation. I have been assured that the sugar cane plantations of Rio Verde, situated to the north of Guanaxuato under 22° 30' of latitude, are at an elevation of 2200 metres ||, in a narrow valley surrounded by high Cordil- * 3280 feet. Trans. t 62° 6 and 5^'' 6 of Fahr. Trans. X 60° 4 and 52° 9 of Fahr. Trans. § From 4592 to 4920 feet. Trans. Ij 7211 feet. Trans. [book IV. ' of nioun- at 1000 the ocean. le heat is •everbera- eratiire of la^ 7t ; 5t. The e central f heat at igorously mot 1000 ivourable tered by 3 highest high as he plains ne sugar he other vatierra, metres ired that situated °30' of metres II, Cordii- CHAP. X.J KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. leras, and so warm that its inhabitants fi*e- qiiently suffer from intermittent fevers. I dis- covered on examining the testament of Cortez* that in the time of this great man there were sugar works near Cuyoacan in the valley of Mexico. This curious fact proves what is indicated by several other phenomena, that this valley is colder in our days than it was at the commencement of the conquest, because a great number of trees then diminished the effect of the north winds which now blow with impetuosit3^ Those accustomed to see sugar cane plantations in the West India Islands will learn with the same astonishment, that in the kingdom of New Granada the greatest quantity of sugar is not yielded in the plains oil the banks of the river de la Madalena, but on the ascent of the Cordilleras, in the valley of Guaduas, on the road from Honda to Santa Fe, in a district which according to my barome- trical measurement, is from 1200 to 1700 metresf above the level of the sea. * " I order an examination to be made whether in my estados lands have been taken from the natives to be planted with vines ; I wish also an examination to be made as to the ground given by me in these last years to my domestic Bernardino del Castillo for the establishment of a sugar plantation near Cuyoacan." (Manuscript testament of Hernan Coriez, executed at SexAUe, the l^th August, 1548, art 48.) t From 3936 to 5576 feet. Trans. ^ , < .) S POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Lbook iv. Fortunately the introduction of Negroes has not augmented in Mexico in the same propor- tion as the sugar produce. Although in the intendancy of Puebla near Guautla de las Amilpas, there are plantations (haciendas de can a) which yield annually more than from twenty to thirty thousand arrobas* (from 500,000 to 750,000 kilogrammesf) almost all the Mexican sugar is manufactured by Indians and con- sequently by free hands. It is easy to foresee that the small West India Islands, notwithstand- ing their favourable position for trade, will not be long able to sustain a competition with the continental colonies, if the latter continue to give themselves up with the same ardour to the cultivation of sugar, coflee and cotton. In the physical as well as in the moral world, every thing terminates in a return to the order pre- scribed by nature ; and if small islands, of which the population was exterminated, have hitherto carried on a more active trade with their pro- ductions than the neighbouring continent, it is only because the inhabitants of Cumana, Cara- * This produce is very considerable, and it is only to be found in a single plantation in the Island of Cuba of the name of Rio Blancoy belonging to the Marquis del Arcos, between Xaruco and Matanzas, which annually produces 40,000 arrobas of sugar. There are not eight which yield for ten years in succession 35,000. t From 1,103,500 to 1,655,250 lib. avoird. Trans, CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 1) ras, New Granada and Mexico began very late to profit by the immense advantages derived by them from natnre. But ronsed from a lethargy of many ages, freed from the shackles which a false poli(;y imposed on the progress of agricul- ture, the Spanish colonies of the continent will gradually take possession of the different branches of the West India trade. This change, which has been prepared by the events of St. Domingo, will have the most fortunate issue in the diminution of the slave trade ; and suffering hu- manity will owe to the natural progress of things what we had a right to expect from the wisdom of the European governments. Thus the colonists of the Havannah, well informed as to their true interests, have their eyes fixed on the progress of sugar cultivation in Mexico, and the coffee of the Caracas. They have long dreaded the rival- ship of the continent, especially since the want of combustibles, and the excessive dearth of pro- visions, slaves, metallick utensils, and the neces- sary cattle, have considerably diminished the net revenue of the plantations. " New Spain besides the advantage of its po- pulation, has still another very important one in the enormous mass of capitals in the pos- session of the proprietors of mines, or in the hands of merchants who have retired from com- merce. In order fully to feel the importance of this advantage, we must recollect that in (i. i I : t '1 1 ! k 1 f 1 10 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. the island of Ciiha the establishment of a great suj^ar plantation, worked hy 300 ne- groes, and yieldini»- annunlly 500,000 kilo- grammes* of SHf^ar, ref|nires an advance of two millions of livres l^onrnoisf, and that it brings in from 300,000 to 350,0(K)J livres of revenue. The Mexican colonist may choose along the coast, and in the valleys of greater or less depth, the most suitable climate for the sugar cane ; and he has less to fear from frost than the colonist of Louisiana. But the ex- traordinary configuration of the surface of New Spain throws great obstacles in the way of transporting sugar to Vera Cruz. The plan- tations now in existence are for the most part very remote from the coast opposite to Europe. The country having yet neither canals nor roads fit for carriage, the mule carriage of the sugar to Vera Cruz increases its price a pi- astre per arroba, or eight sous per kilogramme §. These obstacles will be much diminished by the roads now making from Mexico to Vera Cruz by Orizaba and by Xalapa, along the eastern slope of the Cordilleras. It is also probable that the progress of colonial agriculture will contribute to people the shores * 1,103,500 lb. avoird Trans. + jg 83,340 sterling. Trans, % From jg 12500 to 14581 Sterling. Trans. § About 3d. per 2 lb. avoird. Trans. [book IV. (Tient of H y 300 ne- 1,000 kilo- advanrn of ind that it I livres of lay choose of greater late for the from frost ut the ex- ce of New le way of The plan- most part to Europe, canals nor Bige of the ice a pi- gramme §. iiminished lexico to ipa, along- IS. It is colonial the shores CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. n of New Spain, which fur ages have remaineroduce of the English Islands, which has prodigi- ously increased. The Island of Cuba expor- ted in 1803 from the port of the Havanniih, 158,000 caxaSj and from the port of the Trinity and Santiago de Cuba, including the contra- band 3000 caxas ; Hence : Total exportation of Sugar from the Island Kilogr. of Cuba - - - 37,600,000 Exportation of Sug«r from New Spain, 500,000 arrobas, in 1803 - - - 6,250,000 E*jK>nation from Jamaica, in 1788 - 4-2,000,000 Exportation from the English Virgin Islands and Antigua, in 1788 - - - 4'y,610,00O Exportation from St. Domingo, in 1788 - 82>000,00O '• in 1799 - 20,400,000 I believe we may admit, that the whole of the American Inlands actually sitj^ply Europe SOOK tV. • 10 have ormoa<^ Ante- 1 be as- France or four Cuba, exceed ther iit 11 New [slands. all its procure iroduee >rodi^i- expor- anniih» IViuitv contra- ' t » : f iiogr. ' ,600,000 250,000 M ooo,ooa ,5-- 610,000 000,000 1 too,ooo ji whole 1 lurope 1 CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 15 with more than 200 millions of kilogrammes of r. ,/ sugar, of which the value even in the Colonies is 40 millions of piastres, or more than 200 millions of livres tournois*, estima- ting the caxa at 40 double piastres. Three causes have concurred to prevent the rise of this colonial commodity, since the destruction of the plantations of St. Domingo; namely the introduction of the sugar cane of Otaheite, which on the same extent of ground y'v^hU- a third more vezou than the conr,iion cane ; the progress of agriculture on the coast oi Mexico, Louisiana, Caracas, Dutch Guyana and Brazil ; and lastly the importation of suga»- from the East Indies into Europe. • ' This importation especially ought to fix the attention of those who reflect on the future direction of coinu.erce. Ten years ago, the Bengal sugar was as little known in the great market of Europe, as the sugar of Nev* Spain, and now both of them compete with the sugar of the West India Islands. The United States have received sugar from Asia, as follows ■ ■ In 1800 In 1801 In 1802 From Manilla - From China and the' East Indies - Kilogr. 216,452 ■ 310,020 Kilogr. 403,389 387,204 Kilogr. 646,461 574,939 Total 526,472 790,593 1,221,400 * 8 millions Sterling. Trans. :V 1« POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it, !!"'i'i'i The great fertility of the soil, and the im- mense population, gives such great advantages to Bengal over every other country of the globe, that the sugar exportese influ- n which <;HAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 21 the same principles are perpetuated, have ever wished the mother country to oppose the cultiva- tion of flax, the vine, the olive, and the mulbeiTy. Unenlightened as to its true interests, the govern- ment has always preferred seeing the Mexican people clothed with cotton purchased at Manilla and Canton, or imported at Cadiz by English vessels, to the protection of the manufactures of New Spain. It is to be hoped that the moun- tainous part of Sonora, the intendancy of Durango and New Mexico, will one day rival Galicia and the AsturiaS in the production of -flax. As to hemp, it would be of importance not to introduce into Mexico the European species, but that which is cultivated in China (cannabis indica), of which the stalk grows to the height of five or six metres*. We have every reason to presume, however, that the cultivation of flax and hemp will spread with great difficulty in that region of Mexico abound- ing with ootton. The steepinr/ requires more care and labour than the separation of cotton from the seed ; and in a country where there are few hands, and much laziness, the preference is naturally given to a cultivation of which the the produce is nmch more promptly and easily managed. - The cultivation of eoflee in the island of Cuba * 16 or 19 feet. Trans. n POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book tv. '^-1^^; i ■^"H.: and the Soanish colonies on the continent, com- mcnced only since the destruction of the plan- tations of Saint Domingo*. In 1804 the island of Cuba produced ah-eady 1 2,000 and the pro- vince of Caracas nearly »3000 quintals. New Spain possesses sugar plantations i:5 ^i^reater number, and more considerable llian Terra Firma possesses ; but the production of coffee amounts yet to nothing, though it can hardly be doubted that this species of cultivation would succeed perfectly well in the temperate regions, par- ticularly at the elevation of the towns of Xalapa and Chilpansingo. The use of coffee is still so rare in Mexico, that the whole country does not consume annually more than four or five hundred quintals; while the consumption of France, where the population is scarcely five times M ♦ The French part of St. Domingo produced in 178^ only 445,734 quintals of coffee ; but five years afterwards it produced 762,865. And yet the price in 1783 was 50 francs the quintal, and 94 francs in 1788; which proves how much the use of coiTee has been spreading in Europe notwithstanding the advanced price. Yemen furnishes annually according to Raynal 130fOOO, and according to Mr. Page 150,000 quintals, which are almost all exported to Turkey, Persia, and India. The Isles of France and Bourbon yield 45,000 quintals. It appears to me, from what information I have been able to procure, that all Europe actually consumes annually, nearly 53 millions of kilogrammes of cofke ( 1 16,971,000 lbs. avoird. Trans*) The coffee-tree yields in a good soil one kilogramme of cofTect and 960 of them maybe planted on a hectare of ground. BOOK IV« «iIAF. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 23 it, com- e plan- 3 island the pro- New :rreater a Firma imounts doubted succeed IS, par- Xalapa i still so oes not lundred France, times in 173^ lerwards was 50 h proves Europe iimishes rding to xported nee and )m what Europe rammes Fee-tree 960 of greater than that of New Spain, amounts to nearly 230,000 quintals. The cultivation of the cocoa-tree (cacari or cacava quahuill) had already made considerable progress in Mexico in the time of Montezuma ; and it was there where the Spaniards obtained a knowledge of that precious tree which they afterwards transplanted into the Canary and Philippine Islands. The Mexicans prepared a beverage called by them chocolatl, in which a little maize flour, vanilla {tlilxochitl) and the fruit of a species of spice (mccaxochitl) were mixed with the co oa (cacahimtl)*. They could even reduce the chocolate to cakes, and this art, the instruments used in grinding the cocoa, as well as the word cJiocolatl, have been transferred from Mexico to Europe. This is so much the more astonishing, as the cultivation of the cocoa is now almost totally * Hernandez, Lib. II. c. 15; Lib. III. c. 46; Lib. V. c. 13. In the time of Hernandez, they distinguished four varieties of cocoa, called quauhcahuatlt mecacahuntl, xochi- tucahuatl, and tlalcacahuail. Thb last variety had a very small seed: the tree which produced it bore an analogy undoubtedly to the cocoa, whieh we found growing wild on the banks of the Orinoca» to the east of the mouth of the Yao. The cocoa tree cultivated for cen- turies, has a larger, sweeter, and more oily seed. We must not confound with the Theobrama Cacao the T, bicolor, of which I have given a drawing in our Places equinox' iales (T. I. PI. xxx. a.eti.p, 104hJ and which it peculiar to the Province of Choco. POLinCAL ESSAY ON THE tsooK tv. ir Ml u ; •■:i»J f,% J: '-'^Cf neglected. With tlifficnlty we can find a few of these trees in the environs of Colima, and on the banks of the Giiasaciiah*o. The cocoa phintations in the Province of Tabasco are very inconsiderable; and Mexico draws all the cocoa necessary for its consumption from the Kingdom of Guatimala, Maracaybo, Caracas, and Gua- yaquil. This consumption appears to amount annually to 30,000 fanef/aSf of the weight of 60 kilogTammes each*. The Abbe Hervas maintains that the whole of Spain consumes 90,000 fanegas-\. The icsult of this estimate, which appears to me too low, is that Spain only consimies the third part of the coffee annually imported into Europe. But according to the enquiries made by me on the spot, from 1799 to 1803, 1 found the annual exportation of coffee to be, Fanegas. In the Provinces of Venezuela and Maracaybo - 145,000 .In the Province of New Andalusia (Curaana) - 1«,000 In the Province of New Barcelona - - - 5,000 In the Kingdom of Quito, from the Port of! cq qqq Guayaquil ----- 3 The value of these eleven millions a.ad a half of kilogrammes ot cocoa, amounts in Eu- rope in time of peace, estimating the fanega at only 40 piastres, to the sum of 4-5,600,000 * 110 lb. avoird. Trans. t Idea del Universo, T. I. p. 174^. SOOK IV. CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 56 1 a few na, and e cocoa ire very r* cocoa ingdom [1 Giia- amount iffht of Hervas msumes ttiinate, lin only innnaliy to the inl799 ition of Fanegas. 145,000 1«,000 5,000 60,000 &ad a In Eii- fanega >,000 livres toumois*. In the Spanish Colonies, cho- colate is not considered an object of Uixury, Imt of prime necessity. It is in fact, a very healthy and nntritive aliment, and is of particular assistance to travellers. The chocolate prepa- red at Mexico is of a superior quality, be- cause the commerce of Vera Ciiiz and Aca- pulco, brings into New Spain the famous cocoa of Soconiisco, (Xoconochco) from the coast of Guatimala; the cocoa of Gnalan from the gulph of Honduras near Omoa; of UrUiicti near St. Sebastian in the province of Caracas; of Capiriqual in the province of New Bar- celona; and of Esmeralda in the Kingdom of Quito. ' '' In the time of the Aztec kings, cocoa seeds were made use of as money in the great mar- ket of Tlatelolco, as shells were in the Mal- divian Islands. The cocoa of Soconusco, cul- tivated at the eastern extremity of the Mexican Empire, was used for chocolate, and the small seed called Tlalcacahuath The kinds of infe- rior quality were used for money. " Knowing,'' says Cortez in his first letter to the Empe- ror Charles the V., " that in the province of " Malinaltebeque, there was gold in abundance, " I engaged the Lord Montezuma to esta- " blish there a farm for your Majesty. He " went to work with so much zeal, that in * :€ 1,900,152 Sterling. Trans. I l.^{ ■I: i| «S f . ">*)i '^'?!^iil >! ;i « « POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv " less than two months, sixty fanegas of maize " and ten of beans were already sown. Two " thousand cacap trees (cocoa) were also plan- '* ted, yielding^ a fruit similar to the almond^ ** which is sold after being ground. This " fruit is in such estimation, that throughout * all the country it is used as money, and employed in purchases in the markets and every where else*." The cocoa is still made use of as a sort of inferior coin in Mexico; and as the smallest coin c>f the Spanish Co- lonies is a demi-real (un medio) equal to twelve sous, the common people find the emplo3rment of cocoa as a circulating medium, extremely convenient. A sou is represented by six grains. The use of vanilla passed from the Aztecs to the Spaniards. The Mexican chr .late, as we have already observed, was peri d with several aromatics, among which the pod of the vanilla occupied the first place. At this day the Spaniards deal in thi^ precious pro- duction, for the purpose of selling it to the other European nations. The Spanish cho- colate contains no vanilla; and there is even a prejudice at Mexico, that this perfume is hurtful to the health, especially to those whose nervous system is very irritable. Ihey say quite gravely that the vanilla occasions ner- * Lorenzana, p. 91. § 26. Clavigero, I. p. 4; II. p. 209; IV. p. 207. BOOK IV if maize , Two o plan- ilinondi This )ughout jy, and its and 11 made lexico; ish Co- twelve ioyment tremely grains. Aztecs ate, as d with pod of A.t this is pro- ;o the cho- s even ime is whose y say ner- p. 209; CHAf X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 27 voas disorders (la hayniUa da pasmo). A few years ag;o the same thing was said of the use of coffee, which begins however to spread among the natives. When we consider the excessive price at Avhich the vanilla has constantly been sold in Europe, we are astonished at the negligence of the inhabitants of Spanish America, who neglect the cultivation of a plant, which nature spontaneously produces between the tropics, almost wherever there is heat, shade, and much humidity. All the vanilla consumed in Europe comes from Mexico, by the way of Vera Cruz alone. It is produced on an extent of ground of a few square leagues. There is not a doubt, however, that the coast of Caracas, and even the Havannah might carry on a very considerable trade. We found in the course of our herborizations very aromatic pods of vanilla, exceedingly aromatic, and of an ex- traordinary size in the mountains of Caripe, on the coast of Paria; in the fine valley of Bordones near Cumana; in the environs of Portocabello and Guaiguaza; in the forests of Turbaco near Carthagena; in the Province of Jaen on the banks of the river Amazons; and in Guayana at the foot of the granite rocks, which form the great cataracts of the Orinoco. The inhabitants of Xalapa, who carry on the commerce of the fine Mexican vanilla of ■si .■■■'I '''Ml 28 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Misantla, were struck with the exceller:e of that brought by M. Boupland from the Orinoco, gathereil by n« in the woods which surround th'j Raudal de Maypnre, Vanilla plants are to be found in the Island of Cuba, (Epidendrum Vanilla) on the coast of Bahia, Honda, and at Mariel. That of St. Domingo has a very long fruit, but is not very odori- ferous; for frequently great humidity, while it is favourable to the vegetation, is unfar dur- able to the deveicpement of the aromatic. However botanical travellers must not judge of the quality of the vanilla, from the odour which it gives out in the forests of America; for this odour is in a great measure owing to the flower, which in the deep and hu- mi€l 'allies of the Andes, is sometimes four cr five centimetres in length*. The author of the Philosophical History of the East and West Indies-\t complains of being unable to procure satisfactory information res- pecting* the cultivation of the vanilla in Mexico. He did not even know the districts where it was produced. Having been on the spots, I was able to obtain more accurate and c^atailed ■J . - , U ' * From an inch and a iialf, to 2 inches. Trans. t Raynal, T. II. p. 68. ^ 16. Thiery de MenomiUe, de la Culture du Nopal, p. 14-2. A small quantity of vanilla is also cultivated in Jamaica, in the parishes of St Anne and St. Mary. J5rown,p. 326. ' < [book IV, CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 29 s:celler.:e rom the Is which Vanilla of Cuba, "ftiS P Bahia, )omingo •\-ii •y odori- .1 ,-■-_■ ff while t. infaTour- 1 iromatic. {'■■ ot judge / ■' : le odour Lmerica; e owing and hu- ,Jk" nes four X istory of 1, of being* t '■ ion res- Mexico. vhere it spots, I (detailed f onviUe, de •■ of vanilla ■ - St. Anne information ; and I consulted at Xalapa and Vera Cruz persons, who for thirty years have carried on the commerce in vanilla of Misantla, Colipa and Papantla. The follow- ing is the result of my researches as to the actual state of this interesting branch of national industry. All the vanilla supplied by Mexico to Europe is produced in the two intendancies of Vera Cr?iz and Oaxaci. This plant principally abounds on the eastern slope of the Cordillera of Anahuac between 19" and 20" of latitude. The natives early perceived that notwithstanding the abundance, the harvest was very difficult, on account of the vast extent of ground neces- sary to to be gone over aimually,, and they collect- ed a great p.umber of the plants into a narrower space. This operation did not demand much care; it was merely necessary to clear a little the soil, and to plant two slips of epidendrum at the foot of a tree, or to fix parts cut from the stalk to the trunk of a Liquidambar, an Ocotea or an arborescent Piper. The slips are in general from four to five decimetres in length*. They are tied to the trees up which the new stalk must climb. Each slip yields fruit in the third year. They calculate on fifty pods on each for thirty or forty years, especially if the vegetation of the vanilla U * About a foot. Trans. 30 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book if. ImU ^m!$ ■w*.i. i; t not checked by the proximity of other clasp- ers 'which choke it. The haynilla cimarona or wild vanilla, which has not been planted by the hand of man, and which grows in a soil overgrown with shrubs and climbing plants, bears in Mexico fruit of a very dry nature, and in exceeding small quantity. In the intendancy of Vera Cruz, the districts celebrated for the vanilla commerce, are the subdekgacion de Mtsantla, with the Indian villages Misantla, Colipa, Yacuatla, (near the Sierra de Chicunquiato) and Nautla, all for^ merly belonging to the AlcaMia mayor de la Antigua; the jurisdiccion de PapantlOf and those of Santiago and San Andres Tuxtla, Misantla ' is thirty leagues distant from Vera Cruz to the north west, and twelve leagues from the sea coast. It is a charming place, in which the torment of the Mosqultos and the Gegen^ 80 numerous in the port of Nautla, on the banks of the Rio de Quilate and at Colipa, is quite unknown. If the river of Misantla, the mouth of which is near the Barra de Palmas, werft rendered navigable, this district would soon reach a high degree of prosperity. The natives of Misantla, collect the vanilla in the mountains and forests of Quilate. The plant is in flower in the months of February and March. The harvest is bad, if at this period the north winds are frequent and ac- |book If. p clasp- marona tited by [1 a soil plants, nature, iistricts ire the Indian ear the dl for^ ' de la d those [Lsantla !ruz to >m the which Gegetit banks s quite tnouth wer« soon anilla The ruary this p ac< CHAP. x.j KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 31 companied with much rain. The flower drops without yielding fruit if the humidity is too great. An extreme drought is equally hurtful to the growth of the plant. However no insect attacks the green fruit, on account of the milk it contains. They begin to cut it in the months of March and April, after the sub-delegate has proclaimed that the harvest is permitted to the Indians: it continues to the end of June. The natives who remain eight successive days in the forests of Quilate, sell the vanilla fresh and yellow to the gente de razoriy i. e. the whites, mestizoes and mu- lattos, who alone know the beneficio de la hay^ nilla, namely, the manner of drying it with care, giving it a silvery lustre, and sorting it for transportation into Europe. The yellow fruits are spread out on cloths, and kept exposed to the sun for several hours. When sufficiently heated, they are w >ped up in woollen cloths for evaporation, when the vanilla blackens, and they conclude with exposing it to be dried from the morning to the eveninoc in the heat of the sun. The method of preparing the vanilla at Colipa is much superior to the beneficio em- ployed at Misantla. It is asserted nat on unpacking the vanilla at Cadiz, not more than six per cent, is found to be damaged in that of Colipa, while in that of Misantla the quanr 32 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Z^ooii iv. tity of rotten or damag'ed pods amounts to at least the double. This last variety is more difficult to dry, because its fruit is larger and more aqueous than that of Colipa, which is produced in savannahs, and not in the moun- tains, and is called haynilla de acaquales. When the iuiny season does not permit the inhabi- tants of Misantla and Colipa to expose the va- nilla to the rays of the sun, they are obliged to recur to an artificial heat, till it have ac- quired a blackish colour, and is covered with silvery spots (manchas plateadas) They form by means of small reeds a frame which they suspend by cords, and cover with woollen cloth, and on which they spread the pods. The fire is placed below, but at a considerable distance. The pods are dried by agitating slightly the frame, and gradually heating the reeds and the cloth. Much care and long experience is neces- sary to succeed in drying sufficiently the va- nilla in this way, which is called beueficio de poscoyol. The loss is generally very great when artificial heat is employed. At Misantla, the fraits of the vanilla are collected into packets called mazos: a mazo contains 50 pods, consequently a thousand (miliar) twenty mazos. Although the whole of the vanilla which enters into commerce appears to be the produce of a single species of epidendrum (Tlihochitly) yet the fruit is BOOK IV. CMAP. X.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 33 ts to at IS more rer and hich is I moun- . When inhabi- the va- obliged lave ac- •ed with ey form ch they ;n cloth, The fire distance. htly the and the is neces- the va- rficio de f great lilla are a mazo lousand whole mmerce species ruit IS nevertheless divided into four different classes. The nature of the soil, the humidity of the air, and the heat of the sun, have all a singular influence on the size of the pod, and the quantity of oily and aromatic parts contained in it. The four classes of vanilla are the following, begin- ning with those of a superior quality : haynilla fina in which the grande fina and the chicajina or mancuema are again distinguished; the zacate ; the rezacate, and the hasura. Each class is easily recognized in Spain from the manner in which the pacquets are made up. The^ra^ide^ais in general 22 centimetres in length*, and each mazo weighs at Misantla ten ounces and a half, and at Colipa from nine to ten ounces. The chicajina is five centimetres shorter than the former, and is purchased one half cheaper. The zacate is a very long vanilla, extremely slender and very acqueous. The hasura, of which a pacquet contains a hundred pods, serves only to fill the bottom of the pack- ages sent to Cadiz. The worst quality of the Misantla vanilla is called haynilla cimarona (wild) or haynilla palo ; it is very slender and almost destitute of juice. A sixth variety the haynilla pompona has a very large and beautiful fruit. It has been several times sent to Europe, and by means of the Genoese merchants into VOL. III. * 8| inches. Trans, D .i; il :,::m >**'"Z Ml 34 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book. ir. the Levant ; but as its odour is different from the vanilla called grande fina it has never hitherto had any sale, y- .1 ..,4. hi.- We see from what has been stated respecting the vanilla that it is with the g^oodness of this commodity as with that of the quinquina, which not only depends on the species of cinchona from which it prucee.ds, but also on the height of the country, the exposure of the tree, the period of the harvest, and the care employed in drying the bark* The commerce of both the vanilla and quinquina is in the hands of a few persons called habilUadores because they ad* vance money to the cosecheroSf i. e. to the Indians employed in the harvest, who are in this way under the jdirection of undertakers. The latter draw almost the whole profit of this branch of Mexican industry. The competition among the purchasers is so much less at Misantla and Colipa, as a long experience is necessary to guard against deception in the purchase of pre- pared vanilla. A single stained pod (man- chada) may occasion the loss of a whole chest in the passage from America to Europe. The blemishes which are thus discovered either in the pod or the stalk (garganta) are designated by particular names (mqjo negro, mqfo bianco, ^arro,) A prudent purchaser examines over and over the pacquets which he sends in the same chest. i Jl^'lf/»•i BOOK* !¥• nt frooai ts never 1)1' <>'.»'; specting^ 8 of this a, which cinchona. \ height ree, the mployed both the i a few hey ad* \ Indians his way he latter ranch of amon^ llisantla ssary to of pre- (man- g chest . The ther in gnated bianco, s over in the CHAf . &] KINGDOM OF N|;W SPAIN* 35 The kahiliiadwes have pm^chasiedi foi- tj^e ia&t twelve years, the thousand oi vanilla of the first class at an average price of 25 oir 35 piastres ; the thousand of zac^te at ten, and ot rezacate at four piastres. In 1803 the price of the grande fina was 50, and the zacale 15 piastres. The purchasers far from paying the Indians in ready money, supply them in barter, and at a very high price, with brandy r cocoa, wine and more especially with cotton, cloth manufactured at Puebla. In this barter consists part of the profits of these monopolists. The district of PapantlUf formerly ah AlcaU did mayor, is situated 18 leagues to the north ef Misantla; it produces very little vanilla, and that little is besides badly « The same eastern slope of the Cordillera on which the vanilla is produced, produces also the sarsaparilla (zarza) of which there was exported [book it. by nearly w not the evince of from the o be very abundant larvest in 0. The Millares. 700 100 no at Vera We must Santiago \i in want equently does not a part of e follow- vanilla ;onishing is not llera on also the exported 4 *f.. CSAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 37 from Vera Cruz in 1803 nearly 250,000* kilo- grammesf and the Jalap {Purya de Xalapa) which is the root, not of the mirabilis jalapa, of the M. longiflora, or of the M . dichotoma, but of the convolvolus jalapa. This convolvolus vegetates at an absolute height of from 13 to 14 hundred metres^ on the whole chain of mountains extend- ing from the Volcan d*Orizaba to the Cofre de Perote. We did not meet with it in our herbo- rtzations around the town of Xalapa itself; but the Indians who inhabit the neighbouring vil- lages brought us some excellent Voots of it collected near Banderilla to the east of Sail Miguel el Soldado. This valuable remedy is procured in the Suhdelegacum de Xalapa^ around the villages of Santiago, Tlachi, Tihuacan de los Reyes, Tlacolula, Xicochimalco, Tatatila, Yxhuacan, and Ayahualulco; in i\ie jurisdicci&a de San Juan de los Llanos, near San Pedro Chilchotla and Quimixtlan ; in the partidos of the towns of Cordoba, Orizaba and San Andres Tuxtla. The true Purga de Xalapa delights only in a temperate climate or rather an almost • 551,7501b. avoird. Trans, f The sarsaparilla employed in commerce proceeds from several species of smilax, very difierent from the S. Sarsa- parilla. See the description of the ten new species, brought by us in the species of M. WiUdewno, T. iv. P. i. p. 773. *' :t From 4864 to 4592 feet. Trans. ■ I' ' ""' ' m^ki 3 lit II :.f' III 38 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Cbook iv. cold climate, in shaded valleys and on the slope of mountains. I was so much the more sur- prized, therefore on learning after my return to Europe that an intelligent traveller who has displayed the greatest zeal for the good of his country, Thiery de Menonville* had asserted that he found the jalap in great abundance in the arid and sandy tracts in the neighbourhood of the port of V^era Cruz, and consequently under a climate excessively warm, and at the level of the ocean. Raynal assertst that Europe consumes annually 7500 quintals of jalap. This esti- mate a|>pears too much by one half; for from the most accurate information which I was able to procure at Vera Cruz, there was only exported from that port in 1802, 2921 and in 1803, 2281 quintals of jalap. The price at Xala^a is from 120 to 150 francs the quintal. We did not see during our stay in New Spain, the plant which it is pretended, yields the root of Mechoacan, (the Tactiache of the Ta^ rasck Indians, and the TlalantlacuitlapUU of the Aztecs.) We never even during the course * Thiery^ p. 59. This jalap of Ver» Cruz appears to be the ^ame with that foui^d by Mr. Michaux, in Florida. See the Memoir of Mr. DesfojQtaines, on the Convolviulus Jalapa^ in the Annaijss du Museum d*Hist• [book it* is even be towns irtidos of 1 the in> ^ith the country ever to- districts hose far- what is It was i be di- n to an Before tendancy partidos f Tepic, rated for r of iiie formerly ve been mtations of the owledg-e Is. The Europe, or St. le plant Indians • * TO, T. ii. CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 41 in Mexico and Peru smoked tobacco, and used it ground into snuff. The gpreat lords at the court of Montezuma, used to smoke tobacco as a narcotic, not only for the after- noon siestOt but to procure sleep in the mor- ning immediately after breakfast, as is still tVie practice in many parts of equinoctial America. The dried leaves of the yetl were rolled up into cigareSf and put into tubes of silver, wood, 4 or reed; and frequently they mixed with it :^ the resin of the liquidambar styraciflutty and other aromatic matters. The tube was held in one hand, and with the other the nose was stopt up, so that the smoke of the tobacco might be the more easily swallowed. Sevei*al per- sons were even contented With drawing in the smoke by the nose. Although the picietl (nicotiana rustica) was much cultivated in the antient Anahuac, it appears however that per- p. 227. Garcilasso, Lib. ii. c. 25. The ancient Mexicans used to recommend tobacco as an excellent remedy for the tooth-ache, colds and colics. The Carubs used mashed 'tobacco leaves as a counter-pobon. In our journey on the Orinoco, we saw mashed tobacco successfully applied to the bite of venomoufi serpents. After the famous Bejuco del Guaco, the knowledge of which we owe to M. Mutis, tobacco is undoubtedly the most active counter- poison of America. The cultivation of tobacco has been propagated with so great rapidity, that in 1559 it began to be sown in Portugal, and in the beginning of the 17th < century it was planted in the East Indies. Beekmann*s Gachicte der Erfindungen, B. iii. p. S66. .i¥' ■ mn i 4% FOUTICAL ESSAY ON THE Cbook !▼• ions m easy circumstances used tobacco alone ; for we see at this day that the use is entirely unknown to the Indians of pure ex- traction, because they almost all descend from the lowest class of the Aztec nation*. At Vera Cruz, the quantity of tobacco pro- duced in tbfi districts of Orizaba and Cor- dova, is estimated at eight or ten thousand tei'tOb\ (at 8 arrobas) equal to 1,600,000 or 2,000,000 of pounds; but this estimate ap^ pears tc be a great deal too low. The king pays for the pound of tobacco to the culti^ TDjtor 21 reals» that is to say 21 sous for the kilo^ao^me. We shall see in the sequel of this work, and from data which I extracted from o^ial papers, that the farm of Mexico of tobacco and snuff, is annually sold in the country even lor more than 38 millions of irancst, and that it yields to the king a net profit of more than 20 millions of livres toumois;|;. This consumption of tobacco in New $pain must appear enormous, espeeiaUy yttfio. vre consider that from a population of> 4>,8OO,O0O souls, we must deduct two million» and a half of Indians who never smoke. In Mexico the farm is ai| object of much greater impojrt^OCje to the public revenue t^ao ip * See Vol. i. ch. vi. p. 155. ' * ' t 1»S83,46Q^. sterling. Trans. t 823,400^. sterling. Trans. CHA9. 1*3 KINQOOM OF NEW SPAIN. 43 Feru^ because in the former the number of -whites is greater, and the custom of smoking •cegars is much more general, and is even practised by women and children. In France, where according to the researches of Mr. Fabre de TAude, there are eight millions of iidiabitants who use tobacco, thd total con- sumption is more than forty millions of pounds ; but the value of the foreign tobacco impor* ted, only amounted in 1787 to 14,142,000 livres toumois^. New Spain far from exporting its own to- bacco, draws annually nearly 56,000 pounds from the Havannah. The vexations which the planters experience, added to the prefer renoe given to the cultivation of coffee, have iiowever much diminished the produce of the farm at Cuba. At this day that Island scmrcely supplies 150,000 mrohas^ whei*eas be£»re 1794, in good years, the crop was estimated at 315,000 arrohas, (7,875,000 poundsf) of which 160,000 arrofoas were consumed in the IsUuid* and 128,000 sent to Spain. This branch of co^ lonial industry is of the very greatest impor- tance, even in its actual state of monopoly ♦ P«icM, p. 315 snd 409. i :.,;v t Raynal, (T. ill. p. 268.) only estimated the produce at 4,675,000 pounds. Virginia produced annually before 1775 more than 55,000 hogsheads, or 35 millions of pounds of tobacco. Jefftnon^ p< 928. m POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. and constraint. La renta de tabaco of the peninsula, yields a net revenue of six millions of piastres, a revenue arising in a great mea^- sure from the sale of the tobacco of the Island of Cuba sent to Seville. The maga- zines of this city sometimes contain stores of 18 or 19 millions of pounds of snoiF, the value of which amounts to the exorbitant sum of 200 millions of livres*. » The cultivation of Indigo, which is very general in the kingdom of Guatimala, and in the province of Caracas, is very much neglected in Mexico. The plantations along the western coast, are not even sufficient for the few manufactures of home cotton cloth. Indigo is annually imported from the kingdom of Guatimala, where the total produce of the plantations amounts to the value of 12 mil- lions of livres. This substance as to which Mr. Beckman has made such learned researches, was known to the Greeks and Romans under the name of itidicum. The word anil, which has passed into the Spanish language, is de- rived from the Arabian word niz or nil, Her- nandez speaking of the Mexican indigo calls it aniz. The Greeks in the time of Dioscorides,drew indigo from Gedrozia; and in the 13th cen- tury Marco Polo carefully described the mode of its preparation in Hindostan. Raynal is wrong * 8,334,000/. sterling. Trans. • !#;|lir CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 45 when he maintains that the Europeans intro- duced the cultivation of that -.aluable plant into America. Several species of indigo/era are peculiar to the New Continent. Ferdi- nand Columbus in the life of his father, men- tions indigo, among tl:3 productions of^ the Island of Hayti. Hernandez describes the process by which the natives of Mexico sepa- rated the fecula from the juice of the plant, a process different from that now em*^ ployed. The small cakes of indigo dried by fire were called mohuitli or tleuohuilli. The plant was even designated by the name Xiuh- quilipitzahuac, Hei*nandez* proposed to the court to introduce the cultivation of indigo into the aouthern pai*t of Spain. I know not if his counsel was followed, but it is certain that indigo was vei*y common in Malta, till towards the end of the 17th century. The spe- cies of indigofera from which indigo is at this day procured in the colonies, are ; The indi^ gofera tinctoria, I. anil, I. disperma, and I. argentea, as is proved by the most antient hieroglyphical paintings of the Mexicans ; even thirty years after the conquest, the Spaniards who had not yet found out the materials for making ink^ wrote with indigo, as is proved * Hernandez, Lib. iv. c. 12. p. 108. Clavigero, ii. 189. Beckmanrit}. c IV, 47i-S32. JBerthoUd, Element de Part dela teinture, ii. 37. '■■'*'ll m m 46 POLITICAL E88AT ON THE {vkm n. by the papers preserved in the ^rMres of th« Duke de Monteleone, who is the last descendant of the family of Cortez. At Santa Fa they still write with a juice extracted from the fruitt of the Uvilla (Cestrum Tinctorkm), and there exists an order of the court, prohibiting the viceroys from using in their official papers, any other materials than this blue of the Uvilla, because it had been found that it was more indestractible than the best European ink. < . After carefully examining those vegetables which are of importance to the agriculture and commerce of Mexico, it remains foe us to give a rapid view of the productions of the tmimal kingdom. Although one of these productions in the greatest request, cochineal^ hekmgs originally to New Spain, it is certain> h(ywever, that the most interesting productions for the prosperity of the inhabitants have bten introduced there from the antient con- tinoDt. The Mexicans had not endeavoured to reduce to a domestic state the two species <^ wiU osea, (Bos Americtams and Bos Mos* duEtus) which wander in h^ds over tiie plains in tlie ueighboui^ood of the JRto del Norte, They were unacquainted with the lianaa, Whkh in the Cordillera of the Andes is not found beyond the limits of the Southern He- Busphere. ^They made no use of the wild I --* H"j" IC'-I Mi' P'>,**' It CHAV. Z.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 47 t sheep of California ^ nor of the goats of the mountains of Monterey. Among the numerous varieties of dogsf peculiar to Mexico, one alone, the Techichi served for food to the in- habitants. Undoubtedly the want of domestic animals was less felt before the conquest, when every family cultivated but a small extent of ground, and when a great part of the inhabitants lived almost exclusively on vegetables. However the want of these ani- mals compelled a numerous class of the in- habitants, the Tlamama, to labour as beasts of burden, and to pass their lives on the highways. They were loaded with large lea- thern chests (in Mexican Pettacalli, in Spa- nish petacas) which contained goods to the weight of 30 or 40 kilogrammes J. Since the middle of the sixteenth century, the most useful animals of the old con- tinent, oxen, horses, sheep, and hogs, ha7e * As to the wild sheep and goats of the mountains of Old and New California, see Vol. ii. Chap. viii. p. 327. f See my Tableaux de la Nature, T. i. p. 124< — 127. The Cumanchisa tribe of the northern provinces employ dogs in the carriage of tents like many of the tribes of Siberia. See Vol. ii. p. 286. The Peruvians of Sausa (Xauxa) and Huanca ate their dogs (runalco) and the Aztecs sold in their markets the flesh of the mute dog techichi, which was castrated for the purpose of fattening. Lorenzana, p. 103. fFrom 66 to 88 lb. svoird. Trans, 48 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. multiplied surprisingly in all the parts of New Spain, and especially in the vast plains of the Provindas Internal It would be super- fluous to refute here * . the rash assertion of M. de BufTon, as to the pretended degeneracy of the domestic animals introduced into the New Continent. These ideas were easily propagated, because, while they flattered the vanity of. Europeans, they were also con> lected with brilliant hypotheses, relative to the ancient state of our planet. When facts are carefully examined, naturalists perceive no- thing but harmony where this eloquent writer announced discordancy. r . /. There is a great abundance of horned cattle all along the eastern coast of Mexico, es- pecially at the mouths of the rivers of Al> varado, Guasacualco, and Panuco, where nu- merous flocks feed on pastures of perpetual green. However, the capital of Mexico, and the great cities adjoining, draw their animal food from the intendancy of Durango. The natives, like the greatest part of the Asiatic tribes to the East of the Ganges t» care very * This refutation is to be found in the excellent work of Mr. Jefferson on Virginia, p. 109, 166. See also C/aw- gero, T. iv. p, 105, 160. •f For example, in the South Eust of Asia, the Chinese, and the inhabitants of Cochinchina. The latter never milk their cows, though the milk is excellent under. the Tr^ica, and in thp warmest regions of the Earth. Travels M' ii ^ CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 49 little for milk, butter and cheese. The latter is in g^reat request among* the Casts of mixed extraction, and forms a very considerable branch of exterior commerce. In the statistical table drawi) up by the Intendant of Guadalaxara, in 1802, which I have frequently had occasion to cite, the annual value of dressed hides is estimated at 419,000 piastres, and that of tallow and soap at 549.000 piastres. The town of Puebla alone manufactures annually 200,000 arrohas of soap, and 82,000 ox hides; but the exportation of these articles at the Port of Vera Cruz, has hitherto been of very little importance. In 1803, it hardly amounted to the value of 140,000 piastres. It appears that even in the 16th century before the interior consumption had been aug- mented by the number and the luxury of the whites. New Spain supplied Europe with more hides than at the present day. Father Acosta*, relates that a fleet which entered Seville in 1587, carried 64,340 Mexican hides. The horses of the northern provinces, and particularly those of New Mexico, are as celebrated for their excellent qualities as the horses of Chili ; of Macartney, Vol. ii. p. 153, and Vol. iv. p. 59. The Greeks and Romans even only learned to make butter from their communication with the Scythians, Thracians, and the Germanic nations. Beckmann, 1. c. B. iii. p. 289. * Lib. iv. C. 3. vol.. III. K m '^ POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. both descend, as it is pretended, from the Arab race; and they wander wild in herds, in the Savannahs of the Provincias In" ternas. The exportation of these horses to Natchez, and New Orleans, becomes every year of greater importance. Many Mexican families possess in their Hatos de ganado, from thirty to forty thousand head of horses and oxen. The mules would be still more numerous^ if so many of them did not perish on the highways from the excessive fatigues of journeys of several months. It is reckoned that the commerce of Vera Cruz alone, em- ploys annually nearly 70,000 mules. More than 5000 are employed as an object of luxury in the carriages * of the city of Mexico. The rearing of sheep has been wonderfully neglected in New Spain, as well as in all the Spanish Colonies of America. It is pro- bable that the first sheep introduced in the 16th century, were not of the breed of travelling Merinos, and particularly that they were not of the Leon, Segovian, or Sorian breed. Since that time, no care has been employed in the amelioration of the breed ; and yet in the part of Mexico, beyond the tropics, it would be easy to introduce the system of ma- I 'H m |if * Havannah has 2500 Calashes, called Volantes, whicb require more than 3000 mules. In 1802, the number .«f hones in Paris was calculated at 35,000. m I CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 51 nagement known in Spain by the name of Mesta, by which the sheep change their cli- mate with the seasons, and are always in harmony with them. Nothing- is to be feared for ages from the prejudice which these tra- velling flocks might occasion to Mexican agriculture. At present the finest wool is reckoned to be that of the Intendancy of Valladolid. It is worthy of remark, that neither the common hog, * nor the hens to be found in all the islands of the South Sea, were known to the Mexicans. The Picari (Sus tajassu) to be frequently met with in the cottages of the natives of South America, might have easily been reduced to a domestic state; but this animal is only fit for the region of plains. Of the two varieties of hog which are now * Pedro de Cie^a, and Garcilasso de la Vega, have preserved in their works the names of the Colonists who first reared in America, the domestic animals of Europe. They relate that in the middle of the 16th century, two hogs cost at Peru 8000 livres. a camel 35,000, an ass 7700, a cow 1200, and a sheep 200 livres. Ciega* Chronica del Peru (Antwerp 1554) p. 65. Garcilasso^ T. i. p. 328. These enormous prices besides proving the scarcity of the objects sold, prove also the abundance of the precious metals. General Belcalazar, who had pur- chased at Buza a sow for 4000 francs could not resist the temptation of eating her at a feast. Such was the luxury which prevailed in the army of the Conquistadores' E 2 52 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. if the most common in Mexico, the one was in- troduced from Europe, and the oi\er from the Philippine Islands. They have multiplied amazingly on the Central Table Land, where the valley of Toluca carries on a very lucrative trade in bacon. Before the conquest there were very few poultry among the natives of the new continent. The maintainance of these birds, require par- ticular care in countries recently cleared, where the forests abound in carnivorous qua- drupeds of every kind. Besides, the inhabitant of the Tropics does not feel the want of do- mestic animals so much as the inhabitant of the temperate zone, because he is freed by the fertility of the soil from the necessity of labouring a greut extent of ground, and because the lakes and rivers are covered with an in- numerable quantity of birds, easily caught, and yielding an abundant nourishment. A European traveller is astonished to see the savages of South America bestowing extreme pains in taming monkeys, Manaviri (Ursus caudivol- vula) or squirrels, while they never endeavour to tame a great number of useful animals, contained in the neighbouring forests. How- ever, the most civilized tribes of the new con- tinent, reared in their stable-yards before the arrival of the Spaniards, several gallinaceous birds, as hoccos, (Crax nigra, C. globicera, CHIP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 63 and C. pauxi) turkies, (mdea^ris gallo-pavo) several species of pheasants, ducks, and moor- hens, yacoiis, or g^uans, (penelope, pava de monte) and aras, (psittacci macrouri) which are considered delicate eating when young. At this period, the cock, a native of the East Indies, and common to the Sandwich Islands, was totally unknown hi America. This fact, important in its connection with the migration of the Malay tribes, has been contested in Spain since the end of the 16th century. Learned Etymologists proved that the Peruvians must have had hens previous to the discovery of the New World, because the language of the Incas designates the cock by a particular word, gualpa. They knew not that gualpa or huallpttt is a contraction of Atahuallpa, and that the natives of Cuzco gave in derision the name of a prince detested on account of the cruelties exercised by him against the family of Huescar, to the cocks brought by the Spaniards, imagining, which appears strange enough to the ears of a European, they found some resemblance between the crowing of that bird, .and the name of Ata- huallpa. This anecdote, to be found in the work of Garcilasso (T. i. p. 331) was related to me in 1802, at Caxamarca, where I saw in the family of the AstorpilcOf the descendants of the last Inca of Peru. These poor Indians 54 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. inhabit the ruins of the palace of Atahuallpa. Garcilasso relates that the Indians imitated the crowing^ of the cock, by pronouncing in cadence words of f^est being frequently added to the harvest of the following year, we are not to judge of the progress of the cultivation, from the exportation alone. It appears that in general the nopaleries in- crease very slowly in Misteca. In the inten- dancy of Guadalaxara, there is scarcely 800 arrobas of cochineal produced in a year. Raynalf estimates the whole exportation of New Spain at 4000 quintals, an estimate too low by one half. The East Indies have only begun to pour their cochineal into com* merce, but the quantity is very inconside- rable. Captain Nelson carried oft* the insect from Rio Janeiro in 1793, and nopaleries have been established in the environs of Calcutta, Chittagong, and Madras. Much difficulty was experienced in procuring the species of cactus proper for the nou- rishment of the insect. We know not if this Brasilian cochineal transported to Asia, be the mealy species of Oaxaca, or if it be the cotton cochineal (grana silvestre), ♦ £500,040 sterling. Trant, t T.ii.p.78. CHAP. X.] KINGDOJff OF NEW SPAIN. 65 in- ■■f I shall not here repeat what Thiery de Menon- ville, and other naturalists after him have published on the cultivation of the nopal» and the rearing of the valuable insect which is maintained on it. M. Thiery has displayed as much sagacity in his researches, as cou- rage in the execution of his projects. His observations on the cochineal introduced into St. Domingo, are certainly very accurate; but, ignorant of the language of the country, and afraid of exciting suspicion by a display of too great curiosity, he could only collect during his stay in the intendancy of Oaxaca, a very imperfect knowledge of the Mexicin nopaleries. I had occasion to observe iiie wild cochineal in the kingdom of New Gra- nada, Quito, Peru, and in Mexico, though I was not fortunate enough to see the fine co- chineal; but having consulted persons who "have lived long in the mountains of Misteea, and» having had at command extracts from several manuscript memoirs, drawn up by order of the Count de Tessa, during my stay at Mexico, by alcaides and ecclesiastics of the bishoprick of Oaxaca, I flatter my- self that I shall be able to communicate some useful information, respecting an insect which has become of the very first importance to European manufactures. Is the mmly fine or Mistec cophineal (yra- VOL. III. F m POLITICAL ESSAY ON THife [book ir na fimi) specifically different from the cotton or wild cochineal (ffrana sUvestrc)^ or is tho latter the primitive stock of the former, which consequently would only be the pro- duce of a degeneracy, originating in the care of man? This pro])lem is as different to de- cide as the question, whether the domestic sheep descends from the ovis ammoiif the dog from the wolf, and the ox from the civrochs. Whatever relates to the origin of species, to the hypothesis of a variety become constant, or a form which perpetuates itself, belongs to problems in zoonomy, on which it is wise to avoid pronouncing decisively. The fine cochineal differs from the wild one. not only in size, but also in being mealy and covered with a white powder, while the wild one is enveloped in a thick cotton, which prevents its rings from being distinguished; but the metamorphoses of the two insects are the same. Iti those parts of South America Ivhere for ag^s the wild cochineal hiui been reared, it has never yet lost its down. It is true that in the nopaleries established by M. Thiery at fet. Domingo, it was thought to be observed, that the inseet under the care of man ineteased in size, and underwelat a sen- sible eha^e in the thickness of its cotton co- vering; but Mr. Latreille a learned entomo- logist,, who is inclined to look upon the \rild cuAr. x.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 67 cochineal, as a diflferent species from the fine one, beheves that this diminution of down is merely apparent, and that it mast be attri- buted to the thickness of the body of the in- sect. The rings on the back of the female beings more dilated, the hairs covering this part must appear less close and consequently clearer. I was informed by several persons who had long lived in the environs of the town of Oaxaca, that sometimes among the small coccus recently brought into the world, individuals are observed covered with very long hair. One might be tempted to consi- der this fact as a proof, that nature when she deviates from her primitive type, returns to it from time to time. lu this way the seed of the fragaria monophylla of M. Duchesne, constantly produces some common strawberries with parted leaves. But we must not for- get that the fine cochineal, on leaving the body of the mother is wrinkled in the back, and covered with twelve silks frequently very long, which disappear when it becomes adult. Tho»e who have not attentively compared the offspring of the fine . cochineal, with that of the wild jcochineal, are naturally struck with, the presence of these hairs. The fine cochineal appeal's powdery ten days after its birth, .when it frees itself from its fringy dress of small silks, whereas the wild cochinea) is p 2 ^, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) //^.**!^ K<^ <^^. y^ 4^ ^ <^ 1.0 I.I ■tt liU 12.2 2.0 Is IHh U^ p1^ o^ "^ ^ Hiotographic Sciences CoiporatiGn ¥(^ ^•\ r^N- :\ \ ^. 23 WIST MAIN STIir WnSTM.N.Y. MSM (716)172-4503 i\ «« POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. more and more covereil as it gets older, its down thickens, and the insert resembles a small white flake, at the period which pre- cedes the conjunction of the two sexes. ' ' It is sometimes observed in the nopalericir of Oaxaca that the winged male of the fine cochineal conples with the female of the wiM cochineal. This fact has been cited as an evideiTt proof of the identity of the species; but we commonly see in Europe coecinelles couple together, essentially different in their form, shape, and colour. When two species of insects are in the same vicinity, we ought not to be astonished at their coupling together. Are the fine cochineal and the pltint on which it feeds, both to be found in a wild state in Mexico ? M. Thiery thought himself warranted in answering this question in the negative. This naturalist appears to admit that the insect and the nopal of the planta- tions of Oaxaca, have been insensibly modi- fied in their form by means of long culture. This supposition however appears to me equally gratuitous with that which would pronounce grain, maize, and the banana, to be degenerated plants, or, to take an example from the animal reign, the llama, which is not known in a wild state, to be a variety of the Peruvian sheep, {vicuna) of the Upper Andes. The coccu» cacti has an infinite number of enemies among a CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 69 ir. an 1 the insects and birds. Wherever the cotton cochineal propagates of itself, it is not to be found in any abundance, from which we may easily conceive that the mealy cochineal must have been still more rare in its native coun- try, because it is nmch more delicate, and not being covered with down, is more sensi- ble to the cold and humidity of the air. In discussing the question^ whether the fine co- chineal would propagate without the care of man, the subdelegate of the province of Oaxa- ca, Ruiz de ,Montaya*, cites a very remark- able fact in his memoir, " that at seven ** leagues distance from the village of Nexapa, ** there is a place, where, favoured by parti- ** cular circumstances, the most beautiful yrana ** fina is to be found, on very high and very ** prickly wild nopals, without any pjtins ha- " ving ever been bestowed in cleaning* the " plants, or in renewing the offspring of the " cochineal." Besides we are not to be as- tonished that even in a country where this animal is indigenous, it should seldom be £ound in a wild state, from the time that it began to be in request among the iit- habitants, and to be reared in nopaleries. It is probable that the Toultecs, before under- taking so troublesome a species of cultiva- tion, collected the fine cochineal on the nopals, A * Gazeta tie literatura de Mmco, 1794, p. 228. 90 POLITICAL ESSAY OK THE [b'*.* it. which grew spontaneously on the sides of Uie mountains of Oaxaca. Gathering tiie females before laying, the species would soon be de* stroyed; and to obviate this progressive de- struction, and prevent the mixture of the cotton and mealy cochineals on the same cactus, (the former depriving the lattei* of all nourishment,) nopaleries were establiahed by the natives. The plants on which the two species of cochineal are propagated, are essentially dif- ferent ; and this undoubted fact is one of those which indicate a primitive and specific dif- ference between the jftana fina, and the yrami silvestre» Is it probable if the mealy cochi- neal was merely a variety of the cotton cochi- neal, that it would perish on the same cactus which serves for nourishment to the latter, and which botanists designate by the names of cactus opuntia, C. tuna, and C. ileus indica ? M. Thiery in the work already frequently re- ferred to by us*, asserts that in the plain of Cul'de Sac in Saint Domingo, the cotton- cochiueal does not live on the cactus tuna, but on the C. pereskia, which he classes among the articalated Indian iigs. I am afraid that this naturalist has .confounded a variety of i>puntia, with the true pei*eskia, which i^ 9- tree with large and thick leaves, and on which I never yet iound any cochineal. X look i\pon . * P. 275^282. '■ IT. CHAP. X.J KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. it also as extremely doubtful, that the plant called by Linneus cactus coccinellifer, cultivated in Europe, is the nopal on which the Indians of Oaxaca rear the mealy cocliineal. M. Decan- dolle^ who has thrown nmch light on this subject, appears to be of my opinion ; for he cites the wild nopal of Thiery de Menouville, as synonimous with the cochineal Indian fig, which is entirely different from that of the plantations. In fact Linneus gave the name of cactus coccinellifer to the Indian fig, with which several botanical gardens of Europe had received the cotton-cochineal, a species with a purple flower, (Ficus Indica vermiculos proferens of Plukenet) which grows wild in Jamaica, the Island of Cuba, and almost every where in the Spanish Colonies of the Continent. I have shewn this cactus to welL informed per- sons, who had carefully examined the nopale- ries of Oaxaca, and they have uniformly told me that the 7iop€d of the plantations is essen- tiuilly-^ifierent from it, and that the latter, as is also afiii'med by M. Thiery, is never to be found in a wild state. Moreover the Abbe Clavigerot who lived five years in Misteca, expressly says, that the fruit of the nopal on which the fine qochineal is reared, is siii^ll, in- sipid, and white, while the fruit of the caclus ♦ Plantes grasses de M.M, JRcdoute ei DecandoUefliyrmon 24. fi -n' t T.i.p. 115. 72 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. coccinellifer is red. The celebrated Ulloa advances in his works that the true nopal i.s without prickles; but he appears to have con- founded this plant with an Indian fig, which we have frequently found in the g^ardens, (conU" cos) of the Indians of Mexico and Peiii, and which the Creoles on account of its gigantic size, the excellence of its fruits, and the beauty of its articulations, which are of a blucish green, and destitute of prickles, designate by the name of tuna de Castilla. This nopal, the most elegant of all the opuntia, is in fact fit for the nourishment of the mealy cochineal, especially after its birth, but it is seldom to be found in the nopaleries of Oaxaca. If ac- cording to the opinion of several distinguished naturalists, the Uiiia or nopal de Castilhty is but a variety of the ordinary cactus opuntia, originating in cultivation, we must be surprized that the Indian figs cultivated for centuries in our botanical gardens, and those of the no- paleries of New Spain, have never in the same manner lost the prickles, with which the joints are provided. The Indians of the intendancy of Oaxaca, do not all follow the same method in rearing the cochineal, which M. Thiery de Menonville saw practised in his rapid passage through San Juan del Re, San Antonio and Quicatlan. The 4 CRAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 73 Indians of the district of Sola and Zimatlan*, es^?.blish their nopaleries ou the slope of moun- tains, or in ravins, two or three leaj^ues dis- tant from their vilhigfes. Tliey plant the no- pals after cutting* and burning the trees which covered the ground. If they continue to clean the ground twice a year, the young plants are in a condition to maintain the cochineal in the third year. For this purpose the proprie- tor of a nopalery, purchiises in the months of April or May, branches or joints of the tuna de Castitta, laden with small cochineals, (semilla) recently hatched. These branches destitute of roots, and separated from the trunks, preserve their juice for several months. They are sold for about three francs the hundred in the mar- ket of Oaxaca. The Indians preserve the semilla of the cochineal for twenty days in caverns, or in the interior of their huts, and after this period they expose the young coccus to the open air. The branches to which the insect is attached, are suspended under a shed covered with a straw roof. The growth of the cocliineal is so rapid, that even in the months of August and September, we find mo- thers already big before the young are yet hatched. These mother-cochineals are placed in Tiests, made of a species of tillandsia, called paxtk. They are carried in these nests two or I 'I Informe de Don Francisco Ibanez de Coroera* (M. S ) 74 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [oook fr. three leagues from the village, and diitribii- teci in the nopaleries, where the young* plants receive the semilla. The hiyinpf of the mo- ther-cochineal lasts from thirteen to fifteen flays. If the situation of the ))lantation is not very elevated, the first harvest may be expected in loss than four months. It is observed, that in a climate more cold than temperate, the colour of the cochineal is equally beautiful, but that the harvest is much later. In tiie plain, the mother-cochineals grow to a greater size, but they meet with more enemies in the innu* merable quantity of insects, (xicaritas, perritos, aradoreSf agujasf armadillost culebrittts,) lizards, rats, and birds, by which they ai*e devoured. Much care is necessary in cleaning the branches of the nopals. The Indian women make use of a squirrel, or stag's tail for that pivpose ; they squat down for hours together beside one plant; and notwithstanding the excessive price of the cochineal, it is to be doubted if this cultivation would be profitable, in countries where the time and labour of man might be turned to account. At Sola, where very cold rains occasionally fall, and where it even frequently freezes in the month of January, the natives preserve the young cochineals, by covering the nopals with rush mats. The price of the se- mitta of gvana Jina, which generally does not amount to more than five francs per pound, fre« qaently rises there to 18 and 20. CHAP. X.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 75 In several districts of the province of Oaxaca, they 'have three cochineal harvests in the year, of which the first (that which gives the semilla) is not lucrative, because the mother preserves for a very short time the colouring juice, if she dies natur.ally after having laid. This first harvest furnishes the yrana de pastlt or nesi cochineal, so called because the mothers after laying are found in the same nests which have been suspended to the nopals. Near the town of Oaxaca, the cochineal is sown in the month of August ; but in the districts of Chon- tale this operation does not take place till the month of October; and on the coldest table lands not even till the months of November and December. The cotton or wild cochineal which gets into the nopaleries, and the male of which according to the observation of Mr. Alzate, is not much ' smaller than the male of the mealy or fine cochi* neal, does much injury to the nopals ; and accord- ingly the Indians kill it wherever they find it, though the colour which it yields is very solid and very beautiful. It appears thsit not only the fruits, but also the green branches of several species of cactus will dye cotton, violet md red, and that the colour of the cochineal is not entirely owing to a process of e^innin«;' the har- vest only when the mothers have already pro- dured the half of their yonnjjf. This new S(;- niilla ag^ain produces till the month of May 3G pounds. At Zinuitlan and other villages of Misteea and Xieayan they scarcely reap more than three or four times the (juantity of cochineal sown. If the south wind which is very pernici- ous to the growth of the insec*t has not blown long, and the cochineal is not mixed with tlasole, that is to say with the spoils of the winged males, it loses only two thirds of its weight when dried in the sun. The two kinds of cochineal (the fine and the wild) appear to contain niorc! of the colouring principU^ in temperate climates, especially in ^ regions where the mean temperatun^ of the air is 18 or 20 centigrade degrees*. As to the wild cochineal we found it in abundance in the most opposite climates, in the mountains of Rio- bamba, at 2900 metresf of absolute elevation, and in the plains of the province of Jaen de Bracamoros, under a burning sky, between the villages of Tomependa and Chamaya. • 64'»and68o ofFahrenh. Trans. t 9513feet£ngligh. Trans. IV. CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 77 Aroiiiid the town of Oaxarii, nnd cHprrially near ()(>(»ilaii tliere are plantations (linciemlan) wliirh <'ontain from •'>0 to (KMKK) nopals planted in linrs like pites oi mntfnejfs de puitfue. The jjfreatest part of the cochineal wliich is eniployeers. These baskets (eoHaaioi/) are carried by the Indians on their backs as quickly as possible to the niouiv- tains of Istepeje, above the village of Santa Catalina, at nine leagues distance from Oaxaca. The mother cochineals produce their youngs liy the way. On opening the catuistos they are found full of young coccuSf which are distributed on the nopals of the sierra. They remain there till the month of October when the rainti cease in the lower regions. The Indians then return to the mountains in quest of the cochineal for the purpose of replacing it in the nopaleries of Oaxaca. The Mexican in this way withdraws the insects from the peraicious effects of the humidity in the same manner as the Spaniard travels with his merinos from the cold. At the period of the harvests the Indians kill the mother cochineals, which are collected on a wooden plate called chilcaipetl by throwing them into boiling water, or heaping them up by beds in the sun, or placing them on mats in the same ovens of a circular form (temazcaUi) which are used for vapour and hot air baths of which we have already spoken*. The last of * See vol. ii. p. 949. M. Alzate who has given a good plate of the temazcalli (Gazeta de Literatura de Mexico. T.Ui. p. 252.) asserts that the ordinary heat of the vapour ill which the Mexican Indian bathes himself i» 66** centigrade* (150 ofFahrenh. Trans,) riiAP. X.3 KINGDOM OF NEW RPAIK. 70 these methods, which is leant in use, preserves the whitish powder on the body of the insect) which raises its price at Vera Cruz and i.^.»diz. Purchasers prefer the white cochineal, because it is less subject to be frauthilently mixed with parcels of gum, wood, maize, and red earth. There exist in Mexico very ancient laws (of the years 1592 and 1591) for the prevention of the falsification of cochineal. Since 17C0 they have even been under the necessity of establish- ing in the town of Oaxaca a jury of veadores who examine the bags (zurrones) previous to their being sent out of the province. They appoint the cochineal exposed to sale to have the (/rain separated, that the Indians may not introduce extraneous matter in those agglutinated masses called bodoques. But all these means are insufficient for the prevention of fraud. However, that which is practised in Mexico by the tiangueros or zanganos (falcificadtyres) is inconsiderable in comparison of thut which is practised on this commodity in the ports of the Peninsula, and in the rest of £urope. To complete the view of the animals of New Spain we must bestow a rapid glance on the pearl and whale fisheries. It is probable that these two branches of fishery will one day become an object of the very highest import- ance to a country possessed of a length of coast pf more than 1700 marine leagues. Long before 1 80 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. the discovery of America, pearls were in gi'eat estimation among the natives. Hernando de Soto found an immense quantity in Florida, particularly in the provinces of Ichiaca and Confachiqui, where the tombs of their princes were ornamented with them*. Among the presents made by M onte/Aima to Cortez before his entry into Mexico, which were sent by Cortez to the emperor Charles V., there were necklaces set with rubies, emeralds, and pearlsf. We know not whether the Aztec kings received any part of these pearls by means of trade with the barbarous and wandering: tribes who frequented the gulf of California. It is better ascertained that pearls were fished by their orders, on the coast which extends from Colima, the northern boundary of their empire, to the province of Xoconochco or Soconusco, and particularly near Tototepec, between Acapulco and the gulf of Tchuantepec and in Cuitlateca- pan. The Incas of Peru set a great value on pearls ; but the laws of Manco-cap;i prohibited the Peruvians from exercising the calling of diver, as not very beneficial to the state and dangerous to those who follow it j;. The situations which since the discovery o£ • La Florida del Inca, Madrid, 1723, p. 129, 185 and 140. f GomaKi} Conquista de Mexico (Medina del Campo, 1S33) fbl. 25. $ Oarcilasio, lib. viii. c. 23. ^ CHAP. X.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 81 the New Continent, have furnished the greatest abundance of pearls to the Spaniards, are the following: the arm of the sea between the islands of Cubagua and Coche, and the coast of Cumana ; the mouth of the Rio de la Haclia ; the gulf of Panama near the Iglas de las Per las; and the eastern coast of California. In 1587, 316 kilogrammes* of pearls were imported into Seville, among which there were 5 kilogram- mest of the greatest beauty destined for king Philip II. The pearl fishery of Cubaguu and Rio de la Hacha have been very pi'oduc- live but of short duration. After tlie com* mencementof the 17th century, and especially after the navigations of Yturbi and Pinadero, the pearls of California began to rival in trade those of the gulf of Panama. At thai period the most able divers were sent to the shores of the sea of Cortez. The fishery, however, was immediately neglected again ; and though at the time of the expedition of Galvez emlea- vours were used to restore it, these endeavours were rendered fruitless from the causes already detailed by us in the description of Californiaf. In 1803 only, a Spanish ecclesiastic residing at Mexico again turned the attention of goverii- M m * 6971b.avoird. Trans. f Acosta,lib. iv.c. 15. J See vol. ii. chap, viii, p. 329. VOL. III. G i i 82 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. ment to the pearls of the coast of Ceralvo in California. As the divers (buzos) lose much of their time in rising to breathe on the sur- face of the water, and fatigue themselves to no purpose in descending several times to the bottom of the sea, this ecclesiastic proposed to employ in the pearl fishery a diving bell which should serve as a reservoir of atmospheric air, and in which the diver might take refuge whenever he felt the necessity of respiration. Furnished with a mask and a flexible tube he would l)e enabled to explore the bottom of the ocean breathing the oXygen supplied by this bell at which the tube terminates. During my residence in New Spain I saw a series of very curious experiments made in a small pond near the castle of Chopoltepec in the execution of this project. It was certainly the first time that a diver's bell was ever constructed at a height of 2300 metres* equal to that of the pass of the Simplon. I know not whether the experiments made in the valley of Mexico were ever repeated in the gulf of California, and whether the pearl fishery has been renewed there after an interruption of more than thirty years; for hitherto almost all the pearls sup- plied by the colonies come from the gulf of Panama, * 7545 feet. Trans, CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. m Among the marine shells of New Spahi, I ought also to mention here the iimrex of the coast of Tehnantepec in the province of Oaxaca, of which the cloak exudes a purple colouring liquor, and the famous shell of Monterey which resembles the most beautiful haliotis of New Zealand. This shell is to be found on the coast of New California, and particularly between the ports of Monterey and San Francisco. It is employed, as we have already observed, in the fur trade with the inhabitants of Noutka. As to the gasteropode of Tehuantepec, the Indian women collect the purple liquor, following the course of the shore, and rubbing the cloak of the murex with cotton stript of its seed. The western coast of Mexico, especially that part of the great ocean situated between the gulph of Bayonna, the three Mary islands, and cape Saint Lucas, abound in spermaceti^whales or cachalots, of which the fishery is one of the most important objects of mercantile speculation on account of the extremely high prices given for spermateci (adipocire) by the English and the inhabitants of the United States. The Spanish Mexicans see the cachalot fishers aiTive on their coast after a navigation of more than 5000 marine leagues, to whom they incorrectly enough give the appellation of balleneros {whalers) ; but they never endeavour to share in the pursuit of these great mammi/erous whales. M. Schneider G 2 M III. I i ^4 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE L^ook iv who is as good a naturalist as he is a learned hclienist, and M. M. dc T^cepedc and Fleurieu* have j^iven very accurate information as to the whale and cachalot fishery in the two hemispheres. I shall here communicate the most recent knowledj^e which I could collect during^ my residences on the shores of the South Sea. Were it not for the cachalot fishery and the trade in furs of Sea Otters at Noutka, the g-reat ocean would almost never be frequented by the Anglo-Americans and Europeans. Notwith- standing the extreme economy practised in these fishing expeditions, those beyond Cape Horn are too expensive to admit of the hlach whale being the object of them. The cost of these distant navigations can only be compen- sated by the high price which necessity or luxury fixes on their returns. Now of all the oily liquids which enter into trade, there are few so dear as the spermaceti, or the particular substance contained in the enormous caverns of the snout of the cachalot. A single individual of these cetaceous giants yields as much as 125 English barrekf (of 321 gallons eachj) of * Voycage de Marchand, T. ii. p. 600, 64-1, f A barrel contains 1.48 hectolitres or nearly 178|. pints of Paris fRecherches sur la Richesse des Nations par Adam Smith, traduction de M. Garnier, T. v. p. 451.) X This is supposed to be Sl^. Trans, CIIAF. X.] KINGDOiNI OF NEW SPAIN. 8:> spermaceti. A tun containini^ eight of these barrels or 1024 pints of Paris, used to sell in Jjondon before the peace of Amiens at ^70 or J&80 and during- the war at £95 and ^100 sterling. It was not the third expedition of Cook to the north-west coast of the New Continent, but the voyage of James CoUnet to the Gallapa- gos islands, which made known to the Euro- peans and Anglo Americans the abundance ot cachalots in the great ocean to the north of the equator. Till 1788 the whale fishers only frequented the coasts of Chili and Peru. Only 12 or fifteen vessels then doubled Cape Horn annually for the cachalot fishery, while at the period when I was in the South Sea, there were more than GO under the English flag alone. The physeter macroccphalus not only frequents the arctic seas between the coast of Greenland and Davis Straits, it is not only found in the Atlantic Ocean between the banks of New- foundland and the Azore Islands, where the Anglo Americans sometimes carry on a fishery, but it is also to be found to the south of the equator on the coasts of Brazil and Guinea. It would appear that in its periodical voyages, it ap- proaches more to the continent of Africa than to that of America ; for in the environs of Rio Janeiro and la Bahia whales only are caught. However the cachalot fishery has been much /III % |l.| ill m e 86 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. diminished on the Guinea coast, since naviga- tors have become less afraid of doubling Cape Horn, and since more attention has been paid to the cetaceous fish abounding in the great ocean. Physeters are found in very consider- able bands in the channel of Mosanibique, and to the south of the Cape of Good Hope j but the animal there is generally small, and the sea rough and agitated, and unfavourable to the operations of the harpooners. The great ocean unites all the circumstances that render the cachalot fishery both easy and lucrative. It is richer in moUuscus, fish, por- poises, tortoises, and sea calves of every species, and offers more nourisb»uent to cetaceous animals than the Atlantic ocean. Hence these last are there in greater numbers as well as fatter and larger. The calm which prevails during so great a part of the year in the equinoctial region of the South Sea facilitates very much the pursuit of cachalots and whales. The for uer keep generally near the coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, because the shores are steep (acan- tiladas) and washed by a sea of great depth. It is a general rqle that the cachalot avoids shallows, whereas they are sought after by the whale. For this reason the whale is very frequent on the low coast of Brazil, while the other abounds near the coast of Guinea, which is higher, and every where accessible to large C»AP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 87 vessels. Such is m g-eneral the geological con- stitution of the two continents, that the western coast of America and Africa resemble one another, while the eastern and western coasts of the New Continent exhibit the most remarkable contrast in relation to their elevation above the level of the neighbouring seas. The greatest number of £nglish and Anglo- American vessels which enter the great ocean ha/e the double object in view of carrying on the cachalot fishery and an illicit conmierce with the Spanish colonies. They double Cape Horn after attempting to leave contraband goods at the mouth of the river Plata, or at the presidio of the Malouin Islands. They begin the cachalot fishing near the small deseil: islands of Mocha and Santa Maria, to the south of the Conception of Chili. At Mocha there are wild horses introduced by the inhabitants of the neighbouring coast, which sometimes serve for provisions to navigators. The island of Santa Maria has very fine and very abundant springs. They contain wild hogs, and a species of very large and very nutritive turnips, believed to be peculiar to those climates. After remain- ing in these latitudes for a month, and carry- ing on a contraband trade with the island of Chiloe, the fishing vessels (halkneros) generally coast Chili and Peru to Cape Blanc situated in 4'* 18' of south latitude. The cachalot is ' s*\ 88 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iooK iv. li^'cry where common in these latitudes, to lo or 20 leagues distance from the continent. Before the expedition of Captain Coilnet, the fishery terminated at Cape Blanc or near the equator; but within the last 15 or 20 years» the balleneros continue it northwards to be- yond Cabo Corientes, on the Mexican coast of the intendancy of Guadalaxara. Near the Archipelago of the Galapagos, where it is extremely dangerous to land, on account of the strong currents, and round the islands de las ires Marias, the fish is most frequent- ly to be found, and of a gigantic size. In spring the environs of the Galapagos are the ren^'ezvous of all the macrocephalous cachalots of the coasts of Mexico, Peru, and the gulph of Panama, which come there to couple. During that period M. Collnet saw young individuals of 2 metres in length*. Farther to the north of the Marias islands, in the gidf of California, no more physeters are to be found, but many whales. The whale fishers can easily distinguish at a distance the cachalots from the whales, by the manner in which the foraier spout up the brine through their spiracles. The cachalots can remain longer under water, than the true whale. When they come to the sur- face, their respiration is more frequet ly in- * 6i feet. Trans, CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 89 terrupted ; they do not allow iio much water to remain in the membranous bags placed below their nostrils; and the spouts are more frequent, more in a forward direction, and more elevated than those of the other whales The female of the cachalot is four or five times smaller than the male ; and its head does not yield more than 25 English barrels of adipocire, while the head of the male, yields from 100 to 125. A great number of females (cow wfuiles) go generally together ted by two or there males (hull-wliales) which are perpetually describing circles round their ilock. The very young females which yield from 12 to 10 barrels of adipocire matter called by the English fishermen school-whales swim so close to one another that they fre- quently get more than half out of water. It is almost superfluous here to observe that the adipocire, which is not a part of the brain of the animal, is not only to be found in all the known species of cachalot (catadon" tes lac») but also in all the physales and phy- seters. The spermaceti extracted from the cavities of the snout of the cachalot, and we must not confound these cavities with that of the cranium, is only the third pail of the thick and adipocirous oil, which is furnished by the rest of the body. The spermaceti of the head is the best, and W )> 'I II i 90 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. : is employed in the making of candles; and that of the body and tail is only used in England, to give a gloss to cloth. ' This fishery, to be profitable, must be conducted on the most economical principles. Vessels from 180 to f300 tons are employed in it, and the crew consists only of 16 or 24 individuals, including the captain and master, who are themselves obliged to throw the harpoon, like common sailors. The expences of equipment of a vessel of 180 tons, lined with copper, and provisioned for a voyage of two years, is estimated in London, at 7000/. sterling. Each South-Sea fishing vessel is provided with two canoes. The fitting of each canoe, requires 4 sailors and a boy, a , steersman, a cable of 130 fathoms in length, 3 lances, 5 harpoons, an axe, and a lantern to make themselves seen at a distance during the night. The fitter out, gives the sailors only their food and a very small sum of money under the name of advance. Their pay depends on the produce of the fishery; for as the whole crew contribute to it, every individual has a right to the profit. The captain receives a six- teenth, the master a twenty-fifth, the second master a thirty-fifth, the mate a sixtieth, and the sailor an eighty-fifth of the whole produce. The season is reckoned good if a vessel of 200 tons, returns to port, laden CHAP. X.T KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 91 with 800 barrels of spermaceti. The cacha- lot from lieinff so incessantly persecuted has become within these ftnv years, more wild and difficult to takt^ But to favour the navi- gation of tlie South Sea, the British govern- ment allows advances to each vessel fitted out for tlie chachalot fishery: these advances are from 300/. to 800/. sterlin Mechoacan J Oax.ica - - - Tiuatialaxara Dtifango 1771—1780 1770— n-rg 1770—1779 1771—1780 1771—1780 1770—1779 4,132,630 2,965,601 2,710,200 71.5,974 1,889,724 913,028 1781—1790 1780—1789 1780—1769 1781—1790 1781—1790 1780—1789 7,082,879 3,508,884 3,239,400 863,237 2,579,108 1,080,313 The result of this view is, that the tithes of New Spain, have amounted in these six dioceses, I h ' From 1771 to 1779— to 13,357,157t 7 Double Piastres 1779— 1789 18,353,821^ j or pezzos fuertes. • I have extracted this view from a manuscript me- moir of M. Maniao, drawn up from official papers, and bearing the title of Estado de la Renin de Real Haci- enda de Nueva Espam, en un a»o commun del quinquenio de ITS* hasta 1789. The numbers in this view differ a little from those published by M. Pinkerton (vol. iii. p. 234; from the work of Estalla, which I have never yet been able to procure. f 162,880,141 sterling. Trans, t ^£4,015,219 sterling. Tram, €HAP. xO KINGDOM OF N^W SPAIN. 97 Consequently the total augmentation has been, in the last ten years^ five imllions «jf piastres, or two fifths of the total produce. The same data also indicate the rapidity of the progress of agriculture, in the intendan- cies of Mexico^ Guadalaxara, Puebla, and Valladolid, compared with the provinces of Oaxaca and New Biscay. The tithes have been nearly doubled in the archbishoprick of Mexico; for those which were levied during the ten years anterior to 1780, were to those levied ten years afterwards, in the propor- tion of 10 to 17. In the intendancy of Durango or New Biscay, this augmentation has been only in the proportion of 10 to 11. The celebrated author of the Wealth of Nations*, estimates the territorial produce of Great Britain, from the produce of the land tax. In the political view of New Spain, which I presented to the court of Madrid in 1803, I had hazarded a similar valuation, from the value of the tithes payable to ths clergy. The result of this operation was, that the annual produce of the land amounted at least, to 24 millions of piastres. The results, which I came to in drawing up my first view, have been discussed with mueli sagacity, » :|: Adam Smithy Traduction de M. Gamier, t. iv. p. 264 Original vol. iiij. p. 250. VOL. ITT. H II [11 , >\i 98 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. in a memoir presented by the municipal body of the townof Valladolid de Mechoacan, to the king", in the month of October 1805, on the occasion of passing an edict, relative to the property of the clergy. According to this memoir, a copy of which 1 have before me, we must add to these, 24 millions of piastres, three millions for the produce of cochineal, vanilla, jaiap, pi- mento of Tabasco, sarsaparilla, which pay no tithes; and 2 millions for sugar and indigo, which yield only to the clergy a duty of 4 per cent. If we adopt these data, we shall find that the total agricultural produce, amounts annually to 29 millions of piastres, or to more than 145 millions of francs*, which, reducing them to a imtural meastire, and taking for basis the actual price of wheat in Mexico, 15 francs for 10 myria- grammes of wheatf, are equal to 96 millions of myriagrammes o/wheat^. The mass of pre- cious metals annually extracted from the mines of the kingdom of New Spain, scarcely represent 74 millions of myriagrammes of wheat, which proves the interesting fact, that the value of the gold and silver of the Mexican mines, is less by almost a fourth, than the value of the territorial produce. * ^6,042,150 sterling. Trans. f See vol. ii. p. 4<81. "^ % 2128 millions lb. avoird. Trans. < \ CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 09 The cultivation of the soil, notwithstanding the fetters with which it is every where shackled, has lately made a more considerable progress, on accomit of the immense capitals laid out m land, by families enriched either by the commerce of Vera Cruz and Acapulco, or by the working of the mines. The Mexican clergy, scarcely possess land (bienes rakes) to the value of two or three millions of j)iastres ; but the capitals which convents, chapters, reli- gious societies and hospitals have laid out in lands, amount to the sum of 441 millions of piastres, or more than 222 millions of livres toumois. The following is a view of these capitals, called capitales de capellanias y ohras de lajurisdiccion ordinaria, extracted from an official paper* : Piastres. Archbishoprick of Mexico - ^ . . 9 000 000 Bishoprickof Puebla - - . . . 6,600 fiOQ Bishoprick of Valladolid (very accurate valuation) 4,500,000 Bishoprick of Guadalaxara - - - - 3 OOO 000 Bishopricks of Durango, Monterey and Sonora 1 ,000,000 Bishopricks of Oaxaca and Merida - - 2,000,000 Ohras Pias of the regular Clergy - - . 2 500 000 Endowments of Churches and Communities of 7 Monks and Nuns 16,000,000 44,500,000 ♦ Representacion de lot vecinos de Valladolid al Excellen- tissimo Senor Virreyen fecha del 24 Octuhre del ano 1805. (M.S.) H 2 :il I % :| 100 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. This immense smn in the hands of the lane' proprietors, (haciendados) and hypotecated on real property, was on the point of being with- drawn from the Mexican agriculture in 1804. The ministry of Spain not knowing how a na- tional bankruptcy brought on by the superabun- dance of paper money (vales) could possibly be avoided, ventured upon a very hazardous operation. A royal decree was issued on the 26th December, 1804, appointing not only the es- tates of the Mexican clergy to be sold, but also all the capitals belonging to ecclesiastics, to be recovered and sent into Spain, to be there applied in extinction of the royal paper (coxa de consoUdacion de vales reales). The council of finance, in which the viceroy presides, and which bears the title of Junta Superior de Real Hacienda^ instead of opposing this decree, and representing to the Sovereign the injury which its execution would occasion to the agriculture and prosperity of the inhabitants, began boldly to levy the money. The resistance however, wai so strong on the part of the proprietors, that from May 1805, to June 1806, not more than the com- paratively small sum of 1,200,000 piastres could be recovered. It is to be hoped that Ministers well informed as to the true interests of the state will have since put an end to an operation, the fatal effects of which would have been at last severely felt.. tHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 101 When we read the excellent work on agra* I'ian /«W5, presented to the council of Castille in 1795*, we perceive that notwithstanding the difference of climate and other local circum- stances, Mexican agriculture is fettered by the same political causes, which have impeded the progress of industry in the Peninsula. All the vices of the feudal government have passed from the one hemisphere to the other; and in Mexico these abuses have been so much the more dangerous in their effects, as it has been more difficult to the supreme authority to re- medy the evil, and display its energy at an immense distance. The property of New Spain, like that of Old Spain, is in a great measure in the hands of a few powerful families, who have gradually absorbed the smaller estates. In Ame- rica as well as Europe, large commons are condemned to the pasturage of cattle, and to perpetual sterility. As to the clergy and their influence on society, the two continents are not in the same circumstances ; for the clergy are much less numerous in Spanish America, than in the Peninsula. The religious missionaries have there contributed to extend the progress of agriculture among barbarous tribes. The i it i * M. de Laborde has given a translation of this Memoir, in the fourth volume of his ItinerairedescnptifdeVEspagne^, p. 103—294. 102 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. introduction of mayorazgos, and the degradation and extreme poverty of the Indians are more prejudicial to industry than the mortmain of the clergy. The ancient legislature of Castille prohibited convents from possessing real property; and al- though this wise law has been frequently in- fringed, the clergy could not acquire very con- siderable property in a country where devotion does not exercise the same empire over the mind as in Spain, Portugal, and Italy. Since the suppression of the order of the Jesuits, few es- tates belong to the Mexican clergy; and their real wealth as we have already stated, consists in tithes and capitals laid out on the farms of small cultivators. These capitals are usefully directed and increase the productive power of the national labour. It is surprizing to see that the greatest num- ber of the convents founded since the 16th cen- tury in every part of Spanish America, are all crowded together in towns. Had they been spread throughout the country and placed on the ridges of the Cordilleras, they might have possessed that salutary influence on cultivation, of which the effects have been felt on the North of Europe, on the banks of the Rhine, and on the mountains of the Alps. Those who have studied history, know that in the time of Philip the CHAP. X.] KINGDOM or NEW SPAIN. 103 Second, the monks were no longer like those of the 9th century. The luxury of towns, and the climate of the Indies are unfavourable to that austerity of life, and that spirit of order for which the first monastical institutions were charac- terized; and when we cross the mountainous deserts of Mexico, we regret that those solitary asylums in which the traveller receives assist- ance from religioas hospitality in Europe, are no where to be found. • -' Hi Mi -,'-; .>,;. S-,,,> 104 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. '' :i.; 'I J ' /' • it '. K- 'lii CHAPTER XL Siafe qf the Mines nf Nm Spain. — Produce of Gold and Silver. — Mean value qf the produce qf the Mines, — Annual consumption of Mercury in the process qf Amalga- mation.— Qiiantiti/ qf the Precious Metals ivhich have since the conquest qf Mexico, jUmed from the one Continent into the other, v 1 , : ; After a careful examination of the Mexican aorviculture as the fii'st source of the natural wealth and prosperity of the inhabitants, it re- mains for us to exhibit a view of the mineral pro- ductions which for two centuries and a half have been the object of working the mines of New Spain. This view is exceedingly brilliant to the eyes of those who calculate merely according to the nominal value of things, but is much less so to those who consider the intrinsic worth of the metalh^ their relative utility, and the influence wliich they possess on manufacturing industry. The mountains of the New Continent like the inouDtains of the old, contain iron, copper, lead, and a great number of other mineral substances, indispensible to agriculture and the arts. If the labour of man has in America been almost ex- clusively directed to the extraction of gold and silver, it is because the members of a societv «iiAt. xfO KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 106 act from very different considerations from those which ought to influence the whole society. Whenever the soil can produce both indigo and maizcy the former prevails over the latter^ al- though the general interest requires a preference to be given to those vegetables which supply nourishment to man over those which are merely objects of exchange with strangers. In the same manner, the mines qf iron or lead on the ridge of the CordlUeraSy notwithstanding their richness, continue to be neglected, because almost the whole attention of the colonists is directed to veins of gold and silver, even when they exhibit on trial, but small indications of abundance. Such is the attraction of those precious metals which by a general convention have become the representatives of labour and subsistence. No doubt the Mexican nation can procure by means of foreign commerce, all the articles which are supplied to them by their own coun- try; but in the midst of great wealth in gold and silver, want is severely felt whenever the commerce with the mother country or other parts of Europe or Asia has suffered any inter- ruption, whenever ^ war throws obstacles in the way of maritime communication. From 25 to 30 millions of piastres ar^ sometimes heaped up in MexicOf while th# manufacturers and miners are suffering from th^ want of steel, iron, md mercury. A few y^arts b^iiodre ui^^ arrival m. It ill Hi 106 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. New Spain, the price of iron roHC from 20 francs the quintal to 240, and steel from 80 francs to VMH). In t'lose times when there is a total sts'g'nation of loreign commerce, the Mexican inaustr} is awakened for a ti.ae, and they then beef I II to manufacture steel, and to make uso of the iron and mercury of the mouatams of Ame- rica. The nation is then alive to its true inte- rest, and feels that true wealth consists in the abundance of (objects of consumption, in that oi things ^ and not in the accumulation of the si^/n by which they are represented. During the last war but one between Spain and America, they beg-an to work the iron mines of Tecalitan, near Colima, inthe intent .ancy of Guadalaxara. The tribunul de mineria expended more than 150,000 francs in extnicting* me rem ^ from the veins of San Juan de la Chica; but the effects of so praise-worthy a zeal were only of short duration; and the peace of Amiens put an end to undertakings which promised to give to the labours of miners a more useful direction for the public prosperity. The maritime communi- cation was scarcely well opened, when they again preferred to purchase steel, iron, and mer- cury in the markets oi' Europe. In proportion as the Mexican population shall increase, and from being less dependent on Europe, shall begin to turn their attention to the great variety of useful productions contained in •HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 107 the bowels of the earth, the system of mining will undergo a change. An enlightened admi- nistration will give encouragement to those labours which are directed to the extraction of mineral substances of an intrinsic value; indivi- duals will no longer sacrifice their own interests and those of the public to inveterate prejudices; and they will feel that the working of a mine of coal, iron, or lead may become as profitable as that of a vein of silver. In the present state of Mexico, the precious metals occupy almost ex- clusively the industry of the colonists; and when in the subsequent part of this chapter, we shall employ the word mine (realf real de minas), unless the contrary is expressly stated, a gold or silver mine is to be uniformly understood. ^ Having been engaged from my earliest youth in the study of mining, and having myself had the direction for several years of subterraneous operations, in a part of Germany which contains a great variety of minerals, I was doubly inte- rested in examining with care the state of the mines and their management in New Spain. I had occasion to visit the celebrated mines of Tasco^ Pachuca.and Guanaxuato, in which last place, where the veins exceed in riclmess all that has hitherto been discovered in other parts of the world, I resided for more than a month; and I had it in my power to compare the dif- ferent methods of mining practised in Mexico, ! I J 108 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv, with those which I had observed in the former year in Peru; but the immensity of materials collected by me relative to these subjects, bein^^ only of utility when joined with the geologrical description of the country, I must reserve the detail of them for the historical account of my travels in the interior of the New Continent. Thus, without entering into discussions of a minute and purely technical nature, I shall con- fine myself in this work to the examination of what is conducive to general results. What is the geographical position of the mines which supply this enormous mass of silver which flows annually from the commerce of Vera Cruz into ilurope? Is this enormous , mass of silver the produce of a great number oi, sj^attered undertakings, or is it to be considered as almost exclusively furnished by three or four metallic veins tf extraordinary wealth and extent? What is the quantity of precious me- tals annually extracted from the mines of Mex- ico? And what proportion does this quantity bear to the produce of the mines of the whole of Spanish America? At how many ounces per quintal may we estimate the mean richness of the silver ore of Mexico? What proportion is there between the quantity of ore which under- goes melting, and that in which the gold and silyer are extracted by the process of amalgama- tion? What influence has the price of mercury «HAP. rii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 109 on the progress of mining', and what quantity of mercury is lost in the process of Mexican amalgj" lation? Can we know with precision the quantity of precious metals which have passed since the conquest of Tenochtitlan from New Spain into Europe and Asia? Is it pro- bable, considering the present method of work- ing, and the geological constitution of the coun- try, that the annual produce of the mines of Mexico will admit of an augmentation? Or shall we admit with several celebrated writers, that the exportation of silver from America h"' already attained its mcueimumP These are the general questions which we propose to discuss in this work. They are connected with the most important problems of political economy. Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, the natives of Mexico, as well as those of Peru, were acquainted with the use of several metals. They did not content themselves with those which were found in their native state on the surface of the earth, and particularly in the beds of rivers, and the ravins formed by the torrents j they applied themselves to subterraneous opera- tions in the working of veins; they cut galleries and dug pits of communication and ventilation ; and they had instruments adapted for cutting the rock. Cortez informs us in the historical account of his expedition, that gold, silver, cop- per, lead, and tin, were publicly sold- in the M I 110 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv, great market of Tenochtitlan. The inhabitants of Tzapoteca and Mixtecapan * two provinces which now form a part of the intendancy of Oaxaca, separated the gold by means of washing the alluvions lands. These people paid their tribute in two manners, either by collecting in leathern sacks or small baskets of very slender rushes, the grains of native gold, or by founding the metal into bars. These bars like those now used in trade, are represented in the antient Mexican paintings. In the time of Montezuma, the natives had already begun to work the silver veins of Tlachco, (Tasco) in the province of Cohui SCO, and those which run across the moun- tains af Tzumpancof* In all the great towns of Anahuac, gold and sil\^r vases were manufactured, although the latter metal was not held in such estimation by the Americans as by the natives of the old con- tinent. The Spaniards on their first arrival at Tenochtitlan, could never cease admiring the ingenuity of the Mexican goldsmiths, among whom, the most celebrated were those of Azca- pozalco and Cholula. When Montezuma, se- duced by an extreme credulity, recognized in the arrival of white and bearded men, the ac- complishment of the mysterious prophecy of * Espeeially the inhabitants of the old towns of Huaxya^ •IC (Oaxaca) Cojolapan, and Atlacuechahuayan. t CtoTigero, 1.43; IL 125, 165; IV. 204. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. HI Quezalcoatl^, and compelled the Aztec nobility to yield homage to the king of Spain, the quan- tity of precious metals offered to Cortez was estimated at the value of 162,000 pesos de oro, " Besides the great mass of gold and silver, says the conquistador f in his first letter to the empe- ror Charles the dthf, I was presented with gold plate and jewels of such precious workman- ship, that unwilling to allow them to be melted, I set apart more than a hundred thousand ducats worth of them to be presented to your imperial highness. These objects were of the greatest beauty, and I doubt if any other prince of earth ever possessed any thing similar to them. That your highness may not imagine I am advancing fables, I add, that all which the earth and ocean produces, of which king. Montezuma could have any knowledge, he had caused to be imitated in gold and silver, in precious stones, and feathers, and the whole in such great perfection, that one could not help believing he saw the very objects represented. Although he gave me a great share of them for your highness, I gave orders to the natives to execute several other works in gold after designs li'j * See my work entitled, Vues des CordiUeres des Andes, «t Montttnens den peuples indis^enes de I'Amerique, p. 30. f Lorenzana, jf. 99. — The booty in gold taken by the Spaniards after the taking of Tenochtitlan. was only esti- nated at 130,000 casteliams de oro (1. c. p. 301 ). ^ , i 113 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [looK tv. which I ftimished them with, such as images dl saints, crucifixes, medals, and necklaces. As the fifth or eighth on the silver paid to your high- ness, amounted to more than a hundred marcs, l^ave orders to thd native goldsmiths to convert them into plate of various sizes, spoons, cups, and other vessels for drinking. All these works were imitated with the greatest exactness.*' When we read this passage, we cannot help believing, that we are reading the account of a European ambr^ssador, returned from China or Jilpan. Yet we can hardly accuse the Spanish gener j' ^f exaggeration, when we consider that the em]. )r Charles the 5th, could judge with his own eyes of the perfection or imperfection of (he objects sent to him. The art of founding had also made considera* ble progress among the Muyscas in the kingdom of New Grenada, among the Peruvians, and the inhabitants of Quito. In this last country, very precious works of the antient American gold- smiths, have been preserved for severa» centuries in the royal treasury, (en caxas reales). With- in these few years, from a system of economy which may be stilcd barbarous, these works which proved that several nations of the New Continent had reached a degree of civilization, very superior to what is generally attributed to tliem, have been all melted down. The Aztec tribes extracted before the eon- CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 1 1-^ qnest, lead and tin^ from the veins of Tlachco (Tasco) to the north of Chilpansingo and Izmiquilpan ; and they drew {cinnabar), em* ployed by the painters as a colour, from the mines of Chihvpan. Of all the metals, copper was that which was most commonly employed in the mechanical arts; it supplied the place of iron and steel to a certain extent; and their arms, axes, chisels, and all their tools, were made of the copper which they extracted from the mountains of Zacotollan and Cohuixco. In every part of the globe, the use of copper seems to have preceded that of iron; and the abundance of copper in its natural state in the most northern parts of America, may have con- tributed to the extraordinary predilection which the Mexican tribes, who issued from those re- gions, have always shewn for it. Nature exhi- bited to the Mexicans enormous masses of iron and nickel; and these masses which are scat- tered over the surface of the gi'ound, are fibrous, malleable, and of so great a tenacity, that it is with great difficulty a few fragments can be separated from them with steel instruments. The true native iron, that to which we cannot attribute a meteoric origin, and which is con- stantly found mixed with lead and copper, is infinitely rare in all parts of the globe; conr sequently we are not to be astonished, that in the commencement of civilization, the Aineri- VOL. Ill, I *f«i 114 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. cans, like most other nations, turned their atten- tion to copper in preference to iron. But how did it happen, that these same Americans, who wrought by means of lire* a great variety of minerals, were never led to the discovery of iron by the mixture of combustible substances with the red and yellow ocres1[, extremely common in several parts of Mexico? If on the other hand, this metal was known to them, which I am inclined to believe, how happened it that they never learned to appreciate its just value? These considerations seem to indicate that the civilization of the Aztec nations was not of a very antient date. We know that in the time of Homer, the use of copper still prevailed over that of iron, although the latter had been long known. Several men of great learning, but unac- quainted with chemical knowledge, have main- tained, that the Mexicans and Peruvians pos- sessed a particular secret for tempering copper * According to the traditions collected by me, near Riobamba, among the Indians of the village of Lican, the antient inhabitte.:tv. Such is the imperfect idea which the first historians have transmitted to us of the use made by the natives of Mexico, of gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, and of the mercury mines. I thought it necessary to enter into these details, not only to throw some light on the antient cultivation of these countries, but also to show that the European colonists in the first years which succeeded the destruction of Tenochtitlan, only followed the indications of mines given them by the natives. The kingdom of New Spair m its actual state contains nearly 500 places (reales y reali- tos) celebrated for the mines in their environs. More than 200 of these places are marked in the general map of the country drawn up by me. It is probable that these 500 reales com- prehend nearly three thousand mines (minas), designating by that name the whole of the subterraneous works, which communicate with one another, by which one or more metallick depositories are worked. These mines are di- vided into 37 districts, over which are placed the same number of Councils of mines called, JDiputaciones de Mineria. V/e shall collect in one view the names of ther>3 Diputaciones, and of the Reales de MinaSy contained in the twelve Intendancies of New Spain. The ma- terials employed for this purpose are partly taken from a manuscript memoir drawn up by the CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NRW SPAIN. 119 director of the superior council of mines, Don Fausto D'Elhiiyar for the Count de Revillagi- (vedo, one of the viceroys. GENERAL VIEW OF THE MINES OP NEW SPAIN. I. Intendancy of Guanaxuato. From the 20* 55' to the 21* 30' of north lati- tude, and from the 102* 30' to the lOS**/ 45 of West longitude. Diputaciones de JUineria, or Districts. 1. Guanaxuato. Realest or Places surrounded with Mines: Guanaxuato ; Villalpando ; Monte de San Ni- colas ; Santa Rosa ; Santa Ana ; San Antonio de las Minas ; Comanja ; Capulin ; Comanjilla ; Gigante ; San Luis de la Paz ; San Rafael de los Lobos ; Durasno ; San Juan de la Chica ; Rincon de Centeno ; San Pedro de los Pozos ; Palmas de Vega; San Miguel el Grande; San Felipe. i 120 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i» II. Intendauci/ of Zacatecas. From the 22" 20' to the 24" 33* north latitude, and from the 103" 12' to the 105" 9 of west longitude. Diputaciones de Mineria, or Districts. 2. Zacatecas. 3. Sombrerete. 4. Fresnillo. 6. Sierra de Pinos. « Reales, or Places surrounded hy Mines : Zacatecas; Guadalupe de Veta Grande; San Juan Bauptista de Panuco ; La Blanca ; Som- brerete ; Madrono ; San Pantaleon de la No^ria ; Fresnillo ; San Demetrio de los Plateros ; Cerro de Santiago ; Sierra de Pinos ; La San- ceda ; Cerro de Santiago ; Mazapil. III. Intendancy of San Luis Potosi. From the 22** 1' to the 27M1' of north lati- ude, and from the 100" 35' to the 103" 20' of West longitude. Dipukuiiones de Mineria, or Districts. 6. Catorce. ' 7, San Luis Potosi. 8. Charcas. 9. Ojocaliente, 10. San Nicolas de Croix. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 121 RealeSf or Places surroumlvd fty D^inm : La Purissima Concepcion tie Alamos de Ca- torce; Matehnala; Cerro del Potosi ; San Martin Bernalejo ; Sierra Nej»Ta ; Tule ; San Martin ; Santa Maria de las Charcas ; Ramos j Ojocaliente ; Cerro de San Pedro ; Matan- zillas ; San Carlos de Vallecillo ; San Antonio de la Yguana; Santiago de las Sabinas; Monterey; Jesus de Rio Blanco; Las Sa- linas; Bocca de Leones ; San Nicolas de Croix ; Borbon ; San Joseph Tamaulipan ; Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Sihue; La Purissima Conception de Revillagegido ; El Venado; L. Tapona; Guadaleazar. IV. Intendancy of Mexico. Prom the 18° 10' to the 2V 30' of north lati- tude, and from the 100*» 12' to the 103° 25' of west longitude. Diputaciones de Mineria, or Districts. 11. Pachuca. 12. El Doctor. 13. Zimapan. 14. Tasco. 15. Zacualpan. 16. Sultepec. 17. Temascaltepec. Reales, or places surrounded hy Mines : Pachuca ; Real del Monte ; Moran -, Atolonilco I i 122 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. el Chico ; Atolonilco el Grande ; Zimapan : Lomo del Toro; Las Canas; San Joseph del Oro; Verdozas; Capuia; Santa Rosa; El Potosi ; Las Plomosas; El Doctor ; Las Alpujarras; El Pinal or los Amotes; Huas- cazoluya ; San Miguel del Rio Blanco ; Las Aguas; Maconi; San Christobal; Cardonal; Xacala ; Jutchitlan el Grande ; San Joseph del Obraje Viejo; Cerro Blanco; Cerro del Sotolar ; San Francisco Xirhu ; Jesus Maria de la Targea ; Coronilla or la Purissima Con- cepcion de Tetela del Rio ; Tepantitlan ; San Vicente ; Tasco ; Tehuilotepec ; Coscallan ; Haucingo, Huautla; Sochipala; Tetlilco; San Esteban ; Real del Limon ; San Geroni«no ; Temas caltepec ; Real de Ariba ; La Albar- rada ; Yxtap^r ; Ocotepec ; Chalchitepeque ; Zacualpan ; Tecicapan ; Chontalpa ; Santa Cruz de Azulaques; Saltepec; Juluapa; Pa- paloapa ; Los Ocotes ; Capulatengo ; Alco- zauca; Totomixtlahuaca. y. Intendancy of Guadalaxara. From the lO*' 0' to the 23*12' of north lati- tude, and from the 103" 30' to the 108* 0' of west longitude. Diptitaciones de Mineria or Districts. 18. Bolanos. 19. Asientos de lb arra. 20. Hostotipaqaillo. m CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 123 MealeSf or Places surrounded by Mines : Bolanos; Xalpa ; San Joseph de Guichichila; Santa Maria de Guadalupe, or de la Yesca ; Aiientos de IbaiTa ; San Nicolas de los Angeles ; La Ballena; Talpan; Hostotipaquillo ; Copala; Guaxacatan; Aniaxac; Linion; Tepanteria; locotan ; Tecomatan ; Ahuatacancillo ; Guiloti- tan; Platanarito ; Santo Domingo ; luchipila ; Mezquital; Xalpa; San Joseph Tepostitlan; Guachinango ; San Nicolas del Roxo; Amatlan ; NativitWl; San Joaquin; Santissima Trinidad de Pozole ; Tule ; Motage ; Frontal , Los Aillo- Ezatlannes; Posession; La Serranilla; Aqui- tapilco; Eliso; Chimaltitan; Santa Fe; San Rafael ; San Pedro Analco ; Santa Cruz de los Flores. VI. Intendancy of IKrango. From the 23** 55' to the 29 **5' of north latitude, and from the 104** 40' to the 110° 0' of west lon- gitude. Diputaciones de Mineria, or Districts. 21. Chihuahua. 22. Parral. 23. Guarisamey. 24. Cosiguiriachi. 25. Batopilas. RealeSf or Places surrounded by Mines: San Pedro de Batopilas ; Uruachi ; Cajurichi Nuestra Senora de Loreto ; San Joaquiii de los 124 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Arrieros; El Oro do Topag-o; San Juan Nepo- muceno; Nuestra Senora del Monscrrate del Zapote ; Uriquillo ; San Augustin ; Nuestra Se- nora del Monserrate de Urique ; Gnarisaraey ; San Vicente; Guadalupe; Gavilanes; San An- toino Je las Ventanas ; San Dimas , San Joseph de Tayoltita; Cosiguiriachi; Riode San Pedro Chihuahua el Viejo ; San Juan de la Cieneguilla Maguariclii ; Caxurichi ; San Jose del Parral* Indeh^ ; Los Sauces ; Nuestra Seiiora de la Mer- ced del Oro ; Real de Todos Santos ; San Fran- cisco del Oro ; Santa Barbara ; San Pedro ; Huc- joquilla ; Los Penoles ; La Cadena ; Cuencame , San Nicolas de Yervabuena ; La Concepcion ; Santa Maria de las Nieves; Chalchihuites ; Santa Catalina; San Miguel del Mezquital; Nuestra Senora de los Dolores del Orito; San Juan del Rio; San Lucas; Panuco; Avinito; San Fran- cisco de la Silla; Texamen; Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe de Texanie; San Miguel de Coneto; Sianori; Canelas; Las Mesas; Sabatinipa or Matabacas ; Tt>pia ; San Rafael de las Flores ; El Alacran ; La Lagartija; San Ramon ; Santi- ago de Mapimi. i * On some proofs of my general map of New Spain the name of Parral is confounded with the village of Valle San Bartolome. The sign by which the chief sect of a provincial council of mines is indicated, points out the true position of Parral. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 12.> vt?; VII. Intendauqf of Sonora. From the 23« 15' to the 31" 20' of north lati- tude, and from the 107° 45' to the 1 13« 20' of west longitude. * Diputacioties de Mineriat or Districts. 26. Alauios. 27. Copala. 28. Cosala. 29. San Francisco Xavier de la Huerta, 30. Guadalupe de la Puerta. 31. Santissima Trinidad de Pena Blanca. 32. San Francisco Xavier de Alisos. RealeSf or Places surrounded Ivy Mines : San Joseph de Copala; Real del Rosario; Plomosas; Santa Rosa or las Adjuntas; Apomas ; San Nicolas de Panuco ; Santa Rita ; Trancito ; Charcas ; Limon ; Santa Rosa de las Lagunas : Tocusitita; Corpus; ^ ves; CosJila ; PaloBlanc<, ; El Caxon; Santiago de lo« Caballeros; San Antonio de Alisos ; San Roqne ; Tal ihueto ; Norotal ; Los Molinos ; Surutato; Los C:«rca- mos; San Juan Neponiuceno; Bacatopa; Lo- reto; Tenoriba; Aguacaliente ; Monserrate; Si- virijoa; Baroyeca; Yecorato; Zataque; Cerro Colorado; Los Alamos; Guadalupe; B - Chico; La Concepcion de Hay game; Santissima Tri- nidad; La Ventana or Gaudahipe; Saracachi; San Antonio de la Huerta; San Francisco Xa- Hi 126 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. vier; Hostimuri; Quisuani; El Aguage; Higane ; San Jose de Gracia ; El Gabilan ; El Populo : San Antonio ; Todos Santos ; El Carizal ; Naca- tabori ; Racuach ; San Ildefonso de Cienegiiilla ; San Lorenzo ; Nacumini ; Cupisonora ; Tetua- chi; Basor'iuca; Nacosari; BacamUchi; Cu- curpe ; Motepore. , « .. VIII. Intendancyof ValladoUd. From the 18° 25' to the 19'»50' of north lati- tude, and from the 102** 15 to the 104" 50' of west longitnde. ■ ■ *(. Diputaciones de Mineria, or Districts. 33. Angangueo. 34. Inguaran. 35. Zitaquaro. 36. Tlalpujahua. ReakSf or Places surrounded hy Mines : Angangueo; El Oro; Tlapaxahua; San Au- gustin de Ozumatlan; Zitaquaro; Istapa; Los Santos Reyes; Santa Rito de Chirangangeo; El Zapote; Chachiltepec ; Sanchiqueo; La Joya; Paquaro; Xerecuaro ; Curucupaseo ; Sinda ; In- guaran; San Juan Guetamo; Ario; Santa Clara; Alvadeliste; San Nicolas Apupato ; Rio del Oro ; Axuchitlan ; Santa Maria del Carmen del Som- brero ; Favor ; Chichindaro. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 127 IX. Intendancy of Oaxaca, Prom the \&^ 35' to the 17" 55' of north lati- tude, and from the 98*' 15' to the 100° 0' of west longitude. Diputaciones de Mineria, or Districts. 37. Oaxaca. ReakSfOr Places surrmnded by Mines: Zologa; Talea; Hueplotitlan; La Aurora de Ixtepexi ; Villalta ; Ixtlan ; Betolatia ; Huite- peque ; Rio de San Antonio ; Totomistla ; San Pedro Nesicho; Santa Catalina; Lachateo; San Miguel Amatlan ; Santa Maria lavecia ; San Mateo Capulalpa ; San Miguel de las Peras. X. Intendancy of Puebla, From the IS" 15. to the 20'> 25' of novih lati- tude, and from the OQ** 45' to the 100° 50' of west longitude. Scattered Mines: La Canada^ Tulincingo; San Miguel Te- nango; Zautla; Barrancas ; Alatlanquetepec ; Temetzlaj Ixtacmaztitlan. XL Intendancy of Vera Cruz, From the 20° C to the 21o 15' of north lati- tude, and from the OQ^^O' to the 101« 5' of west longitude. K m 128 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Scattered Mines: [book IV. Zomelaluiiiraii; Giliiij)a; Sail Antonio de Xa- rala. XJl. Old California. Mine. Real tatte) is that the cordillcras of Mexico contain veins in a great variety of rocks, and that those rocks which at present furnish almost the whole silver annually exported from Vera Cruz, are the primitive slate, the fjrauwakke, and the alpine lime-stone, intersected by the principal veins of Guanaxuato, Zacatecas and Catorce. Thus it is in a primiitive slate (ur-t/ion scliiefer) on which a clayey porphyry containing gi'enats reposes, that the wealth of Potosi in the king- dom of Buenos-Ay res is contained. On the other hand, in Peru the mines of Gualgayoc or Chota and that of Yauricocha or Pasco which togethe. yield annnally double the quantity of all the German mines, are found in an alpine lime' stone. The more we study the geological constitution of the globe on a lai'ge scale the more we perceive that there in scarcely a rock which has not in certain countries been found eminently metalliferous. The wealth of the veins is for the most part totally independent of the nature of the beds which they intersect. We observe in the most celebrated mines of Europe, that the mining operations are either directed to a multitude of small veins as in the primitive mountains of Saxony, or to a very ciiAF. XJ.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. l^J small number of depositorm of minerals of an extraordinary power, a» at Clausthal, the Harz, and near Schemnitz in Hungfary. The Cor- dilleras of Mexico ofter frequent examples of these two methods of operation ; but the dis- tricts of mines of the most constant and con- siderable wealth, Guanaxuato, Zacatecas and th« Real del Monte, contain only one prin- cipal vein each (vela mttdre). The vein called haisbriikner spath of which the extent is two metres^ and which has been traced for a length of 6200 metrcsf is spoken of as a remarkable phenomenon at Freiberg. The veta madre of Guanaxuato, from which there has been ex- tracted during the com'se of the last ten years tooi'e Uian six millions of marcs of silver;]:, is of the extent of from 40 to 4^ metres§, and it is wrought from $anta Isabella and San Bruno to Buena- Vista, a length of more than 12700 metres Ij. In the Old Continent, the veins of Freiberg and Clausthal which intersect mountains of gneiss and {fva/uwakke are visible in table lands of which the elevation above the level of the sea is only from 3*^0 tp 570 metres ;% and thL<; * 6 J feet. Trans. f 20,311 feet. Trans, i 3,937,899 R) troy. Tram, § From 131 to 147 feet. Trans, II 41,665 feet. Trans, f From 1148 to l«69fe«t. Trans, "11 II 1 V46 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iV elevation may be regarded as the mean height of the most abundant mines in Germany. But in the New Continent the metallic wealth is deposited by nature on the very ridge of the Cordilleras, and sometimes in situations within a very small distance from the limit of perpe ual snow. The most celebrated mines in Mexico are at absoluthts of Zacatecas and the Real de Catorce ; but these two places are situated on table lands seeming^ly more elevated than the level of Guanaxuato. However the temperate climate of these Mexican towns, which are sur- rounded with the richest mines in the world, is a contrast to the cold and exceedingly dis- agreeable climate of Micuipampa, Pasco, Huancaavelica and other Peruvian towns. When in a district of small extent, for instance, in that of Freiberg in Saxony, we compare the quantity of silver annually coined, with the great number of mines constantly worked, we perceive on the slightest examination that this produce is derived from a very small part of the mining operations, and that nine tenths of the mines possess almost no influence on the total mass of minerals extracted from the bowels of the earth. In the same manner in Mexico the 2,500,000 marcs* of silver which are annually sent to Europe and Asia, from the ports of Vera Cruz and Acapulco, are the pro- duce of a very small number of mines. The three districts which we have frequently had occasion to name, Guanaxuato, Zacatecas and Catorce supply more than the half of that sum. 1,640,791 lb. troy. Trans. 138 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [aoo* iv. The vein of Guanaxuato alone, yields more than a fourth part of the whole silver of Mexico and a sixth part of the produce of all America. In the general view already presented by us, the principal mines are confounded with those from which a very small quantity of metal is extracted. The disproportion between the two classes is so great that more than {§ of the Mexican mines belong to the latter, of which the total produce does not probably amoiuiit to the sum of 200,000 marcs*. In Saxony also the mines which surround the town of Freiberg produce annually nearly 50,000 maros of silver, while all the rest of the J^rz^ebirf/e does not yield more than from sev^n to eight thousand marcs. The following is the order in which the richest mines cf New Spain foUow one ar»other, arranging them according to the quantity of money actually drawn from them: ^ Guaiiaxuato, in the Int^dancy of the same name. Catorce, in the Intendaucy of San Luis Potosi. Zacatecas, in the lutendancy of the same name. Keal del Monte, in the Intendancy of Mexico. Bolanosi in the Intendancy of Gn^id^axarA. *:i * 131,263 lb. troy. Trant. CHAP. X1.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SP-UN. 139 Guarisamey, in the Intendancy of Darango. Sombrerete, in the Intendancy of Zacatecas. Tasco, in the Intendancy of Mexico. Batopilas, in the Intendancy of Duraiigt). Zimapan, in the Intendancy of Mexico. Fresnillo, in the Intendancy of Zacatecas. Ramos, in tlte Intendancy of San Luis Potosi. Parral, in the Intendancy ofDurango. We are absolutely in want of accurate ma- terials for tracing the history of the mining o|:)eraAions of New Spain. It appears certain, that of all the veins those of Tasco, Zultepeque, Tlapujahua and Pachuca, were firet wrought by the Spaniiurds. Near Tasco, to the west of Tchuilotepec, in the CWro de la Campoaiia, Cortez cut a level across the nucaceous slate which is as we have already i^ated covered by alpine lime-stone. This gallery called el socahtm del rey was begun on such a large scale that one may go through it on horseback for a length of more than 90 metres*; and it haB been lately finished by the patriotic zeal of Don Vicente de Anza, a miner of Tasco, who wa« enabled to cut the principal vein -at the distance of 530 nieti'es, from tlie mouth of tiie leveL The working of the mines of Zacatecas fol* lowed very dosely those of Tasco and Pachuca. % 3 * sas&et. Xratu. 140 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. The vein of San Barnabe was begun in the year 1548, twenty-eight years after the death of Mon- tezuma, a circumstance whicli must appear so much the more remarkable, as the town Zacatecas is distant in a straight lino more than 100 leagues from the valley of Tenorhtitlan. It is said that the silver minerals of the district of Zacatecas were discovered by the muleteers who travelled between Mexico and Zacatecas. In this district near the basaltic-hill of Cubilete the mine of San Barnabe exhibits the most antient mining operations. The principal vein of Guanaxuato (la veta marire) was discovered somewhat later, on digging tlie pits of Mellado and Rayas. The first of these pits was bej»;un on the 15th, and the second on the 16th of April in the year 1558. The mines of Comanjas are undoubtedly still more antient than those of Guanaxuato. As the total produce of the mines of Mexico till the beginning of the 18th century, has never been more than 600,000 marcs of gold and silver a year, we may conclude that in the 16th century they did not labour with very great activity in the extraction of the minerals. The veins of Tasco, Tlapujahua, Zultepeque, Moran, Pachuca, and Real del Monte, and those of Sombrerete, Bolaiios, Batopilas and Rosario have afforded from time to time immense wealth; but their pro- duce has been less uniform than that of the mines of Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, and Catorce. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. Ml The silver extracted in the 37 districts of mines, into which the kingdom of ^iew S|)ain is divided, is deposited in the Provincial Trea- suries, established in the chief places of the Intendancies ; and it is from the receipts of these caxas reales that we are to judge of the quantity of silver furnished by the different parts of the country. The following is an account of the receipts of 11 Provincial Trea- suries. From 1785 to 1789, there was received in the Caxaa Reales of Marcs of Silvf-r. Guanajuato 2,469,000 San Luis Potosi (Catorce, Charcas, San Luis Potosi) 1,515,000 Zacatecas (Zacatecas, Fresnillo, Sierra de Pinos) 1,205,000 Mexico (Tasco, Zacualpa, Zultepeque) 1,055,COO Durango ( Chihuahua, Parral, Guarisamey, 4 Cosiguiriachi) - - -. §22,000 Rosario (Roiario, Cosala, Copala, Alamos') - 668,000 Guadalaxara (Hostotipaquillo, Asientos de r Ybarra) 509,000 Pachuca (Real del Monte, Moran) - - 455,000 Bola^os - - 364,000 Sombrerete - 820,000 Zimapan (Zimapan, Doctor) ... 248,000 i Iff I I. ■; II;' n I : ». i Sum for five years, 9,730,000 That part of the Mexican mquntains which at present contains the greatest quantity of siiver» is contained between the parallels of If J' 142 POLITICAL ESSAT ON THiE [book iv. 21 and 24| degrees. The celebrated mines of Guanaxuato are only distant in a straight line from those of San Lu's Potosi 30 leagues^: from San Luis Potosi to Zacatecas the distance is 34 leagues; from Zacatecas to Catorce 31, and from Catorce to Durango 74 leagues. It is remarkable enough that this metallick wealth of Mexico and Peru, should be placed at an almost equal distance in the two hemi- f, >eres from the equator. In the vast extent which separates the mines of Potosi and Ja Paz from those of Mexico, there are no others, which throw into circulation a great mass of the precious metals, but Pasco and Chota. Advancing from the Cerro de Gualgayoc northwards, we find only the gold washed down at Choco, and in the province of Antioquia, and the recently dis- covered silver veins of Vega do Supia. It is the same with the Cordillera of the Andes, as with all the mountains of Europe, in which metals are very unequally distributed. The province of Quito, and the Eastern part of tbe kingdom of New Granada, from the 8? of South latitude, to the T of Nordi latitude;- the Isthmus of Panama, and the mountains of Guatimala, contain for a length of 600 leagues, mst extents of ground in which no vem has hitherto been wrought with any degrfee of fuccess It would not, however, be accurate CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 14S to advance that these countries which have in a degree, been convulsed with volcanos are entirely destittite of g^old and silver ore. Numerous metalliferous depositories may be concealed l)y the super-position of strata of basalt, amygdaloid, porphyry with greenstone base, and other rocks comprehended by geo- logists, under the general name of trapp' formation. With respect to the Mexican mines in par- ticular, they may be considered as forming eight groups (Erz-rejiere) which are almost all placed either on the ridg'e or on the Western slope of the Corlillera of Anahnac. The Jirst of these groups is the most considera- ble in produce; it includes the contiguous districts of Guanaxuato, San Luis Potosi, Charcas, Catorce, Zacatecas, Asientos de Ybar- ra, Fresnillo, and Sombrerete. The mines si- tuated to the West of the town of Durang-o, as well as those of the province of Cinaloa, belong to' the second; for the mines of Gua- risamey, Copala, Cosala, and Rosario are near (enough to one another to be classed under the same geological division. The third ^rowp, the most northern of New Spain, is that of Parral, which comprehends the mines of Chihuahua and Cosiguiriachi. It extends from the 27*''tothe 29° of latitude. To the north- north-east of Mexico, the Real del Monte or 111 i-fi 1 !-i ,.rf ( ?x:.B j a rt « fci Principal miiusof iMexico, (5 ^.5 = divided in eight groups |C^ ■= S ^ I W w o ~" i! s s S ^ o 2 ~i 1st. Group (Central\^ ° ^^ Group) from21°0'/ to 24° 10' north lat.> J 900 and from 102" 30 tol 105" 15' of west long. J 2nd. Group (Group ofDurango and So nora) from 23" to 24'» \^„^ 45' of north lat. and^^^^ from lOSoSO'tolOg"! 50' of west long. ' ^^^'^*'o^P (Groups of Chihuahua) from / 260 50' to 290 10' of L,^ »m P^"" Places which may be considered as the central points ofthese 8 groups. ) \ { Guanaxuato Catorce Zacatecas Guarisamey (Durango) Kosario (Copala) } \ S Annual produce of eiK-h gioui» in inarr:< of silver, 1>300,000 400,000 25 north lat. and from 106" 45' to 108° 50' \ of west long. -' 4th. Group (Group of la Biscaina) from 20« 51 to 20' 15' of north lat. and from 100* 45' to 100» 52' of west long. ^'|j- Group (Group n of Zimapan)froni%y> / 40' to21o30' of north > 7500 Zimaoa lat. and from loO- 30' I ^ to 102«0'ofwe8tlong. ^ 6th. Group (Group \ ofNttvGa7licia)from / 21« 5' to 22« 30' of V /.*/^ north lat. and from i ^ ^" Bolanos lOS-O'to I06°30'of 1 west long. -' 7th. GrouA (Group ofTasce) from 18'' 10 f to 19° 20' of north lat. and from lol° 30 to 102» 45' of west long. «th Group (Group of Oaxaca)fromW40f\ to 18° 0' of north lat./ 1400 7 and from 980 ,5/ to> \ 99"50, of west long, j ^>i^ HI. ^-^ Cosiquiriachi 1^, . n , Parral C Doubtful Batopilas ^ ( Real del Monte I ,«^^ i (Pachuca) 5 ^^^»^^ 60,000 230,000 4200 f Temascaltepec i Tasco Zacualpa Oaxaca Villalta } 260,000 J Doubtful 'I "I I if '1' I li .if; it IIS I 146 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iooiciv. Marcs of silver Mean Produce of the Mines of New Spain, including the Mines of the northern part of New Biscay, and those of Oaxaca, above 2,500,000 We shall afterwards compare the produce of the silver mines of Mexico, with that of the different mines of Europe. It will suffice in this place to observe, that the two millions and a half of marcs of silver annually exported from Vera Cruz, are equal to two thirds of the silver annually extracted Jrom the whole globe. The eight groups into which we have divided the mines of New Spain, occupy a surface of 12,000 square leagues, or a tenth of the whole extent of the king jm. When we look at the immense wealth of a very small number of mines, for example, the mine of Valenciana, and that of Rayas at Guanaxuato, or the principal veins (vetas madres) of Catorce, Zacatecas, and Real del Monte, we easily per- ceive that more than 1,400,000 marcs of silver are produced in an extent of surface, not equal in size to that of the district of the mines of Freiberg. If the quantity of silver annually extract- ed from the mines of Mexico is ten times greater than what is furnished by all the mines of Europe, on the other hand, gold is not much more abundant in New Spain than in Hungary and Transylvania. These two last CHAP. XJ.] KINGDOM UV NEW 8PAIN. 147 St countries annually tlirovv into f.'irculation nearly 5,200 marcs ; and the gold delivered into the mint of Mexico, only amounts in ordinary years to 7000 marcs. We may reckon that in timei of peace, when the want of mercury does not impede the process of amalgamation, the annual produce of New Spain is, In Silver f 22 millions of Piastres. In Gold, 1 23 The Mexican (/old is for the most part ex- tracted from alluvious grounds, by means of washing. These grounds are common in the province of Sonora, which as we have already observed*, may be considered as the Choco of North America. A gi*eat deal of gold has been collected among the sands, with which the bottom of the valley of the Rio Hiacpii, to the east of the missions of Tarahumara, are covered. Farther to the north in Pimeria Alta, under the 31° of latitude, grains of native gold (pepitas) have been found of the weight of from five to six pounds. In these desert regions, the incur- sions of the savage Indians, the excessive price of provisions, and the want of the necessary water for working, are all great obstacles to the extraction of gold. Another part of the Mexican gold is ex- tracted from the veins, which intersect the • Voliii.p.299, L 2 SI m lis POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE) [book iv, mountains of primitive rock. The veins of native p^old are most frequent in the province of Oaxara, either in pfneiss or micaceous slate ((jUmmrrschiefer), This last rock is particu- larly rich in gold, in the celebrated mines of Rio San Antonio. These veins of which the (jangvd is lacteous quartz, are more than half a metre in thicknessf , but their richness is very unequal. They are frequently strangled j and the extraction of gold in the mines of Oaxaca, is in general by no means considera- ble. The same metal is to be found either pure or mixed with silver ore, in the greatest number of veins which have been wrought in Mexico ; and there is scarcely a single silver mine which does not also contain gold. Na- tive gold is frequently found crystallized in i/€to hedia, lamina, or in a reticulated form, in the sliver minerals of the mines of Vil- lalpando and' Rayas near Guanaxuato, in those of Sombrero (intendancy of Valladolid)^ Guarisamey to the west of Durango, and Mez- quital in the province of Guadalaxara. The gold of Mezquital is looked upon as the pu- rest, that is to say, as being least alloyed with silver, iron, and copper. The principal vein in the mine of Santa Cniz, at Villalpando, which I visited in the month of September, 1803, is intersected by a great number of small rotten . ' ■ ' ■ ■■ ^ \ *L6foot. Trans i CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 149 veins, (hilos del dcsposorio) of exceetling rich- ness. The argilliceuus slime with which tliese small veins are filled, contains so great a quantity of gold disseminated in impalpable parcels, that the miners are compelled when they leave the mine nearly in a state of naked- ness, to bathe themselves in large vessels, to puvent any of the auriferous clay from being' carried oft' by them on their bodies. The silver mineral of Villalpando generally con- tains only two ounces of gold per load, (carga of 12 arrobas); but it frequently contains even eigtit or ten ounces per load, or \-h ounces per quintal. It may be of use to mention here that at the Harz, the pyrites of Rammelsberg contain only a 29 millionth part of gold, which is however extracted with profit*. The District of the mines of Guanaxuato, has furnished according to the registers of the Provincial Treasury f. Periods. Marcs of Gold. Marcs of Silver. Gold con» tained in the silver. From 1766 to 1775 1776 — 1785 1786—1795 1796 — 180S 9,044 13,254 7,376 13,356 3,422,414 5,281,214 5,609,856 4,410,553 0.0026 0.0024 0.0013 0. 029 In 38 years - - 43,080 18,723,537 0.0023 * Brongniart, Mineralogie, T. ii. p. 345. f Estado de la Tresoreria principal de Real Hacienda de Guanaxuatot del 21 de Novembre de 1799, (M. S.) II 'H '"ii II III I ■ti I* 1 i HI 150 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. The result of this table is, that the silver extracted from the vein of Guanaxuato, contains from one to three thousand parts of its weight in gold. Platina ?s erroneously stated to be found in the auriferous sands of Sonora. This metal has never yet been discovered to the north of the Isthmus of Panama, on the Continent of North America. Platina in grains is only found in two places of the known world; in Choco one of the provinces of the kingdom of New Granada^ and near the shores of the South Sea, in the province of Barbacoas, between the T and 6° of north latitude. It is peculiar to alluvions grounds of a surface of 600 square leagues, the extent of which is scarcely equal to two of the departments of France. The Lava- deroSf which at present yield the greatest quan- tity of platina, are those of Condoto, Santa Rita, or Viroviro, and Santa Lucia, and the Ravin (fjuehrada) of fro, between the villages of Novita and Taddo. There ure several lavaderos in Choco, (for instance, those of the districts of San AiiguMtin, and Giiaicama,) where no trace of platina is to be found. The price of this metal in grain on the spot is eight piastres, or 40 francs th< pound, while at Paris it is gene- rally from 130 to loO francs. I shall examine in another place the quantity of platina, which in the present state of the mines of Choco, Ame- CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 151 rica can furnish to Europe. It is also an abso- lutely false assertion, that platina has ever been found near Carthagena or Santa Fe,at the Islands of Porto Rico and Barbadoes, and in Peru*, althoug^h their different situations are pointed out in the most esteemed and popular works. Per- haps it will one day be proved by chemical ana- lysis, that platina exists in several silver ores of Mexico, as it exists in the fahlerz (grey-cop- per) of Guadalcanal in Spain. The silver supplied by the veins of Mexico, is extracted from a great variety of minerals, which from the nature of their mixture, bear an analogy to those of Saxony, the Harz, and Hungary. The traveller must not expect to find a complete collection of these ores, in the school of mines of Mexico. The mines being all in the hands of individuals, and the Mexican government possessing but a very feeble influence on the administration of the mines, it was not in 'iri 'it!* Mi <:i: * Hauy Mineralogies T. iii. p. 370. In a memoir inserted in the Annales de Ciencias NaturaleSf published by the Abbe CavRiiilles, we read that platina is found in Chopo, (Choco) at /tnrbadoSf (Barbacoas) and at C&rthagena a sea port, a hundred and thirty leagues diitant from the gold lavaderos of Taddo. Yet more than 18 yoarg ago, M. Berthollet com*- municated a very accurate accc ant of the places where pla- tina is procured f Annales de 'i'himie, Juillet ny2) I brought to Europe a pepita of platinv of an ei^traordinary sjze. It weighs 1088 to grains ; and itH specific weight is according to M. Tralles, 18,947. (Karsien, i^Iin, TakUtn, 1808, p. 96.) iJ . ■ < I 152 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. the power of the professors to collect whatever had any relation to the structure of veinSy beds, and masses of ore. At Mexico as well as Madrid, the public collections contain the rarest mine- rals of Siberia and Scotland, while we vainly seek what mighf throw light on the minera- logical geography of the country. We must hope that the cabinet of the school of mines will become gradually richer, when the scholars of this fine establishment shall be sent into the most distant provinces from the capital, and have proved to the proprietors of mines how much it is for their interest, that the means of instruction should l>e facilitated. Without a knowledge of the localities in detail, and without a deep studv of the minerals of which the mass of the vein, or the contents of the heaps and beds are composed, all the changes which may be proposed for the improvement of the process of amalgamation, will turn out mere chimerical projects. In Peru, the greatest part of the silver ex- tracted from the bowels of the earth, is fur- nished by the pacos, a sort of ores of an earthy appearance, which M. Klaproth was so good as to analyse at my request*, and which consist of a mixture of almost imperceptible parcels of native silver, with the brown oxyde of iron. * Klaproth, Beitrage zur chemischen KtnrUnisi der Mineral -^K'drper, B. iv. § 4. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 153 In Mexico on the other hand, the greatest quan- tity of silver annually brought into circulation, is derived from those ores which the Saxon miner calls by the name of durre erze* espe- cially from suljuretted silver f (or \ itrous c/laserz) from arsenical (jrey -copper (fa/ilerz) and anti- moni/f (graa or sckwarzijiltigerz) from muriated silver f (hornerz)(ron\ prismatic black silver, {sprod- 0laserz)t and from red silver {rothgiltiifez). We do not name native silver among these ores, because it is not found in sufficient abundance to admit of any very considerable part of the total produce of the mines of New Spain being attributed to it. Sulfaretted silver, and hlack prismatic silver, are very common in the veins of Guanaxuato and Zacatecas, as well as in the vcta Biscaina of Real del Monte. The silver extracted from the ore of Zacatecas, exhibits the remarkable particularity of not containing gold. The richest fahlore (fahlerz) is that of Sierra de Pinos, and the mii«es of Ramos. In the latter, the fahlerz is accompanied with (jlaserz, with pyritous hepa- tic copper (bunt knpfererz), sulfuretted zinc and vitrous copper (kvpferglas,) which is only wrought * See the very instructive work of M. Daubuisson, under the title of Description ties Mines dc Freiberg. I have followed in the course of this chapter, in wliatever reljtes to the art of mining, and the stratification of minerals, the termi- nology of M. M. Brochafit, paubuisspni and Ikpngniart, i i ill- i i '^■L\ '■■i'J ll ^ii i'A 154 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. for the extraction of the silver, without apply- ing the copper to any use. The graugiltujerz or grey antimoniated copper described by M. Karsten, is found at Tasco, and in the mine of Rayas, south east from Valenciana. The mu- riated silver which is so seldom found in the veins of Europe, is very abundant in the mines of Catorce, Fresnillo, and the Cerro San Pedro, near the town of San Lui*^ Potosi. That of Fresnillo is frequently of an olive green, which passes into leek-green (vert poireau). Superb samples of this colour have been found in the mines of Vallorecas, which belong to the dis- trict de los Alamos in the intendancy of So- nor a. In the veins of Catorce, the muriated silver is accompanied with molybdat^d lead, (gelh^hlei-erz) and phosphatedlead {griinblei-erz). From the last analysis of Mr. Klaproth, it ap- pears that the muriated silver of America,* is a pure mixture of silver and muriatic acid, while the Hornerz of Europe contains oxid of iron, alumine, and especially a little sulphuric acid. The mineral of red silver constitutes a * The Mineralogists at present distinguish four kinds of muriated silver, the common, the terrcous, the conchoid, and the radiated. The two last species, which are exceedingly beautiful, have been described by M. Karsten: they are among the minerals brought by me from Peru. Karsten, in the Magazine der BeiUner GeHilschq/i Natur/orschender Freunde, B. i. § 156. Klaproth' s Beitragej B. iv. § lO. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 155 principal part of the wealth of Sombrerete, Cosala and Zolaoa, near Villalta, in the province cf Ouxaca. From this mineral more than 700,000 marcs of silver have been extracted, in the famous mine of la Veta Net/ra* near Som- brerete, in the space of from five to six months. It is affirmed that the mine which produced this enormous quantity of metal, the greatest which was ever yielded by any vein on the same point of its fnusSf was not thirty metres in length^. The true uiine of 7vhite silver (weissgiltig-erz) is very rare in Mexico. Its variety greyish white, very rich in lead, is to be found how- ever in the intendancy of Sonora, in the veins of Cosala, where it is accompanied with ar- gentiferous galena, red silver, brown blende, quartz and sulfated barytes. This last substance which is very unconmion among the gnngues of Mexico, is to be also found at the Real del Doctor, near Baranca de las Tinijas, and at Sombrerete, particularly in the mine called Campechana. Spar-fluor has been only found hitherto in the veins of Lomo del Toro, near Znuapun, at Bolanos and Guadalcazar, near Catorce. It is constantly of a grass gre^|\ or violet blue. In some parts of New Spain, the operations of the miner are dir«M tt^l to a mixture of II ''m % "Mil *t^: * See Vol i. c. vii. t 98fefit. Trans. |i .' 156 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv oxide of brown iron and native silver, disse- minated in molecules imperceptible to the naked eye. This ochreous mixture which they call paco in Peru, and of which we have already had occasion to speak, is the object of consi- derable operations at the mines of Angangueo, in' the intendancy of Valladolid, as well as at Yxtepexi in the province of Oaxaca. The minerals of Angangueo, known by the name of colorados, have a clayey appearance. Near the surface J the oxidated brown iron is mixed with native silver, with sulfuretted silver, and black prismatic silver {sprodg laser z)y all three in a state of decomposition. At great depths* the vein of Angangueo contains only galena and pyrites of iron, possessing but a small quan- tity of silver. Hence the blackish pacos of the mine of Aurora d'Yxtepexi, which must not be confounded with the negrillos of Peru, owe their richness rather to the glaserz, than to the imperceptible filaments of native ramular silver. The vein is very unequal in its produce, sometimes sterile, and sometimes abundant. The color ados of Catorce, particularly those of the mine of Conception, are of a brick red, and mixed with muriate of silver. In general it is observed both in Mexico and Peru, that those oxidated masses of iron which contain silver, are peculiar to that part of the veins? nearest to the surface of the earth. The pacos CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 1-57 of Peru present to the eyes of the geologist, a very striking* analogy with the earthy masses called by the miners in Europe the iroti hat of the veins, (eiserne huth). • • Native Silver , which is much less abundant in America, than is generally supposed, has been found in considerable masses, sometimes weighing more than 200 killogrammes*, in the seams of Batopilas in New Biscay. These mines, which are not very briskly wrought at present, are among the most northern of New Spain. Nature exhibits the same mine- rals there, that are found in the vein of Kongsberg in Norway. Those of Batopilas contain filiform dendritic and silver, which intersects that of carbonated lime. Native silver is constantly accompanied by glaserz in the seams of Mexico, as well as in those of the mountains of Europe. These very minerals are frequently found united in the rich mines of Sombrerete, Madrono, Ramos, Zacatecas, Ha- pujaha and Sierra de Penos. From time to time small branches, or cylindrical filaments of native silver, are also discovered in the celebrated vein of Guanaxuato; but these masses have nevei? been so considerable as those which were for- merly drawn from the mine del Encino near Pachuca and Tasco, where native silver is m "ir in' in * 4441b. avoird. 168 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Lb«ok »v. sometimes contained in folia of selenite. At Sierra cle Pinos near Zacatecas, this last metal is constantly accompanied with blue radiated copper (strahlige kupferlazur) crystallized in small quadrilateral prisms. A great part of the silver annually produced in Europe, is derived from the argentiferous sulfuretted lead (silherhaltiger bleiylanz) which is sometimes found in the veins which inter- sect primitive and transition mountains^ and sometimes on particular beds (erzfloze) in rocks of secondare/ formation. In the king- dom of New Spain, the greatest part of the veins contain very little argentiferous galena; but there are very few mines in which lead ore is a particular object of their operations. Among the latter, we can only include the mines of the districts of Zimapan, Parral, and San Nicholas de Croix. I observed that at Guanaxuato, as well as several other mines in Mexico*, and everywhere in Saxony, the galenas contain the more silver, the smaller they are in the grain. > * We may adduce as galenas extranely rich in silver in very small grains, those of the new mine of Talpan, in the Cerro de las Vegas, belonging to the district of Hostotipaquillo. This galena> which sometimes passes into a compact and antimonial sulfuretted lead (hleischiueif) is accompanied with miKch coppery pyrites, and carbonRted lime. CHAP. XI ] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 159 A very considerable quantity of silver is produced from the $meltin<^ of the martial py- rites (f/emeine schwefelkiese) of which New Spain sometimes exhibits varieties richer than the glaserz itself. It has been found in the Real del Monte, on the vein of Biscaina, near the pit of San Pedro, the quintal of which contained even so much as three marcs of silver. At Sonibrerete, the great abundance of pyrites disseminated in the min« of red silver, is a great obstacle to the pro- cess of amalgamation. We have described the minerals which pro- duce the Mexican silver, and it remains for Ui< to examine into the mean riches of these minerals, considering them as all mixed together, it is a very common prejudice in Europe, thai great masses of native silver are extremely common in Mexico and Peru, and that in general, the mines of mineralised silver, des- tined to amalgamation, or smelting, contain more ounces, or more marcs of silver, to the quintal, than the meagre minerals of Sax- ony aod Hungary. Full of this prejudice, 1 was doubly surprised on my arrival in the Cordilleras to find that the number of poor mines greatly surpasses those of the mines to which in Europe we give the name of rich. An European traveller who visits the famous mine of Valenciana in Mexico after examining I i h; li "ill m 160 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. ^ the metallifermis veins of Clausthal, Freiberg-, and Scheninitz, can scarcely conceive how a vein which, for a great part of its extent contains sulfiiretted silver, disseminated in the fjantjue in almost imperceptible particles, can regularly supply thirty thousand marcs, per month, a quantity of silver equal to the half of what is annually furnished by all the mines of Saxony. It is no doubt true that blocks of native silver (papas de plata) of an enormous weight, have been extracted from the mines of Batopilas in Mexico and Guan- tahajo in Peru; but when we study atten- tively the history of the principal mines of Europe, we find that the veins of Kongsberg in Norway, Schneeberg in Saxony, and the famous mass of minerals of Schlangenberg in Siberia, have produced much more conside- rable quantities. We are not in general to judge from the size of the blocks, of the wealth of the mines of different countries. France does not altogether produce more than 8000 marcs of silver annually ; and yet there are veins in that country (those of Sainte Marie aux Mines) from which unshapen masses of native silver have been extracted, of the weight of 30 kilogrammes*. It appears that at the formation of veins * 661b. avoird. Trans. \ CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. ^^^ in every climate, the di!»tnbntion of silver has been very unequal ; sometimes concen- trated in one point, and at other times dis- seminated in the gancjiie, and allied with other metals. Sometimes in the midst of the poorest minerals we find very considerable masses of native silver; a phenomenon which appears to depend on a particular operation of chemical aflinities, with the mode of action, and laws of which we are completely ignorant. The silver in place of being concealed in ga- lenae, or in pyrites in a small degree argen- tiferous, or of being distributed throughout all the mass of the vein over a great extent, is collected into a single mass. In that case the riches of a point may be considered as the principal cause of the poverty of ii c neighbouring minerals; and hence we may conceive why the richest parts of a vein are found separated from one another by portions of gaiigue almost altogether destitute of me« tals. In Mexico, as well as in Hungary, large masses v/*' native silver and f/laserz, appear only in a reniform shape (par rogn&ns -,) the com* posed rocks exhibit the same phenomena as the masses of veins. When we examine with care the structure of granites, syenites, and porphyries, we discover the effects of a pa?- ticular attraction in the chrystals of ?/iica, aniphibole and felspar, of which a great num* VOL. HI. M •1 4 ''Ik I '% 1 1 t IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 ■^121 121 ■u Itt 12.2 £f Itf 12.0 u IL25 iu Hiot'graphic Corporation 4s \ ^ •1>^ s\ ^^' o"^ 23 WIST MAIN STMIT VVftSTH.N.Y. MSM (716)t73-4S03 '^ « r 1 vV 1«2 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. ber are accumulated in one point, while the neighbouring parts are almost eulirely destitute. , , ,., Although the New Continent, however, ha» not hitherto exhibited native silver in such considerable blocks as the Old, this metal i» found more abundantly in a state of perfect purity in Peru and Mexico, than in any other quarter of the globe. In laying down this opinion, I am not considering the native silver which appears in the form of lamellae, branches, or cylindrical filaments in the mines of Guan- tahajo, Potosi, and Gualgayoc, or in Bato- pilas, Zacatecas, and Ramos. I found my opinion rather on the enormous abundance of minerals called pacos and cohradosy in which silver is not mineralizedf but disseminated in such small particles, that they can only be perceived by means of a microscope. The result of the investigations made by Don Fausto d*Elhuyar, the director general of the mines of Mexico, and by several membei*s of the superior council of mines, is, that in uniting together all the silver minerals annually extracted, it would be found from the mixture, that their mean riches is from 0.0018 to 0.0025 of silver, that is to say in the common language of miners, that a quintal of ore (of one hundred pounds, or 10,000 ounces) contains from three to four CHAP. xi.J KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 163 ounces of silver. This important result is confirmed by the testimony of an inhabitant of Zacatecas, who had the direction of con- siderable metallic operations, in several dis- tricts cf mines of New Spain, and who has lately published a very interesting work, on the American amalgamation. M. Garces*, whom we have already had occasion to quote, expressly says, " that the great mass of " Mexican minerals is so poor, that the three " millions of marcs of silver annually produced " by the kingdom in good years, are extracted ** from ten millions of quintals of mineral, " partly smelted, and partly amalgamated.** According to these numbers, the mean riches would only amount to 2j ounces per quintal, a result which differs very mnch from the assertion of a traveller, very estimable in other respectsf, who relates that the veins of New Spain are of such extraordinary wealth, that the natives never think of working them wheu the minerals contain less than a third of their weight in silver, or seventy marcs per quintal. As the most erroneous ideas ';:( * Nueva Theorica del beneficio de los metales, por Don Joseph Garces y Eguia, Perito fucukativo de minas y primario de beneficios de hmineria de Zacatecas (Mexico, 1802,) p. 121 & 125. t The Jesuit Och (Murrs Nachrichten vom Spanischeu America, t. i.p.236.) ill M 2 164 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. have been spread through Europe respecting the contents of the minerals of America, I shall proceed to give a more minute descrip- tion of the districts of mines of Guanaxuato» Tasco, and Pachuca, which I had occasion to visit. At Guanaxnato, the mine of the count de la Valenciana produced between the Ist Ja- nuary, 1787, and the 11th June, 1791, the sum of 1,737,052 marcs of silver, which were extracted from 81,368 montones of minerals. In the table* containing- the general state of the mine, a monton is estimated at 32 quin- tals, or at 9i5o cart/as; from whence it follows that the mean riches of the minerals, was, twenty years ago «>to ounces of silver per quintal. Applying the same calculation to the * Estudo de la mina Valenciana^ remilido por mono dil Excellentm. Senor virey de Nueva Espana al Secretario de Estttdo Don Antonio Valdes. (Manuscript.) I have followed the numbers contained in the table drawn up by Don Joseph Quixano, the administrator of Valenciana. A monton (a heap oi minerals reduced to powder) is reckoned at 35 quintals at Guanaxuato; at thirty at the Real del Monte, Pachuca, Zultepeque, and Tasco ; at Zacatecas and Sombrerete, at 20; at Fresnillo at 18; and at 15 quintals at Bolanos. The carga is generally estink'*ted at Guanaxuato at 14 arrohas; so that 10 cargaa Amount there to a mo» the middling f from Its to 2/isi and the worst about Is'v ounces of silver per quintal. In the district of mines of Tasco, the mi- nerals of Tehuilotepec contain in a tarea of four montones or 100 quintals, 25 marcs of silver; those of Guautla yield 45; their mean wealth is consequently from 2 to Sts ounces of silver per quintal of minerals. It is not then, as has been too long be- lieved, from the intrinsic wealth of t^e mine- rals, but rather from the great abundance in which they are to be found in the bowels of the earth, and the facility with which they can be wrought, that the mines of America are to be distinguished from those of Europe^. * The silver ore of Peru does not in general appear to be richer than that ot Mexico : The contents is esti- mated not by the monton^ but by the caxon (chest) which contains 24 cargas, reckoning each carga at ten arrobas or 2\ quintals. At Potosi, the mean lueaUh o^ the minerals is ,Vv; in the mines of Pasco, Ij^^ ounces per quintal. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 167 The three districts of mines which we have just alluded to, furnish alone, more than a million of marcs of silver, and from the whole of these data we cannot entertain a doubt that the mean contents of the Mexican minerals* do not amount, as we have already stated, to more than from three to four ounces of silver, per quintal. Hence these minerals, though somewhat richer than those of Preiber)^, con- tain much less silver than the minerals of An- naberg, Johann-Georgenstadt, Marienberg, and other districts of the Ohergehirge in Saxony. Prom 1789 to 1799, there have been extracted communihus annis from the seams of the dis- trict of Freiberg, 156,752 quintals, which have yielded 48,952 marcs of silver; so that the mean contents were 2\\ ounces per quintal of minerals. But in the mines of the Ohergehirge the mean riches, have amounted to ten, and at very fortunate periods even to fifteen ounces per quintal. We have taken a general view of the rocks in which the principal mines of New Spain are to be found; we have examined on what points, in what latitudes, and at what elevations above the level of the sea, nature has collected the greatest quantity of metallick wealth; and we have indicated the minerals which furnish the immense quantity of silver which annually flows from the one M 168 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book IV continent to the other. It remains for m to afford some details relative to the most con- siderable mining operations. We shall con- fine ourselves to three of those grtntpcs of mines which we have already described, to , the central gro«', e, and those of Tasco and Biscaina. 'Iho^j who know the state of mining in F'lrope will be stinick with the contrast between the great mines of Mexico, for example, those of Valenciana, Rayas, and Tereros, and the mines which are con- sidered as \ery rich in Saxony, the Harz, and Hungary. Could the latter be transported to the midst of the great works of Guanax- uato, Catorce, or the Real del Monte, their wealth, and the quantity of their produce, would appear as insignificant to the iidiabit- ants of America, as the height of the Py- renees compared with the Cordilleras. The Central group of the mines of New Spain, a portion of ground abounding more in silver than any other known on the globe, is situated in the same parallel with Bengal, under a latitude where the equinoctial is con- founded with' the temperate zone. This group comprehends the three districts of the mines of Guanaxuato, Catorce, and Zacatecas, the first of which possesses an extent of 220, the second of 750, and the third of 730 square leagues, calculating the surfaces from the po- CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 1<59 sition of the iiisulatecl mines (renlitas) at the greatest di-stance froni the chief place of the district. The district of Guanaantato, the most southern of this group, is as remarkable for its natural wealth as for the git^antic labours of man in the bowels of the mountains. To form a more exact idea of the position of these mines, we invite the reader to call to mind what we have already stated * in the particular description of the provinces, and to cast his eyes over the physical section of the central table land, in the atlas to this work. In the centre of the intendaucy of Guanaxuato on the ridge of the cordillera of Anahuac, rises a group of porphyritic summits known by the name of the Sierra de Santa Rosa. This group of mountains partly arid, and partly covered with strawberry-trees, and evergreen oaks, is surrounded with fertile and well culti- vated tields. To the north of the Sierra, the Llanos of San Felipe, extend as far as the eye * Vol. ii. p. 2(H>. I have drawn up a geographical nap of the environs of the towrn of Guanaxuato, which will appear in the historical account of my travels in the Equinoctial Regions of America. This map is partly taken from the perpendicular bases measured barometrically See Vol. i. Introduction, p. xiii. and my RecueU d*Observa» tions Astronomiques, Vol. i. p. 372. no POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iooic iv. can reach; and to the South, the plains of Irapuato and Salamanca, exhibit the delightful spectacle of a r'lvh and populous country. The Cierro de hs LlanitoSt and the Puerto de Santa Rosa, are the most elevated summits of this group of mountains. Their absolute height is from 2,800 to 2,900 metres *, but as the neigh- bouring plains which are part of the g^eat central table land of Mexico, are more than 1800 metres f above the level of the sea, these porphyritic summits appear but as in- considerable hills to the eyes of a traveller accustomed to the striking appearance of the Cordilleras. The famous vein of Guanaxnato, which has alone, since the end of the sixteenth century, produced a mass of silver equal to fourteen hundred millions of francs |, crosses the southern slope of the Sierra de Santa Rosa. In going from Salamanca to Bnrras and Temascntio, we perceive a chain of mountains, bounding the plains which stretch from the South-^ast to the North-west. The crest of the vein follows this direction. At the foot of the Sierra, after passing the farm of Xalapita, we discover a narrow ravin dan- gerous to pass, at the period of the great *From8985 to 9313 feet. Trans, 15904 feet: Trans, t jS57,754,620 Sterl. Trans, CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 171 swells called the Canada de Marfil, whirli leads to the town of Giuiuaxuato. The popu- lation of that town, as we have already ob- served, is more than 7(),(K)0 souls. One is astonished to see in this wihl spot, lar^e and beautiful edifiees in the midst of miserable Indian huts. Tb*^ house of Colonel Don Diego Rul, who is one of the proprietoi's of the mine of Valenciana, would be an ornament to the finest streets of Paris and Naples. It is fronted with columns of the Ionic order, and the architecture is simple and remarkable for great purity of style. The erection of this edifice, which is almost uninhabited, cost more than 800,000 francs *, a considerable sum in a country where the price of labour and materials are very moderate. The name of Guanaxuato is scarcely known in Europe ; and yet the riches of the mines of this district is much superior to that of the metallife- rous depository of Potosi. The latter was dis- covered in 1545 by Diego Hualca an Indian, and has produced according to information * * je33,0(X), Sterl. Trans. f Extract Jrom a hook of accounts of the Boyal Treasury qfPotosif made on the spot, by Mr. Frederic Mothes (Ra%on de los reales derechos que se han cobrado en las caxas reales, de la plata que ha produeido el Cerro de Potosi), This ma- nuscript memoir in my possession gives the produce of Potosi every year from 1558 to 1789. The treasury books contain no information relative to the years anterior to 1556, although two miners of Porco, Juan de Villaroel and Diego Centeno, began to work this vein in the year ISib. in' m HI .^1 127 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE f^ooK iv. never yet made public, in the space of two hundred and thirtv-threo years, 788,258,512 flouble piastres, which, rcckonini^ eight piastres and a half to the marc, gives the sum of 92,7a«,291 marcs of silver*, viz. • * PinHtiiiiiiie». (I • .UiU«. (.. a!>tillauu<«. T tmine*. U.ruum.I 1766 702 » 9 35542 4 0 1767 552 0 0 46325 4 10 IT68 0 0 0 40130 0 0 176U 0 0 0 31543 0 0 1770 5361 6 8 46945 0 0 1771 7918 3 8 47 ''80 0 3 1772 7759 2 2 50917 3 8 1773 M35 4 0 33662 0 0 1774 1«185 5 9 308;;o .") 1 1775 62S5 4 8 50671 7 0 1776 225,1 4 0 8h'i42 4 j 4 1 1777 21673 (> o J 74181 3 1 3 ' |77» 23034 C 8 ;>oioo 6 3 ; i77> fi I 1 1 5 2 3 50686 5 1780 25044 0 0 29 1 23 4 I 1781 30790 o 6 27781 0 1 1782 24643 <> 10 15^75 7 8 ! 1783 32887 3 4 208 "lO 0 T ! 1784 28332 4 10 25194 3 1 1785 26823 2 4 5 20012 0 5 1786 25417 0 12275 5 4 1787 21820 0 o 13124 5 4 1788 13160 7 4 10374 2 if 1789 16431 5 4 16927 0 \0 1790 21219 2 2 13135 4 9 1791 25654 6 7 23407 5 0 1792 16S55 3 1 8434 5 0 1793 28257 2 10 16360 1 4 1794 23090 1 0 7084 2 I 1795 31518 1 0 6 24441 5 7 1796 43538 5 10505 7 7 1797 34454 0 0 13962 6 3 17 ys 92074 6 9 34393 7 5 1799 67332 1 4 31316 6 7 1800 qi79l 2 4 2 J 83 3 6 9 1801 49305 0 8 31579 b 6 1802 46459 0 4 40401 I 2 1803 59772 1 1 17100 2 8 I 'ti *!., W 174 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv Silver Produce of the District of Mines of Guanaxuato. 1 Silver exti< ictecl by 1 ^* Periods 1 Amalgamation. 1 Silver estracted l>y Sineltiii!;. Marcs. 'Juiicei >.| Marcs. Ounces jToniinei .. Granos i. 1766 207412 5 86t07 1 0 0 1767 185439 2 77S47 3 0 0 1768 194579 4 87y06 0 1 8 1769 194628 2 106444 3 3 11 1770 2332^5 6 123782 (; 6 0 1771 2990 16 1 120845 2 5 11 1772 287160 7 96412 0 7 0 1773 267621 7 136799 4 4 1 1774 243601 4 98957 0 3 2 1775 277589 7 96727 7 I 5 5 J 776 434175 7 164756 7 . 1 1777 452226 4 169991 0 1 1 ! 1778 431850 5 93152 5 0 5 1779 418215 2 113200 5 0 9 1780 338470 4 138821 I 1 2 1781 4037/2 7 162184 0 7 0 1782 309734 148302 4 I 1783 430957 5 113145 3 2 1 1784 386861 7 100319 3 2 0 1785 365308 2 100836 5 7 3 J 4 1786 316332 5 96300 6 1787 365038 3 103223 3 0 3 1788 403894 3 93657 1 5 7 1789 487321 6 137120 ^ 4 7 1790 463807 6 131318 0 4 8 1791 623921 5 143683 5 7 3 1792 S4I735 6 93711 6 4 1 1793 440581 4 76035 3 1 8 1794 443366 3 81206 3 3 4 1795 462444 5 104652 6 7 1 0 6 1796 404639 2 84486 6 1797 5925ia 1 114540 2 6 10 1798 521888 4 104048 5 3 3 1799 406286 5 93679 4 2 5 1800 397119 4 109557 0 7 2 1801 221590 1 118860 1 7 0 1803 319719 0 177460 1 4 0 1803 659992 7 84172 4 ■7 0 1 CHAP. 21.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 17^3 I have specified in these tables year after year, the gold and silver extracted from the mines of Guanaxuato from 1766 to 1803; and I have distinguished the metals procured from the minerals by means of amalgamation, from those obtained by smelting. A marc of gold contains 50 castellanoSf which are equal to 400 tomines, or 4800 granos. The result of these tables, which are framed from official papers*, is that the district of mines of Guanax- uato has produced in 38 years gold and silver to the value of 165 millions of piastres t and that from 1786 to 1803, the annual average produce has been 556,000 marcs of silver J equal to 4,727,000 piastres. All the veins of Hungary and Transylvania together, only yield 85,000 marcs of silver §. . Taking four averages of years, of which three are of five and one of eight years, we shall have the following results : * Razon de los Castettanos de oro de ley 22 quilates, y marcos de plata, de 12 dineros de los heneficios de azogue y JuegOf mani/estados en la tresoreria principal de Real Ha- cienda de Guanaxuato, desd§ 1®. de Enero 1766 hasta SI di Decietnbre 1803. (Manuscript.) We have computed the marc of silver at 8^ piastres, and the marc of gold at \96 piastres (the piastre being equal to 5 livrea 5 sous.) t 12,720,061 lb. Troy. Trans, t 364,911 lb. Troy. Trans. § 55,686 lb. Troy. Trans, i 'A 176 POLITICAL ESSAY ON tHE [book iv. Value ofthe total produce Silver of gold and for an Value of gold and Periods. silver ex- average silverforan average tracted from year. year. the mines of Guanaxuato. Piastres. Marcs. I'iastres. 1766—1775 30,S20,503 342,241 3,032,050 1776—1785 46,692,863 528,121 4,669,286 1786—1795 48,682,662 560,936 4,868,266 1796—1803 ^9,306, 11 7 551,319 4,913,265 What ibt the nature of the rnetalUfenrus de- pository, which has furnished these immense riches, and which may be considered as the Poto.si of the northern hemisphere ? What is the position of the rock which crosses the veins of Guanaxuato ? These questions are of so great importance that I must here give a geological view of so remarkable a country. The most ancient rock known in the dis- trict of Guanoaxuato, is the clay slate (thon schiefer) which reposes on the granite rocks of Zacatecas and the Peiion Blanco.^ It is of an ash-grey or greyish-black frequently intersected t hy an infinity of small quartz veins, which fi:equ«itly pass into talk-state (talk schiefer) and into schistous chlorite, I consider this clay slate as a primitive formation, although * Sonneschm^** Beschreibung der Birgnoerks'Refiere, von Mexico, p. i94 & 292. f In the queh-ada of San Roquito, , which communicates with the Ravin of Acabuca. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 177 the beds v>ith verv thin folia which it con* tains, and which are surcharged with carbon, appear to approximate it to transition clay slate. These beds {oja cle libro) are for the most part found near the surface * ; but some- times they are visible j at considerable depths. On digg-ing- the gicat pit (tiro (jcnerai) of Valeiiciaiia, they discovered banks of syenite of Hornbknd slate (llornblend schitfer) and true serpentine, aiterJiating with one another, and forming subordinate beds, in the clat/ slate* This extraordinary phenomenon of a syenite alternating with the serpentine, is also to be seen in the island of Cuba, near the villaoe of llegla, where the latter rock abounds in sckillerspar (svhiUerspath,) The same clinj slate of Guanaxuato which is observed at the bottom of the mine of Yalenciana, re-appeais at the surface, eight hundred metresj, higher up on the ridge of the Sierra de Santa x^osa, but I doubt whether it has ever been found at greater elevations. These strata are very re- gularly . directed h. 8 to 9 of the miner's compass § ; they are inclined from 4o to 50 » In the mine of Valcnciana. f In the mines of Mellado, Anunasand Rayas. X 2624 feet. Trans. § Or from South East to North-West. I have been struck ever since 1791, with this great law of the parallelism nf the bedsy which are discovered in immense extents of country, and which may be regarded a$ one of the most curious phcno- VOIi. III. N :;1 A] 4 I I w*' 178 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv degrees to the south west. This is the di- rection of the greatest p.art of the very old rocks of Mexico. .. Two very different formations repose on the clay slate : the one of porphyry at considerable elevations to the east of the valley of Mar- iil, and to the north west of Valenciana ; and the other, of old freestone in the ravins, and table lands of small elevation. Porphi/n/ forms gi^^antic stony masses, which appear at a distance, under the strangest as- pect, frequently like ruins of walls and bastions. These masses are perpendicular, and from three to four hundred metres'^, elevated above the mena of geology ; and have never ceased in my writings from calling the attention of travellers to an object, with regard to which it would be easy to collect in a very short time, a great number of observations. See my experiments on the irritation of the muscular and nervous fbre (In German) vol. i. p. 8; my letter to M, de Fourcroift dated 3 Pluviose an 6 ; my Tableau Geologique de PAmerique Meridi* onale (Journal de Physique 1800;) and my Geographie des Plantes, p. 117. The direction of high chains c^ mountains appears to have the greatest influence on the di- rection of the beds, even at considerable distances from the central crest. This influence is manifest in the Pyrenees, ' Mexico, and especially in the Upper Alps. See the judi- cious observations which M. Ebel, a learned mineralogist has published on this subject under the title of, On the CMstruation of the Chain of the Alps (In German) vol. i. p. 220 ; vol. ii. p. 201—215 & p. 357. * From 984 to 1314 feet. Trans, , I. . CHAF. XI.] KINGDOM OP NEW SPAIN. 179 surrounding plains. In the country they go by the name of buffa. Enormous balls with concentrical beds, repose on. insulated rocks. These porphyries give a sarage character to the environs of Guanaxuato, calculated to as- tonish the f^uropean traveller, who imagines that nature never deposits great metallick wealth but in mountains with round tops, and in places where the surface has a gentle and uniform undulation. This porphyry of which the Sierra de Santa Rosa is chiefly composed, is generally of a greenish colour; but it varies very much according to the nature of its l?ase ; and the chrystals w hich it contains. The oldest beds appear to be those of which the base is homstone* (hornstein) or compact felspar. The most recent on the other hand, contain vitreous felspar, inchascd in a mass, which sometimes passes into the petrosilex jadien, and sometimes into the pholonite or klhr/stein of Werner. Tht? ^ ' 'I * Being a scholar of Werner, and of the school of Freiberg, I every inhere name in my works Hornstein a mine- ral which forms trandttidns into quartz, calcedony, and Jisuersttin (pyromaque). The hornsteine of the German mineralogists are, the Quartz^agatheSf grossier et xyloides of M. Haiiy, the neopetres of Saussure- and the silex edtftes of M. Brogniart. This note appeared to me indispen- sable, on account of the confused synonomy of the de- nominations proidHhx, pierre de come, and roche de come. N 2 ?f 180 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv, latter bear the greatest analogy to the por- phyry slate (porphyrschiefer) of the mittelge' Urge of Bohemia. One would be tempted to reckon them among the rocks of trapp- formation, if these same beds did not contain at Villalpando, the richest mines of gold. All the porphyries of the district of Guanax- uato possess this in common, that amphibole is almost as rare in them as quartz and mica. The direction and inclination of these beds, are the same as those of the clay slate. On the southern slope of the sierra, and generally at smaller elevations than that at which porphyry is found, in the plains of Barras, and Cuevas, especially between Mar- fil, Guanaxuato, and Valenciana, the clay-slate is covered with freestone of very old forma- tion. This free-stone (urfelsconghmerat) is a brescia with clayey cement, mixed with ox- ide of iron, in which are imbedded anguhms fragments of quartz, Lydian stone, syenite, porphyry, and splintery hornstone. Beds con- taining from six to eight centimetres* in thickness alternate sometimes (near Cuevas) with other beds, in which grains of quartz are agglutinated by an ochreous cement. At other times (in the ravin of Marfil and * From 2 19 9 lAchcff. Tram* CMAP. XI ] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 181 in the road of Salgado) the cement becomes so abundant that the imbedded fragments en- tirely disappear, and banks of slate-clay of a yellowish brown, from ei^ht to nine metres in thickness* alternate with brescia, having large flints. This formation of old free-stone is the same with that which appears at the surface in the plains of the river Amazon, in South America, and which, in Switzerland, rises to more than a thousand metresf of absolute height, in the Oltenhorn and the Diablerets, has no regularity in the direction of its beds. Their inclination is generally opposite to that of the strata of clay slate* Near Guanaxuato, the formation of freestone is at the back of the porphyry of the buifa; but near Villalpando, the porphyry itself serves for base to the antient brescia, which appears at the surface at an absolute height of 2600 metres^. We must not confound the brescia which contains imbedded fragments of primitive and transition rock, with another freestone, which may be desigpnated by the name of felspar agglomeration, and i^hich, at the mountam of la Cruz de Serena, is superimposed to th« i * From 26 to 29 feet, t 9842 feet. Trans, X 8529 feet. Trans, Trans, 182 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. 1'!^ antient brescia (urfets conylmnerat) nhut is con- sequently of a njoie recent I'ormation. This agglomeration (lozero) from which the finest hewn stone is manufactured, is composed of grains of quartz, small fragments of slate, and fclspai- chrystals, partly broken, and partly remaining untouched. These substances are connected together by an argilo-ferruginous cement. Probably the destruction of porphyries has had the greatest influence on the formation of this felspar freestone. It contrasts with the freestone of the Old Continent, in which some chrystals of grenats and amphibole have been found, but never as far as I know, fel- spar in any abundance. The most experienced n neralog^st, after examining the position of the lozero of Guanaxuato, would be tempted to take it at first view, for a porphyry with clayey base, or for a porphyritic brescia {trummer-porphyr). Near Villalpando, about thirty very thin banks of slate clay (schiefer ikon) of a blackish brown colour, alternates "with the felspar ayyhtneration. These formations of old freestone of Gua- naxuato, serve as bases to other secondary beds, which in their position, that is to say in the order of their mperposition, exhibit the greatest analogy with the secondary rocks of central Europe. In the plains of Temascatio (at h de Sierra) there is a compact lime- CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 183 stone (dichter kuLstcin) frequently full of vesicular cavities, wl:ich are coated with cal- careous spar, and mineral of manganese, either earthy or radiated. This calcareous stone^ which from its even and almost conchoidal fracture, resembles the formation of jura, is covered in some ])oints with banks of fibrous gypsum mixed with hardened clay. We have thus enumerated the various rocks which repose on the clai/ slate of Guanax- uato, and which are on the one hand se- condary formations of freestone, limestone, and gypsum, and on the other formations of porphyry, syenite, serpentine and amphibolic slate. The ravin of Marfil, which leads from the plains of Burras to tht; town of Guanaxuato, separates as it were the por- phyritic region from that in which syenite and greenstone predominate. To the east of the ravin, very steep porphyry mountains exhibit the most whimsical forms from the manner in which they are torn asunder; and to the west- ward we discern a district of which the gently undulated surface is covered with basaltic cones. From the mine of Esperanza, situated to the north west of Guanaxuato, to the village of Comangillas, celebrated for its hot springs, the chi/ ^kUe during an extent of more than twenty square leagues serves for a base ' to beds of syenite which alternate with transition II .JI1 m 18^ POLITICAL ESSAY ON- THE [book iv. f/recnstone. These beds are in general from four to five decimetres* in thickness; and they are inclined by groups, sometimes to the north east, sometimes to the west, and always at angles of from 50 to 60 degrees. In travelling' from Valencin,na to Ovexeras, we see scleral thonsancls of these banks of fjreenstonBt alternating- with a syenite, in which quartz is sometimes in greater abmidance than felspar and amphibole. We find veins of greenstone in this syenite, and crevices filled with syenite in the beds oi tjreev.stone, This identity of the mass of the veins with the superimposed rocks, is a curious fact which seems to favour the theory of the origin of veins, laid down by Mr. Wernerf. Near Chichi- mequillo, a columnar porphyry seems to re- pose on syenite. It is covered with basalt and basaltic brescia, from which the springs of which the temperature is 96" 3J of the cen- trigrade thermometer, have their source. It remains for me to give an account of tvfo partial formations v/\\\c\i occupy only a very small extent : a compact limestone {el caliche) of a blackish grey, belonging perhaps to * From 15 to 19 inches. Trans. + Neue Theorie von der Entstehung der Gange^ I791> p. 60. t 205" of Fahrenheit. Trans, <.*4 .i CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 186 transition rocks*, and a calcareous brescia (friJoUilo). The latter, which I saw in the mine of Anin\as, at a depth of more than 1 50 metres t, is composed of round fragments of compact limestone, connected together by a calcareous cement. The vlay slate of Valen- ciana ser\es for base to tliese two partial formations, one of which appears to owe its origin to the destruction of the other. Such is according to the observations made by me on the spot, the geological constitution of the country at Guanaxuato. The vein {vela mad re) traverses both clay slate and porphyry. In both of these rocks, very considerable wealth has been found. Its mean direction is h. 8} of the miner's compass | ; and is nearly the same with that of the veta yrande of Zacatecas, and of the veins of Tasco and Moran, which are all western veins {spathgdnge). The inclination of the vein of Guanaxuato, is 45 or 48 degrees to the south west. We have already stated, that it has been wrought for a length of more than 12,000 metres; and yet the enormous mass of silver which it has supplied for the last hundred years, sufficient of itself to produce a I ji '• u * Between the ravins of Scchd and Acahuca, the banks of the caliche, have the same direction, and the same inclina* tion as the strata of clatf slate, t 492 feet. Trans, - X Or N. 52«. W. 186 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iook iv. etiange in the price of commodities in Europe, has been extracted from that part of the vein alone contained between the pits of ENperanza and Santa Anita» an extent of less than 2600 metres*. In this part we find the mines of Va- lencinna, Tepeyac, Cata, San Lorenzo, Animas, Mellado, Fraustros, Ray as, and Santa Anita, which at different periods have been very highly celebrated. The veta madre of Guanaxuato, bears a u^ood deal of resemblance to the celebrated vein of S^ital of Schemnitz, in Hungary. The Euro- pean miners who have had occasion to examine both these depositories of minerals, have been in doubt whether to consider them as true veins, or as metalliferous beds (erzlager). If we exa- mine only the veta madre of Guanaxuato, where the roof and the wall in the mines of Valenciana or Ray as, are of clay slate , we might be tempted to acquiesce in the latter opinion ; for far from cutting or crossing the strata of the rock {querge- «lem^,the veta has exactly the same direction and the same inclination as its strata; but can a metalliferous bed which has been formed at the same period, as the whole mass of the moun- tain in which it is to be found, pass from a superior to an inferior rock, from porphyry to clay slate? If the veta madre wq,s really a bedy * 8529 feet. Trans. CHAP. ZI.1 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 187 we §hould not find angular fragments of its roof contained in its mass^ as we generally ob- serve on points where the roof is a slat charged with carbone, and the wall a talc Mf*.. In a vein, the roof and the wall are deemed ante** vior to the formation of the crevice, and to the minerals which have successfully filled it; but a bed has undoubtedly pre-existed to the strata of the rock which compose its roof. Hence we may discover in a bed fragments of the wall, but never pieces detached from the roof* The veta madre of Guanaxuato, exhibits the extraordinary example of * a crevice formed according to the direction and inclination of the strata of the rock. Towards the south east from the ravin of Serena, or from the mines of Belgi*ado and San Bruno, which are very fully wrought, to beyond the mines of Marisanchez, it runs through porphyritic moun- tains; and towards the north east on leaving the pits of Guanaxuato, to the Cerro de Buena Vista, and the Canada de la Virgen, it tra- verses the clay slate (thonscheifer). Its extent varies like that of all the veins of Europe. * M. Weraer in the Theory of Veins, § 2. expressly says, ** that the depositories of minerals almost always out the *( banks of the rock." This great mineralogist seems to have intended to indicate by these words, that there may be true veins parallel to th« folia of a clay, or mkaceout tlaU, 188 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book xv. When not ramified it is generally from 12 to 15 metres* in breadth; sometimes it is even strangled^ to the extent of half a metre ;( ; and it is for the most part found divided into three masses, (cverpos) separated either by banks of rock, {cahallos) or by parts of the gangue almost destitute of metals. In the mine of Valenciana the veta madv. has been found without rami- fication, and of the breadth of 7 metres§, from the surface of the ground to the depth of 170 metres II . At this point it divides into three branches, and its extent, reckoning from the wall to the roof of the entire mass /is 50 and sometimes even 60 metres^f. Of these three branches of vein, there is in general but one alone which is rich in metals; and sometimes when all the three join and drag one ano- ther, as at Valenciana near the pit of San Antonio, at a depth of 300 metres**, the vein contains immense riches on an extent (puissance) of more than 25 metresff. li\ the pertinencia de Santa Leocadia, four branches are observable. * From 38 to 48 feet. Tram. \ At the place of assemblage of the pit of Santo Christe de Burgos, in the Mine of Valenciana. % 19 inches. Tram. $ 22 feet. Tram, 11 557 feet. Trans. . ' f 164 and 196 feet. Tram. r ;j;, f/r *♦ 984 feet. Tram. . , It 81 feet. Trans, CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 189 A trum of which the inclination is 65* se- parates from the inferior branch, (cuerpo hasro) and cuts the folia of the rock of the watt. This phenomenon, and the great number of druses, abounding' with amethyst chrystals, to be found in the mines of Rayas, which affect the most different directions, are sufficient to prove that the veta madre is a vein, and not a bed. Other proofs not less convincing might be drawn from the existence of a vein, (veta del caliche) wrought in the compact limestone of Animas, which is parallel to the principal vein of Guanaxuato, and has exhibited the same silver minerals. Is this identity of for- mation ever found between two metalliferous hedSf which belong to rocks of very different antiquity ? The small ravins into which the valley of Marfil is divided, appear to have a decided influence on the richness of the veta madre of Guanaxuato, which has yielded the most metal where the direction of ravins, and the slope of the mountains, {flaqueza del Cerro) have been parallel to the direction and inclination of the vein. When we stand on the elevation of Mel- lado, near the pit which was dug in 1558, we observe that the veta madre is in general most abundant in minerals towards the north west, towards the mines of Cata and Yalenciana; and that to the south east towards Rayas and i:;i ■ > «♦ 190 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Santa Anita, the produce has been at once richer, rarer, and more inconstant. Besides in this celebrated vein, there is a certain middle region which may be considered as a depositary of great riches; for above and below this re- gion, the minerals have contained an inconside- rable share of silver. At Valenciana the rich minerals have been in the Greatest abundance, between 100 and ^340 metres* in depth below the mouth of the galery. This abundance ap- peared at Rayas at the surface of the earth ; but the galery of Valenciana is pierced accord- ing to my measurementsf, in a plain which is more than 156 metresf aboye the level {ga» lerie d^ecoulement) of Rayas ; which might lead us to believe that the depository of the great wealth of Guanaxuato is found in this part of the vein, between 2130 and 1890 metres of absolute height above the level of the ocean§. The deepest works of the mine of Rayas, (los planes) have never yet reached the inferior limit of this middle region; while the Wtom (das tiefste) of the mine of Valenciana, the galery of San Bernardo has unfortunately passed this limit more than 70 metres ||. Hence * Between 328 and 1115 feet. Tram. t See my Recueil d* Observations Aitronomiques, Vol. i. p. 32*. No. 33^—357. J 511 feet. Trans. f Between 6987 and 6199 feet, trant, II 229 feet. Trans, CHAF. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 191 the mine of Rayas continues to furnish ex- tremely rich minerals, while at Valenciana they have endeavoured for some years, to supply by the extraction of a greater quantity of mi- nerals, the deficiency in their intrinsic value. The mineral substances which constitute the mass of the vein of Guanaxuato, are common quartz, amethyst, carbonate of lime, pearl spar, splintery hornstoiie, sulfuretted silver, ramular native silver, prismatic black silver, deep red silver, native gold, argentiferous galena, brown blende, spar iron, and pyrites of copper and iron. We observe besides though much more rarely, crystalized felspar (the rhomboidal quartz of the Mexican mineralogists) calcedony, small masses of spar-fluor, capillary quartz {haarfor^ miger quartz), grey copper ore (fahlerz) and bacillary carbonated lead. The absence of the sulfate of barytes and muriated silver, distin- guishes the formation of the vein of silver from that of Sombrerete, Catorce, Fresnillo, and Za- catecas. Those mineralogists who are interested in the study of regular forms, find a grrat va- riety of crystals in the mines of Gaanixuato, and especially in the mines of red and black sulfuretted silver, and in the calcareous spars, and the brown spar.* * On the pearled spar of Guanaxuato, see Klaprotk*s Beitrage, B. iv. p. 128. This variety of browri'Spar (brauns- path) exhibits microscopic crystals embricked and collected 'li ir\ i' 192 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. The abundance of waters which filtrate throug^h the .crevices of the rock and the gangne, vary very much in the difterent points of the vein. The mines of Animas and Valenciana are en- tirely dry, though the works of the latter oc- cupy a horizontal extent of 1500, and a per- pendicular depth of 500 metres*. Between these two mines, in which the miner is incom- moded by the dust and extreme heat,t lie the mines of Cata and Tepeyac, which remain under inundation, because they do not possess sufficient mechanical force to draw off the water. At Rayas, it is drawn off in a very expensive manner by means of haritels a muletSy placed in the interior of the traverses, and raising the water, not by pumps, but by the action oicha- pelets de caissons of a very imperfect construction. One is astonished to see mines of such consi- derable wealth without any levelj, while the neighbouring ravins of Cata and Marfil, and in very thin rods. The interlacing of these rods, (parillas) is so regular that they constantly form equilateral triangles. * 4920 and 1640 feet. Trans. t From 22° to 27° centigrade, (TPandSO". Fahr. Trnns,)\ the temperature of the exterior air being 17° (62*' Fahr. ) X In the district of the mines of Freiberg, which how- ever do not yield annually the seventh part of tl»e money extracted from the single mine of Valenciana, they have executed two levels, of which the one is 63,213 metres* and the other 57,310 metres in length (207,390 and 188,023 feet. Tram.) CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 1^3 the plains of Tenascatio, which are lower than the bottom of Valenciana, appear to invite the miners to undertake works which would both serve to draw off the water, and to tran8t>ort tl;ie minerals to the place where they are smelted and amalgathated. .. • : ^^ r Valenciana is almost the sol6 example of a mine, which for forty years has never yielded less to its proprietors than from two to thrcte million of francs * of anntial pi-ofit. It afpeafS' that the part of the vein Extending from Tepeyac to the North- West, had not been much wrought towards the end of thfe 16th' century. From that period the wholfe coiititi^' remaihed a desert, till 1760, when, a Sjiahiaitf' who went over very young to AmericSi, begtifi to work this vein in otie of the pointiS wliitK had till that time been believed destitute of metals (emhorascado). M. Obregon f (the name' of this Spaniard), was without fottunfi; but ai he had the reputation of being a woftfijr man, lite fotmd friends who from time to time ad- vanced him small sums to carry on his op6- rfelioti^. Ih 1766, the works we^e already 89 metres in dfepth J, and yet the expfetices greatly surpassed the value of th6 niettillicK J . . . ^ .■>■•• „-'--■ ■-■' -^ ■ • From 5^82,506 to j£l 23,759 per annum. Trans, t See Vol. i. p. 226. , . t 262 feet, trans. 14] VOL. III. 194 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. I i produce. With a passion for mining equa'. to what ^me display for gaming^, M. Obregon preferred submitting to every sort of privation to the abandoning his undertaking. In the year 1767 he entered into partnership with a petty merchant of Rayas, of the name of Otero. Could he then hope that in the space of a few years, he and his friend, would become the richest individuals in Mexico, perhaps in the whole world? In 1768 they began to extract a very considerable quantity of silver minerals from the mine of Yalenciana. In proportion as the pit grew deeper, they ap- proached that region which we have already described as the depository of the great me- tallick wealth of Guanaxuato. In 1771 they drew from the pertinencia de Dolores enormous masses of sulfiiretted silver, mixed with native and red silver. From that period till 1804, when I quitted New Spain, the mine of Yalenciana, has continually yielded an annual produce of more than 14 millions of livres touraois *. There have been years so productive, that the net profit of the two proprietors of the mine, has amounted to the sum of six millions of francs f. M. Obregon better known by the name of * £ 533|380 sterling. Trans. t About £250,000 sterling. Tram, CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN . 195 Count de la Valenciana, presented in the midst of immense wealth, the same simplicity of manners, and the same frankness of cha- racter, for which he was distinguished previous to his success. When he began to work the vein of Guanaxuato, above the Ravin of San Xavier, goats were feeding on the very hill which ten years afterwards was covered with a town of seven or eight thousand inhabitants. Since the death of the old Oount, and his friend Don Pedro Luciano Otero, the property of the mine has been divided among several families *. I knew at Guanaxuato two younger sons of M. Otero, each of whom possessed in ready money, a capital of six millions and a halff, without including the actual revenue from the mine which amotttfted to more than 400,000 francs J. '! . y.y .^'i V> ^^ The constancy and equality of the produce of the mine of Valenciana, is so mucli the more surprising, as the abundance of the rich mines lias considerably diminished, and the expences of working have increased . . ;./>[; •>^:i ■ --f. 'l.- . i^(*■^>* J- *'' ' /- < ^ ■ 'I , * The property of Valenciana is divided into twenty-eight shares, called barres, of which ten belong to the descendants of the Count de la Valenciana, twelve to the family of Otero, and two to that of Santana. t 16271,833 Sterling. Trans, t lei 6,600 and upwards. Tra?is. o 2! 'h §^ 196 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. in an ahinning' proportion, when the works have reached a perpendicular depth of 500 metres*. The pierdng and walling of the three old draught-pits cost the count de Ya- lenciana nearly six millions of francs, viz. -y- ' ■■■ _ ■» • , ' ■ ■ Piastres The square pit of San Antonio or tiro viejOf 227 metres of perpendicular depth, and four baritels a chevaux 396,000 The square pit of Santo Christo . de Burgos 150 metres in depth and two baritels a clievaux 95,000 The hexagonal pit of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe (tiro nuevo) 345 metres in perpendicular depth and six baritels a chevoux Expence of the three pits. 700,000 1,191,000 Within these twelve years they have begun to dig in the solid rock, in the roof of the vein a new draughUpU (tiro general) which will have the enormous perpendicular depth of 514 metres f, terminating at the actual * 1640 feet. TVanf. i t 1686 feet. Trans, , T reduce the rtaras tnexicatias on the principle that a vara is equal to ©• 839 or a toise = 2. 332 varas mexkanaa ¥ I CHAP, XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 197 bottom of the mine or at the planes of San Bernardo. This pit which will be in the centre of the works, will considerably diminish the number of the 980 miners (tenateros) em- ployed as beasts of burden to carry the minerals to the upper places of assemblage. The tiro general which will cost more than a million of piastres * is octagonal and contains 26"°. 8 of circumference f. Its walling is mpst beau- tiful. It is believed that they will reach the vein in 1815, although in the month of Sep- tember 1803 the depth was not yet more than 184 metres |. The piercing of this pit is one of the greatest and boldest undertakings to be found in the history of mines. It may be questioned, however, whether for the sake of diminishing the expences of carriage and draught, it was expedient to recur to a remedy which is at once slow, expensive, and uncer- tain. (See Vol. ii. p. 165). In that country they consider the mines of Valenciana the deepest ever dug by man. At the period when I measured the jdanes of San Bernardo, the mine of Bcrchert Gluck, at Freiberg in Saxony had reached 447 metres of perpendicular depth (1465 feet Trans.) It is believed that in the sixteenth century the works of the Saxon mines on the vein Alter Thurmhqf went as far as 545 feet in depth (1787 feet. Trans.), Author. •i:218,767 Sterling. f 87 feet. Trans. X 603 feet. Trans, 1 ^ n 198 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [booi^ iv. The expences of working the mine of Va- lenciana have been on an average annually : Piastres From 1787 to 1791 - • - - 410,000* From 1794 to 1802 . - - - 890,000 f Although the expences are doubled, the profits of the share-holders have remained nearly the same. The following table contains an exact state J of the mine for the last nine years. , • 1^89,694 Sterling. Trans. t 1^194,708 Sterling. ^ ? X Estado que manifiesta el valor de los Jrutos que ha pro- ducido la mina de Valencianot costa de ms memoriae y Hquido productOf a Javor dt sus duettos; lo presentb Don Joseph Antonio del Maso al Excellentissimo Senor Virey de Nueva Espana Don Joseph de llturigarray, el 3 de Julio 1803. (M. S) ■ f .'% CHAF. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 0) o 5:3 u >» C4 S 8 S 00 J8 1^ S ** L 00 3 00 QO Oi CO ■* 00 00 04 O >« U 'S <» ai 2J CJ "^ W.2 fl « - I 00 05 00 00 CO o> »0 04 § 00 00 00 »^ 00 CO 00 00 ^^ 00 »0 04 00 00 8 00 00 ^ $ ^ 00 00 I— » 199 o g a (u ^''B S'g S^j a I 900 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE >poK iv. CHAP. XI.. The re8ult of this table is, that the net profit of the share-holders, has been latterly at an average of 640,000 piastres per annum.* In 1802 circumstances were extremely unfavour- able. The greater part of the minerals were \evy poor, and their extra is entru of 60,00 v . t § CHAP. XI.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 201 To form an idea of the enormous advances required in working the mine of Valencianay it is sufficient here to mention, that in its present state, there must be laid out annually y C In wages of miners, triers, n^sons, ivres. I ^^^ other workmen employed in 8,400,000) »u • » '^^f the mme. ( In powder, tallow, wood, leather, ],100,000< steel, and other materials neccs- / sary in mining. Total expence 4,500,000* The consumption of powder alone has amounted to 400,000 livres annually f; and that of the steel destined to the makiiig of pointroles and fimrets to 150,000 livres,J The number of workmen who labour io th^ interior of the mine of Yaleuciana amounts to 1800. Adding 1300 individuals (men, women, and children) who labour at the baritek a chevawf, in the carriage of mine- rals to the places where they are tried, we shall find three thousand one hundred indi- viduals are employed in the different operations of the mine. The direction of the min^ is entrusted to an administrator with a salary of 60,000§ francs. This administrator, who is * iff 1S7,515 Sterling. Tram, :■'- t 1^16,668 Sterling. Trans, % £6260 Sterling. Trans, § £2300 Sterling. Trans. ■■•«" 202 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ly. under the oontroul of no one, has under his orders an overseer (obersteiger, minero) the under overseers {untersteigeVf sottomineros) and and nine master miners (mandones). These head people daily visit the subterraneous operations, carried by men* who have a sort of a saddle fastened on their backs, and who go by the name of little horses (caval- litos). We shall conclude this account of the mine of Valenciana, with a comparative table of the state of this Mexican work, and of that of the celebrated mine of Himmelsfurstf, in the district of Freiberg. I flatter myself that this table will fix the attention of those who consider the study of the management of mines as an important object in political eco- nomy. * For the extraordinary manner of travelling on men's backs, see my Vues des Cerdilleres. PI. v. t Whatever relates to this mine (in the following ta- ble) which I have frequently had occasion to visit in in 1791, is taken from the work of ^. Daubumon, t. iii. p. 6— 45. i.. , CMAP. X. ] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. U2 Comparative table of the mines of America and Europe. Average year at the end of the eighteenth century. pro- } America. Mine of Valcnciana ; the richest of the Mexican Mines. At the surface, 2320 metres above the level of the sea. 360000 marcs of silver 5000000 livres Tournois Europe. Mine of Himmelsrurst, the richest of the Saxon Mines. At the suifacc, 410 metres above the level of the sea. 10000 marcs of sil- ver 24.««« «"" «»«> «"" The quintalof mi- nerals contain- }- 4> ounces ed in silver fFrom « *T 7 1^ ounces su jr 3100 Indians and "v 700 miners,of whom Mestizoes ISOOoff whom are in the i interior of the J mine From 4* to 6 livres Tournois r 400000 livres Expenceof powder < Tournois (near (.ly 1600 qmntals; Number of work- men Wages of the mi- ners 550 are interior mine m of the the } 18 sous 27000 livres Tour- nois (nearly 270 quintals) Quantity of rni- ") nerals smelted C 720,000 quintals 14000 quintals and amalga- ) mated Veins / A vein frequent- "\ i ly divides into i Five principal 1 thin branches (veins, from two ■/ of from 40 to ^'to three decime- i 50 metres of itres of extent (in I extent (in c/oy jgnef^ss) \ slate) "^ C Eight cubic ieet ) per minute. Two "l hydrauliciil ^ wheels Depth cf the mine 514 metres 380 metres Water No water 204 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. They reckoned in 1803 in the whole dis- trict of mines of Guanaxuato, five thousand miners and workmen employed in trying the minerals, in smelting, and amalgamating*; Eighteen hundred and ninety-six arastrasy or machines for reducing the minerals into powder, and fourteen thousand six hundred and eighteeji mules destined to move the baritels, and to tread in the place of amalgamation, the flour of the minerals mixed with mercury^ The arastras of the town of Guanaxuato hrny, when there is an abundance of mercury, eleven thousand three hundred and seventy quintals of minerals per day. If we recollect that the produce in silver is finr;!*?^^ from 6 to 600,000 marcs, we shall find, by this datum, that the mean contents of the mine- rals are extremely small. The celebrated mine$ of Zacatecas, which Robertson*, from what motive I know not, calls Sacotecas are, as we have already ob- served older than the mines of Guanaxuato. They began to he worked immediately after the veins of Tasco, Zultepeque, Tlapujah?;! a]i4 Paehuca. They are situated on t] ^^ central table land of the Cordilleras, which lowers rapidly towards New Biscay, and towards the basin of the Rio del Norte. Tb« c t( P' * Histwy tf America, Vol. ii. p« 389. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 905 climate of Zacatecas, as well as that of C^ torce is much colder than the climate of Guanaxuato and Mexico. Barometrical mea- surements will one day determine whether this difference is owing" to a more northern position, or to the elevation of the mountains. The nature of the former has been exa- mined by two very intelligent mineralogists^ M. M. Sonneschmidtf and Valencia, the one a Saxon, and the other a Mexican. Froihthe whole of their observations it appears, that the distiict of mines of Zacatecas bears great resemblance in its geological constitution, to that of Guanaxuato. The oldest rocks which appear at the surface are syenitic; and cla^ slate reposes on them, which from the beds of Lydian stone, grauwakke, and greenstone which it contains, has a resemblance to transition clay slate. The most part of the vein» of Zacatecas are found m this clay slate. The veta grande, or principal vein, has the same direction as the veta madre of Guanaxuato; the others are generally in a^ direction from east to west.f A porphyry destitute of metals, and forming those naked ■ . .... ■■'■ ■: j' * Beschre^ng der Bergwerh^refiere van Mexico, jp. 169 -^237. Descripcion geognostica del reed de ZaoatesaSf par Don Vicente Valencia, (M. S.) f Sobre la formactoa de las vetas, pdr Doa A^dfes del Rios. (Gageta de Mexico.) T.xK n. 5K '^ J' *m 206 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv and perpendicular rocks which the nativefi call buff as, covers in many places the clay slate, especially on the side of the Villu de Xeres, where a mountain rises in the midst of these porphyritic formations, in the form of a bell, the basaltic cone of the Campana de Xeres* Among the secoiidary rocks of Zacatecas we observe, near the amalgamation works oilaSauceda, compact limestone, in -which Mr. Son^eschmidt also discovered Lydian stone, an o\^ freestone {urf el scoiiglomcr at) containing fragm£nts of granite*, and a clayey and , >lspar agglomeration which is easily confounded Aih the yrauwakke of the German mineralo- gists. The presence of the Lydian stone, •with limestone, might tempt us to believe- that this last rock belongs to transition lime- stone (uberganys kalkstein) which appears at the surface in the Cerro de la Tinaja, eight leagues to the north of Zacatecas; but I must observe here, that on the coast of South America, near the Morro of New Barcelona, I found kiesel slate forming subordinate beer and iron (bronze nochistley or dorado^ and bronze chino) ; magnetical oxydula ted iron; blue and green carbonated copper, and sulfuretted anti- mony. The most abundant metals of the ce- lebrated vein called the veta (frande^ are pris- matic black silver {sprodtflaserz), sulfuretted ro vitreous silver, mixed with native silver and $ilberschwarze, ' '■''■ '^^^ The Intendancy of Zacatecas contains ihe mines of Fresnillo, and those of Sombret^ete, The former are very feebly wrought, and are situated in an insulated group of motitttahis^ which rise above the plains of the central table laiwL These plains are covered with porphy- ritic formations; but the metalliferous gfronp itself is composed of tfrauwakke. According to the observation of M. Sonneschmidt, the rock is traversed there by an innumerable quantity of veins, rich in grey and green mtiriated silver. 'liiC mines of Sombrerete have become cele- brated, from the immense riches of the vein, of the veta negra, which in the space of a few months left to the family of Fagoaga, (Mar- ques del Apartado) a net profit of more than CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 209 520 millions of livres touniois*. The most part of these veins are found in a compact linie- 8tone, which contains like that of the Sauceda kiesel slate, and lydian stone. The dull red silver particularly abounds in this district of mines ; and it has been seen to form the whole mass of the veins which have Hiore than a metre in extentf (puissance). Near Sombrerete the mountains of secondary calca- reous formation, rise much above the porphy- ritic mountains. The Cerro de Papanton ap- pears to be more than 3400 metres J, above the level of the sea. The mineral depository of Catorce, holds at present the second or third rank amon|^ the mines of New Spain, classing them according to the quantity of silver which they produce. It was only discovered hi the year 1778. This discovery, and that of the veins of Gualgayoc, in Peru, vulgarly called the veins of Chota, are the most interesting in the history of the mines of Spanish America, for the last two centuries. The small town of Catorce, the true name of which is la Purissima Concept cion de Alamos de Catorce; is situated on the calcareous table land, which declines towards the nuevo reyno de Leon, and towards the * je 833,400 Sterling. Trans, f More than 3 feet 3 inches. Trans, X 11,184 feet. Trans. VOL. Ill, P 210 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. province of New Santander. From the bosom of these tnoiintains * of secondary compact limestone, masses of basalt, and porous amygda- loid rise up as in the Vicentin, which resemble volcanic productions, and which contain oli- vine, zeolite, and obsidian. A great number of veins of small extent, and very variable in their breatlth an.iK '.I m i-f I . • iff 109,385 sterlings Trans. f Upwards of jfi 350,000 sterling. Tram*- X From 164- to 328 feet. Trans, J it 43,752 sterling. Trans, P 2 iil'i POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. the same with that of Padre Flores, sometime s reaches the extraordinary extent of 40 metres* ; unci it ^\HH worked in 1802, to the depth of 180 metresf. Since 1798, the value of the minerals of Catorce has singularly diminished ; the native silver is now rarely to be seen; and the metalcs colorados, which are an inti- mate mixture of muriated silver, earthy car- bonated lead, and red ocre, begin to g'ive place to pyritous and coppery minerals. The actual produce of these mines is nearly 400,000 marcs of silver annually. J The mines of Pachuca, Real del Monte, and Moran, are highly celebrated for their antiquity, their wealth, dnd their proximity to the capital. Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, the vein of la Biscaina, or Real del Monte, has alone been wrought with activity. The working: of the mines of Moran was onlv resumed within these few years; and the mi- neral depository oi Pachuca, one of the richest of all America, has been wholly abandoned since the terrible iire which took place in the famous mine del Encino, which alone furnished more than 30,000 marrs of silver annually §. The wooden work whic^i supported the roof * 131 feet. Tram, f 1574 feet. Trans. . ' '■■ j 262,526 lib. Troy. Trans, i 19,689 lb. Troy. Trans^ CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 'il-i of the galeries was consumed by fire, and the greatest number of the miners were suffocated before being able to reach the pit. A similar conflagration in 1787, put a stop to the work- ing of the mines of Bolafios, which were only again begun to be cleared out in 1792. , . ., The valley of Mexico is separated from the basin of Totonilco el Grande, by a chain of por- phyritic mountains, of which the highest summit* is the peak of the Jacal, elevated according to my measurement with the assistance of the barometer, 3124 metresf above the level of the sea. This porphyry serves for base to the porous amygdaloid, which sm*rounds the lakes of Tezcuco, Zumpango, and San Christobal. It seems to be of the same formation with that, which in the road from Mexico to Aca- pulco, immediately covers the (granite between Sopilote and Chilpansingo, near the village of Acaguisotla, and FAito de los Caxones. To the north east of the district of Real del Monte, the porphyry is at first concealed under the columnar basalt of the farm of Regla, and farther on in the valley of Totonilco, under beds of secondary formation. The Alpine lime^ stone of a greyish blue, in which is the famous cavern of Danto, called also the pierced mouu- i ' '?■ * See my Nivellement Barometrique,^. 40— 42n, 290 — 312. t 10,248 feet. Tram. m U 21 « POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv, tain, or the bridge of the Mother of God*, seems to repose immediately on the porphyry of Moran. ft contains near the Puerto de la Mesa, veins of galena, and we find it covered with three other formations of not so old an origin, which naming them in the order of their superposition, are the Jura limestone, near the baths of Toto- nilco, the shte-free-stone of Amojaque, and a (jifps of secondnri/ formation mixed with clay. The position of these secondary rocks which I carefully observed, is so much the more remark- able, as it is the same with that which has been discovered in the Old Continent, accord- ing to the excellent bbsei-vations of M. M. de Buch and Freiesleben. > ' > .» - The mountains of the district of mines of Real del Monte, contain beds of porphyry, which with respect to their relative «*' 'Ui7y, differ a good deal from one another. 1. - *ock which forms the roof and the wall of the ar- gentiferous veins, is a decomposed porphyry of which the base sometimes appears clayey, and sometimes analogous to the splintery horn- stone. The presence of hornblend is frequently announced, merely by greenish stains inter- mingled with common and vitreous felspar. At very great elevations, for example, in the beau- tiful forest of oak and pine of Oyamel, we * Puente de la Madre de Diot. CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 215 find porphyries with a base of p.^arlcd stone , containing bedded and reniform obsidian {en couches et en ro^nons)* What relation exists between these hist beds> which several distinguished mineralogists coii' sider as volcanic productions, and the porphy- ries of Pachuca, Real del Monte, and Moran, in which nature has deposited enormous masses of sulfuretted silver and argentiferous pyrites? This problem which is one of the most diffi- cult in geology, will only be resolved when a great number of zealous and intelligent tra- vellers, shall have gone over the Mexican Cor- dilleras, and carefully studied the immense va- riety of porphyries which are destitute of quartz, and which auound both in hornblend and vi- treous felspar. The district of mines of Real del Monte, does not display as at Freiberg in Saxony, Derby- shire in England, or as in the mountains of Zimapan and Tasco in New Spain, a great number of rich veins of small extent, on a fimall tract of ground. It rather resembles the mountains of the Hartz, and Schemnitz in Europe, or those of Guanaxuato and Potosi, in America, of which the riches are contained in a few mineral depositions of very consi- derable dimensions. The four veins of Bis- caina, Rosario, Cabrera, and Encmo, run through the districts of Real del IVfonte, from Moran it '4. " w ■ » ■ 216 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book m and Pachiica, at extraordinary distances, with- out changing their direction, and ahnost with- out coming- in contact with other vein» which trp.' erse or derange them. The vela de li Biscaina not so extensive, but perhaps still richer than the vein of Guanaxu- ato, was successfully wrought from the sixteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1726 and 1727, the two mines of Biscaina and Xacal, still produced together 542,700 marcs of silver*. The great quantity of water which nitrated through the cr^^vices of the porphy- ritic rock, joined to the imperfection of the means of drawing it off, compelled the miners to abandon the works when they were yet only 120 metresf in depth. A very enterprising individual, Don Joseph Alexandre Bustamente, was cour-^geous enough to undertake a level near Moran; but he died before completing this great work, which is 2352 metresj in length from its mouth, to the point where it crosses the vein de la Biscaina, The direction of this vein is hor. 6; and its inclinaiion is 85" to the south: its extent is from four to six metres§. The direction of the porphyry of this district is generally hor. 7-8, with an incli- * 356,1 82 lib. Troy. Trans. ^ t 393 feet. Trans. i 7715 feet. Trans. j From 13 to 19 feet. Trans. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 217 nation of 60" to the north east, particularly in the road from Pacliuca to Real del Monte, the level is at first cut throui>*h the solid rock, {quer^cJilagsweise) in a dircrtion of hor. 7, to- wards the west; but farther on it takes its way over three different veins, hor. 11-12 of which one alone the veta de h Soledad*, has furnished a sufficiency of silver minerals to pay all the expences of the undertaking". The level was only finished in 1762, by Don Pedro Tereros, the partner of Bustamente. The for- i\!e;' known by the title of Count de Rej^la, as one of the richest men of his age, had al- ready drawn in 1774, a net profit of more than 25 millions of livres tournoisf , from the mine of Biscaina. Besides the two ships of war which he presented to King Charles the Third, one of them of 120 guns, he lent five millions of francs J to the Court of Madrid, which have never yet been repaid him. He erected the great amalga- mation work of Regla, at an expence of 10 mil- lions§ ; and he purchased estates of an immense * It is believed that this vein is the same with that which M. D*Elhuyar, began to work in the pit of Cambrera, at Moran. It appeared to me however that tho vd'o d- Ca- brera, is rather the same with that of Santa Brigtda, and that its principal w.alth is to be found in following it towards the mine * if Jesus. t jC 1,04.1,750 Sterling. Trans, i jf 208,350 Sterling. Trans. 5 jg 416,700 Sterling. 2'ratis, Vt -t. 218 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. extent, and left a fortune to his cliildren, which has only been equalled in Mexico, by that of the Count de la Valenciana. The level of Moran traverses the vein of la Biscaina, in the pit of San Ramon, at a depth of 210 metres*, below the level of the surface, on which the baritels a chevaux are placed. The profit of the proprietor has been annually diminishing since 1774. In place of cutting" ^aleries of investigation, to discover the vein on a great extent, they continued their sinking operations to a depth of 97 metres below the levelf. At that depth, the vein preserved its great wealth in sulfuretted silver, mixed with na- tive silver, but the abundance of water increased to such a degree, that 28 baritels, each of which required more than 40 horses, were not suffi-> cient to draw it off. In 1783, the weekly ex- pence amounted to 45,000 francs J. After the death of the old Count de Regla, the works were suspended till 1791, when they ventured to re-establish all the baritels. The expence of these machines which drew up the water, not by means oi pumps,hni by bags suspended to ropes, then amounted to more than 750,000 francs per annum §. At length they reached * 688 feet. Trans, t 317 feet. Trana. i rf 1875 Sterling. Trans. § iiS 31,252 Sterling. Trans, CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 219 the deepest point of the mine, which according tO'iny measurements* is only 324 metresf above the level of the lake of Zumpango; but the minerals which they extracted did not com- pensate the expence of the process, and the mine was again abandoned in 1801. It is surprizing that they never thought of substituting to this wretched plan of drawing off the water by bags, proper pump apparatus, put in motion by horse haritelsj by hydraulical wheels, or by machines moved by a column of water (colonne d'eau), A level begun at Pachuca, or lower down towards Gazave in the valley of Mexico, would have exhausted the mine of Bis- caina at the pit of San Ramon, for a depth of 370 metres J. The same object could be attained at less expence, by following the project of M.D*El- huyar, in placing the mouth of a new level near Omitlan, in the road which leads from Moran, to the place of amalg-amation at Regla. ThidI * I found the ui>«*1utc height of the lake of Zumpango, 2284 metres (74-92 feet. Truus.,\ the pit of Ilaraon 2815 metres (9233 feet. Trans.) ; now the deepest point of the mine of Biscaina is 307 metres ',1006 feet. Trans.; below the upper mouth of the pit. I insert these esults here, because in the country it is generally believed, that the works of the Real del Monte, have already reached the .level of the salt lake of Tezcuco. t 1062 feet. TranSs X 1213 feet. Trans. . i'H 220 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. last level before reaching 3800 metres * in length, would cut the vein of Biscaina. The very wise plan which the Count de Regla at present follows is, to leave off the clearing of the old works, and to examine the mineral depository, in points where it has never yet been worked (in unverfahrenem Jelde). In studyii»^' at Real del Monte, the surface and undulations of the ground, we observe that the vein of Biscaina has furnished for three cen- turies its grejitest riches on a single point, that is to say, in a natural deepening (etifonce- ment) contained between the pits of Dolores, Joya, San Cayetano, Santa Teresa, and Gauda- lupe. The pit from which the greatest quan- tity of silver minerals has been extracted, is that of Santa Teresa. To the east and west of this central point, the vein is strangle for a distance of more than 400 metresf.' It pre- serves its primitive direction, but being des- titute of metals, it is reduced to an almost imperceptible vein. For a long time it was believed that the vein of Biscaina was in- sensibly lost in the rock ; but they discovered in 1798 very rich metals, at a distance of more than 500 metresj, to the east and west of the centre of the old works. They then * 12,466 feet. Trans, t 1312 feet. Trans. X 1640 feet. Trons. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 221 sunk the pits of San Ramon and San Pe- dro; and they discovered that the vein re- sumed its old power, and that an immense field was opened to new undertakings. When I visited the mines in the month of May 1803, the pit of San Ramon was only then 30 metres in depth*; and it will be nearly 240 metresf to the bottom of the level of Moran, which is itself still distant 45 metresj from the point which corresponds to the intersection of the new pit, and the roof of the level. In its present state, the mine of the Count de Regla, annually yields more than from 50 to 60,000 marcs of silver §. The vein of Biscaina contains in the points of the principal mines, lacteous quartz, which frequently passes into splintery hornstone, ame- thyst, carbonate of lime, a little of sulfate of barytes, sulfuretted silver mixed with native silver, and sometimes prismatic black silver (sprod(f laser z), dull red silver, galena and py- rites of iron and copper. These same silver minerals are found near the surface of the ground in a state of decomposition, and mixed with oxide of iron, like the pacos of Peru. Near the pit of San Pedro, the pyrites are ♦ 98 feet. Trans, t 787 feet. Trans. % 147 feet. Trans. § From 32,815 to 39,378 lb. Troy. Trans. 222 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book m sometimes richer in silver than the mine of sulfuretted silver. The mines of Moran formerly of great ce- lebrity, have been abandoned for 40 years, on account of the abundance of water which they could not draw off. In this district of mines, which is in the vicinity of that of Real del Monte, near the mouth of the great level of Biscaina, there was placed in 1801 a ma- chine d colonne d'eau, of which the cylinder is 26 centimetres in height, and 16 in dia- meter*. This machine the first of the kind ever constructed in America, is much superior to those of the mines of Hungary. It was executed agreeably to the calculations and plans of M. del Rio, professor of mineralogy in Mexico, who has visited the most celebrated mines of Europe, and who possesses at once the most solid and various acquisitions. The merit of the execution is due to M. Lachaussee a Bra- bant artist of great talents, who has also fitted up for the school of mines of Mexico, a very remarkable collection of models, for the use of students of mechanics and hydrodunamicksf . .It is to be regretted that this fine machine, in which the regulator of the suckers;!: is put in * 10.23 by 6.29 inches. Trans. t See Vol. i p. 216. % DtliuSftUs mines de /ScAemni/^, edition of M. Schreiber, f 591. CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 223 motion by a particular mechanism^ was placed in a situation where there is great difficult yn procuring a sufficiency of water to keep it going. When I was at Moran, the pumps could only work three hours a day. The constiniction of the machine, and the aqueducts cost 80,000 piastres*; they did not at first calculate on more than half of the expence, and they ima- gined the mass of water to be very considera- ble ; but the year in which the water w"s mea- sured being exceedingly rainy, it was be- lieved to be much more abundant than it actually was. It is to be hoped that the new canal which was going on in 1803, and which will be 5000 metresf in length, will remedy this want of water, and that the vein of Mo- ran (hor. 9^ inclined 84** to the north east), will be found as rich at great depths, as the shareholders of the mine suppose. M. del Rio, on my arrival in New Spain had no other view but that of proving to the Mexican miners the efiect of machines of this nature, and the pos- sibility of constructing them in the country. This object has been in part attained; and it will be much more evidently attained when such a machine shall be placed in the mine of Ray as, at Guanaxuato, hi that of the * 1^10,937 Sterling. Irant. t l^f^Oi feet. Trant. mi 224 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Lbook iv. Count de Regla, at Real del Monte, or in those of Bolanos where M. Sonneschmidt*, counted nearly 4000 horses and mules employed in moving" the baritels. The mines of the district of Tasco, situated on the western slope of the Cordillera, have lost their antient splendour, since the end of the last century ; for in their present state, the veins of Tehuilotepec, Sochipala, Cerro del Limon, San Estevan, and Gautla, do not altogether yield more than 60,000 marcs of silver annually f. During the year 1752 and the ten following years, the mines of Tasco were wrought with the greatest activity and success. This acti- vity was owing to tlie enterprising mind of Joseph Laborde, a Frenchman, who came into Mexico very poor, and who in 1743, ac- quired immense wealth in the mine of la Ca- nada of the Real de Tlapujahua, We have already spokenj in another place of the re- verses of fortune several times experienced by this extraordinary man. After buildmg a church at Tasco, which cost him 400,000 piastres,^ he was reduced to the lowest poverty, by the rapid decline of those very mines, from which * Sonneschmid. p. 241. t 39,378 lb. troy. Trans. % Vol. ii. p. 186. §£81,501 Sterling. Trans. CHAP. %t.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 225 he had annually drawn from 2 to 300,000* marcs of silver. The archbishop having given him permission to sell a golden sun enriched with diamonds, with which he had adorned the taber- nacle of the church of Tasco, he withdrew to Zaca- tecas with the produce of this sale, which amounted to 100,000 piastresf. The district of mines of Za- catecas was then in such a state of abandonment, that it scarcely furnished fifty thousand marcs;j: of silver annually to the mint at Mexico. Laborde undertook to clear out the famous mine of Quebradilla^ in which undertaking he lost all his property, without attaining his ob- ject. With the small capital which remained to him, he began to work on the veta grande, and sunk the pit of La Esperanzaf when a second time he acquired immense wealth. The silver produce of the mine of Zacatecas rose then to 500,000 marcs§ per annum; and though the abundance of metals did not long continue the same, he left at his death, a fortune of nearly three millions of livres Tournois||. H« compelled his daughter to enter into a convent, that he might leave his whole fortune to an only son, who afterwards voluntarily embraced th« m „lr~»l I; ilM; ■•'ii * From 131,263 to ^96,894lb. troy. Trtim, f je21 ,876 sterling. Tram. X 32,8151b. troy. Trans, ' § 328,1531b. troy. 11 jSI 25*010 sterling. Tram, VOL. III. a •226 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [boob iy. ecclesiastical office. In Mexico, and every where else in the Spanish provinces, it is ex- tremely rare to see children following* the pro- fession of their fathers; and we do not find there, as in Sweden, Germany, and Scotland, families, in which the business of miner is hereditary. ■ * . ; (> t\ . ., • The veins of Tasco, and the Real de Te- huilotepec, traverse arid mountains, furrowed by very deep ravins. The oldest rock which appears at the surface in this district of mines, is the primitive slate (thonschiefer,) which passes into the micaceous slate. Its direction is hor. 3 — 4; and its inclination 40° to the north*-west, as I observed in the Cerro de San Ignacio, and to the west of Tehuilotepec, in the Cerro de la Compana, where Cortez began his gallery of investigation. Th« micaceous, slate probably reposes on the granite of Zum- pango, and on that of the valley of Papagallo ; and it appears covered near Achichintla, and Acamiscla, with a porphyritic formation, which contains both common and vitreous felspar, and beds of blackish brown pitch stone (pechstein.) In the environs of Tasco, Tehuilotepec, and Limon, primitive slate serves for base to the blui^-grey, and frequently porous compact lime* stone belonging to the alpine Jbrmation. Thi» limestone contains many subordinate beds, some •f lamellar gyps, and others of slate-clay^ CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 227 (schieferthon) chtirg-ed with carbon. In n«- cending from the banks of the lake of Tuspa to the Subida de Tosco el ViejOf we found petrifactions of trochites, and other univalve shells contained in this limestone. The stra- tification was very marked, but its banks follow by groups different directions and inclinations. A grey stone with a calcareous cement reposes on this limestone of Tasco, the same with that which covers the plains of Sopilote, and the fertile table land of Chilpansingo. The district of mines of Tasco, and of the Real de Tehuilotepec contains a great number of veins, which with the exception of the Cerro de ia Compana, are all directed fvom the north-west to the south-east, hor. 7 — ^9. These veins, like those of Catorce, tra- verse both the limestone and the micaceous slate which serves for its base; and they ex- hibit the same metals in both rocks. These metals have been much more abundant in the limestone. The mines have become ex^ tremely poor since they were compelled to work the veins in the micaceous slate. A very intelligent and a very active miner, Don Vicente de Anza, wrought the mines of Te- huilotepec to the depth of 224 metres^; and he cut two excellent levels for a length of 7^ M m 'h ♦ 734 feet. Trans. Q2 228 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. 1200 metres^ ; but unfortunately he found that the same veins which had furnished consider- able riches at the surface of the earth, were at great depths as poor in red silver minerals, as abundant in galena, pyrites, and yellow blende. • An extraordinary event which happened on the 16th February, 1802, complv^ted the ruin of the miners of this district. The mines of Te- huilotepec like those of Guautla, have at all times wanted the necessary water to put in motion the hocards and other machines, which prepare the minerals for the process of amal- gamation. The most abundant stream used in the works, issued from a cavern in the lime rock, called the Cueva de San Felipe* This rivulet was lost in the night between the i6th and 17th of February, and five days afterwards, a new spring was found at five leagues distance from the cavern, near the village of Flatanillo. It has been proved by researches of the greatest interest for geology, of which I shall speak in another place, that there exists in this country, between the vil- lages of Chamacasapa, Platanillo, and Tehui- lotepec, in the bosom of calcareous mountains, a series of caverns and natural galleries, and that subterraneous rivers, like those of the * 3936 feet. Trans. tHAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. d'^ courty of Derby in England, traverse thoHe galleries, which communicate with one another. The veins of Tehuilotepec are in general western (spatydnge) ) they are from two to three metres in extent^, and being separated from the rock by a strip of clayey slime, they form several lateral branches, which en- rich the principal vein where they accompany (se trainent) it. Their structure has this par- ticularity, that the metallick mineral id rarely disseminated throughout all the ganffue, but collected in a single band, which is sometimes near the roof, and sometimes near the wall of the vein. In general, the mineral depositories of Tasco and Tehuilotepec are extremely in- constant in their produce. As to the nature of the mass of which they are constituted, I perceived four very different formations Qf vemSf VIZ. i ■f^f 1. Oxide of brown, red, and yellow iron, iti which native and sulfuretted silver are disse- minated in impalpable parcels ; mine of brown cellular iron, speculary iron, a little galena, and magnetic iron, and blue carbonated Gop*> per. This formation, analogous to that of the p€U}os of Fuentestiana, and Pasco in Pem^ is designated at Tehuilotepec, by the name of tepostel. It is found at small depths yrom thfi f ''4'' Wr * From 6 tv 9 iett. TrMs. 230 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [b©ok it. surface (in ausgehenden) in the mines of San Miguel, San Estevan, and La Compafia, near Tasco, as well as at the Cerro de Garganta, near Mescala. The tepostel, is generally not so rich as the Pasco of Peru ; but is so much the richer at Tasco, as the oxide of iron is more mixed with azure of copper; but it ge- nerally, however, does n'>t contain more than four ounces of silver per quintal. - 2. Calcareous spar, r, little galena, and trans- parent lamellar gyps, containing drops of wate with air and filiform native silver. This small iand very remarkable formation, which has been also observed in the mountains of Saltzbourg, is found at the depth of more than 100 metres* on the vein of Trinidad, which is the continu- ation of the vein of San Miguel, in a point where the wall is not gyps, but compact limestone. 3. Quick red silver, brittle vitreous silver (sprodglaserz), much yellow blende, galena, very few pyrites of iron, calcareous spar, and lacteous quartz. This formation which is the richest of all, displays the remarkable pheno- menon, that the minerals the most abundant in silver, form spheroidal balls, from ten to twelve centimetres in diameter,f in which red silver, mixed with brittle vitreous silver, and ♦ 328 feet. Trans, t From S.93— to 4.71 inchei. Tram, CHAP. XI.1 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 231 native silver, alternate with bands of quartz. These balls, which have been seldom seen but between 15 and 60 metres* of depth, are glued in a gangue of calcareous and brownish spar. They have been observed in the three veins of San Ignacio, Dolores, and Perdon, of which the masses are filled with druses, lined with beautiful chrystals of car* bonate of lime. 4. Much argentiferous galena, which is richest in silver when the separated pieces possess the smallest grains ; much yellow blende; few pyrites; quartz, and calcareous spar, in the mines of Socabon del Re, and de la M arquesa. All these veins run through a table land of from 17 to 1800 metres in elevationf above the surface of the sea, which enjoys a temperate climate, very favourable to the cultivation of the cerealia of the Old Continent. When we take a general view of the mining operations of New Spain, and compare them with those of the mines of Freiberg, the Hartz, and Schemnitz, we are surprised at still finding in its infancy, an art which has been practised in America for these three centuries, and on which, according to the vulgar prejudice, the -^ O * Between 48 and 196 feet. Trans, t From 5556. to 5910 feet. Tram, 232 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. prosperity of these ultramarine establishments depends. The causes of this phenomenon cannot escape those, who after visiting Spain, France, and the western parts of Germany, have seen that mountainous countries still exist in the centre of civilized Europe, in which the mining operations partake of all the barbarity of the middle ages. The art of mining cannot make great progress, where the mines are dispersed over a great extent of ground, where the go- vernment allows to the proprietors the full liberty of directing the operations without controul, and of tearing the minerals from the bowels of the earth, without any consideration of the future. Since the brilliant period of the reign of Charles the 5th, Spanish Ameri- ca has been separa,ted from Europe, with respect to the commutiicatiou of discoveries useful to society. The imperfect knowledge which was possessed in the 16th century re- lative . to mining and smelting, in Germany, Biscay, and the Belgic provinces, rapidly pass- ed into Mexico and Peru, on the first colo- nizatioti of these countries; but since that pe- riod, to the reign of Charles the third, the American miners have learned hardly any thing from the Europeans, but the blowing up with powder*, those rocks which resist the po sh th El th< M ^ This art was only introduced into the mines of Europe towards the year 1613 (Daubuissoa, t. i, p. 05.) CHAP. X1.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 233 pointrole. This Kin§^ and his successor have she>vn a praiseworthy desire of imparting to the colonies all the advantages derived by Europe from the improvement in machinery, the progress of chemical science, and their application to metallurgy. Germai? miners have been sent at u.e expence of the court to Mexico, Peru, and the kingdom of new Gre- nada; but their knowledge has been of no utility, because the mines of Mexico are considered as the property of the individuals who direct the operations, without the go- vernment being allowed to exercise the smallest influence. - ' -. < '! . - ; We shall not here undertake to detail the defects which we believe we have observed irt the administration of the mines of New Spain, but shall confine ourselves to general conside- rations, remarking whatever appears to ua worthy of fixing the attention of the European traveller. In the greatest number of the Mexican mines the operations with the point- rolCf wiiich requires the greatest address oh the part of the workman, are very well exe- cuted. It is to be wished that the ma22et was somewhat less heavy ; it is the saine indtmment which the German .ainers used in the time of Charles the 5th. Small moveable forges are placed in the interior of the mines, to reforge the point of the pointroles, when they are ■I ; ■. 'i'i n :i^i w 234 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. unfit for working. I reckoned 16 of these forges in the mine of Valenciana ; and in the district of Guanaxuato, the smallest mines have at least one or two. This arrangement is very useful, particularly in mines whidi employ even 1500 workmen, and in which there is consequently an immense consumption of steel. I could not praise the method of blowint/ with powder. The holes for the reception of the cartridges, are generally too deep, and the miners are not sufficiently careful in stripping the part of the rock intended to yield to the explosion. A great waste of powder is consequently oc- casioned by these defects. The mine of Va- lenciana consumed* from 1794 to 1802, pow- der to the amount of 673,676 piastres j , and the ihines of New Spain annually require from 12 to 14,000 quintals. It is probable that two thirds of this quantity is uselessly em- * In 179&— 63,375 piastres; in 1800—68,493 piastres: in 1801—78,243 piastres; in 1802—79,903 piastres. The miner is paid at Guanaxuato, for a hole of Im. 5 in depth (4 feet 11 inches. Trans.) 12 francs (ten shillings); for a hole of Im 9 (75.8 inches) in depth, 9 franci (7«. 6d.) without including powder and tools, which are furnished to him. In the mine of Valenciana, nearly 600 holes by two men each are made every 24 hours. t rfl 47,377 Sterling. CHAF. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 235 ployed. At Chupoltepec, near Mexico, and in the mine of Rayas near Guanaxuato, some ex- periments have been made of the method of blowififff proposed by M. Baden ; a method by which a certain volume of air must be left be- tween the powder and the wadd. Although these experiments have proved the great ad- vantage of the new method, the old has still continued to prevail, on account of the small degree of interest taken by the master miners in reforming the abuses, and perfecting the art of mining. The lining with wood is very carelessly performed, though it ought the more to engage the consideration of the proprietors, as wood is becoming year after year more scarce on the table land of Mexico. The mason work employed in the pits and galleries*, and especially the walling with lime, deserves a great deal of praise. The arches are formed with great care, and in this respect the mines of Guanaxuato may stand a comparison with what- ever is most perfect at Freiberg and Schemnitz. The pits and still more the galleries of New Spain, have generally the defect of being dug in too great dimensions, [{artstosshohe) and of occasioning, by that means, very exorbitant ex- ■ ■'4: ;W\ * Especially in the mines of Valenciana, Guanaxuato^ and the Real del Moote. 236 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. pences. We find galleries at Valenciana*, executed with the view of investigating a sterile vein, of a height of eight or nine metres f. They have taken it ini( their heads, that this great height facihtates the renovation of the air; but the ventilation solely depends on the equilibrium and difference of temperature be- tween two neighbouring columns of air. They believe also, equally without any foundation, that, in order to discover the nature of a very .^ 3werful vein, very hiv^e galleries of investiga- tion are requisite, as if in mineral depositories of from twelve to fifteen metres { in extent, it were not better to cut from time to time small' cross galleries towards the wall and the roofi for the purpose of discovering whether the mass of the vein begins to grow richer. The absurd custom of cutting evei'y gallery in such enormous dimensions, prevents the proprietors from mul- tiplying the labours of investigation, so indispen- sible for the preservation of a mine, and the length of dui'ation of the works. At Guanaxuato> the breadth of the oblique pits dug stair- wise, is from ten to 12 meires §; and the perpen- dicular pits are generally six, eight, or ten metres || broad. The enormous quantity of * Canon de la Soledad. f 26 or 29 feet. Trans. . J |. From 38 to 48 fea. TrUns. '^ ■■'".■ § From 32 to 36 feet. Transi . *^ il 19, 26, or 32 feet. Trans. CHAf . w.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 207 minerals extracted from the mines, and the ne- cessity for the cables attached to six or eight horse baritels to enter them, necessarily occasion the pits of Mexico to be made of greater dimen- sions than those in Germany ; but the attempt which has been made at Bolanos to separate by a beam, the cables of the baritels has sufficiently proved that the breadth of the pits may be diminished without any danger of the ropes entangling in their oscillating motion. It would in general be very useful to make use of casktf or rectangular parallelopipeds, instead of leathern bags suspended to the cables for the extraction of the minerals. Several pairs of these casks rubbing with their wheels against the conducting heam$, might ascend and descend in the same pit. The greatest fault observable in the mines of New Spain, ^nd which renders the working of them extremely expensive, is the want of com- municatipn between the different works. They resemble ill constructed builtlings, when to pass from one adjoining room to another, we must go round the whole house. TJhis mine of Valenciana is very justly admired on account of its wealth, the magniticence of its walling, and the facility with which it is entered by spacious and commodious stairs; but yet it exhibits only a union of small works too irregular tp merit the appellation of gradual uttdks {ouara^a gradms) they are true •■■'4: a '"Hj' rn 238 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [booi ir. sacks, with only one opening' at the top, and without any lateral communication. I mention this mine, not because it is more faulty than the others in the distribution of its labours, but because it ought naturally to be believed better organized. As subterraneous geometry has been entirely neglected in Mexico, till the es- tablishment of the school of mines, there is no plan in existence of the works already executed. Two works in that labyrinth of cross galleries, and interior pits may happen to be very near one another, without its being possible to per- ceive it. Hence the impossibility of introducing" in the actual state of the most part of the mines of Mexico, the wheeling by means of barrows or dogs, and an economical disposition of the places of assemblage. A miner brought up in the mines of Freiberg, and accustomed to see so many ingenious means of conveyance practised, can hardly conceive that, in the Spanish colonies, where the poverty of the minerals is united to a great abundance of them, all the taetal which is taken from the vein, should be carried on the backs of men. The Indian tenateras who may be considered as the beasts of burden of the mines of Mexico, remain loaded with a weight of from 225 to 350 pounds* for a space of six hours. In the galleries of Yalenciana * From 242 to 3771b. avoird. Tram. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 239 and Rayas, they are exposed as we have al- ready observed in speaking of the health of the miners* to a temperature of from 22' to 25" f ; and during this ^ime they ascend and descend several thousand \ of steps in pits of an inclina- tion of 45**. Tu3 ft tenateros carry the minerals in bags (costales) made of the thread of the pite. To prevent their shoulders from being hurt, (for the miners are generally naked to the middle) they place a woollen covering (frisada) under this bag. We meet in the mines with files of fifty or sixty of these porters, among whom there are men above sixty, and boys of ten or twelve years of age. In ascending the stairs they throw the body forwards, and rest on a staff which is generally not more than three decimetres in length J. They walk in a zigzag direction, because they have found from long experience {as they affirm) that their respiration is less impeded, when they traverse obliquely the current of air which enters the pits from without. We cannot sufficiently admire the muscular strength of the Indian and Mestizoe tenateros * Vol. I. p. 125. At Paris the porters called Fortt de la HaUe, are generally loaded with bags of flour, which weigh S25 pounds (350 lb. aToird. Trans.) To b* received in their corporation, a man must carry for 25 minutes, a weight of850 pounds, (916lb avoird. Trans.) t From 71" to 77" Fahren. Trant. X About a foot. Trans. m 1 'fi' nil ''/ V ll Ik 240 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [*oo|c iv. of Guanaxuato, especially when we feel our- selves oppressed with fatigue in ascending from the bottom of the mine of Valenciana without carrying the smallest weight. The tenateros cost the proprietors of Valenciana more than 15,000 livres Tournois weekly*; and they reckon that three men destined to carry the minerals to the places of assemblage are for one employed workman (barenador) who blows up the gangue by means of powder. These enor- mous expences of transportation would be per- haps diminished more than two thirds, if the works communicated with one another, by interior pits (roUschdcht) or by galleries adapted for conv^ance by wheel-barrows and dogs. Well contrived operations would facilitate the extraction of minf'rals and the circulation of air, and would render this great number of tenateros unnecessary, whose strength might be employed in a manner more advantageous to society, and less hurtful to the health of the individual. Interior pits communicating from one gallery to another and serving for the extraction of minerals, might be provided with cranes (haspel) to be wrought by men, or baritels, to be moved by cattle. For a long time (and this arrange- i^efDit undoubtedly deserves the attention of the DttEopeaunL miner^ mules have been employed in * jSG24 Sterling. Trans, CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. ^H the interior of the mines of Mexico. At Rayas these animals descend e\ery morning without guides and in the dark, the steps of a pit of an inclination from 42^* to 46". The m\des dis- tribute themselves of their own accord in the different places where the machines for drawing up the water are placed; and their s*ep is so sure, that a lame miner was accustomed several years ago, to enter and leave the mine on one of their l^cks. In the district of the mines of Peregrino, at the Rosa de Castilla, the mules sleep in subterraneous stables, like the horses which I saw in the famous rock salt mines of Wieliczka in Gallicia. The smelting and amalgamation works of Guanaxuato and Real del Monte, are so placed that two navigable yalkries, the mouths of which should be near Marfil and Omitlan might serve for the carriage of minerals, and render every sort of draught above the level of the galleries superfluous. Besides the descents from Valen- ciana to Guanaxuato, and from Real del Monte to Regla are so rapid, that they wculd admit of the making of iron roads, on which waggons loaded with the minerals destined for amalga- mation might be easily rolled along. We have already spoken of the truly bar- barous custom of drawing off the water from tlie deepest mines, not by means of pump apparatus^ but by means of bags attached to ropes which YOt. III. » \:} *il2 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv roll on the drum of a horse baritel. The 8aiiie bag's are sometimes used in drawing up the water, and sometimes the mineral; they rub against the walls of the pit and it is very ex- pensive to uphold them. At the Real del Monte for example, one of these bags only last seven or eight days; and it commonly costs six francs and sometimes eight or ten. A bag full of water, suspendc^d to the drum of a barritel with eight horses (malacate doble) weighs 1 250 pounds : it is made of two hides sowed together. The bags used for the baritels called simple, those with four horses (malacates sencil' los) are only the half of the size, and are made of one hide. In general the construction of the baritels i« extremely imperfect, and they have besides, the bad custom of forcing the horses, by which they are moved to run wuh by far too great a speed. I found this speed at the pits of San Ramon, at Real del Monte, no less than ten feet and a half per second *; at Guanaxuato in the mine of Valenciana from thirteen to four- teen feet ; and every where else I found it more * The water being drawn from a depth of eighty metres, (262 feet. Tram. ) The malacate doble had four arms, the extremity of each arm has a sh'^t (timon) to which two horses are yoked. The diameter of the circle described by the horses was seventeen varus and a half (about 47$ feet. Trans.) The diameter of the drum was twelve (32 feet. Trans. ) The horses are changed every four hours. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 2^'3 than eight feet. Don Salvador SeiM, professor of Natural Philosophy at Mexico, has proved, in a very excellent paper on the giratory mo- tion of machines, that notwithstanding the ex- treme lightness of the Mexican horses, they pro- duce only the maa'imnm of effect on the baritels when, exerting a force of 17o pounds, they walk at a pace of from five to six feet in the second. It is to be hoped that they will introduce at last, in the mines of New Spain, pump apparatus, moved either by horse baritels of a better con- struction, or by hydraulical wheels, or by nm- chines a colonne (Teau. As wood is very scarce on the ridge of the Cordilleras, and coal has only yet been discovered in New Mexico, they are unfortunately precluded from employing the steam engine, the use of which would be of such service in the inundated mines of Bolanos as well as in those of Rayas and Mellado. It is in the drawing off the water that we particularly feel the indispensable necessity of having plans drawn up by subterraneous surveyors (geometres). Instead of stopping the course of the water, and bringing it by the shortest road to the pit where the machines are placed, they frequently precipitate it to the bottom of the mine*, to be afterwards drawn off ',1 K t ji * At Rayas, for example, where they draw off from A depth of 338 varus, water, which might be collected R 2 t '■:t\ 244 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. at a ^Teat expeiice. Moreover, in the district of mines of Guanaxuato nearly two hundred and fifty workmen perished in the space of a few minutes on the 14th June, 1780, because, not having" measured the distance between the Ivorks of San Ramon and the old works of Santo Christo de Burgos, they had imprudently ap- proached this last mine while carrying on a gallery of investigation in that direction. The water with which the works of Santo Christo were full, flovved with impetuosity through this new gallery of San Ramon into the mine of Valf^nciana. Many of the workmen perished by the effect of the sudden compression of the air, which in taking a vent threw (to immense distances) beams, and large pieces of rocks. This accident would not have happened, if in regulating the operations they could have con- (tulted a plan of the mines. After the picture which we have just drawn of the actual state of the mining operations, and of the bad economy which prevails in the admi- nistration of the mines of New Spain, we ought not to be astonished at seeing works, which for a long time have been most productive, aban- doned whenever thi^y have reached a considera- ble depth, or whenever the vehis have appeared towards the .louth east, in a drain at the depth of 780 varas. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 21o less abundant in metals. We have already ob- served, thfit in the famous mine of Valenciana, the annual expences rose in the space of fifteen years from two millions of francs to four mil- lions and a half*. If there were much water in this mine, and if it required a number of horse baritels to draw it off, the profit which it would leave to the proprietors, would be in fact nothing". The g-reatest part of the vices of manag-emont which I have been pointing out, have been long known to a respectable and enlightened body, the Tribunal de Mineria of Mexico, to the professors of the school of mines, and even to several of the native miners, who without having ever quitted their country, know the imperfection of the old methods; but we must repeat here, that changes can only take place very slowly among a people who are not fond of innovations, and in a country where the government possesses so little influence on the works which are generally the property of individuals, and not of shareholders. It is a prejudice to imagine, that the mines of New ISpain on account of their wealth, do not recjuire in their management the same intelligence and the same economy which are necessary to the preservation of tht mines of Saxony and the Harz. We must not confound the abundance r.;/ ■}\*\ ••n a »(K! .,^» '.J^' u * From rf9O,0flO to jei80,000 Sterling. Tran. •246 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. \l I'' m of minerals with their intrinsic value. The most part of the minerals of Mexico being very poor, as we have already proved, and as all those who do not allow themselves to be daz- zled by false calculations very well know, to produce two millions and a half of marcs of silver an enormous quantity of gangue impreg- nated with metals must be extracted. Now it is easy to conceive that in mines of which the different works are badly disposed, and without any communication with one another, the ex- pence of extraction must be increased in an alarming manuv'^r, in proportion as the pits (pozos) increase in depth, and the galleries (canones) become more extended. The labour of a miner is entirely free through- out the w hole kingdom of Xew Spain ; and no Indian or Mestizoe can be forced to dedicate themselves to the working of mines. It is ab- solutely false, though the assertion has been repeated in works of the greatest estimation, that the court of Madrid sends out galley slaves to America to work in the gold and silver mines. The mines of Siberia have been peopled by Russian malefactors; but in tht Spanish coldiiies this species of punishment has been fortiiiiately unknown for centuries. The Mexi- I'HM MMliM' is the best paid of all miners; he gains at the least from 25 to 30 francs* per * From £1 to £1 48. Sterling. Tra?is. CHAP, xi.l KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 247 week of six days, while the wages of labourers who work in the open air, husbandmen for example, are seven livres, sixteen sous, on the central table land, and nine livres, twelve sous * near the coast. The miners, tenateros and faeneros occupied in transporting the minerals to the place of assemblage (despachos) frequently gain more than six francs t per day, of six hours J. Honesty is by no means so common among the Mexican as among the German or Swedish miners; and they make use of a thou- sand tricks to steal very rich minerals. As they are almost naked, and are searched on leaving the mine in the most indecent manner, they conceal small morsels of native silver, or red sulphuretted and muriated silver in their hair, under their arm-pits, and in their mouths ; and they even lodge in tb ir anus, cylinders of clay which contain the metal. These cylinders are called hnganas, and they are sometimes found of the length of thirteen centimetres, (iive inches). It is a most shocking spectacle to see in the large mines of Mexico, hundreds of workmen, among whom there are a great number of very respectable men, all compelled * 68. 3d. and 7s. 6d. Trans. t 4s. lOd. Trans. I At Freiberg in Saxony the miner gains per week of five days, from four livres, to four livres ten sous, ( from 36. 3d. »e 3s. 8d. Trans.) ?w'; ffil: • Ti: fift, ^l *-^48 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv to allow themselves to be searched on leaving the pit or the gallery. A register is kept of the minerals found in the hair, in the mouth, or other parts of the miners* bodies. In the mine of Valenciana at Guanaxuato> the value of these stolen minerals, of which a great part was composed of the lour/anas y amounted between 1774 and 1787, to the sum of 900,000 francs*. In the interior of the mines much care is em- ployed in controuling the minerals transported by the tenateros from the place of operation to- wards the pit. At Valenciana, for example, they know to within a few pounds the quantity of metalliferous gamjue which daily goes out of the mine. I say, the gangiie, for the rock is never there an object of extraction, and is employed to fill up the vacancies formed by the extraction of the minerals. At the place of as- semhiage of the gicat pits, two chambers are dug in the nallf in each of which two persons (despachcfi lores) are seated at a table, with a book before them containing the names of all the miners employed in the carriage. Two balances are suspended before them, near the counter. Each teimtero loaded with minerals presents himself at the count* v; and two per- sons stationed near the balances, judge of the * i£' 36*000 sterling. Tram, €HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 249 weight of this load by raising it lightly up. If the tenatero, who, during the road has had time to estimate his load, believes it lighter than the despachador, he says nothing, because the error is advantageous to him; but on the other hand, if he believes the weight of the mineral which he carries in his bag to be greater than it is estimated, he then demands that it should be weighed in the balance ; and the weight which is thus determined is entered in the book of the despachador. From whatever part of the mine the tenatero comes, he is paid at the rate of one real de plata for a load of nine arrobas, and one and a half real for a load of thirteen arrobas and a haXi i^ex journey . There are some tenateros who perform in one day, from eight to ten journiest and their pay is regulated from the bock of the despachador. This mode of reckoning is no doubt highly deserving of praise, and we cannot sufficiently admire the celerity, the order, and the silence with which they thus determine the weight of so mi'iiy thousand quintals of minerals, which are fur- nished by veins of twelve or tifteen metres* in breadth in a single day. These minerals, which are separated from the sterile rocks in the mine itself, by the master miners (qtiehradorea) uudcigo three sorts of * 38 or 48 feet Trans. N#N w HW *i I'l^'tii ^.-i",' 250 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. m preparation, viz. at the place of trial, where women work, under hocards, and under the tahonas or araistras. These tahonas are ma- chines in which the metalliferous gangue is triturated under very hard stones, which have a giratory motion, and which weigh more than seven or eight quintals. They are not yet ac- quainted with washing with the tub (setz wasche) nor washing on sleeping tMes (tables dormantes) {liegende heerde) or percussion (stossheerde). The preparation under the bocards (mazos) or in the tahonas, to which I shall give the name oi mills, on account of their resemblance to some oil and snuff mills, differs according as the mineral is destined to be smelted or amalga- mated. The mills properly belong only to this last process ; however, very rich metallic grains called polvillos, which have passed through the tritm*ation of the tahona are also smelted. The quantity of silver extracted from the minerals by means of mercury, is in the propor- tion of 3 i to 1 of that produced by smelting. This proportion is taken from the general table formed by the provincial treasuries, from the different districts of mines of New Spain. There are however, some of those districts for example, those of Sombrerete and Zimapan in which the produce from smelting exceeds that of amalgamation. CHAP. xi;j KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 251 m Silver (plata quintada) extracted from the mines of New Spain, from the 1st January, 1785, to the 31st December, 1789. ! Provincial treasuries receiving the fifth. Silver ex- tracted by amalgama- tion, (mar- Silver ex- tracted by smelting. cos de azo- guej. (marcos de fuego). Mexico 950,185 104,835 Zacatecas 1,031,360 173,631 Guanaxuato . . 1,937,895 531,138 San Luis Potosi . 1,491,058 24,465 Durango .... 536,272 386,081 Guadalaxara 405,357 103,615 Bolanos .... 336,355 27,614 Sombrerete . . 136,395 184,205 Zimapan . . . 1,215 247,002 Pachuca .... 269,536 185,500 Rosario .... 477,134 191,368 Total in n lari cs 7,572,762 2,159,454 I believe we must augment the quantities stated in the preceding table one fifth to come at the real state of the mines. In times of peace, amalgamation gains a gradual ascendancy over smelting, which is generally badly ma- naged. As wood is becoming yearly more scarce on the ridge of the Cordilleras, which is i 'if ?»«•;;. ¥i^ ■ h':- v], ■■■ ■*'U: uisa 252 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. it I the most populous part, the diminution of the produce of smelting is very advantageous to the manufactories which require a gTeat consump- tion of combustibles. In times of war the wuul of mercury arrests the progress of amalgamation and compels the miner to endeavour to improve the process of smelting. M. Velasquez, the director general of the mines, supposed even in 1797, before the discovery of the rich mines of Catorce, where there is nearly no smelting, that of all the minerals of New Spain f were smelted, and the other I amalgamated. The limits prescribed by iis in the execution of thi.s \\ ork, do not permit us to enter into any detail of the processes of amalgamation used in Mexico. It may be sufficient to give a general idea of them, to examine the chemical phe- nomena which are exhibited in the greatest part of these processes, and to show the difficul- ties which in the New Continent oppose the introduction of the method invented in Germany in 1786, by Born, Ruprecht, and Gellert. Those who may desire to know thoroughly the practice of American amalgamation, will find the most satisfactory information in a work which M. Bonneschmidt proposes to publish. This worthy mineralogist resided in New Spain for the space of twelve years; he had occasion to submit a great number of minerals to amalgamation ; and he had it in his power OHAk\ XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 253 to discover by his own experience, the advan- tages and disadvantages of the different methods which have been followed since the sixteenth century in the mines of America. The antients knew the property which mer- cm'y possessed of combining with gold; and they made use of amalgamation in gilding cop- per, and collecting the gold contained in their worn out dresses, by reducing them to ashes in clay vessels *. It appears even certain that, before the discovery of America, the German miners used mercury not only in washing auriferous earths, but also in extracting the gold disseminated in veins f , both in its native state, and mixed with pyrites of iron, and with the ore of grey copper. But the amalgama- tion of silver minerals, and the ingenious process now used in the New World, to which we owe the greater part of the valuable metals existing in Europe, or which have flowed from * Plin. XXXIII, 6. Vetruv. VII. 8. Beckmann's Gesch.der Erfindungen, B. I. p. 44< ; B. III. p. 307 ; B.IV. p. 578. ., f For example, at Goldcronach, in the Fichtelgebirge, where they still shew the situation of the old amalgamation mills (quickmuhlen) for the braying of the auriferous mine- rals. Valuable documents have been found in the archives of Plassenbourg, which I had occasion to study during a long residence in the mountains of Steeben and Wunsiedel, that prove the antiquity of the amalgamation works at Goldcronach. ^ i '*'«# 254 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Europe to Asia, goes no farther back than the year 1557. It was invented in Mexico by a miner of Pachuca of the name of Bartholome de Medina. From the documents preserved in the archives of the despacho yeneral de Indias, and from the researches of Don Juan Diaz de la Calle*, there cannot remain a doubt as to the true author of the invention, which has sometimes been attributed f to the canon Henrique Garces, who in 1566, began to work the mercury mines of Huancavelica, and some- times to Fernandez de Velasco, who in 1571 introduced the Mexican amalgamation into Peru. It is not so certain however, that Medina, who was born in Europe, had not already made experiments in amalgamation before coming to Pachuca. Berrio de Montalvo, an alcalde de corte at Mexico J, and author of a Memoir on the metallurgical treatment of silver minerals, affirms, ** that Medina had heard in Spain that silver might be extracted by means of mercury and common salt ;" but this assertioL is sup- * Memorial dirigido al Sen or Don Felipe IV, (Madrid 1646) p. 49. GnrceSf del heneficio delos metales, p. 76 — 82. f Solorzano, Politica de las Indias, lib. vi. c. vi, n. 17. GarcilassOf P. i. p. 225. Acosta, lib. iv. c. ii. Lumpadius Handbuch der Hiittenkunde, B. i. p. 401 . \ Infbrme al ExceUentiss Sen or Conde de Sahatierra, inrey de Mexicot sohre el beneficio descuUerto por el Capitnn Pedro Mendoza Melendezy Pedro Garcia de Tapia (Mexico 1643) p. 19. cHAr. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 255 ported l)y no convincing proof. Coltl amal- giimation was found so profitable in Mexico, that in 1562, five years after the first discovery of the process of Medina, there were already 35 works at Zacatecas* in which minerals were treated with mercury, notwithstanding Zaca- tecas is three times further from Pachuca, than the old mines of Tasco, Zultepeque, and Tlapujahua. The Mexican miners do not appear to follow any very fixed principle, in the selection of the minerals submitted to smelting or amalga- mation; for we see them smelt in one district of mines, the same mineral substances which in another they believe can only }>e managed with mercury. The minerals which contain muriate of silver, for example, are siyuietimes smelted with carbonate of soda [tequesquite), and sometimes destined to the processes of hot and cold amalgamation; and it is frequently only the abundance of mercury, and the faci- lity in procuring it, which determine the miner «> the clioice of his method. In general they find it necessary to smelt the very rich meagre minerals, tho*>e which contain from ten to twelve marcs, of silver per quintal, argentiferous sul- furetted lead, and the mixed minerals of blende and vitreous copper. On the other hand, they ■i,i; ■ / m * Descripcion de la chidad de Zacatecas, por el Conde de Santiago d« la Laguna, p. 4'2. ^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) {< 4(g 4^ 1.0 I.I ■^ Uii 12.2 £f U£ 12.0 1^ illllM m Hiotographic Sciences Corporalion 23 WBT MAIN STRUT WIRSTIR.N.Y. MSM (716)«72-4S03 ^ 256 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. find it profitable to amalgamate the pacos or cohrados*, destitute of metalKck lustre; vitreous- red black and horned native silver; fahlore rich in silvei^; and all the meagre ores which are disseminated in very small parcels in the gangue. The minerals destined for amalgamation must be triturated, or reduced to a very fine powder, to present the greatest possible contact to the mercury. This trituration under the arastras or mills, of which we have already spoken, is of all the metallurgical operations that which is executed in the greatest perfection, in the most part of the Mexican works. In no part of Europe have I ever seen mineral flour or schlich so fine, and of so equal a grain, as in the great haciendas de plata of Guanaxuato, belonging to Count de la Yalenciana, Colonel Rul, and Count Perez Galvez. When the minerals are very pyritous, they are burnt (quema) in the open air in heaps, on beds of wood, as at Sombrerete, or in schlich in reverberating furnaces (comalillos). The latter I found at Tehuilotepec : they are 12 metres* in lengths * Ahtaro AlonxoBarha, el arte de beneficiar metales, 16S9, Lib. ii. c iv. Felipe de la Torre Barrio y Limuy miner o de San Jnan de Lucanas, tratado de azogueria (Lima 1 738^. Juan de Ordonez, CartiUa sabre el benejicvi de azogue ( Mexico 1758/ Francisco Xavier de Soria, Emayo de metalurgia (Mexico 1784;. t 38 feet. Trans, cftAP. Xt] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. '^ol they ar6 without chimneys, but managed by two fires of which the fla^ies traverse the labo- ratory. The chemical preparation of tlie mi- nerals is however very rare in general; the greatness of tiie volume of substances lo be amalgamated, and the want of combustibles on the table land of New Spain, render the process equally difficult and expensive. The dry braying is done by mazost eight of which work together, kept in motion by hydraulical wheels or by mules. The brayell^^ll6» CHAP. XI.1 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 271 mercury. But this explanation, apparently very simple, is contrary to the laws of affinity. If muriatic acid disengaged by the action of sul- phates on the muriate of soda, were to act on any silver mineral whatever, for example, on the ore of prismatic black silver, which con- tains silver, iron, antimony, sulphur, copper, and arsenic, muriate of silver would necessarily be formed whenever the acid should have exhausted the other metals. The theory of M. Garces is equally inapplicable to the amalgamation of sulphuretted silver minerals, which are abundantly spread throughout the most part of the veins of Mexico. Without entering in this work into any pro- found discussion of the phenomena, presented by the contact of so many heterogeneous sub- stances; and without resolving the important question, whether cold amalgamation can be carried on without salt and without magistral, I shall confine myself to the mention of se- veral experiments made by M. Gay Lussac, and myself, which may tend to throw some lia^iit on Mexican amaloramation. It is not true that the mixture of sulphur, entirely prevents the silver from uniting with the mercury, and that a sulphur of silver only gives cold amalgam, in adding muriate of soda and sulfate of iron : we observed on the con- trary, that on thiturating mercury and artificial I .. if ' .,/ f 111 «72 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Cbook iv. sulphur of silver, the mercury is quickly ex- tinguished, and that a small quantity of silver is obtained by the distillation of the amalgam. We mixed mercury with ore of vitreous silver reduced to powder; and after a contact of 48 hours, there was formed a small quan- tity of silver amalgam. In this experiment and in the following, we acted on two or three grammes* of mineral, the temperature of the air being from ten to twelve centigrade degreesf, and the mixtures having been slightly moistened. On imitating the amalgamation de patio used in Mexico, and mixing in a cold state sulphur of natural silver, sulphate of iron, muriate of soda and lime, we did not find a vestige of muriate of silver, although the mixture remain- ed in contact for a week; but we obtained it when the mass was exposed for some hours io an artificial temperature of from 30° to 34® centigradej. In the warm regions of New Spain, the tort€is exposed to the sun become the most heated, and it is observed that the amal- gamation takes place a great deal slower on the table lands, where the thermometer de- scends to the freezing point, than in the deep vallies, and in the plains in the vicinity of the coast. It is probable that the muriate of silver - ♦30 or 45 Englisli grains. Trans* \ From 50° to 53° Fahr. Trans. X From 86« to 93° Fahr. Trans, CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 27;> which is promptly formed at a temperature of 34*", would form in a long space of time at a much lower temperature. By mixing muriate of soda, sulphate of iron, and mercury in a cold state we obtain muriate of mercury ; and this muriate is also obtained when we triturate mercury with muriate of artificial silver. We may easily believe that in the process of amalgamation on a great scale, a part of the mercury is converted into muriate by two distinct ways, viz. by the decomposition of the muriate of silver, and by the immediate action of magistral and salt employed in too great abundance. The lime which remedies the latter mode of action does not carry off in a cold state the sulphur from the silver ; for on mixing sulphur of native silver with lime, sulphur of lime is not formed, though the mixture has been triturated for several days. The lime opposes in a very remarkable manner, the combination of silver with mercury. We observe that the latter is extinguished with difficulty, when we triturate a mixture of lime, sulphur of silver and mercury. In the same manner on forming a paste of silver mineral, salt, magistral, and mercury, and tri- turating the schlich till the mercury becomes invisible, we see this last metal separate from the metallick flour, and unite in considerable masses whenever lime is added. Globules of VOL. III. "^ 274 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [loox iv. mercury, which gradually increase in size, appear wherever the molecules of lime have touched the mixture ; and it is from this par- ticular action of the lime, that the azogneros assert it cools the mercury, or prevents the paste irovd working, '^ v *> The muriatic acid, disengaged from the muriate of soda by the sulphate of iron, attacks the silver, although the latter is found in its mineral in the metallic state. On treating vitreous silver with muriatic acid, we obtain muriate of silver in abundance ; and on pour- ing the same acid on sulphur of natural silver it disengages itself from the sulphuretted hy- drogen. M; Proust observed whait the piastres which fell to the bottom of the sea, at the time of the memorable shipwreck of the San Pedro Alcantara, were covered in a short space of time with a cruett of muriate of silver of half a millimetre^ in thickness; and I made the same observation during my stay in Peru at the time of the shipwreck of the frigate Santa Leocadia on the South Sea coast near Cape Saint Helen. M^ Pallas affirmsf that on the banks of the Jaik in Siberia, old. Tartar coins have been found converted into muriate of silver by the contact of an earth wliich ift impregnated with muriate of soda. All these * .0196 of an inch. Trans. f Nordische Beitriige, B. ill. p. 64 criAP. *i.] KIl^toOM or i^EW SI»Am. 275 facts tend to j!)rove that in many circuittdtances, ihurifitic kc'id acts upon metallic silver. ** ' '* M. Gay-Iiussac and myself succeeded com- pletely in imitating on a small scale the benefirio de hieri'Oy a*n ^^^hious p^'ocess known in Pertt ' since the end of the sixteenth century, and introduced by M. Gellert into Saxony. We percerred that on mixing in a cold stat^, sulphur of natural silver, salt, magistral f lime and mercury, the aiA'algam forms in greater abundance When we added to the paste filings of iron, th this case the iron not only serves to decompose the muriate of silver, as in the process of amalgamation of Freiberg, but also to separate the sulphur from the mineralised silver. Leaving iti contact for 24 hours sul» phuretted silver and filings of iron, the silver was put into such a naked state that we obtained in a few niiniites a considierable quan- tity of silver amalgam. If we pour muriatic abid on the mixture, infinitely more sulphuretted hydrogen is disengaged than we obtain on treat- ing acid sulphuretted silver alone. It is pro- bable thslt the oxide of iron at the maximum t which is found in the colcrados or pacos, and in mineral mixed with decomposed pyrites, acts in a manner analogous to the filings of iron. The enoilnoiil^ waste of rtiercury which we observe in th^ American process of amalgama- tion j^roi^eeds frbnr seVeral causes which act T 2 r.» i m *!( m 27(J POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [■•<>« «▼. simultaneously. If in the process por patio all the silver extracted was owing to a decomposi- tion of muriate of silver by mercury, there would be lost a quantity of mercury which would be to that of the silver in the muriate nearly as 4 : 7. 6 ; for this proportion is that of the respective oxidations of the two metals. Another and perhaps the most considerable part of the mercury is lost, because it remains disseminated in an immense mass of moistened schlich, and because this division of the metal is so great, that the most careful washing is not sufficient to unite the molecules concealed in the remains. A third cause of the loss of the mercmy i.;iust be sought for in its contact with the salt water, in its exposure to the open air and the rays of the sun for the space of three, four and even five months. These masses of mercury and schlich which contain a great number of heterogeneous metallic substances, moistened by saline solutions, are composed of an infinite number of small galvanic piles, of which the slow but prolonged action is favour- able to the oxidation of the mercury, and the action of chemical affinities. ui » . ^ The result of the whole of these researches was, that the use of fire would sensibly improve the process of amalgamation. If the minerals treated, were only vitreous silver, filings of iron , alone would be perhaps sufficient to render the CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 2t7 silver naked, and separate it fi om the sulphur which retards the union of the silver with the mercury. But as in all the other silver minerals there are besides sulphur different metals combined with the silver, the simul- taneous employment of muriate of soda and sulphates of copper and iron, becomes necessary to favour the disengagfement of the muriatic acid which combines with the copper, iron, antimony, lead, and silver. The muriates of iron, copper, zinc, and arsenic, and even that of lead remain dissolved; and the muriate of silver which is completely insoluble is decom- posed by contact with the mercury. It has been long proposed to cover the sur- face on which the pastes repose with plates of iron and copper instead of flags ; and it has been endeavoured to stir (repassar) the mass by working it with ploughs of which the share and coulter should be made of the metals which we have been mentioning ; but the mules suflered too much from this work, the schlich forming a thick and by no means ductile paste. The custom of treading the schlich by mules instead of men was only introduced into Mexico in the year 1783. Don Juan Comejo brought from Peru the idea of this process ; and the government granted him a privilege for it, which he did not long enjoy, and which only brought him in the sum of 300,000 livres tour- I 9 m VS P0I4TICAI. ESSiVy QN THE [bck)^ iv. nois'fy a very moderate sum when we coniii^er that the expences of amalgamation have been more than a fourth diminished ^ince it has been no longer necessary to emplpy the great number of workmen who trod barefooted on heaps of metallic flour. The amalgamation such as we have described it) serves to extract all the silver from the minerals which haye been treated by mercury, provided ^he qzoifuero b^ experienced* and thoroughly know ^h^ aspect or exterior charac- ters of the mercury, by wh.ich to judge if the paste is in want of lin^e oi^ sulphate of iron. At Guanaxuato where this operation is best managed, miuei^als are successfully amalgamated which contain only tljiree fo\;u;'ths of an ovmce of silver per qui;i;ii,tial. M. Sonnesch^idt found only ^V of an oui\c,e of silver ini;emai^sof amalgamation proceediing from minerals, of which the quij^«- talf contained from five to si;x marcs of sili^er« In the works of RegUi the, schljtch frequi^ntly updergo washing before ijt^ercury ha& exi^racte4 all the sijiver in the paste ; and it i|S believed at Mexico l^hat the father of i)^ presient propri(^t9r of thfB %nous ix^iiie of B^scfajlna t^i;e\v. witl^ tl^e remaips an. enprmous ma^, of silver ipp^ the river. . * jei2,6«0 Sterling. Trans. t Sonnesckmidt, Miner. Beschreibung der Bergwerkt' Reviere, p. 103. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 279 The process discovered by Medina possesses the great advantage of simplicity : it requires no construction of edifices, no combustibles, no machines, and almost no impelling force. With mercury and a few mules to move the arastraa, we may by means of amalgamation por patio extract the silver from all the meagre minerals near the pit from which they are taken in the midst of a desert, provided, the surface be sufficiently smooth to admit of the establish- ment of the tortas ; but this same process has also the great disadvantage of being si w and causing an enormous waste of mercury. As the mercury is divided in an extreme degree, and thousands of quintals of minerals are wrought at a time, it is impossible to collect the oxide afid muriate of mercury which are carried away by the water in washing. In the method of amalgamation followed in Europe which we owe to the learned researches of M. M. Bom, Rupreoht, Gellert, and Charpentier, the silver is extracted in the space of 24 hours. They employ from sixty to one hundred and fifty times less time than in the Spanish colonies, and consume as we have already said eight times less mercuiy. But how is there a possibi* lity of inti p< S96. €KAf. yi.] KINGDOM OF NEW £|PAIN. ^83 tals^y of which the value ui America amounted to more than 60 millions of livres tournoisf. When the price of mercury has pro^essively lowered, the working of the mines has gone on increasing. In 1590, under the Viceroy Don Luis de Velasco II., a quintal of mercury was sold in Mexico for 187 piastres. But in the 18th century, the value of this i^et^l had diminished to such a degree, that in 1750, the court distributed it to the miners at 82 pias- tres. Between 1767 and 1776, its price was 62 piastres the quintal. In 1777, under the administration of the Minister Galvez, a royal decree l^xed the pi'ice of the mercury of Alma- den at 41 piastres, two reals, and that of Ger- many at 63, piastres. At Guanaxnato, these two sorts of merci^ry are increased by the ex- pensive carriage on^ 4e backs of mules, from 2 to 2\ piastres pei? quintal, ^h^ kiijig gains on the. mercury of l^i», on a«ccount of the di&rence oi the wei^t used: in Gj^rmany and in Mexico, 23 per cent; so that a* wise poll-* tioian ought to engage the mother country to selL it at a cheaper ra^- Ac<;oFding< to ^n old custom, the miners. q£ certain distd'icts of mine«f, for example, tJiQse of Guan^xuato and Za^car tecas, are allowed tp pufch^ise two thirds oi \ -^ik '•«l< U\ Am * 25,124,200 lb. Troy. Tram- 1 «.2ylpO,000 Sterling. 284 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Spanish mercury, and only one third of Ger- man mercury. Other districts are forced to take more of the mercury of Idria, than that of Almaden. As the former is the dearest, there is a repug;nance to taking it, and the miners affect to consider it as impure. * The impartial distribution of mercury (el re- partimiento del azogue) is of the greatest conse- quence for the prosperity of the mines of New Spain. So long as this branch of commerce shall not be free, the distribution should be en- trusted to the Tribunal de Mineria, which is alone in a condition to judge of the number of quintals, indispensably necessary to the amal- gamation works of the different districts. Un- fortunately, however, the viceroys and those per- sons who are about them, are jealous of the right of administering themselves this branch of the royal revenue. They know very well that to distribute mercury, and especially that of Almaden, which is one third cheaper than that of Idria, is conceding a favour; and in the colonies as every where else, it isprofit- able to favour the richest and most powerful individuals. From this state of things, the poorest miners, those of Tasco, Temascaltepec, or Copala, cannot procure mercury, when the great works of Guanaxuato and Real del Monte have it in abundance. The general superintendence of the mines in CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 285 Spain, is charged with the sale of the mer- cury in the colonies of America. The minis- ter Don Antonio Valdes, conceived the whim- sical and audacious project of regulating him- self from Madrid, the distribution of mercury among the different mines of Mexico. For this purpose, he ordered the viceroy in 1789, to draw up statistical tables of all the mines of New Spain, and to send to Europe specimens of the veins which were worked. The impossibility of executing the order of the Minister was felt in Mexico; not a single specimen was ever sent to Madrid; and the distribution of the mer- cury remained as formerly entrusted to the viceroy of New Spain. ,^ , . ; , The following table* proves the influence of the price of mercury on its consumption. The diminution of this price, and the free- dom of trade with all the ports of Spain, haye «ill contributed to the progress of mining. "■■a Periods. Price of a quintal of mercury. Total con- sumption of mercury. 1762—1766 1767—1771 1772—1777 1778—1782 82 nasires 62 62 41 b5750 quintals 42000 53000 ) 59000 * Influxo del precio del azogue sobre su consumo, per Don Antonio del Campo Marin. (M. S.) t86 POLITICAL ESSAY ON tHE [fcod« i*. ' It was known in Mexico in 1782^ that China possesses mercury mines; and it was imagined that nearly 15,000 qiAritals might be annually drawn from Cantoi^. The Viceroy Galvez sent there a cargo of beaver fars by Way of exchange foi the mfercuty ; but this project howeveif wise in it^df V^as very badly executed. The Chinese inercury obtaineii from Canton and Manilla was im- pure and contained a great d^al of lead; and it« price amounted to 80 piastres the quin- tdL And yet a very siMll^ quantity could be procured at this pfic6. Since 1703, that itt^- portsint object has been totally loiit sight of; and yet it would be of importance again to atteiid to it) e^pedally at a time when the M Abstracting the influence of accidental cauies, we And that the mines and washing of Kew Spain, actually produce on an average 7000 marcs of gold§, and 2,500,000 marcs of silverf,, of which the mean value amounts altogether to 22 millions of double piastres^. -S t -• About twenty years ago, this produce was only from ten to sixteen, and thirty years ago, from elevea to twelve millions of piastres. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, itte quantity of gold and silver coined at Mexico was only from Ave to six millions. The enor- mous increase in the produce of the min^s observaMe in latter years, ouglit to be attri- buted to a great number of causes, all acting aJt the same time, and among which th% tot ♦ l,378i264lb. troy. Tram. • , t 1^3,479,280 Sterling. Trmr. t 1^4,865,050 Sterling. Tram. § 4593 lb. troy. Tram, H 1,640,000 Ibrtroy. Trant. f . If 4f620,Q00 Stediog. Trmu vol.. III. u i '^i It ll^llll 11 ^290 POUTICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. place must be attributed to the increase of population on the table land of Mexico, the progress of knowledge and national industry, the freedom of trade conceded to America in .1778, the facility of procuring at a cheaper rate the iron and steel necessary for the mines, .the fall in the price of mercury, the discovery of the mines of Catorce and Valenciana, and the establishment of the Tribunal de Mirieria. The two years in which the produce of gold and silver attained its maximum, were 1796 and 1797. In the former, there was coined at the mint of Mexico, 25,644,000 piastres; and in the latter, 25,080,000 piastres. To judge of the effect produced by the freedom of trade, or rather from the cessation of the monopoly of the galleons, we have merely to remember >hat the value of the gold and silver coined at Mexico, was from 1766 to 1778, 191,589,179 piastres, and from 1779 to 1791, 252,525,412 piastres; so that from 1778, the increase has .been more than a fourth part of the total produce. We find in the archives of the mint of Mexico, very accurate accounts of the quan- ' «ty of gold and silver coined since 1690, from which I have framed the two following ta- bles: the first indicates the value of the gold and silver expressed ip double piastres, and the second exhibits the quantity of marcs of silver given in to the mint, and converted into piastres. , , CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 291 TABLE I. Gold and silver extracted from the mines of Mexico, and coined at Mexico, from 1690 to 1803. « A 4690 \69] 1692 1693 1691 1695 l(i96 1697 :6?s 1699 noi 1702 I70.'> 1704 1703 171)6 1707 1708 170915 Value ill piettres. ,285 580 6,213,709 5,252,729 9,802 378 840,529 4,001,293 190,618 4,459 94 3,319,765 504,78 I 379, 122 019,093 .022 an) 079,954 ,62" 02 ,747,175 ,172,037 .735.032 ,73.-),601 ,214.143 1710 6,710 587 1711 '5,666 085 1712 6,(113,425 1713 6,487,872 1714 6,220,822 1715,6,368 918 !716'6,496,288 1717 6,750,734 17I«|7,I73,.590 ni9'7,'258,706 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 173; 17,35 17.36 17.37 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1746 1749 Value in piA'itreR. 7 874,323 9,460,734 8,824,432 8,107,348 7.872,822 7,370,815 8,466,146 8,133,088 9,228,545 8,814.970 9,745,870 8,439,871 8,726,465 10,009,795 8 506,553 7,922,001 11,016,000 8.122,140 9.490,250 8,550,785 9,556,040 8 663,000 16,677,000 9,384,«00 10,285,000 10,327,500 11,509 000 12,002.000 11,628,000 11,823,500 1 7.iO 1751 1752 17.53 1754 1755 1756 1757 1758 |759 r760 1761 762 1763 1764 1765 1766 176 1768 1769 177"0 1771 772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 779 Value in p'nstrps. 13,209,000 12,631,000 13,627,500 1 1 ,594,00( 11,594,000 12,486.500 12,999,500 12,529,000 12,757,594 13.022,000 11,968,000 11,731,000 10,114,492 11,775,041 9,792.575 '.1,604,845 11,210,050 10,415,116 12,278,9.57 1 1 ,938,784 13,926,320 13,803,196 16,971,857 18 932,766 12,892,074 14,245 286 16,463,28? 21,6C0,02(' 16,911,46? 19,435,457 1780 1781 1782 1783 ITM 1'fB3 1786 1787 1788 1789 V aUie ill piastres. .790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 17,514,263 20,335.812 17,581,490 23,716,65 21,037,37 18,575,208 17,957,104 16,110,340 20,146,365 21.229.911 18,063,688 21,121,713 24,195,041 24,312,942 22 011.031 24,593,481 25,644,.5f)r 1797i25,0S0,()as 1798 24,004,589 1799.22,0.53,125 1800 18,665,674 1801 16,563,000 1802 18,798,600 1803 23,166,90ii Totil oFsroH anH si'vprfrom 1690 to 1803 1 3."»3, 452.020 piastres*. ■ ■ ■ " I Ml ii r ieSSi^SS^yOS^ Sterling. Trans. 1 'ji. « D 0 1730 Marcs of silver. i i c 0 T m -J 0 Mures of silver. i u a s O 5 6 6 1,146,573 1770 1,638,391 1 7,'U,024 5 2 1 992,926 0 0 1 1,506,255 2 2 2 629,131 6 7 2 1,0''^6,642 0 0 2 1,996,689 1 1 3 329,691 4 6 ■ 3 1,177,623 0 0 3 2,227,442 6 1 4 687,121 1 0 4 1,000,771 0 0 4 1,516,714 5 5 5 470,740 3 2 5 932,001 1 6 5 1,675,916 0 7 6 375,366 7 3 6 1,296,000 0 0 6 1,936,856 6 2 7 524,691) 5 6 7 955,545 7 2 7 2,428,61:3 4 1 8 390,560 5 4 8 1,116,500 0 0 8 2,334,765 7 2 9 412,327 7 1 9 1740 1,005,963 0 0 9 1780 2,199,548 6 6 1700 397,543 6 1,124,240 0 0 1.994,073 4 i 473,834 4 5 1 1.01 6,96^ 0 0 1 2,311,06t 3 0 2 590,900 0 1 2 962,000 0 0 2 2,014,545 1 1 3 715,206 3 0 3 1,014,000 0 0 3 2,709,167 0 3 4 685,532 5 1 4 1,210^0 0 0 4 2,402,965 7 7 5 558,491 2 2 5 1,215,000 0 0 5 2,111,263 7 0 6 726,122 0 5 6 1,354,000 0 0 6 1,978,844 5 6 7 674,709 2 5 7 1,412,000 0 0 7 1,819,141 1 J 8 675,012 '7 6 8 1,368,000 0 0 8 2,293,555 5 3 9 613,428 4 T 7 3 9 1750 1,391,000 0 0 9 2,415,821 2 1 I7I0 789,480 l..M«,000 0 0 1790 2,045,951 6 6 1 666,598 2 4 1 1,486.000 0 0 I 2,363,867 5 3 2 783,932 3 2 3 1,603,000 0 0 2 2,724,105 3 6 3 763,279 0 5 3 1,364,000 0 0 3 2,747,746 4 3 4 731,861 4 1 4 1,364,000 0 0 4 2,488,304 1 0 5 749,284 4 1 5 1,469,000 0 0 5 2,808,380 1 0 6 767.969 1 6 6 1,447,000 0 0 6 2,854,072 6 4 7 794,204 0 5 7 1,474,000 0 0 7 2,818.248 4 4 8 843,951 6 3 8 1,500,893 3 4 8 2,697,038 2 2 9 1720 853,963 4 0 9 1,532,000 0 0 0 9 2,473.542 2 7 1 9i36,390 7 6 1760 1,408,000 0 1800 2,098,712 5 1 1,113,027 4 7 1 1,386,000 0 0 2 1,038,109 5 7 8 1,189,940 2 3 3 953,805 5 5 3 1,385,298 7 4 4 926,214 3 3 4 1,152,063 5 6 5 867,037 1 2 5 1,365,275 7 7 6 996.017 1 6 6 1,318,829 4 1 7 956,833 7 7 7 1,225,307 6 2 8 1,085,711 1 7 8 1,444,583 1 6 9 1,037,055 715 9 1,404,564 0 41 J Total in silvnr alone, from 1690 to 1800 149,350,701 marcs*.| * 98,008,212 jb. Troy. Trans. 1 CHAP, xi.l KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 5^98 It appears from these tables that the mines of New Spain have produced from 1690 to 1800, the enormous sum of 149,350,721 marcs of silver* ; and from 1690 to 1803, gold and silver to the value of 1,353,452,020 double piastresf, or 7,105,623,105 livres tournois, estimating the piastres at 105 sous, French money. " ' • * For a hundred and thirteen years, the pro- duce of the mines has been constantly on the increase, if we except the single period from 1760 to 1767. This increase becomes mani- fest, when we compare every ten years, the quantity of the precious metals given in to the mint of Mexico, as is done in the fol- lowing tables, of which the one indicates the value of the gold and silver in Piastres, and the other, the quantity of silver in marcs. * 98,008,2121b. troy, Trans, t jS284»,224,924! Sterling. Trans, i, 1.:' \ t ' J ' .. ' !, 294 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE L»oo« "^ Progress of the mining operations of Mexico. Table I. Gold and Silver, * . . fi> I ii/' Value of Gold Periods. ' and Silver in Piastres. From 1690 to 1699 43,871,335 1700 1709 51,731,034 1710 1719 65,747,027 1720 1729 84,153,223 1730 1739 90,529,730 1740 1749 111,855,040 1750 1759 125,750,094 1760 1769 112,828,860 . . ,. 1770 1779 165,181,729 1780 1789 193,504,554 1790 1799 231,080,214 Total from 1690 to 1799—1,276,232,840 Table II. Silver alone. Periods. Silver. Marcs. Oz. Oc. From 1690 to 1699 1700 1709 1710 1719 1720 1729 1730 1739 174a 1749 1750 1759 1760 1769 1770 1779 1780 1789 1790 1799 5,173,099 6,109,781 7,744,525 9,900,203 10,650,546 12,067,202 14,793,893 13,279,863 19,461,194 22,050,440 26,021,257 2 5 2 7 1 0 3 4 6 6 6 7 2 6 7 0 0 4 1 1 7 3 Total from 1690 to; 1799 S 147,252,008 6 6 CHAr. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 296 When we distinguish those periods in which the progress of mining has been most rapid* we find the following results : Periods. Value of Gold and Silver, for an average year in Piastres 1690—1720 1721—1743 1744—1770 1771—1782 1783-1790 Progressive increase. Piastres. Jnvesi*"" year, 3,700.000 11,854,825 17,223,916 19,517,081 1791—1803 22,325,824 25 19 12 10 2,000,000 5,300,000 2,300,000 2,800,000 i This table along with the preceding one, proves that the periods during ^hich the wealth of the mines have most increased, are from 1736 to 1745, from 1777 to 1783, and from 1788 to 1798 ; but the increase in ge- neral has been so little in proportion to the space of time, that the total produce of the mines was : * . ■• < , '.''■' ' ; 4 millions of Piastres in 1695 , ;ft - - 1726 '■ .;W"-'-- ;-■*••., ; '-^^^ » 1747 ' le ' ' '^m '- ' H,« ,• 1776 . > jW)j;^':if'l.- W'' >•! ^ •■ 1788 '•• 24 * - ' ' - 1795 from whence it follows that the produce ha.«: A a96 POLITICAL ESSAY ON IHE [book it^ been tripled in fifty-two years, and sextupled in a hundred years. ...,,.,,) After the gold and silver, it remains for us to speak of the other metals, called com- mon metals, the working of which, as we have already stated in the beginning of this chapter, has been very much neglected. Cop- per is found in a native state, and under the forms of vitreous and oxidulated copper, in the mines of Ingnran, a little to the south of the Yolcan de JoruUo, at San Juan Guetamo, in the intemlancy of Valladolid, and in the province of N^w Mexico. The Mexican tin is extracted by means of washing, from the alluvions lands of the intendancy of Guanaxuato, near Gigante, San Felipe, Robledal and San Miguel el Grande as well as in the intendancy of Zacatecas between the towns of Xeres and Villa Naeva. One of the tin mines most common in Mex- ico is the wood tin df the English mineralogists. It appears that this mineral is originally found in veins which traverse trap-porphyries ; but the natives, instead of working these veins, prefer the extracting of tin from the earth brought down the ravins. The intendancy of Guanaxuato in 1802, produced nearly 9200 arroban of copper, and 400 of tin. ai The iron mine^ are moi'e abundant ihan is generally believed, in the intendadcies of Valladolid, Zacatecas, and GuadaUxara, and CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 297 especially in the provincias intenuu. We have already explained* the reason why these mines, th. most important of all, are only wrought with any degree of spirit during a period of maritime war, when a stop is put to the importation of steel and iron from Europe; and wc have already named the veins of Tecalitan, near C<$lima, which were successfully wrought ten years ago, and afterwards abandoned. Fibrous magnetic iron is found in conjunction with magnetic pyrite in veins which traverse gneiss in the kinp'dom of Oaxaca. The western slope of the moun- tains of Mechoacan abounds in ores of compact red iron and hematite brown iron. The former have also been observed in the inten- dancy of San Luis Potosi near Catorce. I saw christalized micaceous^ iron, . near the village of Santa Cru?. east from Celaya, on the fertile table land extending from Quere- taro to Guanaxuato. The Cerro del Mercado, situated near the town of Durango, contains an enormous mniss of ores of brown mag- netic and micaceous iron. I enter into the detail of these localities for the sake of proving the falsity of the opinion delivered by Several modern natural plulosophers, that iron almost exclusively belong^ to the most jiortliem regions of the temperate tone. To , I* u i,>- * Seep. 106 of thi« volumo. ■ '^m »#*", :i^- ^i J III .Ill ■■V 208 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE * [bookiv , CM M. Sonneschmidt we owe the know led jy;o of the meteoric iron*, which is found in scvertd places of New Spain, for example at Zara- tecas, Charcas, Durango, and if I am not deceived in the environs of the small town of Toluca. ^' ' {■ ^ '^tM < . t Leadf which is very rare in the north of Asia, abounds in the mountains of calcareous formation, contained in the north east part of New Spain, especially in the district of Zima- pan, near the Real del Cardonal and Lomo del Toro; in the kingdom of New Leon, near Linares; and in the province of New Santander, near St. Nicholas de Croix. The lead mikies are not wrought with so nmch spirit ; s we could wish for in a country where the fourth part of all the silver mine- rals are smelted. Among the metals, of which the use is the most limited, we have to name zinc, which is found, under the form of brown and black blende in the veins of Ramos, S w n V t * Sonneschmidtf p. 188 and 192. The mass of Zacatecas still weighed ten years ago, near 2000 lib. See a me- moir of M. Chladni in the Journal des Mines, 1809, no. 151, p. 79, relative to a meteoric stone, which fell between Cicuic and Quivira according to the testimony of Cardanus and Mercati. The geographical position of Cicuic and Quivira, names which recal to us the fablei of the £1 Dorado of South America, remains still un- known. .'"■f-'i* >■< ' Mil CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 299 Sombrerete, Zacatecas, and Tasco ; antimony ^ which is common to Catorce and los Pozuelos, near Cuencaine ; arsenic, which is found amon^ the minerals of Zimapan, combined with sulphm'y like orpiment. Cobalt, as far as I know, has never yet been discovered among* the minerals of New Spain ; and mant/anese*, which M. Ramirez recently discovered in the Island of Cuba, appears to me in general much less abundant in Equinoctial America, than in the temperate climates of the Old Continent. . Mercury , which is very remote from tin, with respect to its relative antiquity, or the period of its formation, is almost as uncom- mon as it, in every part of the globe. The inha- bitants of New Spain have procured for centuries, the mercury necessary in the process of amal- gamation, partly from Peru, and partly from Europe; and hence they are accustomed to consider their country as destitute of this metal However, when we consider the examinations carried on under the reign of Charles the 4th, we are forced to admit that few countries have so many indications of cinnabar, as the table land of the Cordilleras from the 19" to the 22*" of north latitude. In the inteudancies * To the west of the town of Cuenca, in the kingdom of Quito, there exists earthy grey manganese, which forms a bed in the freestone. 800 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v, of Guanaxuato and Mexico, ^e find it almost wherever pits are dug between San Juan de la Chica and the town of San Felipe ; near Rincon del Centeno, in the environs of Celaya ; and fi'om Dui'asno, and Tierra Nueva to San Loiis de la Paz, especially, near Chapin, Real de Pozos, San Rafael de los Lobos and la So- ledad. Sulphuretted mercury has been also discovered at Axuchitlan and Zapote^, near Chirangangueo, in th^ intendancy of Yalladolid ; at los Pregones near Tasco, in the district of mines of the Docior ; and in the valley of Te- nochtitla.. the south of Gassaye in the road from i»iJxico to Pachuca. The works by which these different mineral depositories were proposed to be discovered, have been so frequently inteniipted, and they have been conducted with so little zeal, and generally with 80 little intelligence, that it would be very im- prudent to advance, as has been often done, that the mercury mines of New Spai^^ are not woilh the working. It appears, on the contrary, from the interesting information which we owe to the labours of M. Chovel, that tl tn ; *In the mines of Sao Ignacio del Zf^ote, where the cin- nabar is constantly mixed with blue carbonated copper, while at Schemnitz and Poratich in Hungary the anti- moniated grey copper (graugultigerz) contains 0*06 iia^eory. Khtproih, iv p. 65. " (. ,.!■ €HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 301 the veins of San Juan de la Chica, as well as those of the Rincon del Centeno, and the 6i- gante, are very ^desei-ving of the attention of the Mexican miners. Was it to be expected that sufierficial "works which were merely be^n, should in the very fii^t years, yield a net pro- fit to the shareholders? The mercury mines of New Spain are of very different formations. Some are found in beds in secondary earths ; and others in veins which traverse trap porphyries. At Durasno, between Terra Nueva, and San Luis de la Paz, cinnabar mixed with a number of globules of native mercury, forms a horizontal bed {manta) which reposes on porphyry. This Tiianto which has been pierced by pits of five or six metres * in depth, is covered with beds of slate clay, which contains fossil, wood, and coals. On examining the roof of ihe mantOy we find from the surface, first a bed oi slate clay (schieferthon) impregnated with nitrate of potash, and containing fragments of petrified vegetables ; then a strata of slate coal (schie' ferkohle) of a metre f in thickness ; and lastly slate clay which immediately covers the cin- nabar mineral. From this mine there was drawn, eight years ago, in a very few months vi? • 16 or 19 feet, f S.28 feet if.""- •.hi ,'*'n 1; (H)2 POTJ.TICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. nearly 700 quintals of mercury which were not sufficient to pay the expences of working, although the ore contained a pound of mercury for every load of three quintals and a half. The carelessness with which the mine .of Durasno was wrought, has been so much the more pre- judicial, as on account of the small degrees pf sol dity of the rock of the roof, and its horizontal position, it very frequently fell in. The mine is at present drowned, and to resume the operations would not be attended with profit. It has constantly enjoyed very high celebrity in the country, Kot on account of its wealth which is inferior to that of the veins of San Juan de la Chica, but because it admitted of being wrought sub dio, and because its produce was very abundant. They attempted in vain to discover a second bed of mercury ore below that of Durasno. ^''^ The cinnabar vein of San Juan de la Chica, is two or three and sometimes even six metres in extent (puissance). It traverses the mountain of hs Calzones, and extends to Chichindara. Its ores are rxtremely rich but by no means abundant ; I have seen there masses of compact and fibrous sulphuretted mercury of a bright red, twenty centimetres in length, and three in thickness * j and these specimens resembled * 7.87 inches by 1.18. Trans. !i| CHAP, xi] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 303 iVoiu their purity the richest produce of Al- maden and Wolfstein in Europe. The mine of Chica has been only yet wrought to the depth of fifty metres ; * and it is found, and this geological fact is very remarkable, not in free- stone or slate, but in a tme porphyritic pitch stone {pechstein-porphyr) divided into balls with con- centrical beds of which the interior is lined with mammelonneous hyalite {muUerisch-glass). The cinnabar and a little native mercury, are sometimes observed in the middle of the porphyritic rock at a very considerable distance from the vein. During my stay at Guanaxuato, ouly two mines were wrought in all Mexico, those of Lomo del Toro, near San Juan de Chica, and Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, a quarter of a league to the south-east of the Gigante. In the first of these mines a load of mineral yields from two to three pounds of mercury J and the expences of working are very moderate. The mine of the Gigante from which there is even drawn six pounds of mercury per load (cargo) of mineral, fur- nished from 70 to 80 pounds weekly ; and it is wrought on the account of a rich individual Don Jose del Maso, who has the merit of having first excited his countrymen during the last war to the working df mercury mines, and the manufacture of steel. The cinnabar ' % *16i feet Tram. 304 POLITICAL ESSAY ON T»E [book it^^ extracted from the veins of the mountain del Fraile, near the Villa de San Felipe is found in a porphyry with hornstone base which is traversed by veins of tin, and is undoubtedly more antient than the porphyritic pitchstone (pecfistein porphyr) of Chica. America in its present state is the tributary of Europe with respect to mercury ; but it is probable, that this dependance will not be of long duration, if the ties which unite the Colonies with the mother country remain long loosened, and if the civilization of the human species in its progfressive motion from East to West is concentrated in America^ The spirit of enterprize and research will increase with the population; the more the country shall be inhabited, the more they will learn to appretiate the natural wealth whicR is contained in the bowels of their mountains. If they discover no single mine equal in wealth, to Huancavelica, they will work several at once, by which the united produce will ren* der the importation of mercury from Spain and Carniola unnecessary. These changes will be so much the more rapidly operated, as the Peruvian and Mexican miners shall feel themselves impeded by the want of the metal necessary for amalgamation. But let us enquire what would be the consequence to the silveir CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 305 ii,[ Kir- mines of America, if in the midst of the wars by which Europe is oppressed, the mercury mines of Almaden and Idria, should no longer be wrought. ^r-f ' ^ I have mentioned the mineral depositories of New Spain, which if examined with care, and worked with constancy, may produce one day a very considerable quantity of mercury. The period approaches when the Spanish Co- lonies being more united together, will be more attentive to their common interests; and it becomes, therefore, of consequence to take a general view of the indications of mercury observable in South America. Mexico and Peru, instead of receiving this metal from Europe, will one day perhaps be able to sup- ply the old world with it. I shall confine myself to the knowledge which I could obtain on the spot, and especially during my stay at Lima ; and I shall only mention the points where cinnabar has been found, either in veins or beds. In several places, for example, at Portobello, and Santa Fe de Bogota, con-, siderable quantities of native mercury have been collected at small depths in building houses ; and this phenomenon has frequently fixed the attention of government. They forget that in a country where for three centuries, bags filled with mercury have been trans- ported on mules from province to province, vol.. III. X Its 'n Ylt i 306 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. this mercury must necessarily have been scattered in the sheds, under which the beasts of burden, are unloaded, and in the mercury magazines es- tablished in towns. The mountains in general contain mercury in its native state, in very small portions only ; and when in an inhabited place, or on a great road, we discover in the earth several kilogrammes collected together, we must believe that these masses originated in accidental infiltrations. In the kingdom of New Granada, "nlphuretted mercury is known in three different places, namely, in the province of Antioquia, in the Valle de Santa Rosa, east from the Rio Cauca; in the mountain of Quindiu, in the pass of the central cordillera between Ibague and Carthago, at the extremity of the Ravin of Vermellon ; and lastly, in the province of Quito, between the village of Azogue and Cuenca. The discovery of the cinnabar of Quindiu is due to the patriotic zeal of the celebrated traveller Mutis^ who in the months of August and September, 1786, at his ov/n expense, caused the miners of Sapo to e^^amine that part of the granitic Cordillera wLich extends to the South from the Nevada de Tolima towards the Rio Saldana. The mineral of sulphuretted mercury is not only found in round fragments mixed with small grains of gold in the alluvious earth with which the IRavia CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN' 307 (qtiebrada) de Vermellon at the foot of the table land of Ihague Viejo is filled ; but they know the vein also from which the torrent appears to have detached these fragments, and which traverses the small ravin of Santa Ana. Near the village of Azogue to the North-west of Cuenca, the mercury is found, as in the department of Mont-Tonnerre, in a formation of quartz-freestone with argillaceous cement. This freestone is nearly 1400 metres * in thickness, and contains fossil wood f and asphaltos |. In the mountains of Guazun and Upar, situated to the North-east of Azogue, a vein of cinnabar traverses beds of clay filled with calcareous spar, and contained in free-stone. We discover there the remains of an old gallery of 120 metres in length, § and 11 pits very close to one another. It is be- lieved in the country that this mine was wrought before Huancavelica, and that it was the dis- j^z ^; ""'11 •^ * 4592 feet. Trans. f I found beautiful pieces of 14 decimetres (4| feet English) in length at Silcai-Yacu between Delec and Cuenca. $ At Porche and the Western declivity of the mountains 'Of Coxitambo, I was singularly struck with the geological lelations between the freestone formation of Cuenca and Azogue and the freestone of the mines of Wol&tein and Mijnsterrappel which I visited in 1790, and wh^ch contain also cinnabar, fossil wood, and petfole. ^393 feet Trans. X 2 808 POLITICAL ESSAY OK THE [book it. covery of the latter, which was the occasion of its abandonment. The learned experiments of Don Pedro Garcia, and the works executed by M. Vallejos the intendant of Cuenca in 1792, have not proved that the vein of cin- nabar of Guazun, may be successfully wrought. At five leagues distance from the town of Po- payan, to the North-west near Zeguengue there is a ravin which is called the mercury ravin (quebrada del azogue) without the origm of the name being known. In Peru, cinnabar is found near Valdivui in the province of Pataz, between the eastern bank of the Maranon and the missions of Ouailillas ; at the foot of the great Nevada de BeUiyatOf in the province of Conchucos, to the east of Santa; at the baths of Jesus in the province of Guamalies to the South- east of Guacarachuco ; near Huancavelica in the intendancy of that name; and near Gr.araz in the province of Guailas. From the ax^count books found in the provincial treasury of the town of Chachapoyas (between the Rio Sonche and the Rio Utcubamba) it appears that at the beginnmg of the conquest, mercury mines were wrought in the moderately elevated mountains which extend from Pongo de Man- seriche to near Caxamarquillo and the Rio Huallaga; but from the information which I obtained during my stay in the province ojf CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 309 Jaen, the place where these mines were situa- ted is at present totally unknown. The veins of cinnabar of Guaraz were worked with some degree of success in 1802. There was ex- tracted as much as 84 pounds of mercury from a mass of minerals of 1500 pounds weight. The famous mine of Huancavelica, as to the state of which so many false ideas have been disseminated, is in the mountain of Santa Barbara, to the south of the town of Huan- cavelica, at a horizontal distance of 2772 varas (or 2319 metres*). The height of the tpwn above the level of the sea, is according to Le Gentilf 3752 metres (1925 toises)t. If we add to this the 802 varas^ which the summit of the mountain of Santa Barbara, is higher than the level of the streets of Huancavelica, we shall find the absolute height of this * 7606 feet. Trans. f This height is calculated agreeably to the formula of M. La Place, supposing a temperature of 10 centigrade degrees (50<* Fahr.). According to Le Gentil, (Voyage aux Indes, T. i. p. 76.) the mean height of the barometer at the town of Huancavelica is IS^**. 1". 5. In the ma- nuscript of Mothes, this height is estimated at 18(">. 7''. which would give only 1814* toises, or 3535 metres of absolute elevation. (11,596 feet. Trans.) The great square of the town of Micuipampa, where I found the barometer 18p». 4>'. 7, would then be 84 metres (275 feet. Trans.) higher than the level of the streets of Huancavelica, (Recueil ^Observations Astronomiguest Vol. i. p. 316.) i 12,308 feet. Trans, • -.f ■,u ^ *'■ ■ ' *i i>r1 'Hi 310 POJJTICAL. EfifSAY ON THE Lbow^ '▼• mountain 4422 metres*. The discovery of the great mercury mine^ is ^eoderally attributed to the Indian Gonsalo Abincopa or ^ayim- copa; but it is certain that it goc^ back to a period long* before 1367, since the Incas made use of cinnabar in painting themselves> and procured it from the mountains of I'alcas. The working of the mine of the Cerrode Santa Barbara on account of the Crown, began how- ever only in the month of September, 1570, nearly the same year in which I^ernandez de Velasco introduced the Mexi^au amalgama^ tion into Peru. Mercury is found in the environs of the town of Huancavelica, in two very different man- ners, in beds and in veins. In the great mine of Santa Barbara, the cinnabar is contained in a bed of quartz freestone of nearly 400 metres in thickness, and in a direction of hor. 10 — 11 * 14,506 feet. Trans. This measurement; agrees rery well with the assertion of Ulloa, who relates that he mw the barometer remain at the bottom of tiie mine oi Hoyo Negro at ITP". 2". 2; from which we may con- clude that the bottom of the mine was then 2159 toises, pr 4208 metres of elevation above the level of the ocean (liJ,805 feet Trans. ). ( Ulloa, NoUcias AmericanaSf p. 279.) In this pit then the miners wrought in a point which is 500 metres (1640 feet), higher than che sum^^it pf the Peak of TenerifFe. In the Cerro de Hualgaypc, I have seen g£^.- leries of which the absolute height ei^oeeded 4)050 metres (13,287 feet. Trans.). CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 311 of, the Gern^an coiu|)Jiss, with an innlinatioii of 64" towards tlie west. This freestone, ana- logons to that .of the environs of Paris, and the morm tains o^ Aroma and Cascas, in Peru, resembl^es pure cjuartz. The most part of the speplmens wliich , I exaniined in the geologi- cal cabinet of the Baron de Nordenflycht, exhibit very little clayey cement. The quartz rock which contains tne mercury liiinerals, forms a bed in a calcareous brescia, from which it is only separated in its wall and its roof, by a very, thin stratum of slate clay (schiefer- tfion), which has been frequently confounded with primitive slate. The brescia is covered with a formation of secondary limestone, and the fragments of compact limestone contained in the brescia, seem to indicate that the whole mass of the mountain of Santa Bit^'bara it- self reposes on alpine limestome rock. This last rock (alpenkalkstein), is in fact discovered on the eastern slope of the mountain near Acobamba and Sillacasa. It is still found at very considerable elevations, and is of a blueish grey, and traversed by a great number of small veins of calcareous spar. Ulloa observed there in 1761 petrified shells*, at a height of more I ;:iS * We also found them on the ridge of the Andes, near IVIontan and Micuipampa; Geographie des Plantes, p. 127. See, as to the Pelas|;ic shells observed at great heights in Europe and America, Faujas de Saint-Fond, Essai de^Geo- logief T. ii. p. 61 "—69. A \'. Cr ' I ., t • /•,.! 3J2 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [[book ir. than 4300 metres*. M. de Nordenflycht cardia in also ered and bank of liscoverea pectinites shells, between the villages of Acoria and Aco- bamba, near Huancavelica, at an elevation sur- passing by more than 800 metresf* that of the bank of nummulites found by M. Ramond on the summit of Mont-Perdu. The cinnabar by no means fills the whole quartz bed of the great mine of Santa Barbara; it forms particular strata; and sometimes it is found in small veins, which dreig {se trainent) and unite in masses (stockwerke)* Hence the metalliferous mass is only in general from 60 to 70 metresj in breadth. Native mercury is extremely rare, but the cinnabar is accompa- nied with red iron ore, magnetic iron, galena, and pyrite; and the crevices are frequently variegated with sulphate of lime, calcareous i^par, and fibrous alum (Jederalaun), with cur- vilinear parallel fibres. The metalliferous bed at great depths §, contains a good deal of orpiment, or red and yellow sulphuretted arse- nic. This mixture formerly occasioned the * 14,107 feet. Trans. '" ; " + 2624 feet. Trans, ' - % From 196 to 229 feet. Trans. § Particularly below the depth of 230 varas (629 feet. Trans.). The galena is found nearer the surface of the earth, and even 40 varas lower thiM the gallery of San XaVjbr. . . ^ CHAF. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 313 death of many workmen, who wrought at the distillation of minerals of cinnabar mixed with orpiment, till the government took the resolu- tion of prohibiting* the carrying on the works of Cochapata, in whit;h arsenic abounds the most. I suppose that the vapour called umpef of which the alarming effects are described by Ulloa, is arsenical hydrogen gas; but it has been much more rarely felt than might be be* lieved, from the accounts of the Spanish tra- vellers. The great mine of Santa Barbara ii^ divided into three stories, (pertinencias) which bear the names of Brocal, Comedio, Cochapata. The depth of the mine is 349 varas; and its total length from north to south 536 varas. It is reckoned that 50 quintals of tolerably rich mi- nerals, yield by distillation from 8 to 12 pounds of msrcury. The mineral depository is worked by three galleries, viz: the Socahon de Ulloa, the Socabon de San Frai sco Xavier, and the Socahon de Nuestra Senora de Belem, begun in 1615, and finished in 1642. The gallery cut by the astronomer Don Antonio Ulloa, who as governor of Huancavelica directed the works for some years, is only 75 varas in length and its mouth is almost level with the great square of the town. It would require to be still pro . longed 2000 vara;^, to travei*se the pertintncia de Cochapata. It is the only gallery wkich III .AV*I vi m ,,|5 3^14f TQW^ipAh ESSAY ON; XHE [apoK ly. fplfp\f^ the (Viryection of the metalliferous be4> fpy, th^ two ot^hers, were cut in the solid rock- TIJhe, Socqbp% t^ Beletifi, the most useful oC all tj[|pse dij^repl; WP'^^^s, is 625 varas iii length, a})fl ci^^ the mineral depository at thp deptl^ q( 17^ yajL'a^,,l?Qlo\^ th^ sui^mjit of the raouu- tj^i^ of S^nt^, B^'t^ja. Tl^ galj^iy 9f, Sap X»J^yif^i>^^iished ill V^^v ^: 112 varas, al^o're thpiSiocajl>p|iof Beleiifi. 4JJ ^jh^ese galleries which ha^ye co?)l, imuaeiise s^ms, be;-.0 .•1^9 1693 / 20,000 ^ .-rVv- -y /ritr 1«P4 1610 ; 19,000 ■ .';. ■" :\i .! / 16U 1615 i ,,30,000 '-•' ','''"■•• ,,.,.,; .,,J616 1622 59,463 , * i » i.. h ^6^3 1645 96,600 J ' , ' :f ? * More than 13 feet. Trans, f Noticias sobre la mina de Huancavelica, (M. S. note of M Mothes). < t 136,573,162 lb. Troy. Trans,,, , . ,\ . ««Ai\ XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 31%5 ;■* *f ]b646 1648 20,460 quintals. ['.-'.<; 1048 1650 8,.34a :( ' 1(5.51 1666 109^120 Accovding to this table, the quantity of mer- cury extracted front the great mine of Muan- cavelica, amounted in the first 96. yeans, to the sum of 523,472 quintals* There has be«a obtained in the following peviods, >! < ;.■/'^v^n \i^Qm 1667 to 1672 49^026 quintals 1^73 to 1683 60^000 '^^' We tind no mention in the archives of the treasury, of the produce of the mine between 1684 and 1713; but it was i^ '- »• -' From 1713 to 1724 ^ .41,283 quintals. > -V. :r^i 1725 1736 /I'?' 38,88^ ^J' -'<'«' 1737 1748 66,426 ' "'*'- From, these data, it appears that the mine has generally yielded from four to six thousand quintals of mercury per annum. In the most abundant years between 1586 and 1589, the produce amounted to 10^500 quintals. ' ." Besides the cinnabar which is contained in the bed of quartz freestone, of the €erro de Santa Barbara de Huancavelica, there is also some in this same part of the Cordilleras, especially near Siliacasa, in small veins which traverse the alpine limestone (alpenkalkstein); but these veins which are frequently full of caloadony, do not follow regular directions; they cross and drag frequently, and form nests yi w .1 ' T c,l, 1 316 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. or metallic masses*. For these fifteen years, all the mercury which Huancavelica supplies to the miners of Peru, is derived from these last mineral depositories, the metalliferous bed (erzfloz) of the great mine of Santa Barbara, having been completely abandoned, owing to the falling in which took place in the perti- nencia of the Brocah Avarice and carelessness were the cause of this unfortunate accident. So early as 1780, the directors of the mine had difficulty in furnishing the quantity of mercury required, for the continually increasing wants of the Peruvian amalgamation. The deeper the works became, the cinnabar grew also more impure, and mixed with sulphuretted ar- senic. As the bed forms a mass of an extra- ordinary volume, it could only be worked by longitudinal and transversal^ galleries. To support the roof, pillars were left from distance to distance, as is practised in the coal and salt mines. An intendant of Huancavelica, a lawyer, and a praise-worthy man in other res- pects for his knowledge and integrity, had the temerity to remove these pillars to increase r the produce of the mine. This operation had the effect which every intelligent miner might have easily predicted; the rock deprived of V. * NidoSf holsas y davos {Zusammen-scharende TrihnmerJ, t Jn querundj^eHeV'bau, CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 317 support yielded to the pressure ; the roof tumbled in, and as this falling in took place in the greater part of the upper pertinencia, that of the Brocal, the works in the two inferior per^ tinenciaSf Comedio, and Cochapata; were also obliged to be given up. The master miners accused the intendant, of having removed the pillars to ingratiate himself at the Court of Madrid, by procuring in a very few years a great quantity of mercury. The intendant on his part affirmed, that he had acted alto- gether with the consent of the master miners, who thought the pillars might be replaced by heaps of inibbish. In place of taking a de- cisive part, and working the metalliferous bed in other points, they lost eight years in sending from tifme to time commissaries to the spot to in- stitute a process, and dispute about vain forma- lities. When I left Lima, they were waiting for a decision of the Court; the great mine was shut up; but they had given free per- mission to the Indians from 1795, to work the cinnabar veins which traverse the alpine lime stbne, between Huancavelica and Sillacasa. The anmlal produce of these petty operations, amounted to 3200 or 3500 quintals. Af by law, all the mercury must be delivered into the treasury (caxas reales) of Huancavelica, I shall give from the account books the produce between 1790 and 1800. i i 318 ^LIUCAL ESSAY ON THE L^ook i^- III 1790 - - 2021 quintals 37 pounds. *f 1701 - - 1795 1702 - - 2054 69 14 'i i-i 1703 . _ 2032 68 1794 - - 4152 95 • •■.Si A-. 1795 - - 4725 47 . '. . , : 1796 - - 4182 14 1797 - - 3927 32 ■ ' -rrVi 1798 - - 3422 58 1799 - - 3355 92 1800 m. . 3232 83 It has been asked whether in the present state of thing's it would be prudent to clear out the old works of the great mine*, or if they ought to en gage in new trials. From the memoirs drawn up by the Baron de Norden- flycht, it appears to be absolutely false that the mine of Santa Barbara was exhausted when they were so impinident as to remove the pillars. In the pertinenca de Cochapata, at 228 varas of depth, cinnabar minerals have been found, equally rich with those of the Brocal; but as for ages, the works have been under the direction of ignorant men, detitute of all knowledge of subterra- ♦ Before the year 1795, seven thousand alpacas and llamas led and governed by intelligent dogs carried the mercury minerals from the Cerro De Santa Barbara, to the furnaces supplied with aludel which are situated near the Town of Huaucarelica. < : , v ,»* CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM or NEVV SPAIN. 319 neoiis geometry, they have given the work the iform of a cylinder, whose axis is in- clined from north to south. Near the sm*- face in the Brcal, the metalliferous bed has almost never been wrought on the south side ; but on the other hand, in the depth at Cochapata, the galleries have been for a very small way <'arried northwards. This particu- lar disposition of the works has given reason for believing the cinnabar is lost towards the bottom of the mine; but if it has been found in less abundance, it is because, in perpetually deepening towards the south, they entered in- sensibly into the sterile part of the bed of qtiartz or freestone. Notwithstanding the justness of these con- siderations, it seems by no means prudent to advise the clearing out of the old mine ; for this dperalion would require ' ^n immense expense, and the old works were so badly disposed that it is impossible to derive any advantage from them. The metalliferous bed of the Cerro de Santa Barbara, extends many leagues beyond Sillac^sa, even as far as above the village of Guachiicalpa : and by beginning to work on points which have hi- therto remained untouched, there would hardly be a doubt of the success of the operations ; for nothing can be a stronger proof "of 'tfte abundance of the mercury in this 'j[i1art"of the i on 4 ,.i?'^: m m i M 820 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv, Cordilleras, than the produce of the petty labours of the Indians. If small veins of cinnabar merely uncovered at their surface yield , annually, on an average 3,000 quintals, we cannot entertain a doubt that works of investiga- tion with directed intelligence will one day pro- duce more merctiry than is requisite for all the amalgamation of Pern. We may also hope that in proportion as the inhabitants of the new world shall learn to profit from the natural wealth of the soil, the improvement of chemical knowledge, will also discover pro- cesses of amalgamation by which less mercury will be consumed. In diminishing the con- sumption of this metal, and increasing the produce of the indigenous mines, the Ameri- can miners will gradually learn to dispense with the mercury of Europe and China. To complete the view of the mineral sub- stances of New Spain it remains for us to name coal, salt, and soda. The coal of which I saw in the valley of Bogota* beds at 2500 metres of elevationf above the level of the sea, in general appears to be very rare in the Cordilleras. In the kingdom of New Spain it has only yet been discovered in New Mexico ; * Near Tausa, Canoas, and in the Cerro de Suba, in die road from Santa F^ de Bogota to the salt mine of Zipaquira. t 8201 feet. Trans, «HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 321 but it is however probable that it may be found in the secondary lands which extend to the north and north-west of the Rio Colo- rado, as well as in the plains of San 1m\^ Potosi, and Texas. There is already a coal mine near the sources of the Rio Sabina. In general coal and rock salt abound to the west of the Sierra Verde near the lake of Timpanogos ; in Upper Louisiana ; and in those vast northern regions contained between the stonif mountains of Mackenzie, and Hud- son's Bay.* ^;-^.,- ,• ,•> .,, In the whole inhabited part of New Spain, there is no rock salt like that of Zipaquira in the kingdom of Santa Fe, or of Wieliczka in Poland. The muriate of soda is no where found collected in banks or masses of consi- derable volume; and is merely disseminated in the argillaceous lands which cover the ridge of the Cordilleras. The table lands of Mexico resemble in this respect those of Thibet and Tartary. We have already obsei-ved in our description of the valley of Tenochtitlan,< III III ; i I, 18 * There are salt springs on the banks of the Lake Dauphin and the Lake of Slaves fdes esclavesj. Coals have been found near the river Mackenzie, in the latitude of 66" ; ai^d at the foot of the stony mountains, in the 52**, and 56° of latitude (Voyag« de Maftk«x«i«, ▼ol. iii. pp. 332—334.) VOL. III. Y H i^22 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iy. that the Indians who inhabit the caverns of the porphyritic rock called Peflon de los Bafios, wash their jjroiinds which are impreg- nated with muriate of soda. It is a received opinion in the country that this salt like the nitrate of potash is formed by the influence of the atmospheric air; and it in fact appears that the muriate of soda is merely found in the upper bed of earth to the depth of eight centimetres.* The Indians pay a small sum to the proprietors of the soil for the permission of carrying off* the first muriatiferous bed, knowing that after a few months they will iind a crust of clay full of muriate of soda and lime, nitrate of potash and lime, and carbonate of soda. M. del Rio, a distinguished chemist proposed to make accurate experi- ments on these phenomena, by washing grounds before they had again been exposed to contact with the atmospheric air. The most abundant salt mine of Mexico, is the lake of the Penon Blanco in the intendancy of San Luis Potosi, of which the bottom is a bed of argill which contains from 12 to 13 per cent, of muriate of soda. We ought also to observe, that were it not for the amalgamation of silver mine- rals, the consumption of salt would be very in- considerable in Mexico, because the Indians who "* 3 inches. Trans* ' ' m I "»■ •iiAP. XI.] KINGDOiM OF NEW SPAIN. 3:^3 constitute a great part of the population, have never abandoned their old custom of seasonintf meat with cAi/e* or pimento instead of salt. In taking a general view of the mineral wealth of New Spain, far from being struck with the value of the actual produce, we are astonished that it is not much more consider- able. It is easy to foresee that this branch of national industry will continue augmenting as the country shall become better inhabited, as the smaller proprietors shall enjoy more fully their natural rights, and as geolo- gical and chemical knowledge shall become more generally diifused. Several obstacles have already been removed since the year 1777, or since the establishment of the su- preme council of mines, which has the title of Real Tribunal (general del importante cuerpo de Mineria de Nueva EspaTia, and iiolds its sittings in the palace of the viceroy at Mexico. Till that period the proprietors of mines were not united into a corporation, or the court ■A ill i m '^m * Chilli or ahi. Seevol. ii. p. 505. If we estimate the annual consumption of muriate of soda in Europe at 6 kilo- grammes a head (13.2 lib. avoird. Trans.) we dare not estimate the consumption of the copper coloured race at More than half a kilogramme (about a pound. Trans.) T U I m'l ii24 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. of Madrid at least would not recognize them* as an established body by a constitutional act. The legislation of the mines was formerly under infinite confusion, because, at the be- ginning of the conquest, under the reign of Charles the oth, a mixture c»f Sppiish, Bel- gic and German laws were introduced into Mexico, f»^J these laws from the difference of local circumstances were inapplicable to those distant regions. The erection of the supreme council of mines, of which the chieff bears a name of celel)rity in the annals of chemical science, was followed by the esta- blisl ment of the school of mines, and the com- pilation of a new code of laws, published under the title of Ordonanzas de la Mineria de Nueva Espana. The council or Tribunal general is composed of a director, two depu- ties from the body of miners, an assessor, two consultors, and a judge, who is head of the juzgado de alzadas de mineria. On the Tribunal general depend the thirty-seven crnm- cils of provincial mines or diputaciones de mi- nerittf of which the names have been already * Representacion gug a nomhre de la Mineria de esta Nueva Espana hacen at Rey nuestro Senor los Apoderados de die. D. JUan Lucas de Lassaga y D. Joaquin Ve» lasquez etc Leon (Mexico 1774) p, 40. f Don Fausto de Elhuyar. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 325 mentioned. The proprietors of mines (mi- iieros) send their representatives to the pro- vincial councils, and the two general deputies who reside at Mexico, are chosen from among the deputies of the districts. The body of miners of New Spain has besides, apoderudo9 or representative proprietofs at Madrid, for treating immediately with the ministry, as to the interest of the colonies, in whatever res- pects the mines. The students of the colegio de mineria, instructed at the expence of the state, are distributed by the Tribunal among the head towns of the different diputaciones. It cannot be denied that the representative system followed in the new organization of the body of Mexican miners, possesses great ad- vantages. It preserves public spirit in a coun- try where the citizens, scattered over an im^ mense surface, do not sufficiently feel thp community of their interests; and it gives the supreme council a facility of collecting considerable sums, whenever any great or useful undertaking is proposed. It is to be desired, however, that the director of the tribunal should possess more influence on th^ prp- gress of the operations in the provinces, aiid that the proprietors of mines less jealous of what they call their liberty, were more en- lightened as to their true interests. T^jne ^upr$m^ Council po^esfues ^ iAcppqi^ m i ; ill i ,, m I, Hi"' i i 32(5 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. of more than a million of livres tournois*. The kino- granted it on its establishment two thirds of the royal right of signiorage which amounts to a real de plata, or the eighth part of a double piastre per marc of silver deli- vered in to the mint. This million of reve- nue is destined for the salariesf of the members of the tribunal, the support of the school of mines, and to a fund for assistance or advances (avios) to the proprietors of the mines. These ad- vances as we have already observed have been given with more liberality than discernment. A miner of Pachuca, at one time obtained 170,000 piastres J ; and the share holders of the rnina de agua of Temascaltepec, received 214,000 piastres; but this assistance i^ ever pro- duced any thing§. The tribunal during the last years of the war of Spain with France and England, was compelled to make a gra- tuitous present to the court of Madrid, of two millioos and a half of francs, and to lend it fifteen millions besides, of which only six • 1^40,816 Sterling. f These salaries amount to 25,000 piastres ( ^^5250 Ster- ling. Trans.) The director general has only 6000 (jei260;; and the seminary or school of mines, in which the Creole Spaniards and noble Indians are educated, consumes only 30,000 piastres (jff6300 Sterling. Trans.) per annum. % £35,700 Sterling. 7rans. § See the account rendered to the electors, published tinder the title ofEstado general que manifiesta a los vocales los eaudales del Tribunal de Mineria desde 1777 hasta 1788. I CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 327 millions have ever yet been repaid. To support these extraordinary expences they were compelled to have recourse to borrowing; and at present the half of the revenues of the su- preme council of mines is employed in paying the interest of that capital. The^^ have increased one half the signorial impost^ till the period of the liquidation of the debts contracted by the tribunal ; and in place of e\g\ii (jrainSt the miners are obliged to pay twelve* per marc of silver. In this state of things, the tribunal can no longer make advances to the miners, who for want of funds are frequently unable to carry on useful undertakings. Great capitals formerly employed in mining, are now destined to agriculture, and the proprietors of mines would again require those establishments (buncos de plata, compahias refaccionarias'f c) de habiliiacion y avios) which advanced to the miners considerable sums of money at a large interest. All the metallic wealth of the Spanish colo- nies is in the hands of individuals. The go- vernment possesses no other mine than that of "'CI 4. J •M{ \m * Ocho granos de Setioreoget y quatro granos temporalmente impuestos. At Lima the tribunal receives a real per marc. f Real cedula sobre la compania refaccionaria propuesta por el Genoves Domingo Reborato, del 12 Marzo 1744. — Don Josef Bustamente, Informe sobre la htibilitacion de los Mineros, 1748. i328 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Huancavelica in Peru, which has been lonsr abandoned ; and it is not even proprietor of the great levels, as several sovereigns of Germany are. The individuals receive from the king a grant of a certain number of measures on the direction of a vein or bed ; and they are only held to pay very moderate duties on the mine- rals extracted from the mines, which have been valued at an average for all Spanish America, at 11 1 per cent of the silver, and 3 per cent of the gold*. In New Spain the proprietors of mines pay the government the half of the Jifth or tenth, the duty of one per cent (derecho del iino poir ciento) and the duty of coinayef called derecho de monedage y seTioreage. Ti'Js last duty es- tablished in 1560 by a law of Philip II. and increased at the end of the 17th century ■[•, now amounts to 3i reals per marc, of silver, 68 reals being computed in the marc with half a real of expences, and the proprietor of the silver only receiving back 64 reals. Of this 3i reals, 2f are accounted derecho de monedage and 1 real derecho de seTioreage. The revenue which the crown derives from * Bourgoing, T. ii. p. 284. f Recapilacion de leyes de Castilla, de 1598, Lib, v. I'll, xxi. n. 9 — Lei^ 8. Tit. xxiii. Lib. iv. de Indias — Real cedida dirlgida al Virey Conde de Moctezuma, y dada en Madrid a 26deJunio,del698. CHAP, xi.j KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. -529 200,000 marcs of silver equal to 1,700,000 piastres * is estimated f thus : piastres. In DerecJio de Diezmo .... 160,000 Derecho de unopor Ciento . . 16,000 Derecho de monedage y seTioreage 86,750 Total 262,7.50 % 1 nearly 16| per cent. In discounting the profit of government under the title of coinage or the totality of the duty, we find that the duties paid by the proprietors of mines, only amount to 13 per cent. To give a more de- tailed explanation of the duties levied by the government, we must distinguish agreeably to information procured by me during my stay at Guanaxuato, the pure silver from that which is mixed with gold ; for if the silver contains less than thirty grains of gold per marc of silver, the mint does not pay the gold to the indi- viduals. * je 357,000 sterling. Trans. f Representacion de la mineria de Nueva £lipaaa, de 1774., p. 53. §^5, X jfi 55,177 sterling. Trans* It' ^^f m 830 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. An ingot of silver unmixed with gold, extracted by the pro- cess of amalgamation, weigh- ing 135 marcs, at 11 deniers 22 grains .... value Expences. Duty of one per cent. and tenth . . 127p. 6r. Duty of assi "ng . 4 0 Duty of 6oc«c*o levied in the treasury . 1 0 Duty of bocado levied in the mint . 0 4 Duty of signiorage 13 6 piastres, renls. 1171 6 147 0 Remain to the proprietor 1024 6 If the silver is procured by smelting, and be- low 11 deniers 19 grains, we must add the ex- pences of affinage, which amount to 8 ma^ ravedis per marc. An ingot of auriferous silver at the rate of 12 deniers, 19 grains of silver, and 50 grains of gold, weighing 133 marcs, 2 ochavas .... value In silver In gold piastres, reals. 1133 3 194 0 1327 S •HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 331 Expences. • Duty of one per cent and tenth . . 123p. 6r. Duty on gold at 3 per 254 S cent .... •5 6 Duty of assaying . 6 0 Duty of 6oc«c/o . 1 4 Apartado . . . 91 7 Consumo . . . . 12 2 Senoreage . : . . 13 2 Remain to the proprietor 1073 0 If the ingot is so rich in gold that it contains more than a half of its weight of that metal , the expence of assay rises to 4 reals per marc. It may be seen from these examples that the individual who delivers his silver into the provincial treasuries of Mexico, in exchange for specie, pays in the first case to govern- ment 121, and in the second 19 f per cent. This impost excites the proprietors of the mines to the fraudulent extraction of the precious metals. Notwithstanding the expe- rience of so many ages, the court of Madrid has several times attempted* to increase the duty of signioragej without reflecting that this * Representadon de la mineria de Nneva Espaha sobrt ia doUe txacdon del Sgnoreage, dt 1766. in': 332 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. imprudent step would discourage individuals from bringing' in their metals to the mint. It is the same with direct imposts on gold and silver, as with the profit which the go- vernment attempts to derive from the sale of mercury. The mining operations will increase in proportion as these imposts shall diminish, and as the mercury which is indispensable in the process of amalgamation, shall be fur- nished at a lower price. It is astonishing that a justly celebrated author, who had the soundest ideas relative to the exchange of metals, should have defended the duties of signiorage*. From the information given by us in this chapter, it is almost unnecessary to agitate the question if the produce of the silver mines of Mexico has attained its maximum, or if there is any probability that it will still augment in the time to come. We have seen that three districts of mines, those of Guanaxuato, Catorce, and Zacatecas, alone furnish more than the half of the whole silver of New Spain. One mine which has only been known for forty years, that of Valenciana has sometimes f alone furnished in one year as much * Adam Smith, Book iv. chap. 6. t For example io 179Z. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW .SPAIN. 3*1^5 silver as the whole kingdom of Peru. It is but thirty years since the veins of the Real de Catorce bej>an to be worked, and yet by the discovery of these new mines the metallic pro- duce of Mexico was increased nearly one sixth. If we consider the vast extent of ground oc- cupied by the Cordilleras, and the immense number of mineral depositories which have never ypt been attempted*, we may easily conceive that New Spain, under a better ad- ministration, and inhabited by an industrious people, will alone yield in gold and silver, the hundred and sixty three millions of francs, at present furnished by the whole of America. In the space of a hundred years, the annual pro- duce of the Mexican mines, rose from twenty- iive, to one hundred and ten millions of francs. If Peru does not exhibit an equal augmentation of wealth, it is because this un- fortunate country has not increased its popu- lation, and because being worse governed than Mexico, industry found more difficulties to overcome. Besides, nature has deposited the precious metals in that country at enormous elevations, in situations where on account of the very high price of provisions, the working be- comes extremely expensive. The abundance I ■' If * EspecMll/ Ibon Bobnos to the Presidio de Fren- teras. 834 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. of silver is in general such in the chain of the Andes, that when we reflect on the mimhcr of mineral depositories which remain untouched, or which have been very superficially wroug'ht, we are tempted to believe, that the Europeans have yet scarcely begun to enjoy the inexhausti- ble fund of wealth contained in the New World. When we cast our eyes over the district of mines of Guanaxuato, which on the small space of a few thousand square metres, supplies an- nually the seventh or eighth part of all the American silver, we shall see that the 550,000 marcs which are annually extracted from the famous veta madre are the produce of only two mines, Valenciana and the ii le of the Mar- quis de Rayas, and that more than four fifths of this vein have never yet been attempted. It is very probable, however, that in uniting the two mmes of Fraustros and Mellado, and clear- ing them out, a mine would be found of equal wealth with that of Valenciana. The opinion that New Spain produces only perhaps the third part of the precious metals which it could supply under happier political circumstances, has been long entertained by all the intelligent persons who inhabit the principal districts of mines of that country, and is formally announced in a Memoir presented by the deputies of the body of miners to the king in 1774, a produc- tion drawn up with great wisdom and know^ CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 335 ledge of local circumstances. Europe would be inundated with precious metals, if they were to work at the same time, and with all the means afforded by the improvements in the art of mining-, the mineral depositories of Bohinos, Batopilas, Sombre: ete, Rosario, Pachuca, Moran, Zultepec, Chihuahua, and so many others which have been lon^ and justly cele- brated. I am not ignorant, that in thus express- ing myself, I am in direct contradiction with the authors of a great number of works of Poli tical Economy, in which it is iiffirmed that the mines of America are partly exhausted, and partly too deep ever to be worked with any ad- vantage. It is true no doubt, that the expences of the mine of Valenciana have doubled in the space of ten years, but the profits of the pro- prietors have still remained the same ; and this increase of expence is much more to be attributed to the injudicious direction of the operations than to the depth of the pits. They forget that iu Peru, the famous mines of Yauricocha or Pasco, which annually supply more than 200,000 marcs of silver, are yet only from thirty to forty metres in depth *. It appears to me superfluous to refute opinions which are at variance with the numerous facts brought forward by me in this chapter; and we are not to be astonished at Mi Mi * From 98 to 131 f est. Tram, aaO POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [nooK iv. the extreme levity with which we judge in Europe of the state of the mines of the New World, when we consider how little accuracy is displayed by the most celebrated politicians in their investigations regarding the state of the mines of their own country. But what is the proportion between the pro- duce of the Mexican mines, and the produce of the other Spanish colonies ? We shall succes- sively examine the wealth of Peru, Chili, the kingdom of Buenos Ayres, and New Grenada. It is known that the oUier great political divi- sions, namely, the four capitanias generates of Guatimala, the Havannah, Portorico, and Ca- racas, contain no mines which are wrought. I shall not follow the vague and imperfect data to be found in several very recent works, but shall discuss only what I have been able to procure from official papers communicated tome. I. There has been given into the mint at Lima, marcs of silver. marcs of goW. Prom 1764 to 1 772—6,102,139 and 129,080 1772 — 1791--8,478,367 — 80,846 The value of the gold and silver* amounted in the first of these periods to 68,944,522 * Unanue, Guiapolitica del Peru, 1790, p. 45. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. -337 piastres*, and in the second to 85,434^40 piastresf, which on an annual average of gold and silver is . , Prom 1754 to 1772—3,830,000 piastresj. 1772 — 1791— 4,496,000§. The produce of gold has diminished while that of silver has increased. In 1790, the produce of the mines of Peru|| amounted to 534,000 marcs of silver and 6,380 marcs of gold. Between 1797 and 1801 there was coined at Lima gold and silver to the amoimt of 26,032,653 piastresf . The following table points out the produce of the mines year after year**. !>•• i.../ f':< * iS14,478,349 Sterling. Trans, t iS17,941,308 Sterling. Trans. X 4^804,300 Sterling. Trans, ' '' $ 18943,026 Sterling. Trans. '.;.;ii II Mercurio peruana. Vol. i. p. 59. f 1^5,466,000 Sterling. Trans ** Ttazon de lo que se ha acufiado en la real casa de moneda de Lima. (MS.) .y» i:ik VOL. III. ^'38 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Coinage of the Mint at Lima. Years. Value of g^old in piastres Value of silver in piastres. Value of ^old and silver in piastres. 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1 583,724 535,810 496,486 378,596 328,051 4,516,206 4,758,094 5,512,345 4,399,409 4,5':»3,932 5,099,930 5,293,904 6,008,831 4,778,005 4,851,983 Total in 5 years 2,322,667 23,709,986 26,032,a53 In the five preceding years the produce amounted to 30 millions; so that we may con- sider six millions of piastres as the meami term for one year, the produce of gold and silver haviny: declined in 1800 and 1801 on account of the maritime war which impeded the impor- tation of mercury as well as iron and steel from Karopt'. We shall adopt however a smaller sum, viz. 3,150 marcs of gold, and 570,000 marcs of silver, the value of which amounts altogether to 5,300,(^K)0 piastres '^^. The places in I'tru most celebrated for their metallic wealth, or the magnitude of the works are in following the cham of the Andes from north to south : in the province of Caxamarcttf the C.^rro de Gualgayoc, near Micuipampa, Fuentestiana, and Pilancones; in the province * j«l,U3,000 Sterling. Trans, CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW J^P^iilN. ii-3i> o^ ChachnpoyaSf S. TLomaa, Las Playas tie Balzasy and the Pampas lei Sacvanifinto, between the Rio Gualla^a and VUcajale; in, the Province of Guamachucot the town of Guamachuco (with the Reales de San Fi'an- cisco, d'Angasmai'ca, and de la Mina Hedi- onda), Sogon, Sanagoran, San Jose, and San- tiago de Chucu ; in the province of Pataz^ the town of Parta^, Vuldivuyo, Tayabaniba, Soledad, and Chilia; in the province of Con- chucos, the town of Conchncos, Siguas, Tani- billo, Pomapamba, Chacas, Guari, Chavni, Guanta, and Ruriquinchay ; in tht; province of HuamalieSf Gualianca ; in the jMrovince oi Caxatamho, Chanca, and the town of Caxa- tambo; in the province ot Tarmac the Cerro de Yauricocha (two leagues to the north of Pasco) Chaupimarca, Areniliupaia, Santa CathLilina^ Caya grande, Yanacanclie, Santa Rosa , md the Cerro de Cohjuisirca ; in the province of Huarochiri* , Conchiipata ; in the province of Huancarflica, San .fiian de Luca- nas ; and lantly in the confiiitb of the (j^si |t of Atacama, Huantajayti. I have followed in tliis long < ; inneratiuii tjie old divisioii of Pern into provii ces ; but since ii j ij ....... ,1 * Tke moufitftiiM of HuarochiH kna Canta contain excellent coal ; but on account of tlie high price of car- riage, they cannot be used at Lima. Cobalt and Antiiuony have also been discovered at Huarochiri. / '2 iK'l m iM *<#!' >'l L ,.»«r«Mt^MaM 340 POLITICAL KSSAY ON THE [book iv. the frontier of the kingdom of Buenos- Ay res has been made to pass to the west of the lake of Chnctiito, between the lake and the city of Cuzod, and since on the one hand the kingdom of Qnito and the provinces of Jaen de Braca- moros and Maynas, and on the other tlie govern- ments of Paz, Oruro, Plata, and Potosi have been separated from Peru, this last kingdom is divided into seven intend ancies, TruxillOt Tarma, Huancavelicu, Limaf Gvamanya, Are- (jmssa, and Cuzco, of which each comprehends several departments or partidos*. We can only aiTive at false results when, as has been done in works of the greatest estimation, we compare the produce of the mines of old Peru, with that of the present Peru, which since the year 1778, includes within its limits neither the Cerro del Potosi nor the mines of Oruro and Paz. The Peruvian gold partly comes from the provinces of Patazf and Huailas, where it * The old provinces of Pataz, Guaraachuco, and Chacha- puyas are now considered as jiartidos of the intendancy of Truxillo ; and those of Caxatambo, Huailas, Conchucos, and H uunmlies, belong to the intendancy of Tarma. The capitals of the sRven intendancies are : Limn with 52,600 inhabitants; (hinmanga with 26,000; Arequipa with '24,000; TiiixiDo with /J800; Huahcavelica with 5200; Tarma with BGOl); nnd (Juzco with 32,000. (Guia poll- ticiif e.cchsiastica y rnUitar del Vireynato del Peruy para el at(o n9tif par Don Jose HipoHtu UnanucJ. t Among the five districts of mines of the partido of CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAINJ 341 is extracted from veins of quartz which traverse primitive rocks, and partly from Lavaderos established on the banks of the Alto Maranon, in Xhid partido oi Chachapoyas. As in Mexico, almost the whole produce is derived from the mines of Guanaxuato, Catorce, Zacatecas, Real del Monte, and New Biscay, so in Peru nearly the whole silver is extracted from the g^reat mines of Yauricocha or Lauri- cocha (commonly called mines of Pasco and the Cerro de Bombon*) and those of Gualgayoc or CliotUf and Huantajaya (pronounced Guan- ta-ha-ya). The mines of Pasco, which are the worst wrought in all Spanish America, were dis- covered by Huari Capca an Indian in 1630; and they annually furnish nearly two millions of piastres. To form a just idea of the enor- mous mass of silver which nature has deposited in the bowels of these calcareous mountains, at an elevation of more than four thousand metres (13 thousand feet) above the level of the ocean, Pataz which we named above, only that of ChiUa furnishes silver. * The high table land of the Cordilleras on which we find the small lake de los Reyes, to the south of the Cerro de Yauricocha, is called the Pamha de Bombon. We must not seek the position of Pasco on the map of La Cruz, but on the map of the Rio Huallagu, drawn up by Father Sobieviela, and published in 1791 by the Sociedad de /os Amanies del pais de Lima. m M m m J i 342 POUTICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. we must bear in mind that the bed of argenti- ferous oxide of iron of Yauricocha has been wroug-ht without interruption since the begin- ning of the seventeenth century, and that within the last twenty years more than five millions of marcs of silver have been extracted from it, while the greatest part of the pits are not more than thirty metres in depth, and none oi them one hundred and twenty metres. The water which is very abundant in these mines is drawn off, not by hydraulical wheels or horse haritels as in Mexico, but by pumps moved by men, so that notwithstanding the small depth of these miserable excavations which go by the names of pits and galleries, the drawing off the water from the mines is excessively expensive. In the mine of Lima, the expence amounted a few years ago to more than a thousand piastres per week. The mines of Yauricocha would supply the same quantity of silver as Guanaxuato, if they would but con- struct hydraulical machines or steam engines, for which tliey might make use of the turf of the lake of Giluacocha. The metalliferous bed (manto de plata) of Yauricocha appears at the surface for a length of 4800 metres* and a breadth of 2-iOOt. The follow uig table ex- tracted from the books of the provincial treasury < i; I T' • 15,747 feet. Trnm. t 7217 feet. Tram CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 343 of Pasco, specifics the number and weight of the ingots of silver smelted at Pa^co, between the years 1792 and 1801. ■ ; Mining operations of Yauricocha. Periods^ Ingots. Marcs of silver. 1792 1052 183,598 ; n 1793 1325 234,943 . 1794 1621 291,254 . 1795 : 1550 279,622 ■ 1796 1561 227,514 . 1797 1340 242,949 ! 1798 1478 271,862 1799 1237 228,356 1800 1198 281,481 1801 914 237,435 Total of 10 years 13,276 2,479,014 It appears from this table that ^the produce of Pasco has almost never been below two hun- dred thousand marcs* and that it amounted in 1794 and 1801 nearly to the sum of three hun- dred thousand marcs of silverf. The mines of Gualgayoc and Micuipampa, commonly called Chota, which I had occasion to visit very minutely in 1802, were only dis- covered in 1771 by Don Rodriguez de Ocaiio t I * 131,2631b. troy. Trans. t 19.6,894 ih. troy. Trans, 344 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. a European Spaniard. In the time of the Incas, the Peruvians wrought veins of silver in the Cerro de la Lin near Cutervo, at Chupi- quiyacu, to the west of the small town of Micui- pampa, where the thermometer descends almost every night to the freezing point, and which is seven hundred metres* higher than the town of Quito. Immense wealth has heen found even at the surface both in the mountain of Gualga- yoc, which rises like a fortified castle in the midst of the plain, and at Fuentestiana, at Cormolache, and at la Pampa de Navar. In this last plain for an extent of more than half a square league wherever the turf has been removed, sulphuretted silver has been extracted and filaments of native silver adhere to the roots of the gramina. Frequently the silver is found in masses (clavosy remolinos) as if smelted portions of this metal had been poured upon a very soft clay. The produce of the mines of Gualgayoc or Chota is very unequal in proportion to the inconstancy of the veins which traverse at Fuentestiana and Cormolache, calcareous lime- stone; at Gualgayoc and the Purgatorio as well as at the Cerro de San Jose, horn-stone, called pmiizo. This horn-stone forms a sub- ordinate bed in the calcareous rock as has been clearly recognized on digging the pits of Chiropampa to the east of the Purgatorio» ' • 2296 feet. Trans. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 345 near the Ravin de Chiguera. All the mines comprehended under the name of mines of Gualgayoc, on the Partido de Chota, have furnished to the provincial treasury of Truxillo between the month of April 1774, and the month of October 1802, the sum of 1,912,327 marcs of silver* or at an average 67,193 marcs an- nuallyf. '. , -* ,:- ,^:^r, : . .' . • ...,., J i i Period*. Weight. • ■ • / Number of ingots Duty of fifui :U\ ' \ i of silver. Marcs. Ounces. XlAlAl* ' " ' T . ".a.*:. I % Piastres. iu 1774 182 34,403 4 33,85^ / . 9 5 300 57,894 5 56,941 6 432 84,826 1 82,985 7 302 60,015 3 59,051 8 327 65,062 3 64,034 9 324 64,203 7 63,214 1780 306 60,981 0 60,021 1 608 61,4-35 4 60,387 2 429 73,698 6 72,462 3 329 58,713 6 57,808 4 335 61,564 0 60,440 5 397 73,604 2 72,373 6 398 73,305 6 72,024 7 450 83,633 0 82,209 8 404 73,835 5 74,371 \ 9 469 87,484 0 83,469 1790 645 119^83 5 117,241 1 515 105,383 2 103,618 2 731 134,084 4 131,939 3 406 72,904 6 71,713 4 480 86,876 1 85,505 5 434 79,309 4 78,047 6 428 77,997 5 76,755 7 378 67,789 3 66,721 8 501 90,015 4 88,600 9 607 108,591 6 106,889 1800 392 70,595 6 69,471 1 255 45,378 3 44,626 2 267 48,198 6 47,413 Total in 11,791 2,180,470 3 2,144,179 29 years. ^ r. CHAP. H.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 347 This table which was framed at my request in the offices of the intendancy exhibits the quantity of silver given into the Cayana de Truxillo, as well as the .duties of tenth and one and a half per cent, paid to the king. Of 11,791 ingots, nearly an eighth part or 1450 came from the partidos of Guamachuco and Conchuco. I could not procure tlie produce of the Cerro de Gualgayoc since the discovery of the mines in 1771, to 1774. These years were undoubtedly the most abundant of all ; but as the money was sent at that period to Lima, the archives of Truxillo could furnish no information relative to them. It is very reasonably believed that under a more en- lightened government, the Cerro de Gualgayoc, would become another Potosi. In fact its mi- nerals are richer than those of Potosi, and they are more constant in their produce than those of Huantajaya, and easier to work than those of Yauricocha. The mines of Huantajaya, surrounded with beds of rock salt are particularly celebrated on account of the great masses of native silver which they contain in a decomposed gangue ; and they furnish annually between 70 and 80 thousand marcs of silver*. The mu- riate of conchoidal sii^^er, sulphuretted silver, m n ■i^' %\ 4H m * From 45,942 to 52,505 lb. troy. Tram. 348 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. galena with small grains, quartz, carbonate of lime, accompany the native silver. These mines are situated in tlir partido of Arica, near the small port of Yquique *, in a desert entirely destitute of water. A project has long been entertained of carrying fresh water to it for the use of tlo men and cactle, and water from the sea for the amalgamation works. In 1758 and 1789 two pepitas oi massive silver were discovered in the mines of Coronet and Loysa, the one weighing eight and the other two quintals. The gentle elevation of the mines of Huan- tajaya, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean is a singular contrast with the masses of vitreous silver found on the summit of the Cerro de Gualgayoc at a height of 4080 metresf; and it proves the vagueness of the systematical ideas advanced by celebrated geologists relative to the distribution of the metals according to the variety of climates and latitudes. UUoa after travelling over a great part of the Andes, affirms that silver is peculiar to the high table lands of the Cordilleras, called Punas or Pa- ramoSf and that gold on the other hand abounds iu the lowest, and consequently warmest re- * Along the coast of Taparaca. t 13,385 feet. Trans, «HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 349 g-ions* ; but this learned traveller appears to have forgot that in Peru the richest provinces in gold are the particles of Pataz and Hu- ailas, which are on the ridge of the Cor- dilleras. The Incas drew immense quantities of gold from the plains of Curimayo to the north-east of the town of Caxamarca, at more than 3400 metres f of elevation. It has also been extracted from the right bank of the Rio de Micuipampa, between the Cerro de San Jose, and the plain called by the na- tives, Choropampa or plain of shells, on account of an enormous quantity of ostracites, cardium and other petrifications of sea shells contained in the formation of alpine limestone of Gual- gayoc. Considerable masses of gold have been found there, disseminated in branches and fila ments, in veins of red and vitreous silver at more than 4000 metres of elevation above the level of the ocean J. As to the alluvions grounds in which the lavauy »o« of gold of Choco are es- tablished, and those of Sonora and Brazil, are we to be surprised on finding them rather at the bottom than the tops of mountains ? If tin § appears an exception to the law of nature, • VUoa, Noticias Americanos. 1772, p. 223 and 236. + 11,154 feet. Trans. tl3,lS5 feet. Trans. f For iisstarice, tlie tin of the Lavaderos (Waschxinn) of th« sumiuit of the Fichtelgebirge. I hS :\ m m mi •m ^■ .^^ ^ •''»**>. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) I I.I 11.25 ■ailM 125 £ U£ 12.0 U 1 1.6 I HiDtographic Scierices Corporation ^ i\ <^ 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WnSTIR.N.Y. 14SN (716)t72-4S03 ^■ ^ 305 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book !▼• it is undoubtedly because the granitic becl% in which it was primitively contained, have been decomposed in their place. - ' v:^ The process of amalgamation of silver mi> nerals followed in Peru, since 1571, is the same as that which is used in Mexico. In the two countries the schlich is manufactured according to the rules prescribed by Medina, Barba Corso, de Leca and Corosegan*a ; but generally speaking, amalgamation is practised with more care and more intelligence by the Mexican miners at Guanaxuato and Zacateoaf;, than by the miners of Peru. In New Spain the expence of amalgamation is generally es- timated at 87 piastres 4 reals for one hundred quintals of minerals containing four ounces of silver per quintal, of which sum, 25 piastres go for waste of mercury. As three hundred quintals produce fifty marcs of silver, which according to the common price of silver * at the mines are worth 362 piastres, it follows that the expeuce of amalgamation amounts nearly to 24 per cent, of the value of the Mlver. Bat in Peru, where the mercury of ♦ At •» piastres, 2 reals. Garces, p. 144, In the beginning of die serenteenth century the expences of amalgamation at Potosi, for a caxon of ore weighing 5 quintals, and containing 20 marcs of silver, were only estimated at 30 piastres. or 90 per cent, although the pound of mercury cost a piastre. Barba, p. 118. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 351 Huancavelica is generally sold for 60 or 70 piastres the quintal *, the expences unoiint in several districts of mines to 30 or 38 per cent. At the Ccrro de Gualgayoc for example, where the price of labour is from three to foitr re'i:ls (from 40 to 50 sous) per day, a load of schlieh, containing from two to three marcs of silver costs seven piastres in the process of amalgamation, viz* ., .' \. V I • dS57,000 Sterling. Tram. .a. «HAP. xiO KINGDOM OF KEW SPAIN. 353 The most considerable mines of gold, are Pe» torca, ten leagues to the South of Chuapa ; Yapel or Villa de Cuscus, Llaoin, Tiltil and Ligua, near Quillota. Mines are also wrought in the partidos of Copiapo, Coquimbo and Guasco. The silver mining operations of Chili are in general by no means productive. The Cerro de Uspallata, at eight leagues distance to the north-west of Mendoza con- tains, however, paces so rich that they yield from two to three thousand marcs per chest {caxon) of 5000 pounds, or 40 or 60 marcs of silver per quintaL The produce of the mines of Chili, has considerably increased of late years. In 1790 there was coined at San* tiago 721,000 piastres in gold and 146,000 in silver. III. The great mass of precious metals, supplied by the viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, is entirely derived from the most western part, the provincias de la Sierra, which in 1778, were separated from Peru. We may estimate the annual produce, which is almost wholly silver, at four millions two hundred thousand piastres *. The districts which supply the most are Potosi, Chaganta, Porco f, Oruro, U:.: ■i n I • i'882,000 Sterling, Trans. t See Alonzo Barba, Arte de los Mdales (ed" 1729J p. 48, respecting the silver mines of Porco wrpught b]^ the Incas. VOL. III. !2 A 354 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Chucuito, la Paz, Caylloma, and Carangas. In the intendancy of Fiino, the mountains of Ananca, near Caravaya and Azangara, to the north-east of the lake of Titicaca were ce- lebrated in the first years of the conquest on account of the wealth of their mines of gold *. Thoughts were entertained in 1803 of re- suming the old operations of MorocoUo, in the Pampa Fungoso de la Rinconada, and on the banks of the lake of Communi. They sought also to continue the gallery of Vera Cniz, in the famous silver mine of Salcedo, situated in the mountains of Ycacota and Cancharani. The mountain of Potosi f has alone furnished, including only the silver which has paid the royal duties, since its discovery in 1545 to our days, a mass of silver equal to 5750 millions * Proclamacion del Intendentede Puno, D. Jose Gongalea, Platina is ako said to have been discovered near Moroco llo- but the fact has never yet been confirmed by persons de- serving of credit. f Potosi properly Potocchi, Potossi or Potocsi* The old. Mtme of Huancavelica is Huanca-yillca.GamiaMOy (7om- Reales, lib. viii. c. 25. Pedro de Ciega de Leon, Chronic^ del Peru, c, 109. The porphyry bed which crowns [the mountain of Potosi, the Hatun-Potocsi, gives it the form of a sugar-loaf or basaltic hill ( See p. ) . This mountain is 1624 varas, or 697 toises above the neighbouring plain. Acotta, lib. iv. c. 6. Hernandez, p. i. lib. xi. c. 2. H^mtp p. 65*122. V 1 • . CHAP. XI.] KIKODOM OF NEW SPAIN. iiS& of livres tournois *, Ulloa hat communicated some historical information respecting this mining operation, M^hich has had the most power- ful effect on the commerce and price of com- modities of Europe ; but he could only collect very incomplete materials, founding his cal* culations on the consumption of mercury in th« amalgamation works, I am enabled to publish from official papers, year after year, between 1556 and 1789, the value of the A\A\e^ (derechoi de reales) paid into the provincial treasury of Potosi, on the silver given into the mint. As the proportion which has existed at different periods between these duties and the value of the silver extracted from the mines, is known, we may deduce from the three following tables the annual produce in piastres. i iPm 'fr 1 « 1^234,693,840 Sterling. Trans. 2 A 2 36d. POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. ROYAL DUTIES (Derechos Reales) Paid on the sUrer extracted from the Cerro de Potosi, TABLE L First j)tir"u>(l, from 1st January, 15.50, to 31st December, lo78, tUuing which the fifth alone was paid. 1 I'ifth. 1 ( K.fili. Fiitli. Yoars.' Pia'^trfs Iloals.l Y*^ars. Pinstivs Rivals ~4' Wars. 1572 Pisisfres. Renls. 3 15o61o()734 I 1564 39(>15s 216117 15574(58534 5 1565 5 1994 i 1 1573 234972 1 1558387032 0 1566 486014 3 1574 313778 5 1559377031 2 1567 417107 1 1575 413487 4 1560382428 3 1568 398381 3 1576 544614 6 1561 405655 7 1569 379906 7 1577 716087 6 1562426782 1 1570 325467 1 1578 825505 2 1563,449965 3 1171 26620U 4 Total of the 23 years 9,801,906 piastres. rilAF. XI.} KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 357 TABLE II. Second period from the 1st January, 1579, to the 10th July, 1736, during which at first one and a half per cent, de cobos was paid, and afterwards the filth of the remaining* 98 piastres 4 reals. Years. 1579 1580 1581 1582 158JJ 1584 1585 158(5 1587 1588 1589 1590 1591 1592 1593 1594 1.595 Uiie iind a halt per cent, and fifth. Piastres. 1,091,025 1,189,323 1,276,872 1,362,855 1,221,428 1,215,5.58 1,526,4.55 1,4.56,958 1,226,328 1,441,657 1,578,823 1,422,576 1,562,522 1,578,449 1,589,662 1,403,555 1,557,221 159611,468,182 1597 1598 1599 1600 1601 1602 1603 1604 1605 1606 1607 1608 1609 1610 1611 1612 1,355,954 1,310,911 1,339,685 1,299,028 1,477,489 1,519,152 1,178,697 1,326,231 1,532,646 1,434,981 1,414,660 1,200,488 1,132,680 1,139,725 6,299,052 1,329,701 Reals. 3 1 6 7 3 1 1 0 0 0 7 1 2 6 1 7 3 5 6 7 2 5 7 7 6 6 Yiar . One and .t half per cent. an59 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669, 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 P ast rc8. 891,287 1,123,9.32 1,067,376 917,845 757,418 796,244 759,904 835,109 754,784 804,071 933,441 877,862 799,609 6.52,728 623,250 638,167 579,126 605,450 655,557 675,729 708,879 691,169 624,126 554,614 667,992 624,037 67(5,811 673,694 567,827 514,-530 550,099 653,067 622,979 629.270 Iteal>. 0 2 1 7 6 2 5 4 1 0 4 1 1 4 7 3 7 3 0 4 2 0 4 0 3 (5 0 si 1 -m "'^A y m 0 358 FOLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [■OOK IV' SEQUEL OP TABLE IL Yean. 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 •*iie and a hall jtrcenr. andtifUi. Piastres. Real*. 686,791 659,341 731,599 719,082 655,256 586,835 645,318 646,077 647,189 673,097 593,976 424,761 1093570,870 1694546,928 1695557,145 1696 500,965 1697 1698 1699 471,686 434,772 434,287 0 0 6 0 0 7 1 3 0 1 1 7 2 3 1 3 4 1 0 OiM and a liult per cent, and Ufth. Years. Piastre!!. Reals 1700405,492 1701338,572 1702372,447 1703 360,114 1704 1705 333,702 319,264 1706354,600 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 364,415 374,lHa 334,(^80 309,008 246,147 204,931 279,913 265,087 228,224 1717 1716239,287 a56,804 1718J322,251 5 4 1 6 0 7 1 0 6 4 1 1 6 1 1 «i Oi 1 1 Years. One and a halt per cciit.niid Tifth. Piastres. Kuais. 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 11 m 17271 V2^ 1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 283,593 3 231,256i 7 229,002 0 228,208 5 214,740 3 24;:>>7<>3 4 2-2.i.o83 3 2 74,416 I 28(i,o28' 3 22(),(i98 1 >6(>,414| 7i 303,361j 6i 293,497' 3 308,1371 3i .104,7681 Si 273,084 5 J 271,62ll 6 149,5671 Of Total of the 158 years, 129,417,273 piastres. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. ;>^9 TABLE III Third period between the 20»h July, 1736, and the 3 1st December, 1789, during which one and a half per cent, and the half of the fi^th were paid, or 1 1 piastres, 3 reals per 100 piastres. OiH! and a halt per cent, and tliu half fifth. Years. Piastres. Reals. 1736 1737 1738 1739 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 85,410 183,704 159,252 183,295 170,229 179,573 161,976 166,131 155,926 163,140 178,080 184,156 197,022 215,283 233,677 238,502 227,133 244,888 2 3 7 6^ 4 6 0 li 3 Ol 6 5i 7i 3 5 5 U One and a halt fier cent, aiid the halt fifth. Years. Piastres. Real>. 1754244,148 1755|221,872 249,513 244,760 1756 1757 1758262,835 1759 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 263,701 272,059 261,580 257,201 279,646 263,092 281,985 282,405 303,650 1769 1770 1771 1768306,674 291,075 292,203 307,765 2 4 7 6 4i 6 1 7 71 64 11 5 Oi 6 3 3| Years. 1772 1773 One and a hult p< cent, and the hal' fifth. Piastres. lUeals, 298,983 306,925 1774:317,703 1775332,329 1776346,319 1777390,676 1778351,994 1779348,035 1780'400,062 178l|323,109 1782350,199 It 3 4 4i 5 51 6i 4 U 2 2 1783400,238 3i 1784371,362 1785351,777 17861332,507 1787 1788 1789 390,836 380,600 335,468 2 71 1 7i 6 Total of the 54 years 14,542,684 piastres. m u SI ^^*^ POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i^. The result of these three tables as we have already observed*, on comparing the actual- produce of the mines of Guanaxuato in Mexico, with the produce of the mountain of Potosi^ is, that during the space of 233 years, from 1556 to 1789, there has been extracted from the mines of Potosi, in silver declared at the. Koyal Treasury, the amount of 788 millions of piastres. If these piastres were all Mexican, piastres, at 8 reals of Plata Mexicana'ft the produce of these 233 years would amount to 92,736,294 marcs J. But we shall shoilly see that the mass of silver on which duty has been paid is still greater. The books of accounts preseiTcd in the ar-, chives of the provincial treasury of Potosi, do not go farther back than the year 1556. It remains therefore to examine what was the quantity of silver supplied by the mines. of Potosi before that period. This examina- tion is the more important, as it is very rea- sonably believed that the first years which fol- • Seep. 171. f We must take care not to confound three species^ of reals de plata g viz. the real de plata antigua of 64 ma* ravedis de vellon ; the real de plata nueva or provincial of 68 maravedis ; and the real de plata Mexicana, of 85 ma- ravedis. We constantly make use of the latter in thig work (Damoreau TraitSdes Bangues, 1727, p. 115. Encyclop^ Methodijuet Commerce, T. iii. p. 211.) t 60,851,2311b, troy. CHAP. XI.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 361 lowed the discovery of the veins, were the most productive in riches. Ulioa* quotes a book published in 16.34, by Don Sebastiani Sandoval y Guzman, under tho title of Pretensiones del Potosi, in which the (luthor specifies the iifth paid between 1545 and 1633, I endeavoured in vain to procure this work during my stay in Peru; and not knowing the partial data which it contains, I can only examine the results stated by the Spanish astronomer. This examination becomes the more necessary, as the assertions of Ulloa have been repeated by Raynalf, and by all the other writers who treat of the quantity of gold and silver imported from America into Europe, during the first yeare of tlie conquest. According to Sandoval, the fifth paid into the royal treasury of Potosi, was at an average from 15,45 to 1564, four millions of piastres of 13i rentes de plata ; from 1584 to 1585, 1,166,000 piastres; from 1585 to 1624,1,333,000 piastres; and from 1624 to 16.33, 666,000 piastres. These numbers between 1564 and 1633, do Bot coincide very well with the annual sums staged in the foregoing tables ; the differences aye sometimes the one way, and sometimes the other; but it is in a particular manner respect- * Noticias Americari'is, Entretenimiento xiv. § xvii. p. 256. t HuU PhUosophiquct (edit, de Geneve, 1780) T. W^ p.229. « 1^ '^m t^, Uf il i 162 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. ing the fifth of four millions, for the period which precedes the year 1564, that we may most reasonably entertain well fowided doubts. Were this sum accurate, the produce of silver extracted from the mine of Potosi, and regis- tered in the royal treasury, would have amounted in nineteen years, between 1545 and 1564, to 641,250,000 Mexican piastres*, reducing the piastres of 13* reals to piastres of 8 reals. On the other hand, it is proved, by official pa- pers in my possession, that the produce in eight years, from 1556 to 1564, amounted to 28,250,000 of these same Mexican piastresf. The result of these data of Sandoval, would con- sequently be, that drring the first eleven years between 1545 and 1556, the Cerro del Potosi must have yielded in silver, of which the fifth was paid, 613 millions of piastres;];, or at an yearly average, 55,726,000 piastres§, equal to 6,556,000 marcs of silver||. This is a very extraordinary result, yet it contains however nothing which may be considered as impossi*^ ble. We may be surprized to see that a single mountain of Peru, has yielded from two to three times more silver than all the collected * £ 134,662,500 Sterling. Trans, t £ 5,932,500 Sterling. Trans, t iS 128,730,000 Sterling. Trans, j jf 11,701,326 Sterling. Trans, V 4,802,810 lb. Troy. Trans. CHAP, xi.l KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 363 ^ mines of Mexico; but our ideas of wealth are merely relative. It is possible that we may one day discover mountains in ihe centre of Africa, which with relation to their abundance in the precious metals, may bear the same pro- portion to the Cordilleras, which the Cordilleras bear to the mountains of Europe. The mine of Valenciana supplies annually more silver than all Saxony, and the single vein of Gua- naxuato, wrought throughout its whole length, would be able to produce more than two millions of marcs of silver annually*. We have already observed that there has been extracted from the vein of the veta grande of Sombrerete, for an extent of 30 metres in five months, more than 700,000 marcs. When we reflect on the masses of native red and sulfuretted silver, discovered in our days at Huantajaya in Peru, as well as at Batopilas and the Real del Monte in Mexico, we may conceive what a prodigious quantity of silver may be supplied, by a mineral depository in the Cordilleras of the Andes, when the abundance of produce is united to intrinsic wealth. It is not then the enormous quantity of silver which is supposed to have been extracted during the first eleven years, which induces me to call in question the testimony of Sandoval; 1 .^ I i>M nj m* • 1,312,633 lb. Troy. Tram* W4 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Cbook iv*, but it is the contradiction which exists ben tween this testimony, and other well authen- ticated facts. ^ Ulloa, Robertson, I^aynal, and the writers of the Encyclopedic Methodique, have not attended to a passage of the Chronicle of Peru, written by Pedro Cie^a de Leon. The author who writes with that admirable naivete, which cha- racterizes all the travellers of the fifteenth and and sixteenth century, proposes to give hi& countrymen an idea of the prodigious wealth of the mountain of Potosi. He was the better enabled to do this from being on the spot in 1549, four years after the first discovery of these celebrated mines. i{e relates what he saw himself, while Sandoval speaks of a period more than 90 years before. If we are to sus- pect the numbers of Cie^a of error, we ought rather to believe that the error lies on the side of excess; for a traveller who aims at effect, and who hopes to astonish his readers is naturally inclined to exaggeration. Let us now examine what the historian of Peru re- lates*. " The wealth of the Cerro de Potosi,^* says he, ** is so much beyond what was ever ** seen in former times, that to show the gi-eat- *' ness of these inines, I shall describe them " as I saw them with my own eyes, when I • Cie9a, Chronica del Peru, Cap. criti. (ed?. 155^) p. 26L CHA*. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 365 it 4t passed through Potosi in 1649, at the period <* when the Licentiate Polo was Corregidor •* of the town. The chests (royal) with three " keys are iiv the house of this Corregedor. His Majesty received every week from twenty- ** five to thirty, and sometimes even forty thou* ** sand piastres. They complained at that time ** that the mines went on poorly, when the *' fifth only amounted to 120,000 castellanos ** monthly. And yet all this money belonged ** to the Christians alone ; for the Indians stole ** a great deal which was not registered; so ** that no where in the world was there ever •* so rich a mountain and no where did any ** Prince ever draw so great a revenue from " a single town; for between 1548 and 1551, " the fifth brought into the King more than ** three millions of ducats." To understand this passage which contains three distinct valuations, we must recollect that the pesos or piastres of that time, and till 1580 at least*, were an imaginary money of 480 ma- ravedis, or nearly V6i Reaks de plata Mexicana, A marc of silver contained dij of these piastres. Five piastres made a ducat of 111 reals. Ac- cording to these data then, reckoning the fifth with Cie9a, at 30,000 piastres per week, and * Gardlasso, Cement, Reales, T. i. in the second preface which bears the title of Advert fticias geerca la Unguagentral del Peru ; and T.ii. p. 51. 1 | 366 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE t«ooK iv. 120,000 castellanos per month, the total produce of the mines of Potosi was (in registered silver), in the year 1549, either 1,549,000, or 1,440,000 marcs. The same produce amounted accord- ing to Cie9a, at an average from 1548 to 1551, only to 7,031,000 Mexican piastres of eight reals of plata, equal to 827,000 marcs of silver. This sum forms a singular contrast with the account of Sandoval and Ulloa; but it agprees very well with the fifth of the years when our first table commences. It might remain doubt- ful whether Cie9a speaks really of the totality of the royal duties, levied between 1548 and 1551, or whether he affinns that during that period, the fifth amounted to three millions of ducats per annum. In this last case, the annual produce would have amounted to 21,093,000 Mexican piastres, or 2,481,000 marcs of silver, a very considerable sum no doubt, but still very much below the calculation of Ulloa and Raynal. I am inclined to believe, that the historian of Peru estimates only at three millions of ducats, the sum total of the fifths of the four years, 1st. Because this va- luation is more agreeable to the value of the fifth of 1556; 2d. Because Cie9a to give the highest idea of the wealth of the mines, says, that the fifth sometimes amounted to 40,000 piastres, which would give for the maximvm pf annual produce at that time, a sum not OHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 307 above 2,481,000, but hardly equal to 2,065,000 marcs; 3rd. Because Garcilasso* relates that about the same period, from ten to twelve mil- lions of piastres in gold and silver of Peru, every year entered the Rio Guadalquivir. Considering these data of Sandoval as accurate, and combining them both with those of Cie9a, and the numbers contained in the official papers published by me, we shall find the following results for the average annual produce of the mines of Potosi, on which we can place but small reliance : From 1545 to 1548 23,284,000 marcs of silver. 1548 1551 827,000 1551 1556 621,000 1556 1564 415,000 The following is the foundation for this cal- culation. Sandoval and UUoa. estimated the produce of the Cerro de Potosi, between 1545 and 1564, at an average 33,750,000 piastres per annum, or 3,970,000 marcs of silver. Now, we know from the chronicle of Ciepa, what^ was the amount of the produce between 1548 and 1551; the registers of Potosi contain the produce from 1556 to 1564; and supposing for the intermediate period from 1551 to 1556, a decrease in arithmetical progression, it is easy to find from the 641,250,000 Mexican piastres, ^ '\»l ■1 • ii @ 'V^ ^m * CrarctAufo, ii.p. 58. 368 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. or 75,440,000 marcs of silver, stated by San- doval as the total proportion of the first 19 years, the proportional amount for the small interval from 1545 to 1548. If we admit ivhat appears equally impro* bable, that Cie9a indicated the fiflh of each of the four years, contained in the period from 1548 to 1551, we find by an analogous opei'a- tion, that the annual produce of the mines of . Potosi amounted. From 1545 to 1 548 to 19,146,000 marcs of silver. 1548 1551 2,481,000 , .. 1551 1556 1,448,000 1556 1564 415>000 Thus whatever interpretation we give to the passage of the chronicle of Cie9a, we shall find, it is evident in both hypotheses, that the produce of the first three years differs so much from the following years, that we ought very much to suspect the account of Sandoval. We ought the more to suspect it, as on examining ^ythe table of fifths between 1556 and 1789, we discover in this long series of numbers, a law according to which they uniformly increase or decrease. Cie9a visited the mines of Potosi, at the period of their greatest splendour ; and he expressly says, that he described the moun- tain as he found it in 1549, *' because that ** wealth like every thing human, must vary "** in the course of time, either increasing or CHAF. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 369 " diminishing.'* If the produce of 1549, was really eight or ten times less than the pro- duce of 1546, how should the traveller have passed over this enormous diminution of wealth in silence. We shall conclude from the whole of these discussions, that the total produce of silver registered during the eleven years which are deficient in the preceding tables, far from amounting to 72 millions of marcs, as we miglit be led to suppose from Ulloa, and the cele- brated author of the Recherches Philosophiques, has never exceeded the sum of 15 millions of marcs. We shall not give great faith to Solorzano"*^, who vaguely says that Potosi yielded between 1545 and 1628, that is in 83 years, the sum of 850 millions of pounds of silver, which is almost the double of what the mountain supplied in two centuries and a half. We may be surprized to see a M'riter, who was long a member of the audience of Lima, so very ill informed; for how can we suppose during 83 years an annual produce of 2,400,000 marcs, when the registers preserved in the treasury of Potosi, prove that during this period the mean sum of the produce seldom amounted to 800,000 marcs. y/^' '■''m * Solorzano Pereira, de IntUarum Jure, T. ii« Lib. v. c. i. (edit. Lugd.) VOL. III. 2 B A B70 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. it tt i( ti Moreover Acosta* who went over both Ame- ricas, and whose Vork can only be sufhciently appretiated by those who have visited the same places, confirms the assertions of Cie9a. He relates that " in the time of the Licentiate " Polo,*' (consequently before the year 1549), " the fifth amounted to a million and a half " of piastres per annnmf.^* He adds notwith- standing the confusion which prevails in the hooks of accounts of the first yearsy we know " from tradition, and from the investigation carried on by orders of the viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo, that the quantity of regis- " tered j^'Ver from 1545 to 1574, amounted " to 76 millions of piastres, and from 1574 " to 1585, to 35 millions of piastres, (at 13 ** reales and one quartillo), which in forty years ** amounts to 111 millions." These 111 mil- lions of piastres imaginary money (pesos de minas), only suppose an annual produce of 555,000 marcs, which differs very little from that of the vein of Guanaxuato. There is no doubt that Acosta speaks of the whole quantity of silver extracted from the mines, and registered at the treasury. He says ex- pressly: se ha metido a quintar, monta lo que * Historia natural y moral de las /n(/«z«,( Barcelona, 1591) p. 138. f Which supposes a produce of 1,490,000 mares {Herrera, Decada viii. 1. ii. c. xiv.) CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NE\v SPAIN'. 371 se ha quintado, Solorzano translates this passage of the natural history of Acosta, by the following words: ex' Potosiensi fodina ex- Iracti sunt centum el undecim milliones. The authors whose works contain exag- gerated valuations of the quantity of the precious metals which have inundated Spain since the middle of the 16th century, appear to have confounded the value of the produce of the mines with the fifth paid from it. Although they had no knowledge of the official papers which I have here published, they would never have fallen into this error had they only read attentively the works of Acos- ta, Cie9a, and Alonzo Barba*. The latter v/ho filled the cure of a parish in the town of Po- tosi, only values the quantity of silver extracted from the Cerro de Potosi between 1545 and 1636 at 450 millions of piastres of 8 reals, a sum which merely supposes an annual produce of 4,900,000 piastres, or 576,000 marcs, which forms a singular contrast with the 613 millions gratjuitouijily admitted for the first periods from 1545 to 1556. However, Alonzo Barba had no motive for .lowering the total produce; on the other hai^l, he en- deavours to prove Ijbiat a^n extent of ground of 60 square leagues migbt be covered with *JBaria. Lib, iifC.i. 2b2 II m m V-f;' 372 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. the number of piastres coined from the silver of Potosi. The following table exhibits the state of these mines from the period when the fifths were recorded with accuracy. * Mines of the Cerro de Potosi (Hatun-Po- tocsi) Periods. From 1556 to 1566 2 1585 1595 1624 1634 1670 1690 1720 1730 1740 1750 1779 1789 Average Years. Produce in Piastres. Marcs of silver extract- ed from the mines. Supposing the piastre at 13^ reals. ,159,216 7,540,620 5,232,425 3,234,580 1,299,800 1,850,250 3,676,330 428,767 1,497,380 Supposing the piastre at 8 reals. 887,073 615,580 380,538 152,918 217,676 432,510 As there is some uncertainty respecting the period at which they ceased to reckon by piastres of 13^ reals, of which 5^^ make a marc of silver, I prefer giving both valu- ations t)f the piastres till 1595; and we thus obtain the maximum of wealth which we are at liberty to supple. A passage of the com- mentaries of Garcilassf), already quoted by us, CHAP, xi.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 373 would lead one to bt^lieve, however, that a few years after 1580, they reckoned at Peru by piastres of 8 reals de plata. During- the whole period of 233 years, from lo50 to 1789 the mining of Potosi never attained so high a degree of splendour as from 1585 to 1606. For several consecutive years the fifth was a million and a half of piastres, which sup- poses a produce of 1,490,000, or 882,000 marcs according as we value the piastre at 131 or 8 reals. This wealth is the more surprising, as according to Acosta, more than a third of the silver was never registered. After 1606 the produce has been gradually dimi- nishing, and especially since 1694. From 1606 to 1688 however, it was never below 350,000 marcs. During the last half of the 18th century the mountain generally supplied from three to four hundred thousand marcs; and this produce is undoubtedly still too con- siderable to allow us to advance with a ce- lebrated author^ that the mines of Potosi are no longer worth the trouble of working. These mines in their present state are not the first in the known world; but we may rank them immediately after the mines of Gua- naxuato. The contents of the minerals of Potosi I * Robertson't History of Americat b. iv. p. 339 and 399. .^^ 37 1 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE . [book iv. have diminished in proportion to the increase of the works in depth. In this point of view, and in many others besides, the Cerro de Potosi bears a great analogy to the mines of Giialgayoc. At the surface of the earth, the veins of Rica, Centeno and Mendiata, which traverse primitive slate were full, through- out their whole extent (puissance) of a mix- ture of sulphuretted, red, and native silver. These metallic masses rose in the form of crests (crestones), the rocks of the wall and roof having" been destroyed either by the ac- tion of water, or by some other cause which has changed the surface of the globe. The Veta del Estafio on the other hand, contained at its surface only sulphuretted tin, and the minerals of muriated silver only began to appear at great depths*. This mixture of two formations on one vein, exists also in the Old Continent, for example, in several mines of Freiberg* in Saxony f. In 1545 minerals containing from 80 to 90 marcs per quintal were very common; but we must not admit with Ulloa that the whole volume of mine- rals extracted from the mine, amounted to this degree of wealth. Acosta says expressly that in 1574 the mean contents were from 8 to 9 marcs, and that the minerals which ♦ Barba, lib. i. cap. xxxii. p. 56* t Werner Gangtheorie, p. 24(8. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 375 yielded 60 marrs prr quintal were considered extremely rich. Moreover accordinj^ to t' report of Don Francisco Texada or. thr mines of Gundaleanal in Spain, in 1(307 the mean wealth of the minerals of Potosi was not above an ounce and a half. Since the commencement of the 18th century, they reckon only from 3 to 4 marcs per caxon of 5000 pounds, or from ih to •♦^ per quintal. The muierals of Potosi are conse- quently extremely poor, and it is on account of their abundance alone, that the works are still in such a flourishing state. It is sur- prising to see that from 1574 to 1789, the mean riches of the minerals have diminished in the proportion of 170 to 1, while the quantity of silver extracted from the mines of Potosi, has only diminished in the propor- tion of 4 to 1. From 1545 till 1571 the silver minerals of Po- tosi were all smelted. The knowledge of the con- quistadores being confined to military aflairs, they were unacquainted with the carrying on of me- tallurgical processes. They did not smelt the mineral by means of bellows, but they adopted the whimsical method employed by the In- dians in the neighbouring mines of fotpsi, which had been wrought on account of the Inca> long before the conquest. They estab- lished on the mountains which su^-round the , 376 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it, town of Potosi, wherever the wind blew with impetuosity, portable furnaces, called huayres or g-uayaras in the Quichua language!. These furnaces were cylindrical tubes of clay, very broad, and pierced with a great number of holes. The Indians threw in bed by bed silver mineral, galena, and coal ; and the current of air which entered at the holes into the interior of the huayre quickened the flame, and gave it a great intensity. When they perceived that the wind blew too strong, and that too much fuel was consumed, they carried their furnaces to a lower situation. The first travellers who visited the Cordille- ras, all speak with enthusiasm of the impres- sion made on them by the first appearance of more than 6000 fires, which illuminated the summits of the mountains round the town of Potosi. The Indians extracted the galena ne- cessary for their smelting, from a smaller mountain, in the vicinity of the Cerro de Hatun-Potocsi called the child, or Huayna Potocsi*. The argentiferous masses which * Properly the Father mountain and the son«mountain. The different summits of the Volcan de Pichincha, bear analogous denominations; and it is because the French academicians have not distinguished in their works the old Rucu' Pichincha from the young, or Guagua-Pichiticha, that it is so difficult to find the place of the academical station of Bouguer, La Condamii^e, and d*Ulloa. (See my Recueit d* Observations Astronomiquts* vol. i. p. 308.) CHAP, XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 377 came out of the huayres established in the mountains, were resmelted in the cottages of the Indians, by means of the old process of blowing- the fire by ten or twelve persons at once, through tubes of copper, of one or two metres in length, and pierced at the lower extremity with a very small hole. It is easy to conceive what an enormous quan- tity of silver must have remained in the scoria without combining with the lead. Pedro Fernandez de Velasco, who, it is expressly said by the Jesuit Acosta,* " had seen in Mexico how the silver was extracted from the mineral by means of mercury," pro- posed to Francisco de Toledo, viceroy of Peru, to introduce amalgamation into Potosi. He succeeded in his attempts in 1571 ; and of the eight or ten thousand quintals of mercury produced by the mine of Huancavelica towards the end of the 16th century, more than from six to seven thousand were consumed in the works of Potosi. The minerals which during the first years had been considered too poor to be smelted in the ImayreSf were ^w wrought to advantage. The abundance of rock salt wrought on the table land of the Cordilleras near Cuchu- ara, Carangas, and Yocalla, facilitates very ^1 m i m ^ Aeosta, p. 146. I 375 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. much the amalgamation of Potosi. According' to the calculation of Alonzo Barba,* there was consumed between 1545 and 1637 the enormoas quantity of 234,700 quintals of mer- cury. From 1759 to 1763, the consumption was between sixteen and seventeen thousand quintals annually f. Towards the end of the 16th century, 15,000 Indians were compelled to work in the mines and amalgamation works of Potosi, and there was- daily brought to the town, more than 1500 quintals of salt of Yocalla. At present there are not more than 2,000 miners, who are paid at the rate of 50 sous J per day. Fifteen thousand llamas, and an equal number of asses are employed in carrying the ore from the mountain of Hatuti'Potocsi to the amalgamation works. In 1790 there was coined at the mint of Potosi 4,222,000 piastres ||, viz. 299,246 piastres, or 2204 marcs in gold, and 3,293,173 piastres, or 462,609 marcs in silver. When we reflect on the history of the precious metals, ana the interest taken in them by those who engage in investigations of political eco- nomy, it will not be deemed surprising that we have so minutely explained those facts, ♦ Barba, p, 12 md 65. f UUoa Notidas Ammcanas, p. 242. % 2s. per day. Tre/m* 11 iC886,620 Sterling. CHAP. xi,T KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 379 which may throw some light on the quantity of silver extracted dm'ins; two centuries and a half from the mines of Potosi. It was ne- cessary to compare the testimonies of the first Spanish authors who visited America ; to dis- ting'uish between the produce of exportation, and the fifth payable to the crown; and between the piastres, an imaginary coin, used in the beginning of the conquest, and the Pe- ruvian piastres of eight reals. Had we ne- glected these investigations which have never been made hitherto, we should have run the risk of increasing the mass of silver imported into Europe since 1492, more than 57 millions of marcs equal to two thousand live hundred millions of livres tournois*. IV. The Kingdom of New Grenada pro- duces on an average, 18,300 marcs of gold annually f. The following tables specify the coinage in the mint of Santa Fe, between the 1st of January, 1789, and the 31st Decem- ber, 1795, and in the mint of Popayan, between 1788 and 1794. pi m ■0 ^t m m I' * i?102,010,800. Sterling. Trans, f 12,04f9 lb. troy. Trans. 380 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. I. Gold coined at Santa Fe de Bogota. p M m Years. Marcs Ounces. 2 u O 0 O Tomine Value of Gold. 1789 10,915 Piastres Reals'Quartos 1,484,454 0 0 1790 7,345 0 5 0 998,658 5 0 1791 8,318 0 1 4 1,131,251 4 11 1792 8,159 5 3 1 1,109,715 5 24 1793 8,659 3 3 1 1,177,681 5 28 1794 7,327 4 3 4 993,827 6 11 1795 Total 9,310 6 4 5 4 2 1,266,272 7 0 11 tJ0,013 6 8,161,862 0 Average year 8,573 (marcs of gold) or 1,165,980 piastres. II. Gold coined at Fopayan. 1 Value of Gold. Years. Marcs. 1 4 O 3 Piastres. Reals. 1788 7,210 980,634 3 1789 5,945 2 4 808,362 4 1790 7,123 2 6 768,745 0 1791 6,437 2 0 875,466 0 1792 7,344 5 0 998,869 0 1793 7,026 6 5 955,648 5 1794 6,725 1 0 0 2 914,617 0 Total 47,813 6,502,542 4 Average year 6830 (marcs of gold) or 928,934 piastres. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 381 Prom 1782 to 1789 the quantity of gold coined at 8anta Fe, was at an average, below 7000 marcs annually. During that period the most abundant year was that of 1787, when the produce was 981,655 piastres, or 7218 marcs *. In 1778, the coinage amount- ed to the value of 693,438 piastres. At Po- payan the quantity of coined gold never amounted between 1770 and 1783 to more than 5800 marcs. In 1778 the gold coinage was only 792,838 piastres; but in 1787 it amounted to 981,655 piastres. The ingots of gold annually exported from the port of Carthagena, are estimated at three or four hundred thousand piastres. During my stay at Santa Fe de Bogota in 1801, the total produce of the gold mines of the kingdom of New Grenada was computed at 2,500,000 piastres f , viz. 2,100,000 piastres as the pro- duce of the two mints of Santa Fe and Po ii um i 1 • Jl*1fl t 'ffifl M ■•^'M u I It •I'i r'i] * Relacion del goviemo del ExceUentiss. Sefior Don Jose de Espeletaf Virrey de el Nuevo reyno de Grenada, para entregar el mando al Senor Don Pedro de Mendiniieta, electa Virrey. This manuscript acjount in my possession, contains the most minute and accurate statistical infor- mation. It is the production of a man of distinguished talenta* Don jlgnacio Texada, a native of Santa Fe, Se. cretary of the Viceroyalty. - • . . t £50/7,000 Sterling. Tran$. 382 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. payan, and 400,000 piastres as the exportation of ingots anil wrought gold. All the gold furnished by New Grenada, is the produce of lavaderos {washings) established in the alluvions grounds. Gold veins have been found in the mountains of Guamoco and Antioquia ; but their working is almost entirely neglected. The greatest riches in gold obtained by washing are deposited to the west of the central Cordillera *, in the provinces of An- tioquia and Choco, in the valley of the Rio Cauca, and on the coast of the South Sea in t'le partido de Barbacoas. Dividing the au- riferous grounds into three regions, we may reckon for Choco, 10,800 marcs of gold, or more than the half of the total produce of the viceroy alty of Santa Fe ; for the pro- vince of Barbacoas, and the Southern part of the valley of Cauca (between Chili and Po- payan) 4600 : and for the province of Antio- quia and the mountains of Guamaco and Simiti, 3400 marcs of gold. We see from this valuation that the alluvious grounds, which contain the greatest quantity of gold in dust and grains disseminated among fragments of greenstone and porphyry slate (porphgrschiefer) extend. from the western Cordillera almost, to the shores of the Great Ocean. * See, as to the division of the Andes into several' branches my Vties des Cordilleres, PI. V. IHAl'. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. -383 It is very remarkable also that platina is seldom found in the valley of Cauca, or to the east of the western branch of the Andes, but solely in Choco and at Barbacoas to the west of the freestone mountains which rise on the western bank of the Cauca. These moun- tains of which the height is by no means considerable, separate the famous gold washing places of Novita in Choco, from those of Quilichao and Jelima, situated fifteen leagues to the north of the town of Popayan ; and j'Ct a single grain of platina has never been found in these last washing places which I examined with the greatest care during my journey to Quito. At Choco, we sometimes find along with gold and platina, hyacinth- zircons, and titanium. This mixture brings us in mind of the formation of the sands of Es- pailly in Velay. Near the village of Lloro some years ago, a pit was dug in an auriferous ground, to examine the inferior beds ; and at six metres of depth there were discovered large trunks of petrified wood surrounded with fragments of trap rocks and gold dust and platina *. The province of Antioquia, into which we can only enter a foot or on the shoulders of men, contains veins of gold in micaceous slate, at * Obieryation of Don Thomas Valencia at Popayan. i « I, !/ hi If 384 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book tv. Buritoca, San Pedro, and near Armas; but these veins are not wrought for want of hands. Gold is collected in great abundance in the alluvious grounds of Santa Rosa, the Valle dc los Orsos, and the Valle de la Trinidad. Th» number of negro slaves who collect the gold (negros mazamoreros) amounted in 1770 to 1462; and in 1778 to 4890 individuals. The gold of Antiequia of which the town of Mom- pox may be considered as the principal market, is only of the fineness of from 19 to 20 carats. At Barbacoas, it is generally 21^ carats. In Choco, the northern washing places^ and those of the district of Zitara supply a liner gold than the more northern district of Novita. The gold of the mines of Indipurdu is the only gold which rises to 22 carats; for the mean wealth of the gold of Choco is from 20 to 21 carats. The produce of the different washing places, is so constant in its mixture, that it is enough for those who carry on the trade in gold dust to know the place where the liietal was procured to know its fineness. The finest gold of New Grenada, and perhaps of all America, is that of Giron, which it is affirmed rises to 23 carats, and i of a grain. At Marmato to the west of the river Cauca, and to the south of the rivers of the old Villa de Armas, a whitish gold is procured which does not exceed 12 or 13 carats and •HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 385 v'hich is mixed with silver. It is the true eketrum of the antients. However, although both at Choco and Barbacoas , platina generally accompanies gold, they have never yet seen there the aurum, pkitaniferum, which perhaps has never existed but in our sygtems of Oryc- tog^osy. At Choco, the richest river in gold is the Rio Andageda, which with the rivers of Quito and Zitasa, forms near the village of Quibdo, the great Rio Atrato. All the ground between the Andageda, the Rio de ^an Juan, which passes near the village of ^No^nama, the Rio Tamana, and the .Rio San Augustin, is auriferous. The largest piece of, gold ever found in Choco, weighed 25 , pounds. . Th« negro who discovered it, fifteen years ago, did not even obtain his liberty. His master, presented the pepita to the cabinet of the kipg, in the hopes that the court in recompense, would grant him a title of Castillcr an object most ardently desired by the Creole Spaniards ; but he hardly succeeded in obtaining payment of the value of his gold according to weight. It is said that a piece of, gold was found in Pera near la Faz in 1730, of the weight of 45. pounds. Under the viceroyship of the Archbishop . Gqngora, an enumeration was. made of the VOL. III. %C m 386 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iooiciy. negroes employed in procuring" gold at Choco* ; and they amounted in 1778 only to 3054. In the valley of Cauca there are 8000. The province of Choco might alone produce, more than twenty thousand marcs of gold from washing, if in peopling this region, which is one of the most fertile of the New Continent, the government would turn its attention to the progress of agriculture. The richest country in gold is that in which scarcity is continually felt. Inhabited by unfortunate African slaves, or Indians who groan under the despotism of the Corregidors of Zitara, Novita, or Taddo, the province of Choco remains what it was three centuries ago, a thick forest without trace of cultivation, without pasturage, and without roads. The price of commodities is so ejcor- bitant there, that a barrel of flour of the United States sells from 64 to 90 piastres; the main- tenance of a muleteer costs a piastre, or a ^iiastre and a half per day ; and the price of a quini.£tl of iron amounts in time of peace to 4Q piastres. This dearth ought not to be attributed, to the accumulation of the representative signs, which is very inconsiderable, but tothe enormous. diffi- culty of carriage, and to that miserable state of things, in which the whole population consumes without producing. * Rehcion del estado del nuew reyno de Grenada jjt^e kace el Arzobupo — Obispo de Cordova a su successor el Ex, Fray Don Francisco GUyLemos, 17S9, (M. S.) •HAP. XI.1 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. ^8" The kingdom of New Grenada possesses veins of silver extremely rich in the Vega de Supia*, to the north of Quebraloma, between the Cerro Tacon, and the Cerro de Marmato. These mines which supply both gold and silver, were only discovered within these ten years. The operations were interrupted, in consequence of a law suit between the proprietors, at the very time when the most abundant minerals were found. The working of the old silver mines of Pamplona, and Saint Anne near Ma- riquita, was resumed with zeal, at the period when the Court of Madrid appointed Don Juan Jose D'Elhuyar, director of the mines of the viceroyalty of Santa Fe. The depo- sitory of argentiferous minerals of Saint Anne, forms a bed in the gneiss. I visited the mine of M^nta, the produce of which contains on an average six ounces to the quintal. M. D'El- huyar the brother of the director of the mines of Mexico^ had established an amalgamation work with fbur barrels like that of Freiberg. The works were conducted with great intel- ligence; but as the quantity of silver between 1791 and 1797, only amounted to 8700 marcs, 4\ i 'i- I ; in * Mina de los Morenos or Chachafrata. From Carthago to la Vega de Supia, it is in a straight line only SO leagues. C2 388 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv • while the cxpences* amounted to 216,000 piastres, the viceroy ordered the mine to be , abandoned. It is to be Hoped that in better times, the government will again endeavour to re- ^sume these works, as well as the works of , Santo Christo de las Laxas, and the Real de Bocaneme, between the Rio Guali and the . Rio Guarino, which formerly furnished consider- able quantities of silver. Resuming the results we nave obtained, we find that the total produce of the gold and silver mines of the Spanish Colonies, amounts to the sum of 40,600 marcs ingoldf, and 3,206,000 marcs of silver Castille wei&fhtt. These data differ ye^y little from those communicated by me to M. Heron Villefosse, which he pub- jished in his interesting work on the mineral wealth of the principal powers of Europe. The following table was drawn up from the valuable information which I obtained more recently fram ^pain, aiid the kingdom of New Grenada. f ' * Expences of subterraneous works, expences of amak gamation, and construction of amalgamation works, t 25,026 lb. troy. Trans. . . i 1,976,290 lb. troy. Trattt. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 389 Annual produce of tlie Gold and Silver on . 'which the fifth ha^ been paid. Names of ^rout Political S"*' °"''"; Divisions. '^!'7„ °f Cnstillc. Viceroyalty of New Spain ... Viceroyalty of Peru Capitania General of Chili - - . Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres - - - Viceroyalty of New Grenada Pine Silver, Marcs uf Castillc. 7.000 2,250,000 3,400 513,000 Total 10,000 2,200 18,000 40,600 29,700 414,000 Little. 3,206,700 Value of Quid and Silver in Piastres. 22,170,740 5,317,988 1,737,380 4,212,404 2,624,760 36,063,2721 In this table the gold is valued at 145 iV* piastres, and the silver at 9^ piastres per marc of Castille. It exhibits the quantity of pre- cious metals extracted from the mines, and registered in the royal treasury; and it confirms tljie assertion of the Count de Campomanes*, who in 1775, estimated the importation of golc^ and silver into Spain, at fSO millions of piastres; but it merely indicates the maximum, wljiich we may suppose to have been furnished ^y the Spanish Colonies. Let us examine what ought to be added for the metals which are smuggled. Hfitherto very exaggerated ideas have been entertained, respecting the quantity of gold and silver which does noi pay the fifth, ■ < • • • •-« -•■•' ' '■ • --t , * '•- till.) )->Vi * Educadon PoptUar, T. ii. p. 331. ,'i i 390 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. and which has sometimes been computed at the half, or a third of the total produce, without reflecting that contraband trade varies very much in its activity, according to the localities of different provinces. I shall state here what information I could procure on the spot at Mexi- co, New Grenada, and Peru. New Spain has only two ports, by which its productions are exported. The bad state of the coasts, renders contraband trade much more difHcnlt in that country, than in the pro- vinces of Cumana, Caracas, and Guatimala. The quantity of unregistered silver embarked at Vera Cruz, and Acapulco, either for the Ha- vannahand Jamaica, or for the Philippine Islands and Canton, does not probably exceed the sum of 800,000 piastres; but this illicit trade will increase in proportion, as the population of the United States shall approach the banks of the great Rio del Norte, and when the west coast, that of Soiiora and Guadalaxara, shall be more frequently visited by English and Anglo American vessels. When the commerce with China and Japan, shall be freed from the fetters of the odious monopoly under which it at present labours, an immense quantity of silver will flow westwards into Asia. The precious metals are commodities, which are transported to those places where they are dear- ..*■■ €HAP.xi.l KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 391 est. In Japan^, which abounds in gold, this metal is ♦/> silver as eight or nine to one. In China an ounpe of gold may be purchased for }2 or 13 ounees of silver. In Mexico, the proportion of the two precious metals is as 168r to 1 ; from whence it follows, that it is much more profitable to carry silver than gold to Manilla, Canton, and Nagasaki. I have . made no mention yet of the exportation of wrought plate (plata lahrada), because accord- ing to the registers of Vera Cruz, it never exceeds the sum of twenty or thirty thousand marcs of silver. Iii the kingdom of New Grenada, the frau- dulent exportation of the gold of Choco, has very much increased since the navigation of the Rio Atrato was declared free. Gold dust, and even ingots, in place of being conveyed by Cali or Mompox, to the mints of Popayan and Sant$iFe» take the direct route of Car- thagekia ^and Portobello, from whence they flow into the > lEngliish Colonies. The mouths of the Atrato. and the Rio Sinu, where I renmined at anchor in the month of April, 1801, serve as stations for smugglers. The laws which from time. to time permit the importation of negroes from Africa, and flour from Philadel- m I m 'i * Voy^S^ o<< 7a/)o», do Thunberg (edit, de Langles) T. ii. p. 26*". 392 POtlttCAL ESSAY ON TH2 [book if* phia in foreign vessels, are favourable to this contraband trade. According to what infor- mation I could obtain from those who deal in gold dust (rescatadores) at Carthagena, Mdm- pox, Blig^, and Popayan, it would appear that we may estimate the quantity of gold supplied by Choco, Barbacoas, Antioquia, and Popayan, on which the fifth has not been paid, at 2500 marcs. fh Peru, the exportation of silver on which the fifth has not been paid, is not so much can'ied on by the South Sfea coast, which is frequeried by the spermaceti whale fishers*, as to i He east of the Andes, by the river Am^ zons. This great river connects two coun- tries' where a great disproportion prevails be- tween the relative value of gold and silver. Brazil is almost as profitable a market for the silver of Peru, as China for the silver of Mexico. A fifth, and perhaps even a fburth of all the silver extracted from the mines of Pasco, (Yauricochajfdand Chota (^Gnalgayoc), is exported in contraband by Lamas and Chachapoyas, in descending the river Amazons. There are persons at Lima, who believe that on quick- ening thv tvade on that river,- the fraudulent exportation of silrer woulfd become still greater. This prejudice has been very pernicious for * See p. 87 of this Vol. I csHAP. %t.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 30^^ the fine provinces which extend along the eii^ern declivity of the Cordilleras, fer- tilized by the Guallaga, the Ucayale, the Puruz, and the Beni. They forget that the wildness and solitude of these countries, faci- litate very much the operations of the smug- glers. We shall estimate the unregistered silver of Pei-u, at 100,000 marcs. I«n Ghili the gold which pays the fifth is to that which does not, according to Ulloay in the proportion of 3 to 2. We shall only compute it at a fourth of the total pro- duce. Estimating the fraudulent, exportation of silver in the kingdom of Buenos Ayres, at a sixth, or 67,000 marcs, and adding, with M. Gorrea de Serra, for the total produce of Brazil, where alluvions mines are only yet wrought, nearly 30,000 marcs of gold, we shall be able to exhibit in the following tahle, the whole produce of all America in gold and silver. III I IT I I 1 394 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book %t. Annual produce of the mines of the New Continent, at the beginning of the 19th century. .'it 1' • » < Names of Great, Political Divi- sions Viceroyalt^ of New Spain - 7>000 Viceroyalty of Peru - - Capitania Ge neral of ChUi Viceroy i^^ of Buenos ' res - - - 2,200 Viceroyal^ ofj New Grena da - - - 20,50r» Brasil Gold. Marcs of Castille Kilogr. 1,609 2,338,220 537,512 23,000,000 Total 3,*00 782 12,21'J 2,807 506 4,714 2P,900' 6,873 75,217 17.291 silver. Marcs of K"08'- Cantilie. 611,090 29,700 481,830 140,478 6,827 110,764 Value of Sli- er in Pias-I tres. 6,240,000 2,060,000 4,850,000 2,990,000 4,360,000 3,460,840795,581 43,500,000 The total produce of the mines of the New World consequently amounts at this day to 17,000 kilogrammes of gold,* and bOO,000 kilogrammes of silver f, reckoning the mark of Castille, by which the produce of the ■ mines in the Spanish Colonies is estimated, to the marc of France^ in the proportion of ^ 541 ' to 576, and the kilogramme at 4 * 45,580lb. troy. Trans. t 2,145,003 lb. troy. Tram. % BomeoUk Traits des Monnoies, 1806. p. 31 .') chap: xiO kingdom of new SPAIN. -395 marcs f 5 ffrbss, 35.15 grains old French weight. The tin furnished by all Europe, weighs only three times as much, as the quantity of silver annually extracted from the mines of America. It may be seen also from the preceding table, that it is erroneous to attribute to Brasil the greatest part of the gold with which the Old Continent is supplied by the New. The Spanish Colonies supply nearly 45,000 marcs of gold, while only 30,000 are extracted from the alluvions grounds of Brasil. If the go- vernment of Santa Fe de Bogota begin seri- ously to turn their attention to the population and agriculture of Choco, the extraction of gold in New Grenada, will in a very few years rival that of Brasil. The author of the im- mortal work on the Wealth of Nations,* values the quantity of gold and silver annually im- ported into Cadiz and Lisbon, at only six millions of pounds sterling, including not only the registered gold, but also what may be supposed to be smuggled. This estimate is too small by two fifths. Bringing together the results which we have just obtained for the New World, with f II ll m\ Hi 4^ „•'! * According to Meggens (Postscriptum du Negociant Uni" wrtdf 1756, p. 15) the importation into Spain and Por- tugal was from 1747 to 1753 at an average 5j74!6,000 pounds Sterling. ^^ P0J.,ITICA;L ESS^Y on T«E [book IV. tl^^, Mrhich axe the fruit of, the laborious re- s«9^ch^9 of M. Hjeron d^ Villefosse and M- Georgi*, we ^nd the following data : , * Geo. phj/s. Beschreibmg des Russischen Reichs, 1797, Th. 6. p. 368. M. Georgi's valuation is for the year 1796. The produce of the mines of Koliwan has doubled, and that of the mines of Nertschink has dimmished more tl^ a third between 1784 and 1794, 1 ;i 1 ' . I i. J ■ .1' A ''»;(» f. CHAP. XI.] ^KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. ^97 '^rr'^m^i^'Ut o 2 . I « ^ S bO V t*4 X -W ^00 « 1^ QQ CO ;o 00 CO (O MM* 1-t r-co M M M 00 us , > ... V d 7 ;* §4 00 -* •} i- ■* 0« t^ 1^ t* > CO I '<5ft>H t^o 00 of i-H to «o w.o g 8 11 *" IN CO 04 «5 CO it ^ »*H Oi "V »"• 00 "* 1-1 a rf 5 8^8 ^ »oofc5 6? it: ? < r-.-- », •-a ^5 s ,;i^J v-:Ci ^ 2 ^ I k< ^ * .'I 'it: 1 J a i(*'!^ 898 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [aooit iv. In this table the gold is valaed at 3444 francs 44 centimes, and the silver at 222 francs 22 centimes per kilogpramme. It in- dicates the quantity of the precious metals which annually enters into circulation among the ci- vilized nations of Europe. It is impossible to value the mass of gold and silver at present worked on the whole surface of the globe; for we are absolutely ignorant of what is produced in the interior of Africa, in Cen- tral Asia, Tonquin, China, and Japan. The trade in gold dust, carried on on the eastern and western coasts of Africa, and the infor- mation derived by Vs from the antients res- pecting the countries with which we have no longer any communication, might lead us to suppose that the countries to the south of the Niger are very rich in precious metals. We may make the same supposition respecting the high chain of mountains, extending to the north-east of the Paropamisus, towards the frontiers of China. The quantity of in- gots of gold and silver formerly exported by the Dutch from Japan, proves, that the mines of Sado, Sourouma, Bingo, and Kinsi- ma, are equal in wealth, to several of the mines of Ameriqa. Of the 78,000 marcs of gold, and 3,550,000, marcs of silver, French weight, annually ex- tracted since the end of the 18th century, ■ t. «iiAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 399 from all the mines of America, Europe, and ^Northern Asia, America alone, furnishes 70,000 marcs of gold, and 3,250,000 marcs of silver, and consequently tiv of the total produce of gold) and tin of the total produce of silver. rThe relative abundance of the tvt^o metals, differ therefore very little in the two conti- nents. The quantity of gold drawn from the mines of America, is to that of silver, as 1 to 46; and in Europe, including Asiatic Rus- sia, th* proportion is as 1 to 40. These results may serve to throw some light on the great problem of political eco- nomy, examined by Mr. Smith, in the ele- venth chapter of the first book of his work, .where he treats of the causes of the ilup- tuation between the relative value of the pre- vious metals. This celebrated author supposes, that for every ounce of gold, there are more than 2^ ounces of silver imported into Europe ; and if this supposition was correct, the Old Continent ought to receive from the New, only 1,554,000 marcs of silver, instead of 3,250,000 which it really receives. However, the greater the abundance of gold in proportion to sil- ver, the more we must be inclined to admit with Mr. Smith, that the proportion between ^he respective values of the two metals does not alone depend on the quantity in the mar- ket. Since the discovery of Am,erica, to the i *400 POLITICAL ESS ^ Y ON THE [book tv. present day, the valoe of; silver has fall€fn so 'tnueh in the western parts of Europe, that the proportion^ between that metal and gold, •which, at theerid of the 16th century, was as 1 to 11 or 1 to 12, is now, as 1 to 14i and even as 1 to 151. This change would'not have taken -place if the increase of the i*cspective masses of the two metals had been at all times as unifoml'l' ms at present. From ^hat has juist been stated, it is not accurate to advance, as has frequently been done, that the fecundity of the silver amines of America, surpasses that of the mines of the Old Continent, in much greater pro- ' portion than the gold mines. It is true that of the TOiOOO marcs of gold annually supplied "by America, five sixths are derived from wash- ing places, ^estslblished in alluviou9 grounds; •but these washing places (hvaderos) are sur- 'jWisingly uniform in their produce; and alll = who have ' visited the Spanish or -Portuguese * Colonies, * know that the exportatifon of gold ^fiMm 'America, 'must considerably increase -with * "the^ progress • ' tof ' population 'and agriculture. * Till 1546, when •'the Oerro de Potosi bt^gan * Under Philip-le-Bel a marc of gold was current for 10 marcs of silver. In Holland, the proportion in 1336, was as l0| to 1. In France it was in 1388 as 1(>| to "^ i,(RS^hefches htrle CaMmerce, Amsterdam. 1778, t.ii. p. iii^ -p.*^l4«.) •. . ^^- . - .f'Hine' Tenths* '.V-.. >:'■ ■ ^•.;.- ':,!"* CHAP XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 401 to be worked, Europe appears to have re- ceived much more gold than silver from the New Continent. Five sixths of the booty which Cortez acquired at Tenochtitlan, and the treasures at Caxamarca and Cuzco consisted in gold; and the silver mines of Porco in Peru, and Tasco and Tlapujahua in Mexico, were very feebly wrought in the times of Cortez and Pizarro. It is only since 1545 that Spain has been inundated with the silver of Peru. This accumulation produced the greater effect, as the civilization of Europe, was then more concentrated; as communica- tion was less frequent ; and as a smaller por- tion of the precious metals were re-exported for Asia. About the middle of the 16th, and the beginning of the 17th century, the pro- portion between gold and silver rapidly changed, especially in the south of Europe. In Hol- land it was still in 1589 as llf to 1; but under the reign of Louis XIII. in 1641, we find it already in Flanders, as 12i to 1 ; in France, as 13i to 1 ; and in Spain as 14 to 1, and even beyond that. The extraction of gold has prodigiously increased in America since the end of the 17th century; and although the auriferous grounds of Brazil have been partly known ever since 1577, the working of the alluvions mines however, only commenced in the reigrn of Peter II. In the time of Charles Y. ' VOL. HI. 2d 4M POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [mok iv. a quantity of gold of forty or fifty thousand marcs was sufficient to produce a sensible change in the proportion between gold and silver in Europe. On the other hand, this influence was hardly felt in the beginning of the 18th century, when commercial relations were very much multiplied. The gold of Brazil divided over a vast extent of country, could not pro- duce the effect which it would have produced by a rapid accumulation on a single point of the globe. > «. *.» We shall now enter upon a very important question, which has been very variously treated in works of political economy : namely, the quan* tity of gold and silver which has flowed from the New Continent into the Old, since 1492 to this day. Instead of examining the r gresi of mining: in America, and estimati the produce of the mines of each colony at dif- ferent periods, they have laid down a hy- pothesis of a certain number of millions of piastres, which have been arbitrarily enough, supposed to have been introduced annually into Portugal and Spain, during three cenr turies. It might have been easily foreseen that in calculating according to this prin- ciple, they would obt3,in results differing from one another in several thousands of millions of livres tournois, according as the annual im- portation was taken at ten or twelve milliQQB of livres only, either below or above the tmth CMAF. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 405 Besides, the greatest number of the mo«t cele- brated authora * instead of investiju^atinjaf for themselves, contented themselves with copying the valuations of Don Geronimo de Ustariz* as if merely to quote the particular opinion of a Spanish author was sufficient to inspire con- fidence. Before communicating my own results let us examine those calculations which have been hitherto before the public. ' • r Ustariz in his excellent treatise of commerce mnd navigation f founds his calculations on those of Don Sancho de Moncada and Don Pedro Fernandez de Navarete. The former who was professor in the Univei'sity of Alcala, affirms vaguely, that " according to a repre- i* sentation made to the king, there has entered ^ into Spain between 1402 and 1595, in gold *' and silver extracted from the mines of ** America, two thousand millions of piastres ; ** that at least the same quantity had Entered without being registered; and that of all the gold and silver it would be difficult to ^ find in Spain, two hundred millions, ont i* hundred in coin, and another hundred in *< hou^hold furnitare." Ustariz adds to thesf two thousand millions, the quantity imported * Forboniutis, Raynal, Gerboux, and the judicious author of the Recherches sur le Commerce (Amst. 1778.) f Edition of Paris 175S, p. lU Toze, kkiru schri/ieni 4791, p. 99.- ' • > . . .. 2D 2 « M 1 0 W' k m 404 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book m into Spain, between 1595 and 1724 which he estimates at 1536 millions, so that the total produce of Spanish America in gold and silver, from 1492 to 1724 amounted, according to this author, to 5536 millions of piastres.:-:^; It is easy to prove that this calculation does not rest on very solid foundations. Four^ thousand millions divided among one hun* dred and three years from 1492 to lS95y suppose an average annual produce of more than 38 millions. !Ng^v ive learn from the history of the mines of America, that tiie quantity of gold and silver introduced into Spain between 1492 and 1535 was very small,' and at most cannot be estimated at more than 130 or 140 millions. If however we admit 1$^ millions of piastres per annum, for this period the sum which Ustariz fixes for the period between 1595 and 1724, we shall find that the annual produce between . 1535 and. 1595 ought at least to be 58 millions. All the estimates are four or five times too high, as we may be convinced of by casting our eyes over the registers of Potosi and re- collecting that the mines of New Spain till the beginning of the eighteenth century, never yielded above three millions of piastres per annum. Moreover Garcilasso and Herera, ix^ speaking of the great wealth of the mii^es^of the New Continent, expressly say that towards / CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 405 the end of the sixteenth century from ten to twelve millions of piastres annually entered Spain by the mouth of the Guadalquivir. The estimates in round numbers of thousands of millions, far from being entitled to be con- sidered AS the fruits of accurate research, are merely the result of an approximate calcula- lation. Hence every author has thought him- entitled to fix on difterent quantities, jj^ .s: | Solorzano affirms * on the authority of Da- -vila that Spain received from America, from if:s tdiscovery in 1492 to 1628, fifteen hundred; millions of registered piastres, a sum which differs nearly by one half from that adopted hy Ustariz. On the other hand we fmd iti^ the political treatise of Navarete f, that between \^19 and 1617 according io registers there was imported 1536 millions. According to this valuation we attribute to the period of 9iB years, a smaller sum of piastres than what Solorzano and Davila, admit for the period of 136 years, which is a contradiction so much the greater as the one of these periods composes a part of the other. ' vi ?j^'<.i L Baynal in the first editions of his celebrated work on the settlemonts in the Indies J es- • De Indiarum Jure, T. II. p. 846. Hut. magna Ma- trUensiSf p. 472, ^ Dt la conservacion de las Monarquias, Disc. XXI. ' ^% C000 livres tournois per annum. . $ . ... , .. . . . ■-, '-■■'■ -- ■ . -■■■-•■- * Campomanest Discurso sobre la Educacion popular de k* artixanos, Vol. ii. p. ftSl. 408 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. With respect to the quantity of precious metals received by Spain from her colonies, since the discovery of America, Raynal fixes it at 25,570,279,924 liv., or 4,870,529,509 pi- astres. This calculation, which \vould inspire more confidence if the sums were expressed in round nuni03rs, is sufficiently accurate ; and it proves that even in setting out from the falsest data, we may sometimes by fortunate compu- tations, arrive at results very near the truth. Adam Smith, in his classical work on the causes of the wealth of nations * estimates the silver exported from the New Continent into Cadiz and Lisbon, at six millions sterling, or 26i millions of piastres per annum; but this estimate was too small by two fifths even in his time, in 1775. The English author followed the calculations of Meggens, according to whom during 1748 and 1753, Spain and Portugal received annually, at an average, in registered precious metals ^5,746,000 sterling, or 25,337,000 piastres. Reckoning four millions for the importation of gold from Brazil, we find according to Meggins, 21 millions of piastres for the Spanish Colonies alone, and consequently three millions more than Raynal allows for the year 1780. Mr. Gamier, the learned commentator on * Book I Chap. I. CHAF. 3CL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 409 Smiths, who has displayed the greatest ac- curacy in his researches, estimates the produce of the gold and silver mines of Spanish America, in 1802 at 159 millions of livres tournois, or 90,285,000 piastres; a sum which approaches nearer to the truth than all the calculations to be found in other works of Political Eco- 1 I Jv*l b nomy. Robertson in the History of America, values the amount of the precious metals imported into Spain, between 1492 and 1775 at the enormous sum of two thousand millions sterling, or 8800 millions of piastres ; and what is more singular, this justly celebrated author considers his calculation as founded on very moderate suppositions, though he estimates the annual produce of the mines during 283 consecutive years, at four millions sterling, and the amount of the contraband during that period at 968 millions f- When we compare these data with those of the work of Ustariz, we ob- serve that the sums of the Spanish author are lower by one half. ^ - . *« • In the Recherches sur le Commerce, pub- lished at Amsterdam in 1778 1 the amount of gold and silver exported from Spanish Ki » » Mr. Neoker * in his researches respecting the ea^istiiig specie in France, estimates the gold and silver received at Cadiz and Lisbon, from 1763 to 1777 at 1600 millions of livres tournois, or 304,800^000 piastres. According to this hypothesis, the total exportation of precious metals from the two Americas would have amounted to 21i millions of piastres per annum, while that of Spain alone according to certain information was more than BO millions f. On the other hand, M. Ger- boux in his discussions on the effects orf melting down the go\d coinage (demonHi2i&iion de Vor)X values the importation of gold and , •.,..'4 < ,,-:\ f - '7'^ ''. -'^'In' I'f) blo-»-^i"; .1 * Sur k commerce des grainst Liv. ii. chap. v. De ^administration des Jinances, T. iii. chap. vjH. p. 71. + Encycl, methqd, Economiepolit, T. M. p. fiSI. ; IGerboux, p. 86, 66, ,69^ 70, . , , . 1 CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 411 silver into Europe in livres toumois as follows ^ ^ From 1724 to 1766-:~4000 millions. 1766 — 1800—4000 ^ ^ 1789 — 1803— 1500 'f r- ' 'io •r'!0':!;r '¥ ' from wHence it would follow that the annual importation from 1724 to 1803 amounted to 21 millions of piastres. ' > ^ '^ -^^ ■::u...^j.:r'ji *" Unitinjr in one point of view the I'esults of all these calculations, which are founded on nothing more than mere conjectures, we find that the mass of registered precious metals imported into Europe, is according to : >. ' ' Names of Authors. Periods. iastres. Ustariz - - - 1492—1724 o536 miliions. Solorzano - - 1492 1628 1500 Moncada - - 1492—1595 2000 ' '^ Navarete - - - 1519 1617 1536 Raynal - - - 1492—1780 5154 Robertson - - 1492—1775 8800 . ..; Necker - - - 1763—1777 304 . Gerboux - - 1724—1800 1600 The author of Re- T . .;'■.■'' cherches sur le 5072 Commerce 1492—1775 To avoid as much as possible in these re- searches the causes of error which are but too numerous, I shall follow a different course III 412 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book m from what has been followed b^ the writers above-mentioned. I shall first state the quan- tity of gold and silver, which according to the records of the mints and the royal treasury we know to have been extracted from the mines of Mexico and Potosi ; I shall add from the historical knowledge which I acquired respecting the state of the Mexican mining operations, the amount furnished by each me- talliferous region of Peru, Buenos Ayres, and New Grenada; and I shall distinguish what has been registered from what has been smuggled. Instead of estimating, as has hi- therto been done, the total produce of this contraband trade, at a third or a fourth of the whole of the registered metals, I shall make partial estimates according to the position of each colony, and its relations with the neigh- bouring countries. When we wish to judge of the greatness of a distance which we cannot measure with precision, we are sure of com- mitting errors of less consequence, if we divide the whole extent into several parts, and if we compare each of these with objects of u known greatness. - V i v ^•.•-\ A- *. C' * "" "> CHAP, w.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 413 1. Quantity of Registered Gold and Silver extracted from the mines of America, from the year 1492 to 1803. ?-!Vrfw . V i cl ■ "^ *» ^ ¥ I ,*^.^».'^^*■ !*■!• •■•- .'7:_rfii f- A. SPANISH COLONIES. ■.:yS aar Piastres. -i- The kingdom of New Spain has furnished the mint of Mexico, -^ between 1690 and 1803, ac- cording to the register al- , .:. i r ready given, with - . - - 1,853,452,000 The mines of Tasco, Zultepec, Pachuca, and Tlapujahua, ,^ were almost the only ones which were worked immedi- . ately after the destruction of the ,, city of Tenochtitlan in 1521, r and from that memorable period . till 1548. As the quantity of , . gold and silver coined in the .;j- beginning of the 18th century, ,., i u v did not exceed five millions of piastres per annum, I reckon > ,. from the conquest by Herman ; , . r Cortez, till 1548, for the total produce of Mexico - - 40,500,000 ^M Carried over 1,393,952,000 414 POLITICAL ESSAT ON THlfc [Boolt iV ' ,A^ r • ,: ' ff PiMtret. Brought aver ..-•-- 1,393,052,000 In 148 the mines of Zacatecas . -^v, began to be worked, and the • '^ ' mines of Guanaxuato in 1558; and nearly at the same period - ' ^^- amalgamation was invented by Medina. We may reckon from '^ 1548 till 1600, at least two ^ ^-^^ millions, and from 1600 till i« ' 1690, three millions per an- - .^»^si ' mim 374,000,000 Themines of Potosi, supplied from ' ••- '*»3 • their discovery in 1545, till .;..<.-- the year 1803, 1095* millions ♦ : - *r : of piastres, or 128,882,000 ^iwV' marcs; namely from 1545 to /= v ;. iL 1556, nearly 127,500,000^ From 1559 to 1789, according •^;!^ to the registers of the treasury ^ *^ already given ----- 788,258,500 Add on account of the value of the peso de minas, from 1550 - - to 1600 134,000,000 Produce of Potosi, from 1789 to - *^ 1803 46,000,000 Ov«^ '''--• ''^ - ■-■ .^'''-f '■■} • ■ • ■ Carried over 2,863,710,500 \ '.- i O '.-.;'.">• • ^ .. •• . .w. . - — — i— «— — «»»^ 6I4AP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW 8?AIN. 4lS , T ' i I » * ' I *■ = i,»HHiii'J Piaatreg. Bronght over %S6S,7\0,&0O The mines of Pasco or Yauri- ''••^' " " cocha, discovered in 1680, 'iniM.;<( yielded up to 180S, nearly I n'^-l'J 800 millions of piastres, or / »*> m*^^ ^ 35,300,000 marcs, namely fiom « ^ • . • 1630 to 1792, at 9Q0,000 marcs per annum ----- - 274,400,000 Prom 1792 to 1801, according to the registers - - - - - Produce of the CeiTo de Yau- ricocha, from 1801 till 1803 The mines of Gualgayoc, dis- covered in 1771, yielded from 1773, nearly 170,000 marcs of ' of silver, per annum - - - From 1774 till 1802, for the mines of Gualgayoc, Guama- chuco de Couchucofi - - . Add for 1803 .----. I estimate the produce of the mines of Huantajaya, Porco, and other less considerable Peruvian mines, from the 16th century till 1803, at 150,000 or 200,000 niarcs of silver per annum - - 350,000,000 Cairied over 3,703,156,000 21^1,600 3,400,000 4,300,000 185,339,900 504,000 li r^l i t\X 000,1- >'i • L-;..' .KK)/>^'?. ■ 'O Ui^\'il^ •*..«•..» .... 410 l*OLITICAt ESSAY ON THE [book it. Brought over 3,703,166,000 Choco was peopled in 1539; the , luun ^a i province of Antioquia, then , ,. *I>0) • inhabited by cannibals, was .» i^Uhir conquered in 1541. The al- :;i;:{j tK>(; luvious mines of Sonora and -hx^ Ul>r>,C.« Chili began only very late ;r oM.W ril to be worked. If we reckon nH^Kj; ijq 12,000 marcs of gold for the !;fr; i worl total produce of the Spanish o'^i r^tjt f>i Colonies, not including the, |o .v^iU/rj, . kingdom of New Spain, we, * ,*f1'^fv..ir may add - - 332,000,000 Registered Gold and Silver of") the Spanish Colonies, from [ 4,035,156,000 1492 to 1803 - - . - 3 B. PORTUGUESE COLONIES. Raynal supposes for the first sixty years, a produce the double of the preser^. He admits, that according to the registers of the fleets, since the discovery \ of the mines of Brazil, till 1555, there has come into r ^ Europe, in gold, the value of ---.--.. - 480,000,000 9 Carried over 480,000,000 iiiAr. xi.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 4l7 Piastres. Brought over 480,000,000 From 1756 to 1803, reckoning only an annual produce of 32,000 marcs 204,5 1 1,000 Registered gold of the Portu- guese Colonies, from the dis covery of Brazil, till 1803 is- [ 684,544,000 II. Clold and Silver hot registered, extracted from the mines of the New Continent, from 1492 to 1803. A. BPANISH COLONIES. i reckon for New Spain, where the furtive extraction was very considerable till the middle of the eighteenth century, A seventh - - - ^ - - ^ 260,000,000 For Potosi, the fouith of this total produce, on account of the enormous contraband at the beginning of working the mines - - - 274,000,000 Pasco, Gualgayoc, and the rest of Peru, where the silver flows by the river Amazons, towards Brazil - - - 200,000,000 Carried over 734,000,300 VOX.. HI. 2 EV ■Wl^"^^" ^^m^i'-^'mmm^mmmK^mmmHm^^i'mmmmam W •lis POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. Piastres. Broiiglit over - - - - - 734,000^000 For the gold of Chili, New Gre- nada, and the kingdom of Buenos Ayres 82,000,000 B. PORTUGUESE COLONIES. For the gold of Brazil - - - 171,000,000 Uia-egistered Gold and Silver, from 1492 to 1803 ] 987,000, ,000 RECAPITULATION. Value of Gold and Silver extracted from the mines of America, from 1499 to 1803. /"From the Spanish Registered^ Colonies - - - 4,035,156,000 No. I. y From the Portuguese v^ Colonies - - - 084,544,000 / From the Spa- Not Registered 3 ^^'^ ^^^^^^"' 816,000,000 Not Registered J^ ^^^ ^^^ No. IL i ^ - \ tuguese Colo- nies - - - 171,000,000 Total 5,706,700,000 •ifAp. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 419 This sum, which I believe myself warranted in fixmg on, differs more than sixteen thousand millions of francs from thr^ sum stated by Robertson. It is not surprising that It approximates the estimates of several other writers; for it is with numbers in political economy, as with the positions fixed by as- tronomers; when we first observe the longitude of a place amid the great number of maps in which all the points are placed at random, we are sure to find One which indicates the true position. It appears then that, of the 5,706,700,000 piastres, or 29,960,175,000 livres tournois furnif.hed in gold and silver from 1492 till 1803, or in the space of 311 years, we owe: 2 E*i fWI-i^^l^wWWP ■v^^^mmnvM Pi^sBMnivaipwi ^ipWPPHMIIinMllilSI 426 Political essaV on the t^oo^ ^^' ^ (U CO c s o •n o h en ► O Ci © 00 I— » CO 00 r- -* 05 «1 GO ?£) 00 0% ^ <-" W5 Ol --T «5 X Q O O i s s. n in «i O C Q lO ^ o irj i^ ifj 04 f-( "* ^ r- © © © CO. 05 CO CO ♦ s5 © © © wo r* © «i Oi v CO © © © CM X o< »o CO fl O eg ■> p iS V2 C! 1 01 93 •FN ?3 cu e4 c4 1 fl O cc fi o 3 tf 1— 1 O 1 * i Sri o 1 o O ^3 's ^ jz; • i*M d d 02 1 •1 s o c an I o 1 1 1 be -♦J O a> a ^ • UK jC -*>) 1 o ^ ^ PQ iS fS o H CHAP.xi.l KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 421 As the Cerro del Potosi belongs from its position to the Cordilleras of Peru, I have brought together in this table, the mines situa- ted on the ridge of the chain of the Andes, from the 6° to the 21° of south latitude, for a length of 500 leagues. The metalliferous part of Mexico, comprehended between the 16" and 31° of north latitude, at present sup- plies twice as much silver, as the two vice- roy allies of Peru and Buenos Ayres; and thia part is only 450 leagues in length. The fol- lowing table specifies the proportion between the gold and silver drawn from the mines of the New Continent from their discovery, till 1803. Political Divisions. Gold - - - - From the Portuguese Colonies - - - From the Spanish Colo nies - - - - Silver - T - Total. Marcs Castille weight. Piastre?. 9,915,000 6,290,000 3,G25,000 1,348,500,000 855,500,000 493,000,000 512,700,000 -1,358,200,000 5,70(),700,000 According to this estimate which is merely an approximate, the mass of silver furaislied by the Cordilleras of America for three centuries, amounts to 117,864,210 kilagrummes* in weight. ♦ 316, 023,883 lb. troy. mmmmmmmm 422 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. It would form a solid sphere of a diameter of 27.8 metres"^, or 85t(j Paris feet. When we re- collect that the iron extracted from the mines of France alone, amounts to 22o mil- lions of kilogrammes per annum, we see that with respect to the relative abundance, or dis- tribution of the substances in the exterior crust of the globe, silver is to iron merely in the relation of magnesia to silice, or baryte to. alumine. \^^e must not however confound the quan- tity of precious metals extracted from the mines of the New Continent, with what has realty flow- ed into P]urope since the year 1492. To judge of this last sum, it in indispensable to estimate, 1st. The gold and silver found at the period of the conquest among the natives of America, and which became the spoil of the conque- rors; 2dly. What has remained in circulation in the New Continent; and 3dly. What has passed directly to the coasts of Africa and Asia, without touching Europe. The conquerors found gold not only in the regions where it is still produced, as in Mexi- co, Peru, and New Grenada, but also in coun- tries of which the rivers actually appear to us very poor in auriferous sands. The natives of Florida, Saint Domingo, and the Island of 91.206 feet English, Trans, CHAP. XI.] kingdo:m of new spain. 42^ i Cuba, of Darien, and the coast of Paria, had bracelets, rinses, and necklaces of e^old ; but it is probable that the greatest part of that metal was not derived from the countries in which these tribes were found, at the end of tl e fifteenth century. In South America as wcH as in Africa, commercial communications ex- isted, even among* the hordes the most remote from civilization. Coral and sea shells weie frequently found in the possession of men who lived at a ffreat distance from the coast. We ascertained during our journey on the Orinoco, that the famous Mahagua stone, the jado of the Amazons, comes by means of an exchange establisheil among different tribes of savages, from Brazil to the banks of the Carony, inha- bited by the Caraib Indians. Besides, it is to be remarked, that the people found by the Spaniards in Darien, or the Island of Cuba, had not always inhabited the same coi.ntries. In America, the great migrations have taken place fi'om the north west, to the soulli east : and frequently whole tribes have been forced by wars to quit the mountains, and settle in the plains. We can conceive therefore in what manner the gold of Sonora, or the valley of the Rio Cauca, might have been found among the savages of the Darien, or the mouths ox the river Madalena. Besides, the smaller the population, the more deceitful the appear- 424 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE' [book ly. ance of wealth. The accumulation of gold i^ particularly striking, in countries where all the metal possessed by the p ople, is converted into objects of ornament. We must not then judge of this pretended wealth of the mines of Cibao, of the coast of Cumana, and the isthnuis of Panama, from the recital of the first travellers. We must recollect that rivers be- come less auriferous, in proportion as during th course of ages, their course becomes less rapid. A horde of savages who settle in a valley, where man had never before penetra- ted, iincl grains of gold accumulated there for thousands of years ; while in our days, the most careful wasliing hardly produces a few scattered particles. These considerations, to which I. wish to limit myself in this place, may sprve tp clear up the problem, so frequently agitated, why those regions which immediately after the discovery of America, and especially between 1492 and 1515, were considered as eminently rich in precious metals, furnish no longer any in our days, although very laborious and well directed trials have been made in several of them. To form some idea of the spoil in gold and silver, transmitted by the first conquerors to Europe, before the Spaniards began to work the mines of Tasco in Mexico, or Porco in Peru, let us cast our eyes over the facts re^ CHAP.xi.'] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 425 lated by the historians oi the conquest. I have carefully examined these facts, and endeavoured to collect all the passages where the wealth which fell into the hands of the Europeans, is estimated in pesos ensayadoSy or in castellanos de oro; for it is from these data, and not from the vague, and frequently repeated ex- pressions of " enormous quantity of yold or im- mense treasiireSf* that we shall be able to obtfin satisfactory results. . In 1502, Ovando sent to Spain a fleet of eighteen vessels, commanded by Bovadilla and Rojdan, and laden with a great quantity of gold. The greater part of these vessels perished in the tempest, in which Christopher Columbus nearly lost his life, in his first voyage on the shores of St. Domingo. The historians of the time consider this fleet as one of the richest; and yet they all agree that the freight in gold did not exceed 200,<300 pesos*, which reckoning them as pesos de minas at 14 reals, make the moderate sum of 1,750,000 livres tournoisf, or 2560 marcs of gold. The pre* sents which Cortez received on his passage through Chalco, only amounted to 8000 pesos de oroX, or to 38 marcs of weight in gold. '^m * Herreray Decada i. Lib. i. Cap. i. (T. i. p. 126). •)• ag 7 1,427 Sterling. Trans. % Cartas de Hernan Cortez, Carta i. § xviii. W iM4& 426 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. When Montezuma assembled his vassals to take the oath of fidelity to the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who as they were made to believe descended in a straight line from Qaetzalcoatl*, the Bouddha of the Aztecs, Cortez demanded a tribute in gold: "I feigned,'* he writes to the Emperor, ** that your highness was in great " want of this metal, for certain works which <* you wished to execute.'* The fifth of the tribute, paid into the chest of the army, amounted to 32,400 pesosf; from which we are to con- clude that the quantity of gold collected by the stratagem of the General, amounted to 2080 marcs. At the taking of Tenochtitlan, the spoil which fell into the hands of the Spaniards, did not exceed in weight accord- ing to the assertion of Cortez, 130,000 castel- lanos, or 2600 marcs of goldj ; and accord- ♦ See my Vues des CordilUres, and Monumens de VAnie^ riquCf PI. vii. ,,, f Cartas de Hevmn Cortez^ Carta i. § xxix. p. 98, \ Carta iii. § li. p. 301. The expression se Jun4io mas de 138,0(X> castellanos is doubtful. We are ignorant whe- ther Cortez speaks of castellanos as a weight, or as an imaginary coin. I follow with the Abbe Clavigero the former hypothesis, {Storia de Messicoy T. iii. p. 232). In the second case the spoil would only have been 1600 marcs of gold; for Herrera expressly says, that " Castellnno y peso " es uno,** and according to him a peso de minas is worth 14 reals; o, peso ensayadOy\\iitieen reals (de plata) andonft quartillo. Decada viii. Lib. ii. c.lO. T. v, p. 41. tHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF JTEW SPAIN. 427 ing to Bernal Diaz it amounted to 380,000 pesos, which are equivalent to 4890 marcs. The two periods of the conquest of Peru, in which the Spaniards collected the greatest quantity of wealth, are those of the proceed- ings against Atahualpa, and the pillage of Cuzco, The ransom of the Inca which was divided in 1531, among 60 cavaliers, and 100 foot, amounted according to Garcilasso, to 3,930,000 ducats in gold, and 672,670 ducats in silver. Reducing these sums into marcs, we find 41,987 marcs of gold, and 115,508 marcs of silver, amounting together in value to 3,838,058 pias- tres, at 8 reah de plata Mexicana, or 20,149,804* livres tournoisf. This treasure which was col- lected together in one house, the ruins of which I saw during my stay at Caxamarca in 1802, had served as ornaments in the temples of the sun of Pachacamac, Huailas, Cuzco, Gua- machuco, and SicUapampa. GomaraJ, only esti- mates the ransom of Atalhualpa at 52,000 marcs of silver, and at 1,326,500 pesos de oro, or to 17,000 marcs of silver. In whatever relates to numbers, it seldom happens that the M * ae 822,438 Sterling. Trans. f Garcilasso, P. ii. Lib. i. c. 28 and 38. (T. ii. p. 27 and 51 ) . Father Bias Valcra reckons 4,800,000 ducados, % Historia delas IndiaSfl55Sf^,67. 428 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv, authors of the 16th century are unauimous. The spoil of Cnzco, according' to Herrera*, was more than two millions of pesos, or above 25,700 marcs of gold. From these data it appears probable, that the conquests of Mexico and Peru, did not throw into the hands of the Spaniards more than 80,000 marcs of gold. The greater part of the treasures were buried by the Indians, or thrown into the lakesf; and so much of them as have been found fron^ time to time in raking with Huacas, and paid the fifth to the King, have been confounded with the gold extracted from the mines. We shall add to these 80,000 marcs of gold, what was carried off in small portions from the Wc < India Islands, the coast of Paria and Saint Martha, Darien and Flor rida; and we shall have, reckoning two tliou" sand marcs per annum, till the mines of Tasco and Potosi began to be worked, another sum of 106,000 marcs of gold. The quantity of specie now in circulation in ♦ Dec. V. Lib. vi. c. 3. •j- Into the lake of Tezeuco in Mexico; into Guatavita to the north west of Santa Fe de Bogota; and into the lakes of Titicaca, and of the valley of Orcos. This last lake is supposed to contain the famous gold chain, which the Inca Huayna Capac caused to be made on the birth of his son Huescar, and which has so much occupied the imagination of the first colonists of Peru, ( tHAP. XI 3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 429 the New World, is much less than is com- monly supposed. To judge of this with any degree of accuracy, we must recollect that the specie of France*, is estimated at 2500 mil- lions of livres tournoisf j that of Spain J, at 450 millions §j and that of Great Britain||, at 920 millions^ ; and that the mass of gold and silver which remains in circulation in a country, far from following a proportion to its population, depends rather on the prosperity, and civiliza- tion of the inhabitants, and the quantity of pro- ductions which require to be represented by pecuniary signs. Supposing the value of the precious metals existing either in specie, or in Wrought gold and silver, 1r ±f.^ mSI('; • According to M. Necker in 1784, at 2200 milHont of livres; according to M. Arnoakl in 1791, t%vo thousand millions of livres ; according to M. Desrotours in 1 801, at 2290 millions; and according to M. M. Peucliet and Ger- boux in 1805, at 2550 millions of livres tournois. f Upwards of 102 millions Sterling. Trans, ■}(. According to Ustariz in 1724, a hundred million ot piastres, and according to the assertion of M. Musquiz, the minister of finance, cited in the work of M. Boar- going, 80 millions of piastres in 1 782. $ jg 18,367/34-0 Sterling. Trans, II Adam Smith only estimates it at 30 millions sterling at most. % 16 37.551,000 Sterling. Trans, 430 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv, livres tournois* In the United States, including' English Canada - - - 180 millions In the Spaniih Colonies* of the Continent - - - - 480 In Brazil - - - 120 In the West India Islands 25 We find a Total of ^ 805 millionsf t)f livres tournois, or 1 53,333,000 piastres. A very small part of the gold and silvei* extracted from the mines of America, passes immediately into Africa and Asia, without first touching Europe. We shall estimate the quantity of precious metals, which has flowed from Acapulco into the Philippine Islands, since the conclusion of the 16th century, at 600,000 piastres J per anmim§. The expeditions from * We have followed in these valuations, the principlea laid down by Adam Smith and Nccker, taking for basisT the num ber of inhabitants, the mass of imposts paid td the government, the wealth of the clergy, and the relative activity of commerce. These calculations are the more uncertain, as a great number of Negroes and Indians aro mi)ced with the whites. t 1632,858,137 Sterling. Trans, % jg 126,000 Sterling. Trans, <^ I am aware, that Lord Anson found in the Aca- pulco galleon which fell into his hands, the sum of 1,357,454< piastres. (Anson*s Voyage^ p. 384) ; but we can- not estimate the annual importation at more than 600,000 piastres, when we consider that the galleon has not sailed every year siace the end of the 16th century. ^ ^ CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 431 Lima to Manilla have been very rare, even latterly. The vessels sent from the West India Islands, and formerly from the ports of the United States to the western coast of Africa, in the slave trade, exported not only fire arms, brandy, and hardwares, but also silver in specie; but this exportation was compensated for by the purchase of gold dust on the coast of Guinea, and by the lucrative commerce which the An o'lo- Americans carry on with several parts of Europe. Now if we deduct from the 570(5 millions of piastres, drawn from the mines of the New Continent, since its discovery by Christopher Columbus, till the present day, 153 millions of piastres which exist either in specie, or in wrought gold and silver in the civilized part of America. and, 133 millions of piastres which have past from the western coast of America into Asia, Uj 1 286 millions of piastres, we find that Europe has received from the New World in the course of three centuries, 5420 millions of piastres*. Taking also the 1 86,000 marcs of gold, which have passed as spoil into the hands of the conquerors at 25 millions^ * £ 1,138,200,000 Sterling. Trans, iZ2 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ly; it follows that the quantity of gold and silver imported into Europe from America, betweeii 1492 and 1803> amounts to five thousand Jour hundred and forty -five millions of piastres, or to twenty eight thousand five hundred and eighty- six millions oflivres tournois*. This calculation like all those of Forbon- nais, Ustariz Necker, and Raynal, is partly founded on facts, and partly on mere conjecture. It is easy to Csincc\\e that the results are the more accurate, as we were enabled to avail ourselves of a greater number of tacts, and as the con- jectures are founded on a more intimate ac- quaintance with the history and present state of the mines of the New Continent. It is for those of my readers, who are accustomed to researches of this nature, to judge whether the sums fixed on by me are nearer the truths than those which have been hitherto adopted in the most esteemed and popular works. Dividing the 5445 millions of piastres, among rtie 311 years since the discovery of the New Worlds till 1803, wt tind that the average annual importation auiouiits to seventeen millions and a htilf of piastres. From the historical researches ^hich it has hitherto been in my pow er to make, it appears to me that the treasures of America bave flowed iuto Europe in the following pro- gression* * rf 1,166,775,3^2 Sterljn{? CHAP, j.i.2 KINGDOxM OF NEW SPAIN. 43ii Periods. Average an nual impo.' tationcfgold & silver from America in to Europe. 1492.1500 1500— 154-5 1545—1600 Piastres. Remarks 'elattve tothe History of the Mines. Discovery of the West India Is- lands; Gold washing places of Cibao ; expedition of Alonzo Nino to the coast of Paria; voyage of 2£0,000 Cabral. The fleets did not arriv« levery year in Spain, and that of Ovando was considered as immense- ly rich, though it was only laden with 2560 marcs of silver. The Mexican mines of Tasco, Zultepeque, and Pachuca wrought ; Peruvian mines of Porco, Caran- gas, Andacava, Oruro, Carabaya, and Chaquiapu (or la Paz) ; spoil at Tenochtitlan, and at Caxamarca, and Cu CO ; conquest of Choco and Antioquia. 3,000,000 11,000,000 1600l_170OJ 16,000,000 1700—1750 22,500,000 Mines of Zacatecas and Gua- naxuato in New Spain ; Cerro del Potosi, in the Cordilleras of Peru ; tranquil possession of Chili, and the provinciaii internas of Mexico. The mines of Potosi begin to get exhausted, especially after the middle of the 17th century; but the mines of Vauricocha are dis- covered. The mining produce of New Spain, rises from two to five millionH of piastres per annum ; the gold washing places of Barbacoav and Choco. The alluvious mines of Brazil wro .ight ; Mexican mines of la Bis- cairtu, Xacal ; Tiapujahua, Sombre- re e, and Hatopilas ; importation of gold and silver into Spain, from n hH io 1753, at an average 19 millions of piasti t's annually. • - -W « if ttf ■Id 7' VOL. Ill o P 434 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE BOOK IV. Periods. Average an nual impor tationofffol.d 8c silver from America in- to Europe. JPiastres. 1750—1803 35,300,000 Remarks relative to the History of the Mines. Last period of the splendour of Tasco ;mine of Valenciana wrought; discovery of the mines of Catorce, and the Cerro de Gualgavoc ; im- lortation of gold and silver into {pain, towards the comrnencement of the 19th century, 4S| millions of piastres. We have already remarked that the pro- portion between gold and silver which was before the discovery of America as 10 to .1, gradually changed to 16 : 1. It would be of importance to know the quantity of gold which at different periods has flowed fron^ the one continent to the other ; but for this we want accurate data. The little which we know is reduced to the following facts. Till 1525 Europe had received from the new world little else than gold; and from that period till the discovery of the mines of Brazil towards the end of the seventeenth centuiy, the silver imported exceeded the im- portation of gold in the proportion of 60 or 65 to 1. In the first half of the eighteenth century, the commerce in the precious metals uinlerwenl an extraordinary revolution; the pioduce of the silver mines experienced fuhiIL variation ; but Brazil, Choco, Antioquia, Po- CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 435 pay an and Chili, have furnished so considerable a quantity of gold, that Europe has not perhaps drawn from America 30 marcs of silver for one marc of gold. In the last half of the past century the silver has again increased in the market. The mines of New Spain sup- plied Spain at an average with two millions and a half of marcs of silver annually, instead of the six hundred thousand which they furnished between 1700 and 1710. As the produce of gold has not continued to increase hi the same proportion, the result is that from 1750 to >1800, the quantity of gold imported into Europe was to the quantity of silver imported * in the proportion of 1 to 40. The mines of New Spain have as it were counterbalanced the effects which the abundance of the gold of Brazil would have produced. In general we ought not to be astonished that the proportion between the respective values of gold and silver ^as not always varied in a very sensible manner according as one of these may have preponderated in the mass of metal imported from America into Europe. The accumulation of silver appears to have produced its whole effect ■M A 4 * Meggenf found the proportion between gold and silver, from 1748 to 1753 as 1 to 22^ ; from 1753 to 1764 as 1 to 26 4,. M. Gerimn mffO^aiU in IS09 ai I to29|. ? F 2 436 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. anterior to the year 1650, when the proportion *of g-old and silver was in Spain and Italy as I to 15. Since that period the population and conimercial relations of Europe have experienced such a considerable increase, that the varia- tions in the value of the precious metals have -depended on a great number of combined causes, and especially on the exportation of silver to the East Indies and China, and its consumptioh in plate. -"' .^»* r ^r ' If Europe at present produces according to M. Heron de Villefosse, 215,000 marcs of silver for 5300 marcs of gold, or 40 marc» of silver for one marc of gold, it appears on the other hand, that in the fifteenth and six- teenth centuries, the proportion was more in favour of the silver. The produce of the mines and gold washing places diminished in Germany and Hungary at the time that the silver mines were most successfully wrought. The mines of Freiberg alone, which in th« sixteenth century yielded only 16,000 marcs per annum, yield more than 50,000 at pre- sent. I am inclined to believe that even without the discovery of America, the value of gold would have risen in Europe. Let us examine, before concluding this chapter, what has become of the treasiucvc drawn from the New Continent. Where are the twenty oi^ht thousand millions of livrm CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 407 tournois, which Europe has received for three centuries from Spanish and Portu<^uese America? Forbonnais supposed that of 21 \ thou- sand millions of livres which according to him were imported from the one continent into the other, between 1492 and 1724, the half has been absorbed by the Indian and Levant trade j that a fourth was used in plate, or lost in melting, or by the minute division in trinkets; and that the remainder was con- verted into specie. He estimated the precious metals circulating in Europe in 1766 at 7500 millions of livres tournois *, without includingf in this sum the produce of the mines of Spanish America since 1724, nor the specie existing in Europe previous to the discovery of the New World. M. Gerboux, in an in- teresting memoir on pecuniary legislation, has endeavoured to verify and extend the calculations of Forbonnais, He believes the actual existing specie of Europe amounts to 10,6(00 millions of livi'es tournois f, or 219 i^illions of piastreN, and that Ix^fore 1492 there were only 600 millions or 114 millions of piastres. J It is surprising that such an enlightened financier, as M. Necker should have ad- -tM u T 1 ''■m^' ms * tf 306,1 22,400 Sterling. Trans. f jg4.32,652,992 Sterling. Trans. X ie2i,489,792 Sterling. Tr « s. 438 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. vanced in 1775, that the specie of France constituted nearly the half of the coin of Europe, and that the whole of Europe only possessed 4,500 millions of livres tournois*, in specie. The inaccuracy of this assertion has been proved by M. Demeunier, in the Encychpedie Methodique, and by M. Gerboux and M. Peuchet f. Indeed M. Necker himself has greatly modified it in his work on the administration of the finances. On the other hand, the estimate of M. Ger- boux, who admits that the actual specie of Europe amounts to ten thonsand six hundred millions of livres |, appears a great deal too high, when we turn our attention to tl>e population of this part of the world. It is generally believed that the quantity of the precious metals which circulated in anti- revolutionary France, is known with considera- ble certainty ; and on account of the losses occasioned by the pecuniary law (loi mone^ taire) of 1803, and the destruction of the colonial commerce, the present circulation '\% * jf 183,673,440 Sterling. Trans, \ Demeuniery Economic politique, T. ii. p. 325. Ger' houx, p, 75 & 92. Peuchety statisti^e de la France^ p. 474. Necker de P administration des Jinances, T. iii* p. 75. • 15432,652,992 Sterling. Trans. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 4a9 estimated nt 1850 millions of livres tournois *. If we estimate for that period, the population at 20,3(>3,O0O, we find 69 livres for each inha bitant. Now Europe contains accordinjB^ to the recent researches of Mr. Hassel 182,600,000 in- habitants, whereof Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Sclavonian and Sarma- tian nations, constitute more than 62 millions. Allowing for Great Britain and for the West and South of Europe, or> livres per individual, and for other countries less advanced in civilization f 30 livres, we shall find that the total specie of Eu- rope cannot be carried beyond 8603 millions J (16^37 millions of piastres) a sum almost equal to the half of the debt of Gi'eat Britain §. * je73,1^9,376 Sterling. Trans, f In 1805 the effective currency of the Austrian mo- narchy was estimated at 250 or 300 miUioDS of florins, admitting a population of 25,548,000 inhabitanU. C Hassel Statist. Umriss. von Europa, p. 29 J. How could the Abb6 Raynal estimate the specie of Portugal at only 18 millions of livres, and that of Brazil at 20 millions? CHisi. philos., T. ii. p. 434 and 460). Brazil contains at present four millions of inhabitanits, among whom ther6 are ] ,500,000 Negroes ; and how could he suppose that in a country, where even the Indians enjoy more of the benefits of life than in the Spanish Colonies, and where there are very populous cities, only ten livres per free individual, when in the northern part of Europe, we must reckon from 30 to 40.? X 1^351,142,800 Sterling. Trans. § Playfair, Statistical Breviary. (1801. p. 37.) The debt amounted in 1802 to 562 millions Sterling; in 1810 to 640 millions. ;«> m r'fe' /'.4 440 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. Hence it tne population of France is actually in the proportion of one to five to that of Europe, the quantity of precious metals which it contains is to that which is spread throughout Europe as 1 to 3^. We have already seen that the mines of Asiatic Russia, and Europe, annually fur- nish a produce of 21 millions of livres or four millions of piastres per annum *. We learn from the Dutch authors that from four to five thousand marcs of gold come annually in dust from Guinea into Europe. We es- timate the produce of the mines of Europe and the importation from Northern Asia and Africa, since the discovery of America, at only six millions of livres per annum t ; and hence supposing the actual specie of Europe 8603 millions, and according to M. Gerboux that which existed in 1492 at 600 millions, it follows that 22,450 millions of livres have been carried out to the East Indies, converted into plate, and lost by melting. Dividing this sum among 213 years we find at an average, an annual loss in gold and silver of 72 millions of livres J (13,700,000 piastres). It has been already proved that the impor- * iC840,000 SterliHg, Trans. + ie24-4,897 Sterling. Trans. % ig2,938,774 Sterling. Trans. CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 411 tation from America during' the same period, amounted to 92 millions of livres (Mk millions of piastres) per annum. ^'' The time is yet so recent since statistical researches first began to be carried on, that it is impossible to know in detail, the value of the exportatioas of gold and silver into Asia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We shall merely then take a rapid view of the present state of things, and observe the periodical flux and reflux by which the pre- cious metals are conveyed from one continent to the other. If we recollect that since the conclusion of the eighteenth century, Europe receives annually from Europe nearly 80,000 marcs of gold, and nearly four millions of marcs of silver Castille weight, we must be surprised not to observe more sensible effects from the accumulation of the metals in the old world. The gold and silver of Europe flow into Asia by three principal ways : 1st. By com- merce with the Levant, Egypt and the Red Sea ; 2nd. By maritime commerce with the East Indies and China; and 3rd. by the com- merce of Russia with China and Tartary. The commerce of the Levant and the Northern coast of Africa requires a considera- ble quantity of ducats, piastres, and German H;'./ "■rif^- ^ ■'•*. I liiipi •lip 442 POLITICAL £8SAY ON THE t'ooKi^ crowns, the exportation of which diminishes the specie of Europe. We cannot, however, ^briug ourselves to estimate this Iom at more than four millions of piastres per annum ^« because the balance of the trade of the Levant is at present in favour of England f to th^ amount of from two millions and a half to three millions of piastres. According to the tables published by M. ArnouldJ, the trade was in 1789 from three to four millions against France. Spain, the nations of the north, and especially Germany, are obliged to pay in specie in the ports of the Ottoman empire and the Barbary coast. The expoi*tation of silver from the Austrian monarchy alone into Turkey and the Levant is estimated at a million and a half of piastres. ^ ., . The East Indies and China are the coun- tries which absorb the greatest part of the gold and silver, extracted from the mines of America. I cannot admit that before 1760, this absorption was eight millions of piastres per annum§, and that from that period till * 1^840,000 Sterling. Trans, f According to the tables of M. Play&ir, Great Britain gained in 1800, in her trade with the Levant jCGOOiOOO Sterling ; and she lost in her trade with Turkey £GOfiOO Sterling ( Commema/ Atlas) 1801. pi. xiii. ; X De la balance du commerce, T. iii. n. ii. J 1^1,680,000 Sterling. Trans, tiHAP, jci.] iCmODOM OF NEW SPAIN. 443 180S, it hail g^rddnally diminished to 5 miU lions^. AHbougfh we g-enerally form exag^^e- rated ideas^^ of the loss experienced by Eu- rope, from the balance of trade with Asia, it is not the less certain that the exportation of specie, greatly exceeds the sum specified by the estimable author whom we have just now quoted. .,• The luxury of Europe at present, requires eleven times more tea than in 1721; but on the other hand, the commerce with the countries situated on this side the Ganges, has experienced a very considerable change, since the period when the English formed a great empire in India. The manufactor-p' of Great Britain actually furnish to the commerce with southern Asia, ficoods to the value of more than 11,460,000 piastres per annumf. According to the valuable information contained in the Travels of Lord Macartney J, the En- I > •n ' 4u f * GerbouXf p 36 and 70. Consult also the researches of M. Gamier respecting the commerce of India, in hit Commentary on Smithy t. v. p. 361 — 375, and Toze^ p. 124—150. •f" Playfair's Chart, iii. X Macartney's travels (French Edit.\ vol i.p.47 and 58. By the table given, page 73, the importation of silver by the English East India Company would only kave been from 1775 to 1795, jff3,676,000 Sterling (I value the poimd sterling at 4i%^ piastres, or 4t3 feouft i ^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 4 Uo // € ^'A^ ^ ^ <^ ^ 1.0 1.1 l^|21 125 |50 ^^ ■■■ £ us 12.0 IL25 i 1.4 Ii4 .,v utograpnic SdeniBS Corporation ^^ ^^ \ \ ;\ ^. 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WIBSTIR.N.Y. MSM (716) •72-4503 d V 444 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. glish imported into Canton, in 1725, in the pro- duce of their own manufactories and Indian goods, to the value of 4,410,000 piastres. They received in return Chinese goods and produce to the value of 6,614,000 piastres. Suppo- sing the balance of ti*ade with China, to have been more unfavourable for the other nations of Europe, than for the English, we might estimate the importation of the preci- ous metals into China, by Canton, Macao, and Emoui, at an average of 4 or 5 millions of piastres per annum*. In 1766 it only amounted to 2,688,000 piasiresf. -^ * Let us examine more narrowly the state of the trade of Canton. Lord Macartney -in 1795 valued the quantity of tea purchased by all the nations of Europe only at 34 mil- lions of pounds, of which the English alone took 20 millions. But according to the inter- esting information communicated by M. de Sainte Croix J, there was exported from Canton : touraois). Author, The author in a note to page 16, estimates the English shilling at 25 sous: now 20 shillingSsjClssSOO sous. Tram. ;j=' « * 1^640,000, or jf 1,050,000 Sterling. Trans, f iSoyna/, t. i. p. 674. ■.,....■ t Voyage commerdal et politique aux Indes Orientates par M, Felix Renouard de Saints Croix, 1810, t. iii. p. 153, 161, and 170. The price of a pic or pickle of bou tea at Canton is from 12 to 15 taels (at 7 francs 41 cent. CHAP. XI.] t: KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 445 mi :--'^ •:,•?» Years. By all the Nations pf Europe, and by the Anglo Ame- ricans. ■ • By the English alone. • In 1804 ■ '^' - 1805 1806 411,149 pickles 353,480 357,506 279,063 pickles. 245,021 258,185 ( Average Year. 374,045 260,756 A pickle beingl 120 pounds, > Frenchweight. J 44,885,000 lib. 31,290,9001b. 1 The cTtportation of tea has then increased between 1795 and 1806 more than one fourth. Yet we can hardly admit, that the loss of ffpecie annually experienced by Europe, in- creases in the same proportion : for the im- portation of English woollen stuffs alone into China, rose from (500,000 piastres to 3 mil- lions of piastres, between 1787 and 1796. According to M. de Guignes, who had the itiugular good fortune of penetrating into the interior of China, the quantity of specie im- ported into Canton by the English, did not amount in 1807, to more than 3 millions of piastres. If Great Britain did not possess a the tael). Other sorts of tea are much dearer ; the cang- fbu costs from 25 to 27 taels ; the saoutchou costs from 40 to 50 ; the haysuen from 50 to 60 (Des Guignes^ Voyage a Pekint t, iii. p. 248. Ephemerides geogr. de M. de Zach, 1798, p. 179—191.) ^ll 446 POLITICAL KSSAY ON THE [booic iv. considerable part of the £arit Indies, her loss in specie would be more than doublet! ; for nearly 4 millions of piastres are annually paid to the Chinese, by the commerce from one part of India to another, that is to say by the cotton of Surat and Bombay, by the tin (calin) of Malacca, and by the opium of Bengal. The Dutch paid their balatice with 1,300,000 piastres, the Swedes and the Danes together, with a million^w France from 1784 to 1808 lost in general, in her commerce with the East Indies^ at an averagci 6,968,000 livres tournois, or 1,327 ,000t pilistres>. These partial data agfree very ' well with lh6 general result which we fixed on above^ for the exportation of silver into China. - -^^ It is more difficult to estimate the loss ex^ perienced by Europe in her relations with the whole of Asia, from the commerce by the Cape of Grood Hope. That part of the loss applicable to the commerce of the En- glish was in 1800, according to the researches of M. Playfairt, 2,200,000 Sterling, or 9,701,000 piastres. It is true that the same author estimates the value of the exports from all lliiidostan, at 30 millions of piastres; but ♦ De Guignes, iii. p. 206, 207, 210, 215. f Arnould de la Balance du Cotnmerce, t. iii. N". 13. X Trade to and from the East Indies (Atlas pi. iii. p. 1^). CHAP, xi.j KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 447 this vast country not only gains in its com- merce with Europe, but also in its commerce with the other parts of Western Asia, and the islands in its vicinity. While we ac- knowledge the great uncertainty of these cal- culations of balance, smd national accounts, we Mre forced to recur to them to obtain re- sults which approach the truth. It appears from the information just given, that the ex- portation of gold and silver from Europe, by the way of the Cape of Good Hope amounts to more than 17 millions of piastres. In this calculation we have attended to the present state of the trade of Madagascar, Mokka, and Banora, as well as the auriferous cop- per of Japan, supplied by the Dutch trade to Nagasaki^, and the treasures which the servants of the East India Company bring from Bengal into England. These treasures were valued by M. Dundas at more than 4 millions of piastres per annum. If a part of China should have the mis- foi*tune of being subjugated by some warlike nation, which was at once mistress of Mexico, Peru, and the Philippine islands, this conquest would occasion a smaller reflux of the pre- cious metals into America or Europe, than we are generally inclined to believe. We i'M i «f I'fi**'" k: ru: III s S * Thunberg, Voyage au Japon, t. il p. 8. 448 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. see from the accounts of Macartney, Barrow, De Guignes and other intelligent travellers, that gold and silver are not more common in China, than in the greatest part of the countries of Europe. The annual revenue of the state, is no doubt estimated at 1584 millions of francs* (301,714,000 piastres)!; hut the greater part of this sum is paid in the produce of the soil and Chinese industry; and according to M. BarrowJ, the quantity which enters Pckin in specie annually, only amounts to 36 millions of ounces of silver, which arc estimated at o2,91 4,000 piastres. The Chinese believe that large sums are an- nually sent to Moukden, the capital of the country of tlie Mantchoux Tartars; but this opinion is not founded on facts. Several mandarins are in the. possession of im- mense wealth. The prime minister of the Emperor Tchienlong, was stript of 10 mil- lions of taels, or 74,500,000 livres tournois§ in specie, which he had accumulated by ex- tortion ||; but the emperor is very frequently * rf64.,653,000 Sterling. Trans. f According to Lord Macartney ; 710 millions according to M. De Guisnes. t. ill. p. 102. X Barrow's Travels (French Edit.) t. ii. p. 198. § 163,040.815 Sterling. Trans. Ij BarroWf U ii. p. l7S. •* , , CHAP. n.l Kl^DOM OF NEW SPAIN. 449 in want of money. What Europe loses in the balance of trade with China, is spread over a g^eat population ; a considerable quan- tity of gold and silver is converted into wire and leaf^; the accumulation of specie is very slow, and has scarcely begun to be felt within these twenty years, in an increase of the price of commoditiesf . There remains to be considered a third, way for the exportation of the precious me- tals from Europe into Asia, that which is car- ried by the Russian trade. We learn by the tables published by the Count de Romanzof» that the importation from China, into the government of Irkoutsk, was, from 1802 to 1805, at an average, to the amount of 2,035,900 roubles in tea, and 2,434,400 in cotton. In general^ the balance of trade of Russia with China, Bucharia, the country Khiva, and the banks of the Rirghiskaisaks, was in favour of the Russian Empire, during the same period, more than 4,216,000 roubles per annum];. We see from these data, that in estimating the contraband at a sixth, the exportation of specie, by means of the Cas- * Macartney^ vol. iv. p. 286. t Arocortaey, vol. iM. p. 1Q5 ; vol iv. p^ 9Sl. X TahUoM, du Cmttmncf th fJ^nyirf tk Ruttk, tnm» latedbyM. Pfeiffer, 1808, ikm. 9sqA.10. Olnam^k Nord Litteraire, 1799, ae. 7, p 909. VOL. III. 2 O I fiiit {\ ''■ '" ' i i\ i. III wm 460 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE C»Ook iv. pian sea, Caucasus, Orenburg, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Irkoutsk, and Kiachta, cannot amount to more than 4 millions of piastres. We have ascertained then*, from sources which must be considered as the best, that of the 43,500,000 piastres which Europe at present receives annually from America, there flows nearly '4,000,000, into Asia, by means of the Levant trade , 17,500,000, into Asia, by the Cape •25^,000 j „f Good Hope 4,000,000 into Asia, by the way of Kiachta and Tobolsk 18,000,000 gold and silver of America, which remain in Europe We must discount from these eighteen millions of piastres, or 94,500,000 livrei tour- noisf , what is lost by melting down and dis- sipated in a number of small jewels and trinkets, as well as what is used in plate* lace, and gilding. It was ascertained at the mirJt of Paris, that from 1709 to 1759, the increase of plate was in the proportion of 1 * See the sketch of a map, exhibiting the flux and reflux of the precious metals from one continent to the other, in the atlas to this work. t rf3,780,00O Sterling. Trans, CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 451 to 7. M. Necker thought himself warranted in estimating* previous to 1789, ut i millions of piastres*, the amount annually consumed in jewels, lace, and embroidered stuffs manu- factured in Francef. Part of these metals was evidently derived from melting down the old plate and lace ; however the annual con- sumption by the goldsmiths of ingots of silver, is very considerable! ; and when we add what disappears, from transportation, and the friction of daily circulation, we may estimate with Forbonnais, and other writers on poli- tical economy, that the quantity of precious metals which disappear in Europe, or which are converted into ,plate and lace, amounts to a third of the total mass which is consumed by the commerce with Asia, that is at six or seven millions of piastres per annum. On the other hand, the mines of Europe and Siberia furnish annually nearly 4 millions of piastres. According to these calculations, which from their nature can only be approximate, the increase of the gold and silver currency of Europe appears only to be fifteen millions of piastres, or 78,700,000 livres tournois§. Xhos« m i i\§ * jS840,000 Sterling. Trans. f Necker, t. iii. p. 74, Peuchet,ip, 4>S9. X Smith, t. ii. p. 60 and 79. $ iS 3,2 i 2,243 Sterling. Trans, 2 G a 462 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [booi v. per5icii5 >vho hare longf inhabited the north and east of Europe, and attentively followed the progrress of civilization among the lowest classes of the people in Poland, Norway, and Russia, will enteilain no doubt of the reality of this accumulation of specie. Its effects must be scarcely perceptible, because the capital of all Europe is only increased at the rate of one per cent, per annum. The view which we have exhibited in this chapter, of the present state of the mines of the New World, and of those of Mexico in paiticular, ought to lead us to entertain a dread of the rapid increase of the sum of representative signs, when the Highlanders of North and South America, shall gradually rouse from their profound lethargy, in which they have so long been plunged. It would be remote from the principal object of this work, to discuss whether the interests of so- ciety would really suffer from this accumu- lation of specie. It is sufficient in this place ia observe, that the danger is not so great £^ it appears on a first view, because tha quantity of comnM)dities which enter into commerce, and which require to be repre- sented, increases with the number of repre- sentative signs. The price of grain it is true, has tripled since the treasures of the New Continent were poured into the old. Thiv CHAP. H.1 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 459 rise, which was not felt till the middle of the 16th century, took place suddenly be- tween 1570 and 1595, when the silver of Potosi, Porco, Tasco, Zacatecas, and Pachu- ca, began to flow throughout all parts of Europe. But betwei^a that memorable period in the history of commerce, till 1636, the abled to pay in specie, the produce of foreign industry, and to share in the enjoyments of the most civilized nations of the Old Conti- nent. Notwithstanding this real advantage, it is to be sincerely wished, that the Mexicans, enlightened as to their true interest, may re- H VI 11 m 454 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv. collect that the only capital of which the value increases with time, consists in the produce of agriculture, and that nominal wealth be- comes illusory, whenever a nation does not possess those raw materials, which serve for the subsistence of man, or as employment for his industry. jt>--,' tit/'yAK.' BOOK V. 8TATE OF THE MANUFACTURES AND COM' MERCE OF NEW SPAIN. ...,^f CHAPTER XU. jt Manufacturing Industry — Cotton Cloth— 'Woollen — Cegars — Soda and Soap— 'Powder- -^Coin— Exchange of Productions '"•Internal Commerce'— Roads— Foreign Commerce by Vera Cruz and Acapulco— -Obstacles to that Commerce-''YeU(m Fever, If we consider the small progress of ma- nufactures in Spain, notwithstanding the nu- merous encouragements which they have re- ceived, since the ministry of the Marquis de la Ensenada, we shall not be surprised that whatever relates to manufactures and manu- facturing industry is still less advanced in Mexico. The restless and suspicious policy of the nations of Europe, the legislation and colonial policy of the modems, which bear very little resemblance to those of the Phe- nicians and Greeks, have thrown insurmount* able obstacles in the way of such settlements m ••'; si' m 456 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v; as might secure to these distant possessions, a great degree of prosperity, and an exis- tence independent of the mother country. Such principles as prescribe the rooting up the vine and the olive, are not calculated to favour manufactures. A colony has for ages, been only considered as useful to the parent state, in so far as it supplied a great numi' ber of raw materials, and consumed a number of the commodities carried there by the ships of the mother country. It was easy for different commercial na- tions to adapt their colonial system to is- lands of small extent, or factories established on the coast of a continent. The inhabitants of fiarbadoes, St. Thomas, or Jamaica, are not sufficiently numerous to possess a great number of hands ^Dr the manufacture of cot- ton cloth; and the position of these islands, at all times facilitates the exchange of their agricultural produce, for the manufactures of Europe. It is not so with the continental possessions of Spain in the two Americas. Mexico beyond the 28° of north latitude cont^ns a breadth of 350 leagues. The table land of New Gre- nada communicates with the port of Car* thagena by means of a great river difficult to ascend* Industry is awakened when towns CHAP. XII.J KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 457 of fifty and sixty thousand inhabitants are si- tuated on the ridge of mountains at a g^reat distance from the coast; when a population of several millions can only receive European goods, by transporting them on the backs of mules, for the space of five or six months through forests and deserts. The new colonies were not established among people altogether barbarians. Before the arrival of the Spa- niards, the Indians were already clothed, in the Cordilleras of Mexico, Peru, and Quito. Men who knew the process of weaving cotton or spinning the wool of the Llamas and Vi- cunas were easily taught to manufacture cloth ; and this manufacture was established at Cuzco in Peru, and Tezcuco in Mexico, a few years after the conquest of those countries on the introduction of European sheep into America. The kings of Spain by taking the title of kings of the Indies, have considered these dis- tant possessions rather as integral parts of their monarchy, as provinces dependent ojx the crown of Castille, than as colonies in the sense attached to this word since the sixteenth century, by the commercial nations of Europe. They early perceived that these vast countries, of wuich the coast is less inhabited than the interior, could not be governed like islands scattered in the Atlantic Ocean; and froth these ^ircttmstances the coart of Madrid was I ■i r Ml iFr:;- 1,^ 458 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. compelled to have recourse to a less prohibitory i^ystem, and to tolerate what it was unable to prevent. Hence a more equitable legislation has been adopted in that country than that by which the greatest part of the other colonies of the New Continent is governed. In the latter for example, it is not permitted to refine raw sugar; and the proprietor of a plantation is obliged to purchase the produce of his own soil from the manufacturer of the mother country. No law prohibits the refining of sugar in the possessions of Spanish America. If the government does not encourage ma- nufactures, and if it even employs indirect means to prevent the establishment of those of silk, paper, and crystal; on the other hand, no decree of the audience, no royal cedula, declares that these manufactures ought not to exist beyond sea. In the Colonies, as well as every where else, we must not con- found the spirit of the laws with the policy of those by whom they are administered. Only half a century ago, two citizens, ani- mated with the purest patriotic zeal, the Count de Gijon, and the Marquis de Maenza. conceived the project of bringing over to Quito, a colony of workmen and artizans from Europe. The Spanish ministry affected to applaud their zeal, and did not think proper to refuse them the piivilege of establishing CHAP. X11.1 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 459 manufiictories ; but they so contrived to fetter the proceedings of these two enterprizina men, that they at last perceived that secret orders had been given to the viceroy and the audience to ruin their undertaking, which they voluntarily renounced. I could wish to believe that such an event tvould not have taken place at the period when I resided in these countries; for it is not to be denied that within these twenty years, the Spanish Colonies have been governed on more enlightened principles. Virtuous men have from time to time raised their voice to enlighten the government as to its true interest ; and they have endeavoured to impress the Mother Country with the idea that it would be more useful to encourage the manufacturing industry of the Colonies, than to allow the treasures of Peru and Mexico, to be spent in the purchase of fceign com- modities. These counsels would have been attended to, if the ministry had not too fre- quently sacrificed the interests of the nations of a great continent, to the interest of a few maritime towns of Spain ; for the progress of manufactures in the Colonies has not been impeded by the manufacturers of the peninsula, a quiet and laborious class of men, but by trading monopolists, whose political influence is favoured by great wealth, and kept up by [ ; . ft -, ■■U\ ill m '^1 ^mu 460 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE £boor v. a thorough knowledge of intrigue, and the piomentary wants of the court. Notwithstanding all these obstacles the ma- nufactures have not been prevented from making some progress in three centunes, during which time, Biscayans, Catalonians, Asturians and Valencians have settled in the New World, and carried there the industry of their native provinces. The manufactures of coarse stufis can every where be carried on at a low rate, when raw materials are found in abundance, and when the price of the goods of Europe and Oriental Asia is so much increased by carriage. In time of war, the want of com- munication with the Mother Country, and the reg^ations prohibiting commerce with neutrals, have favoured the establishment of manufactures of calicoes, fine cloth, and whatever is connected with the refinements of luxury. The value of the produce of the manu- facturinjg industry of New Spain is estimated at seven or eight millions of piastres per annum '*^. In the Intendaney of Guadalaxara cotton and wool were exported till 1765, to maintain the activity of the manufactures of Puebla, Queretaro, and San Miguel el Grande. Smce that period, manufactories have been established at Guadalaxara, Lagos, and the * ifl,470,000, or if 1,680,000 Sterling. Trans. CHAP, xii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 401 neighbouring towns. The whole intendancy which contains more than 630,000 inhabitants, and of which the coast is washed by the South Sea, supplied in 1802 * cotton and woolen manufactures to the value of 1,601,200 piastres ; tanned hides to the value of 418,900 piastres; and soap to the amount of 268,400 piastres. We have already proved, speaking of the different varieties of gossypiumy cultivated in tlie warm and temperate regions, the impor- tance of native manufactures of cotton for Mexico. Those of the intendancy of Puebia furnish annually in time of peace, for the in- terior commerce, a produce to the value of 1,500,000 piastres. However this produce is not derived from considerable manufactures, but from a great number of looms, (telares de algodon) dispersed throughout the towns of Puebia de los Angeles, Cholula, Huexocingo, and Tlascala. At Queretaro, a considerable town situated on the road from Mexico to Gua- naxuato, there is annually consumed 200,000 pounds of cotton, in the manufacture of man- ias and rehozos. The manulacture of mantaSf or cotton amounts annually to 20,000 pieces of 32 varas each. The weavers of cottons of t ill III »' •"r j B 4\ * Estado de la intendenda de Guadalaxara, communicad^ tn 1809 par d Sehw intendlnite eA Comtikdo 4b Vera Cmx (offidal manutcript paper.) 462 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book r. all sorts in Puebla were computed in 1802 at more than 1200 *. In this town as well as in Mexico, the printing of calicoes, both those imported from Manilla, and those ma- nufactured in New Spain, has made consi- derable progress within these few years. At the port of Tehuantepec in the province of Oaxaca, the Indians dye the unwrought cotton by rubbing it against the cloak of a murex, which is found attached to the granite rocks. From an old custom, they wash the cotton in sea water, which in their parallels is very rich in muriate of soda, to give it a bright colour. The oldest cloth manufactories of Mexicc are those of Tezcuco. They were in great part established in 1592 by the viceroy Don Louis de Yelasco II. the son of the celebrated constable of Castille, who was second viceroy of New Spain. By degrees this branch of national industry passed entirely into the hands of the Indians and Mestizoes of Que- retaro and Puebla. I visited the manufactories of Qaeretaro in the month of August 1803. They distinguish there the great manufactories which they c^ohrajes from the small, which go by the name of trapiches. There were * Infimne del intendente Don Manuel de Flon conde d$ la Cadena (M. S.) . CHAP. X1.3 KINGDOJM OF NEW SPAIN. 1(53 20 obrajest and more than 300 trapicfies at that time, who altogether wrought up 63,900 arrobas of Mexican sheep-wool. According to accurate lists drawn up in 1793, there were at that period at Queretaro in the ohrajes alone, 215 looms and 1500 workmen who manufactured 6042 pieces, or 226,522 varas of cloth {panos)'. 287 pieces or 39,718 varas of ordinary woollens {xerguatillas) ; 207 pieces or 15,369 varas of baize (hayetas) ; and 161 pieces or 17,960 varas of serge (xergas). In this manufacture they consumed 46,270 arro- bas of wool, the price of which only amounted to 161,945 piastres. They reckon in general seven arrobas of wool to one piece of cloth and bayeta ; six arrobas to one piece of xer- yuatilla, and five arrobas to one piece of xerga. The value of the cloths and woollen stuffs of the ohrajes and trapiches of Queretaro at pre- sent amounts to more than 600,000 piastres, or three millions of francs per annum. * On visiting these workshops, a traveller is disagreeably struck, not only with the great im- perfection of the technical process in the pre* paration for dyeing, but in a particular manner also with the unhealthiness of the situation, and the bad treatment to which the workmen are exposed. Free men, Indians, and people of colour, are confounded with the criminals i 1^ H A *>■• ;;';!• 'ms 4122,448 Sterling. Tram. 464 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. distributed by justice among^ the manufactories, in order to be compelled to work. AH ap- pear half naked, covered with ragi» meagre, and deformed. Every workshop resembles a dark prison. The doors which are double remain constantly shut, and the workmen are not permitted to quit the house. Those who are married are only ulloWed to see their families on Sundays. All are unmercifully flog- ged if they commit the smallest trespass, on the order established in the manufactory. We have difficulty in conceiving how the proprietors of the obrajes, can act in this manner with free men, as well as how the Indian work- man can submit to the same treatment with the galley slaves. These pretended rights are in reality acquired by stratagem. The manu- facturers of Queretaro employ the same trick, which is made use of in several of the cloth manufactoria* of Quito, and in the plantations, where from a want of slaves, labourers are •jLtremely vare. They chooie from among the Indians the most miserable, but such as show aik aptitude for the work, and they advance them a smtll sum of money. The Indi^ who lov«s to get intoxicated, spends it in » few dskysy «nd hftving become the debtor of the ]iMNiter»he is shut up in the workshop, under the pretence of paying off the debt by the work of his hands. They allow him only a •% CHAP, xii.l KINGDOiM OF NEW SPAIN. 'i^o i*eal and a half, or 20 sous tournois per day of wag^es; but in place of payiii vfnUrras, the carbonate of sodi at less tlia. 0 sous toiirnois the quintal. The price oi' ihe car- Inmates of soda of Spain, being j^^rnerally in France durinq^ peace at 20 and 25 livres the quintal, it is iuiag'ined that notwithstanding the difficulties of carriage, Kurope will one day draw soda from Mexico, as she has long drawn potash from the United States of North Ame- rica. The town of Pu(;])la was formerly celebra- ted for its fine manufactories of dclf ware, (loza) and hats. We have already observed that till the conmiencement of the eighteenth century, these two branches of industry, enli- vened the commerce between Acapulco and Peru. At present there is little or no com- munication between Puebla and Lima, and the delf manufactories have fallen so much off, on account of the low price of the stone ware and porcelain of Europe imported at Vera Cruz, that of 46 manufactories which were still existing in 1793, there were in 1802, only sixteen remaining of delf ware, and two of glass. In New Spain, as well as in the greatest number of countries in Europe, the manufac- ture of powder is a royal monopoly. To form an idea of the enormous quantity of powder manufactured and sold in contraband, we have 470 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. only to bear in mind, that notwithstanding the flourishing state of the Mexican mines, the king* has never sold to the miners more than three or four thousand quintals of powder per annum*; while a single mine, that of Valenciana, requires from 15 t'* 16 hundred. It appears from the researches made by me , that the quantity of powder manufactured at the expence of the king, is to that sold frau- dulently in the proportion of 1 to 4. As in the interior of New Spain, the nitrate of pot- ash and sulphur are every where to be had in abundance, and the contraband manufac- turer can afford to sell powder to the miner at 18 sous toumois the pound, the government ought either to diminish the price of the prod.uce of the manufactory, or throw the trade in powder entirely open. How is it possible to prevent fraud in a country of an immense extent, in mines at a distance from towns, and dispersed on the ridge of the Cor- dilleras, in the midst of the wildest and most solitary situations ? The royal manufactory of powder, the only one in Mexico, is situated near Santa Fe, in the valley of Mexico, about three leagues from the capital, surrounded with hiMs of argillous brescia, which contain fragments of trap por- * In 1801, only 255,455 lb.; in 1802, 339,921 lb — See p. 201 and 234' of this Volum^. €HAP. xii] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 471 phyry. The building's, which are very beau- tiful, were constructed in 1780 from the plans of M. CostanzOy the head of the corps of en- gineers, in a narrow valley which supplies iu abundance the necessary water for settings hy- draulical wheels in motion, and through which the aqueduct of Santa Fe passes. All the parts of the machines, and chiefly the wheels are disposed with great intelligence. It is to be wished however that the sieves necessary to make the grairif were either moved by water or by horses. Eighty mestizo boys, paid at the rate of 26 sous per day, are employed in this work. The buildings of the old powder ma- nufactory, established near the castle of Cha- pul tepee, are only used at present to refine nitrate of potash. Sulphur which abounds in the volcanoes of Orizaba and Puebla, in the province of San Luis near Colima, and especially in the intendancy of Guadalaxara, where the rivers bring down considerable masses of it, mixed with fragments of pumice stone, comes quite purified from the town of San Luis Potosi. There was made in the royal powder manufactory of Santa Fe in 1801, more than 786,000 pounds, of which part is exported for the Havannah. It is to be re- gretted that this fine edifice, where in general more than half a million of pounds of powder is preserved, is not provided with an diectrical r, m Pi I,. ifc k m 472 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. conductor During* my stay in New Spain there were only two conductors in that vast country, which were constructed at La Puebla by orders of an enlightened administrator, the Count de la Cadena, notwithstanding the im- precations of the Indians, and a parcel of ijynorant monks. ' While mentioning the powder manufactory of Santa Fe, I ought not to pass under silence a historical fact which is repeated in several works, although it rests on no very solid foun- dation. It is said that the valiant Diego Ordaz, penetrated the crater of the volcano of Popo- Ctatepetl, for the purpose of procuring sulphur, and by that means enabled the Spaniards to manufacture the powder which was required for the siege of the city of Mexico. The falsity of this assertion is proved by the very letters, which the general in chief addressed to the Emperor Charles the Fifth. When the united army of Spaniards and Tlascaltecs, in the month of October, 1519, marched from Cholula to Tenochtitlan, it crossed the Cor- dillera of Ahualco, which unites the Sierra Nevada, or the Iztaccihuatl, to the volcanic summit of Popocatipetl. The Spaniards fol- lowed nearly the same track, which the courier of Mexico takes in his way to Puebla, by Me- cameca, which is traced on the map of the valley of Tenochtitlan. The army suffered (( (( a CHAP, xii.] KINGDOM (JF NEW SPAIN. 473 both from the cold, and the extreme impetuosity of the winds, which constantly prevail on this table land. Cortez speaking* of this march to the Em- peror, expresses himself in the following man- ner* : " Seeing smoke issue from a very elevated mountain, and wishing to make to your royal excellency a minute report of whatever this country contains of wonderful, I chose from " among my companions in arms, ten of the " most courageous, and I ordered them to as- " cend the summit, and to discover the secret " of the smoke (el secreto de aquel humo), and " to tell me how and whence it issued." Bernal Diaz affirms that Diego Ordaz was of that expedition, and that that captain at- tained the very brink of the crater. He may have happened to boast of it afterwards, for it is related by other historians, that the Em- peror gave him permission to place a volcano in his arms. Lopez de Gomaraf, who com- posed his history from the accounts of the conquistadores and religious missionaries, does not name Ordaz as the chief of the expedi- tion ; but he vaguely asserts that two Sp iniards measured with the eye, the size of the crater. However Cortez expressly says, " that his people *' ascended very high; that they saw much smoke * LorenzanUf p. 70. Clavigerot T. iii. p. 68. f Gomara. Conquista de Mexico f (Medina del Campo, 553) f ol. 38. m ^'^^i 474 POUTICAL ESSTAY ON THE [book v. *< i^snc out; but that none of them could reach *♦ the summit of the volcano, on account of ** ^he enormous quantity of snow with which " it wa» covered, the rigour of the cold, and * the clouds of ashes which enveloped the *< travellers.** A hon'ible noise which they he^fd on approaching the summit, determined them immediately to turn back. We see from the account of Cortez, that the expedition of Ordas had no view of extracting sulphur from the volcano, and that neither he nor ITis com- panions saw the crater in 1519. " They brought " back," says Cortez, " only snow and pieces of ** ice, the appearance of which astonished us very " mneh, because this country is under the 20** " of latitude, in the parallel of the island jEs- " panohi (Saint Domingo), and consequently " aecording to the opinion of the pilots ought " to be very warm." We see from the third and fourth letter of Corte? to the Emperor, that that general after 1^ taking of Mexico, ordered other attempts to be mftde for the discovery of the summit of the volcano, which appeared the more to f)X his altention, as the natives assured him ^m^ no. me)M was permUM to approach that siUmtiovk of had spiritsi. After two unsucces- ful attempts, the Spaniards at length succeeded in 1522, in seeing the crater of the Popoca- tepetl. It appeared to them three fourths ©f CHAP, xii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 476 a league in circumference, and they found on the brink of the precipice, a small quantity of sulphur, which had been deposited there by the vapours. Speakings of the tin of Tasco, which was used in founding the first cannon, Cortez* relates, " that he is in no want of " sulphur for the manufacture of powder, be- " cause a Spaniard drew some from a moun- " tain which perpetually smokes by descending", " tied to a rope, to the depth of from 70 to " 80 fathoms." He adds, that this manner of procuring sulphur was very dangerous, and on that account it would be better to procure it from Seville. A document preserved in the family of the Montauos, and which Cardinal Lorenzana afHrmai he once had in his hands, proves that the Spaniard of whom Cortez speaks, was named Francisco Montano. Did that intrepid man really enter into the crater itself of the Popor catepetl, or did he extract the sulphur as seve- ral persons in Mexico suppose, from a lateral crevice of the volcano ? We shall discuss this cpiestion in another work, when giving the geological description of New Spain. M.Alzatef • * De alii (de la sierra que da humo), entrando tin Espanol setenta y ochenta brazas,atado a la bocca abajo, se ha sa- cado (el azufrej^ que hasta ahora nos hanas susieuidOf fLoran%ana,Tp. 3S0.) f Gazeta de Literatura c?c Mw/co, 1789, p. 52. 'h\ ••ill mi m h. i 476 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book V, with very little foundation affirms that Die^o Ordaz, extracted sulphur from tiie crater of the old volcano of Tuctli, to the east of the lake of Chalco, near the Indian village of Tuliahualco. The makers of contraband powder no doubt procure sulphur there; but Cortez expressly designates the Popocatepetl by the phrase " the ** mountain which constantly smokes." How- ever this matter be, it is certain that after the rebuilding of the city of Tenochtitlan, and not during the siege as Solis affirms*, thf soldiers of the army of Cortez ascended the summit of the Popocatepetlf, where nobody has since been. Had Condaminef known the absolute elevation of this volcano, which I found to be 5400 metres§, he would not have believed himself the first who ascended the ridge of the Cordilleras, to the height of 4800 metres|| above the level of the ocean. The expeditions of Ordaz and Montano, naturally lead us to mention the intrepidity of Bias de Ifiena a Dominican monk, who in an osier basket provided with a spoon and an iron bucket, was let down by a chain to the depth of 140 fa- ^tii- '* Solis, Conquista de Mexico^ p. 142. f ZiOrenrana, p. 318. X Bouguer, mesure de la terrcj p. 167. La Condamine^ Voyage^ p. 58. § 17,716 feet. Trans, H 15,747 feet. Trans P*W( < HAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 477 thonis, in the crater of the volcano of Grenada, called the Cerro de Messaya, situated near the lake of Nicaragua, for the purpose of extract- ing- the lava which he believed to be gold. He lost his iron bucket, which was melted with the excessive heat, and he had no small diffi- culty in savinjv himself. In 1551, Juan Alva- rez, dean of the chapter of the town of Leon, obtained formal permission* from the court of Madi'id ** to open the volcano, and collect " the g'old which it contains." It must be allowed that no physical traveller from a zeal for science has engaged m our days in such hazardous enterprizes as those which were attempted in the beginning of the sixteenth century for the purpose of extracting sulphur or gold from the mouth of flaming volcanoes. We shall conclude the article of the ma- nufactures of New Spain with mentiotiing the working of gold and the coining of money M^hich considered merely in the relation of industry, and mechanical improvement, are objects every way worthy of attention. There are few countries in which a more considerable number of large pieces of wrought plate, vases and church ornaments are annually executed than in Mexico. The smallest towns have gold and silver smiths in whose shops workmen of M 0 "iiij 4 ■'"It' " it' ft 4'' m ill *' Gomara, Histom de las Indias, fol. 112. 478 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. all casts, whites, mestizoes and Indians are employed. The academy of fine arts, and the schools for drawing in Mexico and Xalapa have very much contributed to diffuse a taste for beautiful antique forms. Services of plate to the value of a hundred and fifty, or two hundred thousand francs, have been lately manufactured at Mexico, which for elegance and fine workmanship may rival the finest work of the kind ever executed in the most civilized parts of Europe. The quantity of precious metals which between 1798 and 1802 was converted into plate at Mexico, amounted at an average to 385 marcs of gold and 26,80'^ marcs of silver per annum *. The wrought ]^late of which the fifth ^s ex- itdted, Was declared at the mint as follows: Years. Gold Marcs. Silver Marcs. 1798 ' 1799 1800 1801 1802 402 484 412 379 249 19,823 26,762 30,887 30,860 25,692 Total 1926 134,024 * Castille weight. It may be useful to obser^ie, tha^ wherever the' contrtury is not expressly indicated the word mars ia this work meang the marc of Castille, CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 470 The mint of Mexico, which is the larf dit and richest in the whole world, is a building of a very simple architecture belong^in^ to the palace of the viceroys. This establishment, mider the direction of the Marquis de Snn Roman* an enlightened administrator, and a friend to the arts, contains little or nothing remarkable with respect to the improvement of the machinery or chemical processes j but it well deserves to engage the attention of travellers from the order, activity and economy which prevail in all the operations of coining. This interest is enhanced by other considera- tions which are even obvious to those who do not turn their attention to speculations of political administration. In fact it is impos'- sible to go over this small building without recollecting that more than ten thousand millions of livres tournois f has issued from it in less than three hundred years, and without reflecting on the powerful influence of these treasures on the destinies of the nations of Europe. The mint of Mexico was established fourteen years after the destruction of old Tenochtitlan, under the fii-st viceroy of New Spain, An- tonio de Mendoza, by a royal cedula of the 4 * Vez S'uperintendente de la real casa de niontda. t Upwards of jS408,000»000 Stevliog, Trans^ Sl'li i ill if !in .Ml 1*1.(1 'hi. is i 1 111 .fff ' III m i\ 480 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. 11th May 1535. The coinage "was at first carried on by contract by several individuals, to whom the p^overnnient had farmed it out. Their lease was not renewed in 17.'JJ3. Since that period all the works are under the direction of government officers, on the go- vernment account. The nundjer of workmen employed in this mint amounts to 350 or 400 ; and the number of machines is so great, that it is possible to coin, in the space of a year, without displaying an extraordinary activity, more than thirty millions of piastres, that is to say, nearly three times as much as is ge- nerally performed in the sixteen mints which exist in Prance. At Mexico there was coined in the month of April alone, in the year 1796 the sum of 2,922,185 piastres ; and in tlie month of December, 1793, more than 3,065,000 piastres. At Paris in the year 1810, the strongest month of coinage was the month of March, when there was coined in pieces of five francs, the value of 1,27 1,000 piastres. Between 1726 and 1780, the coinage of gold and silver amounted to In the sixteen Mints of France *. In the Mint of Mexico. 2,446,000,700 liv. 3,364,138,060 liv. ♦ Necker, de Vadmin, des Finances^ T. iii. p. 5?>. CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. '*81 To give an idea of the activity of the mint of Mexico, we shall insert here one of the tables which the government orders every year to be printed for the information of the public respecting the state of the mines, that are considered as the reg^ilator of the public prosperity. I shall select the year 1796 when the coinage amounted to 25,644,000 piastres * although it had been 24,593,000 in 1795, and was 25,080,000 piastres in 1797. in Months of the year 1796. Gold Piastres. Silver Gold and Silver. Piastres. Reals. . . 71 Oi 1 3 6 2 34 3 01 Piastres. Reals. 7 01 1 H 3 6 2 3f 3 0| 9«" January - February - March - - April - - - May - - June - • July - • August - - September October - November December m m 246,578 252,240 117,008 m m 161,312 m m 110,112 410,544 2,078,958 2,071,001 2,922,185 2,538.847 1,907,980 2,028,327 1,551,143 2,257.900 2,455,057 2,685,903 1,849,467 2,078,958 2,317,579 2,922,185 2,791,087 1,907,980 2,145,335 1,551,143 2,419,212 2,455,057 2,796,015 2,260,011 Total 1,297,794124,346,772 25,644,566 The works of the mint of Mexico contain ten rollers (laminoirs) moved by sixty mu es, fifty-two cutters, (coupoirs) nine adjusting tables (bancs (Tajustaf/e) twenty machines for marking l»|i >'! m k m PM II". I J; I' 'I't 1 1^5,385,200 Sterling. Trans, VOL. III. 2 I %l 482 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. the edges (^ creneler) twenty stampin^^ presses, (balancters) and five mills for amalgamating the washings and filings called mermas. As one stamping press can strike in ten hours more than 15,000 piastres, we are not to be astonished that with so great a number of machines they are able to manufacture daily from fourteen to fifteen thousand marcs of silver. The ordinary work however does not exceed from eleven to twelve thousand marcs. From these data which are founded on official papers, it appears that the silver produced in all the mines of Europe together would not suffice to employ the mint of Mexico more than fifteen days. The expence of carriage, including the sa- laries of the officers, and the loss occasioned by the mermas, amount to a real de plata or 13 sous per Aiiarc. This loss from the mermas which was formerly computed at one third per cent, is now reduced to the half; for instead of three marcs they do not lose more than one marc and three ounces in each thousand marcs coined. With respect to the profit derived by the king from coinage, it is estimated in the following manner: if the coinage does not exceed fifteen millions of piastres per annum, the profit is only six per cent, of the quantity of gold and silver coined ; when it amounts to eighteen millions of CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 483 ■ piastres, the profit is 6i per cent ; aiul it rises to seven per cent, when the produce of the mines is still greater, as was the case during the last twenty years. We shall afterwards see that the mint of Mexico, and the house of separation (maison du depart) uiake an annual profit of nearly eight millions of francs *. . The house of separation (casa del apartado) in which is carried on the separation of the gold and the silver, proceeding from the ingots of auriferous silver, formerly belonged to the family of the Marquis de Fagoaga. This important establishment was only annexed to the crown in 1779. The building is very small and very old; and it has latterly been rebuilt in part at a greater expence to the government than if its place had been supplied by a new house, not situated in the middle of the town, and in which the acid vapours would have been better directed. Several persons interested in the works of the apartado re- maining in their present situation, maintain that the vapours of nitrous acid which are diffused through the most populous quarters of the town, serve to decompose the miasmata of the suiTOunding lakes and marshes. These i\ V' k 01 III .,1 f ji'i .'1 tl 4 «( ■> h^ * je326,830 Sterling. Trans. 1 I 2 m 484 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. ideas met with a favourable reception after acid fumigations were used in the hospitals of the Havanah and Vera Cruz. The casa del apartado contains three sorts of works which are destined. 1st. to the ma- nufacture of glass ; 2d. to the preparation of nitrous acid; and 3d. to th^ . separation of the gold and the silver. The processes used in these different works, are as imperfect as the construction of the glass-work furnaces, used for the manufacture of retorts, and the distil- lation of aqua fortis. The substance of the glass (pasteladura) is composed of 0.46 of quartz, taken from the veins of Tlapujahua, and 0.54 of soda, which the Indians of Xalto- can and the Penol procure from the inciner- ation of the Sesuvium portulacastrum of se- veral new species of Chenopodium, Atriplex, and Gratiola, which will be described in the Flora Mexicana of M. M. Sesse and Cen^an- tes, and of the Salsola soda of Europe, which is cultivated in the valley of Mexico, both to be eaten as a root, and to be reduced to ashes. This soda of Xaltocan is mixed with a good deal of sulphate of potash and lime; so that the carbonate of soda, which is every where found in efflorescence in clay grounds, would be much better adapted tor the manu" facture of glass. This pasteladura is not melted in earthen pots as in Europe, but in crucibles CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 485 of a very refractive porphyritic rock, procu- red in a quarry, in the vicinity of Pachaca. {ore than 15,000 francs are annually consumed in the glass house furnaces for wood. A re- tort costs nearly 14 sous at the manufactory, and more than 50,000 are annually broken. The nitrous acid used for the separation, is manulfactured by decomposing raw saltpetre> by means of a vitriolic earth (colpa) which contains a mixture of alumine, sulphate of iron, and oxide of red iron. Th^*' colpa comes from the environs of Tula, viiere a mine is worked at the expence of the Farm of Colours*. The saltpetre is furnished to the House of Separation, by the royal manu- factory of powder. Each retort is charged with eight pounds of colpa, and the same number of pounds of nitrate of impure pot- ash; the distillation lasts from thirty-six to forty hours. The furnaces are round, and un- provided with grates. The nitrous acid which is derived from the decomposition of a salt- petre surcharged with muriate, necessarily con- tains much muriatic acid, which is carried off by adding nitrate of silver. We may judge of the €normous quantity of muriate of silver obtained in this establishment, if we reflect that there is purified, a quantity of nitrous acid, sufficient * Estanco red dt tinUs y cokret. m •■11 nil 11' ut •1 'I "Hi 1 I i x 486 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Cbook v to separate seven thousand marcs of gold per annum. They decompose the muriate of sil- ver by fire, melting it with small lead drops. It would be more profitable undoubtedly, to make use in the distillation of aqua fortis, of refined, instead of raw saltpetre. They have hitherto followed the slow and laborious me- thod of purifying the acid by nitrate of silver, because the royal establishment of the apar- tado, is under the necessity of buying the saltpetre from the roi/al manufactory of pow^ der and saltpetre, which will not give out refined saltpetre, under 126 francs the quin- tal. '" The separation of gold and of silver re- duced to grains, for the sake of multiplying the points of contact, takes place in glass re- torts arranged in long files on hoops, in gale- ries from five to six metres in length.* These galeries are not heated by the same fire, but two or three matrasses form as it were a se- parate furnace. The gold which remains at the bottom of the matrass, is cast into ingots of fifty marcs, while the nitrate of silver is decomposed by fire during the distillation in the retorts. This distillation, by which they regain the nitre and acid, is also practised in a galery, and lasts from 84 to 90 hours. * From 16 to 19 feet. Tram. ' CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 487 They are obliged to break the retorts to ob- tain the reduced and chrystallized sUver. They might no doubt be preserved, by precipitating the silver by copper, but it would require another operation to decompose the nitrate of copper, which would succeed to the nitrate of silver. At Mexico, the expence of sepa- ration, is reckoned at from two to three reals de plata (from 26 to 39 sous tournois) pe*' marc of gold. It is surprising that none of the pupils of the school of mines are employed either in the mint, or in the casa del apartado ; and yet these great establishments ought to expect useful reforms, from availing themselves of mechanical and chemical knowledge. The mint is also si- tuated in a quarter of the town, where run- ning water might be easily procured to put in motion hydraulical wheels. All the ma- chines are yet very far from the perfection which they have recently attained in England and in France. The ameliorations will be the more advantageous, as the manufacture embraces a prodigious quantity of gold and silver; for the piastres coined at Mexico, may be con- sidered as the materials which maintain the activity of the greatest number of the mints of Europe, Not only working gold and silver, of which we have already spoken, has been improved 'lull T' 1|; I: .1' 'i.l Hif ,n iti! II t 488 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. in Mexico; but very considerable progress has also been made in other branches of in- dustry dependent on luxury and wealth. Chandeliers, and other ornaments of great value, were recently executed in gilt bronze, for the new cathedral of Puebla, of which the bishop possesses more than 550,000 livres of revenue*. Although the most elegant Ck>r- riages driven through the streets of Mexico and Santa Fe de Bogota, at 2300 and 2700 metresf of elevation above the surface of the ocean, come from London, very handsome Qiii s T also made in New Spain. The cabinet makti execute articles of furniture, remarkable for their form and the colour and polish of the wood, which is procured from the equinoctial region, adjoining the coast, especially from the forests of Orizaba, San Bias, and Colima. It is impossible to read without interest in the gazette of Mexico J, that even in the proviti' cias internas, for example at Durango, two hundred leagues north of the capital, harp- sicords and piano-fortes are manufactured^ The Indians display an indefatigable patience in the manufacture of small toys, in wood, bone, and wax. In a country where the ve- f 9,387 and 11,020 feet. Trans, % Gazeta de Mexico, t. t. p. 369. utj I > ri I ■• If r ,H.i ^•■'.i' 'J '!'.. Jf t- Mr i!^ CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 489 gelation affords the most precious productions*, and where the workman may choose at will the accidents of colour and form among; the roots, the medullary prolongations of the wood, and the kernels of fruits, these toys of the Indians, may one day become an important article of exportation for Europe. We know what large sums of money this species of industry brings in to the inhabit- ants of Nuremberg, and the mountaineers of Berchtolsgaden, and the Tyrol, who, however, can only use in the manufacture of boxes, spoons, and children's toys, pine, cherry, and walnut-tree wood. The Americans of the United States, send to the island of Cuba, and the other West India Islands, large car- gos of furniture, for which they get the wood chiefly from the Spanish colonies. This branch of industry will pass into the hands of the Mexicans, when, excited by a noble emulation, they shall begin to derive advan- tage from the productions of their own soil. We have hitherto spoken of the agricul- ture, the mines, and the manufactures, as the three principal sources of the commerce of New Spain. It remains for us to exhibit a view of the exchansfes which are carried on with '} 1 •; * Swietenia Cedrela and Caesalpinia wood; trunks of Desmaathus and Mimosa, of which the heart is a red, approaching to black. i)H' liii ! "! 4 490 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v. the interior, the mother country, and with other parts of the New Continent. Thus we shall successively treat of the interior com- merce, which transmits the superfluous produce of one Mexican province to another ; of the foreign commerce with America, Europe, and Asia, and the influence of these three branches of commerce on the public prospe- rity, and the augmentation of the national wealth. We shall not repeat the just com- plaints respecting the restriction of commerce, and the prohibitory system, which serve for basis to the colonial legislation of Europe. It would be difficult to add to what has been already said on that subject, at a time when the great problems of political economy oc- cupy the mind of every man. Instead of at- tacking principles, whose falsity and injustice are universally acknowledged, we shall confine ourselves to the collection of facts, and to the proving of what importance the commer- cial relations of Mexico with Europe may become, when they shall be freed from the fetters of an odious monopoly, disadvantage- ous even to the mother country. The interior commerce comprehends both the carriage of produce and goods into tha inte- rior of the country, and the coasting along the shore of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This commerce is not enlivened by an iu« CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 491 terior navigation on rivers or artificial canals; for like Persia, the greatest part of New Spain is in want of navigable rivers. The Rio del Norte, which from its breadth hardly yields to the Mississipi, flows through regions susceptible of the highest cultivation, but which in their present state, exhibit nothing but a vast desert. This great river has no greater influence on the activity of the in- land trade, than the Missouri, the Cassiquiare and the Ucayale, which run through the Sa- vannahs, and uninhabited forests of North America. In Mexico, between the 16" and 23** of latitude, the part of the country where the population is most concentra- ted, the Rio de Santiago alone, can be ren- dered navigable at a moderate expence. The length of its course,* equals that of the Elbe and the Rhone. It fertilizes the table lands of Lerma, Salamanca, and Selaya, and might serve for the conveyance of flour from the intendancies of Mexico and Guanaxuato, towards the western coast. We have already provedt, that if on the one hand, we must re- nounce the project of establishing an inland navigation between the capital and the port of Tampico, on the other, it would be very easy to cut canals in the valley of Mexico, « The Rio Santiago, the old Rio Tololotlan, is more.than 170 leagues in length, t Chap. iii. and viii. i ) li I '5f 492 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book V; from the most northern point, the village of Huehuetoca, to the southern extremity, the small town of Chalco. The communications with Europe and Asia* being only carried on, from the two ports of Vera Cruz and Acapulco, all the object? of exportation and importation necessarily pass through the capital, which has become through that means the central point of the interior commerce. Mexico, situated on the ridge of the Cordilleras, commanding as it were the two seas, is distant in a straight line from Vera Cruz 69 leagues, 66 from Acapulco, 79 from Oaxaca, and 440 leagues from Santa Fe of New Mexico. From this position of the capital, the most frequented roads, and the most important for commerce, are, 1st. the road from Mexico to Vera Cruz, by Puebla and Xalapa; 2d, the road from Mexico to Acapulco by Chilpanzingo ; 3d, the road from Mexico to Guatimala, by Oaxaca; 4th, the road from Mexico to Durango and Santa Fe of New Mexico, vulgarly called el camino de iierra dentro. We may consider the roads which lead from Mexico, either to San Luis Potosi and Monterey, or to Valladolid and Guadalaxara, as ramifications of the great road of the provincias internas. "When we examine the physical constitution of the coun- try, we see, that whatever may oiie day bft '" H'"^' CHAi.. XII.J KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 49a the progress of civilization, these roaiJs will never be succeeded by natural or artificial nav^ations, such as we find in Russia, from fet. Petersbursfh to the centre of Siberia T.- KND OP VOL. III. y / I \ i % \ '■i '■ "i ;.) - ^r *: i r "^ 'tn 1 H. Brye- Printer, Bridge-gtreet, Blaukfriars, London. 1