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VII

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iia|taacauKa*u

OCTlAi ATLANTIC OCEAN

Engraved hy W.loH'iy.

l^olitim €00ap

ON THE

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

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-
<lustry, the Canals projected

between the South Sea and
Atlantic Ocean, the Crown
Revenues, theQoantity of the
precious Metals which have
flowed from Mexico into Eu-
rope and Asia, since the Dis-
covery of the New Continent,
and the Military Defence of
Now Spain.

BY ALEXANDER DE HUMBOLDT.

WITH

PHYSICAL SECTIONS AND MAPS,

FOVNDBD ON ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS, AND

TRIUONOMBTRICAL AND BAROMETRICAL

MEASUREMENTS.

IRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH

BY JOHN BLACK.

VOL. III.

LONDON:

'*.;4-

PRINTED FOR LONG: IAN, HURST, REES, ORM£, AND BROWN,
PATERNOSTfiR-ROW ; AND H. COLBURN, CONDUIT STB|ET.

' 181L

It I I

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->'H-'.

H. Bryer, Printer, Bridgc-Strwt, Blacktriars, Loudon.

r • /-^

' I

ADVERTISKMENT.

: 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

■ 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

3 I

Ift

•♦I

Si.

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,

it i

in
■I.

•li

.1 ■;

BOOK IV.

CHAPTER X.

-=)'J><VI': -fit

. < f ; i '

Plants supplying raiu materials for manufactures and com-
merce—Rearing of cattle — Fisheries^Agricultural pro-
duce estimated from the value of the tithes.

Although the Mexican agriculture, like
the agriculture of every country which supplies
the wants of its own population, is principal-
ly direfted towards alimentary plants, New
Spain however is not less rich in those com-
modities exclusively called Colonial ; that is to
say in the productions which supply raw ma-
terials for the commerce and manufacturing in-
dustry of Europe. That vast kingdom unites,
m this point of view, the advantages of New
England with those of the West India Islands.
It is beginning in a particular manner to
enter into competition with these islands, now
that the civil war of 8t. Domingo and the
devastation of the French sugar colonies have
yeiidered the cultivation of colonial commodi-
ties more profitable on the continent of Ame-

VOL. III. n

2 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

rica. It is even observable that in Mexico
this species of cultivation has made a much
more considerable progress than that of corn.
In these climates, the same extent of g'round,
for example an acre of -5368 square metres*,
yields to the cultivator from 80 to 100 francs
in wheat, 250 francs in cotton, and 450 francs
in sugar f. The diflference in the value of the
produce being then so enormous, we ought by
no means to wonder that the Mexican colo-
nist gives to colonial commodities a preference
o\er barley and wheat. But this predilection
will never disturb the equilibrium which has
hitherto existetl between the different branches
of agriculture, because, fortunately a great
part of New Spain, situated under a climate
niore cold than temperate, is unfit for the
production of sugar, coffee, cocoa, iudigo and
cotton.

The cultivation of the sugar cane has made
such rapid progress within these last yeaiis,
thiio the exportation of sugar at the port of
Vera Ciiiz actually amounts to more than

* 57780 square feet. Trans.

f This estimate is looked upon as the most exact by the
colonists of Louisiana near New Orleans, They calculate
on 20 bushels of wheat, 250 pounds of cotton, and 1000
pounds of sugar per acre. This is the mean produce ; but
it may be easily conceived that these result* must be
modified by a number of local circumstances.

CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NE,W SPAIN.

I
I

half a million of arrobas, or 6,250,000 kilo-
gramines*, whicli at three piastres the arroba,
i.s equal to seven millions and a half of francsf .
We have already observed that the ancient
Mexicans were only acquainted with the sirop
of honey, that of the metl (agave) and the
sugar of maize cane. The sugar cane, culti-
vated from the remotest antiquity in the East
Indies, in ChinaJ, and in the South Sea Islands,
was imported by the Spaniards, from the Ca-
nary Islands into the Island of St. Domingo,
from whence it was successively introduced into
the Island of Cuba and New Spain. Peter
D'Atienza planted the first sugar canes about
the year 1520§ in the environs of the town of
Conception de la Vega. Gonzalo de Velosa
constructed the first cylinders ; and in 1536
more than 30 sugar works were already esta-
blished in the Island of St. Domingo, of whicli
many were served by a hundred Negro slaves,

* 13,7937501b. avoirtl. Trans.

t jC 312,525 sterling. Trans.

J I am even tempted to believe that the process used by
us in the making of sugar, has been brought from Oriental
Asia. I recognized at Lima in Chinese paintings repre-
senting the arts and trades, cylinders placed horizontally
and put in motion by a mill, cauldrons and purifying appara*
tus such as are now to be seen in the West Indies.

§ Not in 1506 as is generally said. — Oviedo, who came
to America, in 1513, says expressly, that he saw the first
sugar works established at St. Domingo. (HUtoria naturai
de IndiaSf Lib. IV. c. 8.)

B 3

4 POLirrCAL ESSAY ON THE Qbook iv

and cost tVoiii 10 to 12 thousand ducats in
expense of erection. It is remarkable enouii^li
that an»oiiaf the first sugar mills (fra-
piches) constructed l>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.

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.

ii I

' 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.

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 :

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.

of New Spain, which fur ages have remaine<l
desert and uncultivated.

It is obser\ ed in Mexico that the vezouy or
juice expressed from the sugar cane is more or
less sugary, according as the plant grows in the
plain, or on an elevated table land. The same
difference exists in the cane cultivated at
Malaga, the Canary Islands, and the Havannah.
The elevation of the soil every where produces
the same effects on vegetation, as the difference
i)f geographical latitude. The climate has
also an influence on the proportion, between
the (juantities of liquid and crystallizable sugar
contained in the juice of the cane; for some-
times the vezou has a very sweet savour, and
yet crystallizes with great difficulty. The che-
mical composition of the vezou is not always
the same, and the excellent experiments of M.
Proust, have thrown great light on the phe-
nomena discoverable in the American sugar
works, many of which are to the sugar refiner
the cause of great despondency.

From the most exact calculations that I
could make at the island of Cuba, I find that
a given hectare of ground yields for mean
term 12 cubic metres of vezou, from which is
drawn by the processes hitherto in use, in which
much sugary matter is decomposed by fire, at
most from ten to twelve per cent, or 1500
kilogrammes* of raw sugar. They reckon at
* 3310 lb. avoird. Trans,

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

the Havannah, and in the warm and fertile
parts of New Spain, that a cahalleria of ground
which contains 18 square c'orrf*?/<?* (at 24 t?ar«.v),
or 133,<517 square metres*, yiehls annually 2000
arrohas, or 25,0(K) kilofiframmes.f The mean
produce, however, is only 1500 arrobas, which
is 1400 kilogrammes of sugar per hectare J.
At St. Domingo, the produce of a cnrreau of
ground containing 3403 toises,or 12,900§ square
metres is estimated at 4000 pounds, which is
equal to 1550 kilogrammes per hectare. Such
is, in general, the fertility of the soil of
equinoctial America, that all the sugar consumed
in France, which I estimate at 20 millions of
kilogrammes II, might be produced on a sur-
face of 7 square leagues^, an extent which

♦ 1,437,163 square feet. Trans.

f Upwards of 50,000 lb. avoird. Trans.

X 3089 lb. avoird. p. 107,639 square feet. Tratis.

§ 138,854 square feet. Trans.

H 44,140,0001b. avoird. Trans.

f France drew from her Colonies in 1788, a total of
872,867 quintals of raw sugar, 768,566 of clayed sugar,
and 242,074 of sucre tite*. Of this quantity according to
M. Peuchet, only 434 thousand quintals of refined sugar were
consumed in the kingdom. We learn from the lists pub-
lished during i;he ministry of M. Chaptal, that the impor-
tation of sugar amounted in France in the year 9, to
515,100 quintals.

* Sucre lite or sucre de tete is that which is taken from the upper part
or head of the conical pot or pan {forme) used in the making of clayed
sugar. (Casaux sur l^art de cidlivez la cnnner, p. ^53.) Trans.

.BOOK IV.

1 fertile

^touikI

i varas),

lly 2000

le mean

<, which

jctare |.

rreau of

^ square

I'hich is

I. Such

soil of

nsumed

lions of

a siir-

which

CHAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN

l;i

total of
d sugar,
irding to
gar were
ists pub-

impor-
r 9, to

per part
)f clayed

is not the thirtieth part of the smallest depart-
ment of France.

In i^Tounds capable of beinj^ watered, and
in which plants with tuberous roots, for ex-
ample hatales and ignaineSf have preceded the
cultivation of the sugar cane, the annual pro-
duce amounts even to three or four thousand
arrobas per caballeria, or to 2100 and 2800
kilogrammes of raw sugar per hectare. Now,
in estimating* an an'oba at three piastres, which
is the mean price at Vera Crnz, we find from
these data, that a hectare of irrigated ground,
will yield to the amount of 2500 or 3400
livres tournois in sugar*, while the same hec-
tare would only yield to the value of 260
livres in wheat, supposing a decuple return,
and estimating 100 kilogrammes of wheat at
1600 livres touniois. In drawing a comparison
between these two species of cultivation, we
must never I'oi get, that the advantages of the
sugar cane cultivation are very much diminished,
by the enorn:ous advances required in the esta-
blishment of a sugar plantation.

The greatest part of the sugar produced
in New Spain, is consumed in the country.
The consumption probably amounts to more
than 16 millions of kilogrammesf ; for that of
the Island of Cuba, undoubtedly amounts to
from 25 to 30,000 chests (caxas) of 16 ar*

* Fromj« 104 to * 141 p. 107,639 square feet. Trans.
t Upwards of 35 millions of pounds avoird. Trans.

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

i ^

robas, or 200 kilogrammes. Those who have
not seen with their own eyes, the enormoa*^
quantity of sugar consumed in Spanish Ante-
rica, even in the poorest families, will be as-
tonished to hear, that the whole of France
demands for its own wants only three or four
times as much sugar as the Island of Cuba,
of which the free population does not exceed
the number of 340,000 inhabitants. •

I have endeavoured to bring* together iit
one view, the exportation of sugar from New
Spain, and that from the West India Islands-
It was impossible for me to reduce all its
data, to the same period. I could not procure
certain information, as to the actual [>roduce
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-

be as-

France

or four

Cuba,

exceed

ther iit

11 New

[slands.

all its

procure

iroduee

>rodi^i-

expor-

anniih»

IViuitv

contra-

' t » :

iiogr. '

,600,000

250,000

ooo,ooa

,5--

610,000
000,000

too,ooo

whole

lurope

CHAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

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.

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 exporte<l from Calcutta, after a
passage of 5200 leagues, is still lower at New
York than the Jamaica sugar, which comes
only from a distance of 860 leagues. This
phenomenon will not appear so astonishing, to
whoever casts his eye over the table given by
me in a former part of the work, of the wages
of labour* in the different countries of the
world, and who reflects that the sugar of Hin-
dostan, which is not however of the greatest
purity, is manufactured byfree-li nr; -vhile in
the West India Islands (in the Island of Cuba
for example) to produce 250,000 kilogrammes
of raw sugar, requires 200 negroes wnose pur-
chase amounts to more than 300,000 francs f.
In the same Island the maintenance of a slave
costs more than 20 francs per month {.

According to the curious information given
by M. Bockford, in his Indian Recreations^

* According to Mr. Playfair, (Statistical Breviary i r (.:
p. 60.) the price of labour in Bengal is as folloi^v^ n
mere workman gains 12 shillings per month; a porter
15; a mason 18^; a blacksmith or carpenter 221 ; an Indian
soldier 20: all in the environs of Calcutta, reckoning the
English shilling at 25 French sous, and the rupee at two
•hillings and sixpence.

t rf 12501 Sterling. Trans.

% 16s, 8d, Tram.

[book ir.

tid the im-
ad vantages
' the globe,
tta, after a
31* at New
lich comes
lies. This
tiishing, to
n given by
the wages
es of the
r of Hin-
e greatest
'vhile in
i of Cuba
ogrammes
nose pur-
[) francs f.
)f a slave

ion given
'.creations^

mary J?-^T;:'o;.

foUoWc it.

; a porter
; an Indian
koning the
ipee at two

CHAP. 3C.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

printed at Calcutta, the sugar cane is cuJtJ.vated
11} Bengal, principally in the districts of Ped-
dapore, Zemindar, in the Delta of Godavery,
and on the banks of the river Elyseram. The
plantations are watered there, as is also cus-
tomary in several parts of Mexico, and in the
valley of Guines, to the south east of the Ha-
vannah. To prevent the soil from being ex-
hausted, they cultivate alternately leguminous
plants with the sugar cane, which attains in
general three metres of elevation, and from
three to four centimetres in thickness.* In
Bengal, an acre (of 5368 square metres) yields
2500 kilogrammes of sugar,f amounting to
4650 kilogrammes per hectare: consequently
the produce of the soil is twice as great as
that <ii the West Indies, while the price of the
labour of a free Indian, is almost three times
less than that of a negro slave of the Island
of Cuba. In Bengal, six pounds of the juice
of the cane yield a pound of crystallized sugar,
while in Jamaica eight pounds are requisite
to produce the same quantity of sugar. Con-
sidering the vezQU as a liquid charged with
salt, we find that in Bengal this liquid con-
tains 16, and in Jamaica 12 per cent, of sac-
charine matter. Hence the sugar of the East
Indies is so low priced, that the cultivator

♦ 9 feet 10 inches, by from 11 to Ijl inches. Tram,
' t 5517 lb. avoird. Trans,
VOL. III. C

■" Mb

y ^.^.

1 ht

'i: ^

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [b»ok !▼.

sells it at 4f roiipees the quintal, or at 26 cen-
times the kilogramme, which is nearly the
third of the value of that commodity in the
Havannah market. Although the cultivation
of the sugar cane is spreading with astonishing
rapidity in Bengal, the total produce is still
much less than that of Mexico. Mr. Bockford
supposes the produce of Jamaica to be the
quadruple of that of Bengal.

Cotton is one of those plants of which the
cultivution, was as antient among the Aztec
tribes, as that of the pite, the maize, and the
quinoa. There is some of the -finest quality
n the western coast, from Acapulco to Colima,
and at the port of Guautlan, particularly to
the south of the Volcan de Jorullo, between
the villages of Petatlan, Teipa, and Atoyaque.
As they are yet miacquainted with machines
for separating the cotton from the seed, the
price of carriage is a great obstacle in the way
of this branch of Mexican ag^culture. An
arroba of cotton (Algodon con peppa) which
sells for 8 francs at Teipa, costs 15 at Tal-
ladolid, on account of the mule carriage. That
part of the eastern coast extending from the
moutlis of the rivers Guasacualco and d'Alva-
rado, to Panuco, might supply the commerce of
Vera Cruz, with an enormous quantity of cotton;
but the coast is ahnost uninhabited, and the
waat of hands occasions a dearth of provisions,

ijiW')'

[B90K IT.

26 cen-
arly the
f in the
iltivation
:onishin^
e is still
3ockford
• be the

hich the
e Aztec
and the

quality
Colima,
ularly to
between
toyaque*
nachin^s

edy the
the way

e. An
which
at Val-
That
•m the

d'Alva.

erce of

cotton;

nd the

(visions,

CHAF. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

unfavourable to every agricultural establishment.
New Spain supplies Europe annually with
only 25,000 arrohas, or 312,000 kilogrammes*
of cotton. This quantity though in itself very
inconsiderable, is however six times greater
than that exported by the United States, of
their own growth in 1791, according to the
information which I owe to the kindness of
M. Gallatin, Finance Minister at Washington.
But the rapidity of the increase of industry,
among a free people wisely governed is so
great, that according to a note furnished me
by the same statesman, the United States ex-
ported.

Home Cotton.
In 1797 - 2,500,000 lib.
1800 - 3,660,000 •

1802 - 3,400,000 -

1803 - 3,4<93,544< -

Foreign Cotton.

- 1.200,000 lib.

- 14.,120,000

- 24-,100,000

- 37,712,079

From these data of M. Gallatin, it follows
that the produce of cotton has become 377 times
greater in twelve yeai's. When we consider the
physical positions of the United States and
Mexico, we can hardly entertain a doubt that
these two countries will one day be enabled
to produce all the cotton employed in the
manufactures of Europe. The enlightened
merchants who compose the chamber of com-
merce of Paris, have asserted in a memoir

* 68Si,584< lb. avoird.
c 2

Trans.

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [hook iv,

i! ' m

f .1...

t '^^

■r ■:■}

printed a few years ago, that the total impor-
tation of cotton into Europe, amounts to 30
millions of kilogrammes*. I am inclined to
believe that this estimate is much below the
truth; for the United States alone have expor-
ted annually, more than 22 millions of kilo-
grammes of cottonf, amounting in value to
7,920,000 dollars, or nearly 40 millions of livres
tournois.

Flax and hemp may be advantag'eously
cultivated wherever the climate does not admit
of the cultivation of cotton, as in the provincias
internas and even in the equinoctial region or
table land, where the mean temperature is under
14 degrees of the centigrade thermometerj.
The Abbe Clavigero advances that flax is to be
found wild in the intendancy of Valladolid and in
New Mexico, but I viery much question whether
the assertion is founded on the accurate obser-
vation of any botanical traveller. However it
is certain that neither flax nor hemp have to
this day been cultivated in Mexico. Spain has
had a few enlightened ministers who wished to
favour these two branches of colonial industry ;
but their favour was nothing more than tem-
porary. The council of the Indies, whose influ-
tnce is durable like that of every body in which

* 62,100,000 lb. avoird. Trans.
t 48,558,000 lb. avoird: Trans.
X BT^ofFahrenh. Trans,

l^flOOK IV.

tal impor-
iiits to 30
iclined to
below the
ive expor-
s of kilo-
value to
sof livres

itag-eously

not admit

provincias

region or

eis under

Qometerf.

X is to be

lid and in

I whether

ite obser-

)wever it

have to

ipain has

i^ished to

ndustry ;

an tem-

>se influ-

n which

<;HAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

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.

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

♦ 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

s:celler.:e

rom the

Is which

Vanilla

of Cuba,

"ftiS

P Bahia,

)omingo

•\-ii

•y odori-

.1 ,-■-_■

ff while

infaTour-

iromatic.

{'■■

ot judge

/ ■' :

le odour

Lmerica;

e owing

and hu-

,Jk"

nes four

istory of

of being*

t '■

ion res-

Mexico.

vhere it

spots, I

(detailed

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.

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.

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

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.

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,

.i;

:,::m

>**'"Z

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*

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 <lried, though very
aromatic. The Indian^' of Papantla as well as
those of Nautla, are accused of introducing
themselves ilirtively into the forests of Quilate
for the sake of collecting the fruit of the epiden-
drum planted by the natives of Misantla. In
the intendancy of Oa^aca, the village of Teutila
is celebrated for the superior quality of tlie
vanilla produced in the neighbouring forests.
It appears that this variety was the fii'st which
was introduced into Spain in the sixteenth cen-
tury ; for even at this day the haynilla de
Teutila is considered at Cadiz as preferable to
every other. It is indeed dried with much care,
being pricked with pins and suspended by

» 2

llkjU^l'

liii

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it.

threads of the Pite ; but it weighs less by nearly
a ninth than that of Misantla. I know not the
quantity of vanilla produced in the province of
Honduras and annually exported from the
small port of Truxillo, but it appears to be very
inconsiderable.

The forests of Quilate yield in very abundant
years 800 millares of vanilla ; a bad harvest in
very rainy years amounts only to 200. The
mean praduce is estimated thus '- f

V •. iTii.ii

Misantla and Coli'pa

Papantia

Teutila

Millares.
700
100

The value of these 910 millares is at Vera
Cruz from 30 to 40,000 piastres. We must
add the produce of the harvests of Santiago
and San Andres Tuxtla, for which I am in want
of sufficiently accurate data. It frequently
happens that the harvest of one year does not
pass all at once into Europe, but that a part of
it is reserved to be added to that of the follow-
ing year. In 1802, 1793 millares of vanilla
left the port of Vera Cruz. It i^ astonishing
that the total consumption of Europe is not
greater. > «

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

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

*f..

CSAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN-

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

lit II

:.f'

III

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<nrt NatureUe.
T.ii.p. 120.

t Hist.Philos. T.ii.p.68. . ,. ;.

£book IV.

[ the slope
more sur-
retum to
who has
ood of his
i asserted
indance in
[ibourhood
isequently
Lnd at the

consumes
rhis esti-

for from
ch I was
was only
21 and in

price at
uintal.
ew Spain,
yields the

the Ta^
tlapilU of
;he course

appears to
in Florida.
Convolvulus
; NatureUe.

CHAP. XO

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN

of our travels in the antient kingdom of
Michoacan, which is part of the intendancy
of Valladolid, heard any mention made of it.
The abbe Clavigero* relates that a physician
of the late king of Tzintzontzan, communica-
ted the knowledge of this remedy to the re-
ligious missionaries of the expedition of Cortez.
Does there really exist a root, which under
the name of Mechoacan, is exported from
Vera Cruz, or does this remedy which is the
same as the jeticucu of Marcgravef, come
from the coast of Brazil? It appears even
that antientlythe true Jalap was called itfe-
choacan, and that by one of those mistakes
so frequent in the history of medecines, the
denomination has been afterwards transferred
to the root of another plant.

The cultivation of Mexican Tobcicco, might
become a branch of agriculture of the very
highest importance, if the trade in it were
free ; but since the introduction of the mono*
poly, or since the establishment of the royal
fyrm, (el estanco real de Tabaco) by the Visitor
dor Don Joseph de Galvez in 1764, not only
4 special perniission is necessary to plant tobacco,
s^d the cultivator obliged to sell it to the farm,
at a pvipe arbitrarily fixed {Recording to the worth

♦ $toriq anticq di Mesiico, T. ii. p. 212.
t Lit^. Mat. Medica, IT49, p. 28. Murray Afparatm
m«dicami»um, T.i. p. 62.

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE C»ooK «▼•

of the produce ; but the cultivation is even
limited solely to the environs of the towns
of Orizaba and Cordoba, and the partidos of
Huatusco and Songolica, situated in the in-
tendancy of Vera Cruz. Officers with the
title of guardas de tabaco, travel the country
for the purpose of pulling up whatever to-
bacco they And planted beyond those districts
which we have named, and fining those far-
mers who think proper to cultivate what is
necessary for their own consumption. It was
believed the contraband trade would be di-
minished, by limiting the cultivation to an
extent of four or five square leagues. Before
the establishment of the farm, the intendancy
of Guadalaxara, and especially the partidos
of Autlan, Ezatlan and Ahuzcatlan, Tepic,
Santixpac and Acaponeta, were celebrated for
the abundance and excellent quality oi tiie
tobacco which they produced. These formerly
happy and flourishing countries, have been
decreasing in population since the plantations
were transferred to the eastern slope of the
Cordillera. , ; . , „ , .

The Spaniards first obtained their knowledge
of tobacco in the West India Islands. The
word, adopted by all the nations of Europe,
belongs to the language of Hayti or St.
Domingo; for the Mexicans called the plant
yetlf and the Peruvians sayri*. The Indidns

* HemtndeZf Lib. v. c. 51. p. 173. Clavigero, T. ii.

>•

[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¥'

■

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.

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.

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.

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

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

--*

H"j"

IC'-I

Mi'

P'>,**'

CHAV. Z.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

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

ii ^

CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

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

'^ 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-

|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.

CHAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

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

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

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.

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<mr syllables. The par-
tisans of Huescar had composed burlesque
songs in derision of Atahuallpa, and three
of his generals, named Quilliscacha, Chalchu-
china, and Ruminavi. When we consult
languages as historical monuments, we must
carefully distinguish what is ancient from
what has been naturalyzed by custom. The
Penivian word for a cat micitu, is as modern
as /mallpa. The Peruvians formed micitu from
the radical miz, because they observed that
the Spaniards made use of it in calling the
Cat, and they believed, therefore, miz to be the
name of the animal.

It is a very singular phisiological pheno-
menon, that on the Table Land of the city
of Cuzco, more elevated and colder than that
of Mexico, hens have only begun to season to
the climate, and to propagate within the last
thirty years. Till that period, all the chickens
perished immediately after hatching. At pre-
sent, the different varieties of hens, especially
those of Mosanibique, of which the flesh i^
black, have become common in both hemi-
spheres, wherever the people of the old continent
have penetrated. Several tribes of Savage
Indians, who live in the vicinity of European

CHAF. x] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN-

settlements have procured them. When we
were at Toniependa, on the banks of the river
Amazons, we saw several families of Xibaros
Indians, who had established themselves at Ta"
tumbero in an almost inaccessible place between
the cataracts of Yaraqiiisa and Patornmi ;
and several hens were seen in the huts of these
savages, when thsy were visited for the first
time, some years ag-o.

New Spain has supplied Europe with the
largest and most useful of domestic gallinaceous
birds, the turkey (totolin or huexolotl) which
was formerly found wild on the back of the
Cordilleras, from the Isthmus of Panama to
New England. Cortez relates that several
thousands of these birds which he calls hens
{gallinas) were fed in the poultry-yards of the
castles of Montezuma. From Mexico the Spa-
niards carried them to Peru, to Terra Firma,
{Castilla del Oro) and the West India Islands,
where Oviedo described them in 1515. Her-
nandez even then very well observed that the
wild turkies of Mexico were much larger
than the domestic ones. The former are only
now to be found in the northern provinces.
They withdraw towards the north in proportion
as the population increases, and consequently,
the forests become more rare. An intelligent
traveller to whom we owe a very interesting
description of the countries to the west of the

POLIVICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

.4'

Alleghany mountains*, M. Michaux, informs
^ us that the wild turkey of Kentucky some-
times weighs even 40 pounds, an enormous
weight for a bird which flies so rapidly, es-
pecially when pursued. When the English,
in 1584, landed in Virginia, turkies had for
fifty years been introduced into Spain, Italy,
and England f. This bird did not then pass
from the United States into Europe, as has
been falsely maintained by many naturalists.
The Pintades (numida melcagris) designated
so happily by the ancient;* under the name of
aves guttatae, are very rare in Mexico, while
they have grown wild in the Island of Cuba.
As to the musk-duck (anas rnoschata) called
by the Germans, Turkish duck, which has
become so common in our poultry-yards,
Europe is indebted for it also to the New
Continent. We found it wild on the banks
of the river Madelena, where the male grows
to a prodigious size. The ancient Mexicans
had tame ducks, which they annually plucked,
as the feathers w^re an important object of
lommerce. These d cks apj ear to have been
^'Voimt'A with the species introduced into Europe.
The goose is the only one of the birds of our
poultry-yards which is no where to be found
in the Spanish Colonies of the New Continent.

* Voj'r'ge de Michaux, p. 190.

t Beckmann, 1. c. T. iii. p. 238—270.

CHAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

The cultivation of the mulberry, and the
rearing oi silk worms, were introduced by the
care of Cortez, a few years after the siege
of Tenochtitlan. There is a mulberry tree on
the ridge of the Cordilleras peculiar to the equi-
noctial regions, the rnorus acuminata, Bonpl.
which we found wild in the kingdom of Quito,
near the villages of Piso and Puembo. The
leaf of this mulberry is not so hard as that
of the red mulberry, (M. rubra) of the United
States, and the silk worms eat it like that of
the white mulberry of China. This last tree,
which according to Olivier de Serres, was
only planted in France, in the reign of
Charles the eighth, about the year 1494, was
already very common in Mexico, about the
middle of the 16th century. A considerable
quantity of silk was then produced in the In-
tendancy of la Puebla, in the environs of Pa-
nuco *, and in the Province of Oaxaca, where
several villages of the Misteca, still bear the
names of Tepexe de la Seda, (Silk^ and San
Franrisco de la Seda. The policy of the
Co'incil of the Indies, constantly unfavourable
to the manufactures of Mexico, on the one
hand, and on the other, ihe most active com-
merce with China, and the interest which the
Philippine Company har e in selling the Asiatic
silks to the Mexicans, seem to be the prin-
cipal causes of the gradual annihilation of this

*La Florida del Inca (Madrid, 1723) T. i. p.258.

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

branch of colonial industry. A few years a^o,
an individual at Queretaro, proposed to the
government the making of large plantations
of mulberry, in one of the finest vallies of
Mexico, la Canada of the baths of San Pedro,
inhabited by more than three thousand Indians.
The rearing of silk worms requires less care
than cochineal, and the character of the natives
renders them extremely fit for every sort of
labour, which requires great patience and
minute care. Tlw* Canada, which is two
leagues from Queretaro, towards the north east
constantly enjoys a mild and temperate climate.
The Lavrus persea is only now cultivated
there, and the viceroys who dread to infringe
on what is called in the colonies, the rights
of the Mother Country, have been unwilling
to admit the substitution of mulberries to the
present species of cultivation.

New Spain has several species of indi-
genous caterpillars, which spin silk in the
manner of the Bomhyjo Mori of China, but
which have neVer yet been suflficiently e\a-
mined by entomologists. The silk of the
Misteca derived from these animals, was
an object of co i merce, even in the time
of Montezuma. Handkerchiefs are still ma-
nufactured in the intendancy of Oaxaca
of this Mexican silk. We purc^hased some
on the road to Acapulco, at Chilpanzinjj^o.

«HAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

The stuff feels rough, like certain Indian
silks, which are equally the produce of
very difl'erent silk-worms, from that of the
mulberry.

In the provinces of Mechoacan, and in
the mountains of Santa Rosa, to the north
of Guanaxuato bag's of an oval form, resem-
bling the nests of the Orialus, ( Troupiales) and
the CaciqueSf are seen suspended from different
kinds of trees, and especially the branches
of the Arbutus Madrono. These bags call-
ed capullos de madroTio, are the work of a
great immber of caterpillars of the Bombyx
de Fabricius kind, who live in society, and
spin together. Each capullo is from 18 to
20 centimetres in length, by 21 in breadth*.
They are of a brilliant whiteness, and formed
in beds, which may be separated from one
another. The interior beds ;ire the most
slender, and of an extraordinary transpa-
rency.— The matter of which these large
bags is formed resembles Chinese paper:
the tissue is so dense that the threads which
are pasted transversely over one another, are
scarcely percciveable. I found a great number
of these capullos de madroYwt on descending the
c<jfl"re de Perote towards las Vigas at an ab-
solute height of 3200 metrehf. It is possible

* From 7 to 7i Ihlices, by fJi inches. Tr^m.
f 10,498 feet linglish. Tram.

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir.

to wnte on the interior beds without making*
them undergo any sort of preparation. It
is a true natural paper, of which the antient
Mexicans knew the use, pasting together se-
veral beds, for the formation of a white
and glossy pasteboard. We brought by the
courier, living caterpillars of the bombyx
madrono from Santa Ros^ to Mexico: they
are of an olive colour, approaching to black
and covered with hair, and their length is
from 25 to 28 millimetres*. We did not
see their metamorphosis, but we perceived that
notwithstanding the beauty and extraordinary
lustre of this madrono silk, it would be al-
most impossible to employ it to any advan-
tage on account of the difficulty which
would be experienced in winding it. As
several caterpillars work together, their threads
cross and entangle with one another. I have
thought proper to enter into these details,
because persons more zealous than well in-
formed, have lately turned the attention of
the French Government towards the indige-
nou silk of Mexico.

Wax is an object of the highest importance
to a country where much magnificence prevails
in the exterior worship. An ei»ormous quantity
is consumed in the festivals of the church, both
in the capital, and in the chapels of the smallest

* From .98 of an inch, to 1.1 inch. Tranf,

CHAP. X.] KITTGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 61

Indian villages. The hives are extremely
productive in the peninsula of Yucatan, es-
pecially in the environs of the port of Cam-
peachy, which, in 1803, exported 582 arrobas
of wax, for Vera Cruz. They reckon from
6 to 7 hundred hives in one colmenar.
This wax of Yucatan is the produce of
a bee peculiar to the New Continent, which
is said to be destitute of a sting, no doubt
because the sting is weak and not very sen-
sible. From this circumstance in the Spa-
nish colonies, the name of little angels (an-
gelitos,) has been given to the bees described
by M. M. Illiger, Jurine, and Latreille, un-
der the name of Melipone and Trigone. I
know not if the bee of Campeachy differs
from the Melipona Fasciatay found by M. Bon-
pland on the eastern slope of the Cordille-
leras.* It is certain that the wax of the
American bees is more difficult to whiten,
than the wax of the domestic bees of Europe.
New Spain draws annually nearly 25,000 or-
rohas of wax from the Havannah, the value
of which amounts to more than 2 millions
of livres Tournoisf. A very small part how-

* See the insects collected in the covuse of our cxpedi*
tion, and described by M. Latreille in our Heuieil d* ob-
servations de Zoologie et d*Anutome Comparee, t. i.

t iS83,340«terUng. Trans.

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it.

ever of this wax of the island of Cuba, ii
the produce of the wild Trigones which oc-
cupy the trunks of the Cedrela Odorata ;
the greatest part is procured from the bee of
the north of Europe (Apis Mellificay) the
cultivation of which, has been very much
on the increase since 1772. The island of
Cuba exported m 1803, including the contra-
band, 42,670 arrohas of wax. The price
of an arroha then, amounted to 20 or 21
piastres; but the mean price in time of peace,
is only 15 piastres, or 75 livres Tournois.J
In America, the neighbourhood of the sugar
plantations is very prejudicial to the bees.
These insects are so exceedingly greedy of
honey, that they drown themselves in the
juice of the cane, which puts them into a
state of inaction and intoxication when they
drink it to excess.

The rearing of the cochineal, (Grana No-
chiztlif) is of great antiquity in New Spain ;
and it is probable that it goes beyond the
incursions of the Toliec tribes. In the time of
the dynasty of Aztec kings, the cochineal was
more general than at present. There were
nopaleries not only in Mixtecapan (la Misteca,)
and in the province of Huaxyacac (Oaxaca),
but also in the intendancy of Puebla, ii)^

* £5 2 6 sterling. Trans,

CHAP. Z.3

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

the environs of Cholula and Huejotzingo.
The vexations to which the natives were
exposed in the beginning of the conquest,
and the low price at which the encomen^
deros forced the cultivators to sell the co-
chineal, occasioned this branch of Indian in-
dustry to be every where neglected, except-
ing in the intendancy of Oaxaca. It is
scarcely 40 years since the peninsula of Yu-
catan still possessed considerable nopaleries.
In a single night, all the nopals, on which
the cochineal lives, were cut down. The
Indians pretend that the government took
this violent resolution to raise the value of
a commodity, of which they wislied to secure
the exclusive property to the inhabitants
of Misteca. On the other hand, the whites
maintain that the natives irritated and discontent-
ed with the price fixed by the merchants on the
cochineal, came to a general understanding,
to destroy at once, both the insect and the
nopals.

The quantity of cochineal which the inten-
dancy of Oaxaca, furnishes to Europe, may
be estimated communibus aunts including
the three sorts, cjrana, yraniUa and polvos
de grantty at 4000 zurrones or 32,000 arrobas,
which, calculating the arroba at 75 double
piastres, amounts to 2,400,000 piastres, or

lili

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it.

12 millions of livres Tournois.* The cochi-
neal exported from Vera Craz, was

In 1802, 46,964< arrobas or 3,368,557, p.
1803, 29,610 arrobas or 2,238,673 p.

But part of one har>^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.

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

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

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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

CHAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

ir.

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,

* 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.

-n'

t T.i.p. 115.

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

CRAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN-

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

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 <mimaU;saiion of
the vegetable Juices in the body of the insect.

They reckon at Nexapa that in good years

7t» POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [koojc iv.

one poiiiul of svmiUn of mealy cocliineal placed
on nopals in the month of Oetoher, in \\\i'
month of January yiehls a harvest of 12 |)ounils
of mother (;ocliineals, leavin<;; suilieient seinilla
on the plant, that is to say l>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.

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 eniploye<l
in commerce is, howt^ver, prodnci'd in small
nopaleries helonjrinjr to !»» lians of extreme
poverty. The nopal is seldom allowed to
grow higher than 12 <lecimetres* in order that
it may be the more; easily cleared of the inserts
which devour tln^ <'ochineal. The varieties of
the cactus which are rouji^hest and most prickly
are even preferred, because these arms serve to
protect th(^ cochineal from flying insects ; and
the flower and fruit are carefully cut to pre-
vent tliese insects from depositing their eggs in
them.

The Indians who cultivate the cochineal and
who go by the name of nopalerosy especially
those who live round the town of Oaxaca, fol-
low a very ancient and a very extraordinary
practice, that of making the cochineal travel.
In that part of the torrid zone, it rains in the
plains and vallies from May to October, while
in the chain of neighbouring mountains called
Sierra de Tstepeje, the rains are only frequent
from December to April. In place of preserv-
ing the insect in the rainy season in the interioi
of their huts, the Indians place the mother-co-

fi *

* 4-7 inches. Tram,

7B POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

chinealsy covered with palm-lenves by beils in
btskels made of very flexible cln.s|>ers. 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.

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

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-

* 6971b.avoird. Trans.

f Acosta,lib. iv.c. 15.

J See vol. ii. chap, viii, p. 329.

VOL. III.

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.

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

III. 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

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.

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*\

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.

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

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.

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<r, according to
the tonnage of the vessel. The Anglo-Ame-
ricans carry on this fishery with still more
economy than the £nglish.

The ancient Spanish laws prohibited whale
vessels as well as all other foreign vessels
from entering the ports of America, except
in cases of distress, or want of water and
provisions. The Galapagos islands on which
the fishers sometimes land their sick, are
provided with springs, but these springs are
very poor and very inconstant. The island
of Cocos (liat. 5**. 35 north) is very well
supplied with water; but, in running from
the Galapagos northwards, this small insulated
island is difficult to find, on account of the
force and irregularity of the currents. The
whalers have more powerful motives for prefer-
ring to take in water from the coast ; and tliey
seek pretexts to enter the ports of Coquim-
bo, Pisco, Tumbez, Payta, Guayaquil, Rea-
lejo, Sonzanate, and San Bias. A few days,
and frequently even a few hours, are sufficient

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE C»oo« !▼•

for the crews of fishing vessels to form con-
nections with the inhabitants, for the sale of
English goods, and to take in ladings of
copi»er, Peruvian sheep, qninquina» sugar, and
cocoa. This contraband trade, is canned on
between persons who do not speak the same
language, frequently by signs, and with a fi-
delity very uncommon among the most po-
lished people of Europe.

It would he superfluous to enumerate the
advantages the inhabitants of the Spanish colo-
nies would possess over the English and the
people of the United States, if they were
to enter upon the cachalot fishery. From
Guayaquil and Panama the parallels where
this fish abounds, is not more than a voyage
of ten or twelve days. The navigation from
San Bias to the Marias islands, is hardly
36 hours. The Spanish Mexicans employ-
ed in this fishery would have a shorter
passage by 4000 leagues than the Anglo-Ame-
ricans ; they could be supplied with provisions
at a cheaper rate; and they would every
where find ports where they would be re-
ceived as friends, and supplied with fresh
provisions. It is true the spermaceti is not
yet in great request on the continent of
of Spanish America. The clergy persist in
confounding adipocirc with tallow, and the
American bishops liave declared that the ta-

CHAP, x.l

KINGOOM OP NEW SPAIN.

pers which burn on tho altars, can only he
made of bee-wax. At lama, however, they
have begun to deceive the vigilance of • .0
bishops, by mixing a little spermaceti «'**4
the wax. The merchants purchasing Eiig.ir- 1
l^rizes, had it in great quantities, and the
adipocire employed in church festivals, is
become a new branch of very lucrative com-
merce.

It is not the want of Iiands which pre-
vents the inhabitants of Mexico from apply-
ing to the cachalot fishery. Two hundred
men are sufficient to man ten fishing ves-
sels, and to procure annually, more than a
thousand tons of spermaceti; and this sub*
stance might in time, become as impor«
tant an article of exportation, as the cocoa
of Guayaquil, and the copper of Coquim*
bo. In the present state of the Spanish
colonies, the sloth of the inhabitants is ini-
mical to the execution of similar projects;
and it would be impossible to procure sai-
lors willing to embrace so rude a business
and so miserable a life, as that of a cacha-
lot fisher. How could they be found in a
country, where according to the ideas of the
common people, all that is necessary to
happiness, is bananas, salted flesh, a ham-
mock, and a guitar? The hope of gain is
too weak a stimulus, imder a zone, where

•id

1)4

POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iV.

beneficent nature provides to man a thou-
sand means of procuring an easy and peaceful
existence without quitting his country, and
without struggling* with tlie monsters of the
ocean.

For a long time, the Spanish go'^ernment
has looked with an evil eye on the cacha-
lot fishery, which draws the English and
Anglo Americans* to the coast of Peru and
Mexico. Before the establishment of that
fishery, the inhabitants of the western coast of
America, had never seen any other flag in
those seas, tiian the Spanisli. Political rea-
sons might have engaged the mother coun-
try to spare nothing for the encouragement
of the national fisheries, not so much per-
haps with a view oi* a direct profit, as for
the sake of excluding strangers, and pre-
venting their connections with the natives.
The privileges which they granted to a com-
pany residing in Europe, and which has
merely existed by name, could not give the
first impulse to the Mexicans and Peruvians.

* According to ofRcial information, which I owe to
M. Gallatin, Treasurer to the United States, there were
in tlie South Sea, in ISOO, 1801, and 1802, from 18 to
20 whalers (from 2800 to 3200 tons) of the United
States. A third of these vessels arc fitted out annually from
the port of Nantucket. In 1805, the importation of
spermaceti into that port, amounted to 1146 barreU.

CHAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

The fishing vessels ought to be fitted out
in America itself, at Guayac|uil, Panama, of
Sau Bias. There is constantly on that coast
a certain number of* English sailors, who
have abandoned the fishing* vessels, either
through discontent or for the purpose of
pushing their fortunes in the Spanish colo-
nies. The first expedition might be made
by mixing those sailors, who have had long ex-
perience in the cachalot fishery, with the
zamhos of America, who are not afraid of
singly attacking a crocodile.

We have thus examined in this chapter
the true national wealth of Mexico; for the
produce of the earth is in fact the
sole basis of permanent opulence. It is
consolatory to see that the labour of man
for half a century, has been more directed
towards this fertile and inexhaustible source,
than towards the working of mines, of
which the wealth has not so direct an in-
fluence on the public prosperity, and mere-
ly changes the nominal value of the annual
produce of the earth. The territorial im-
post levied by the clergy, under the name
of tenth, or tithe, measures the quantity of
that produce, and indicates with precision,
the progress of agricultural industry, if we
compare the periods, in the intervals of

96 POLItlCAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

which the pr^ce of commodities has under-
gone no sensible variation. The following
is a view of the value of these tithes*.
Taking" for example two series of years, from
1771 to 1780 and from 1780 to 1789.

Natsaes of Dioceses.

Periods.

Value of
Tithes in
Piastres.

Periods.

Value of
Tithes in
Piastres.

Mexico - - .
Pucbia de losAn- ?

geles - i S
Valladolid de >

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

[11

, >\i

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

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

* 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. • -'

-,'-; .>,;. 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.

ill

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

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 ). ^ ,

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.:t<i of Quito smelted silver minerals by strati-
fying them with charcoal, and blowing the fire with long
bambou reeds. A great number of Indians were placed circu-
larly around the hole which contained the minerals; so that
the currents of air proceeded at once from several reeds.

f Yellow ocre, called tecozahnitl, was employed in paint-
ing as well as cinnabar. Ocre ^as part of the objects which
•ompoted the list of tributes of Malinaltepec.

CHAP. X.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 115

and converting it into steel. There is no doubt
that the axes and other Mexican tools were al-
most as sharp as steel instruments ; but it was
by a mixture with tin, and not by any tempering
that they acquired their extreme hardness.
What the first historians of the conquest call
hard or shaif copper, resembled the x*^xof of the
Greeks, and the Aes of the Romans. The
Mexican and Peruvian sculptors executed large
^orks in the hardest greenstone (gtiinstein), and
basaltic porphyry. The jeweller cut and
pierced the emeralds and other precious stones
by using at the same time a metal tool and a
silicious powder. I brought from Lima an
antient Peruvian chisel, in which M. Vauquelin
found 0.94 of copper, and 0.06 of tin. This
mixture was so well forged, that by the close-
ness of the particles, its specific weight was
8.815, while, according to the experiments of
M. Bridie*, the chemists never obtain this
maximum of density, but by a mixture of 16
parts of tin, with 100 parts of copper. It ap-
pears, that the Greeks made use of both tin and
iron at the same time in the hardening of cop-
per. Even a Gaulish axe found in France by
M. Dupont de Nemours, which cuts wood like
a steel axe, without breaking or yielding, con-
tains according to the analysis of M. Vauquelin,
0.87 of copper, 0.03 of iron, and 0.09 of tin,

* Journal des mnes. An. 5, p* 8S1.
I 2

116 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv-

Tin being a metal very little spread over
the globe, it is rather surprising that it should
have been used in both Continents in the
hardening" of copper. A single mineral which
has been no where tliscovered but at Wheal
Rock, in Cornwall, the mine of sulfuretted
tin (zinnkies) contains both copper and tin in
equal parts. We know not whether the Mexi-
can nations worked veins in which minerals
of copper and oxydised tin were found united,
or if this last metal, which we found in the
alluvious lands in the intendancy of Guanaxuato,
under the globulous and fibrous form of wood
tin (holZ'Zinn) was added to pure copper in
a constant proportion. However the fact be,
it is certain that the want of iron would be
much less felt among nations who possessed
the art of forming alloys of other metals, in
a manner equally advantageous. The edge-
tools of the Mexicans, were some of copper
and others of obsidian (itztli). The last sub-
stance was even the object of great mining
undertakings, of which the traces are still to
be perceived in an innumerable quantity of
pits dug in the mountain of Knives, near the
Indian village of Atotonilco e/ Grande *.

Besides the cocoa bags, each of which con-
tained three xiquipilli or 24000 grains, besides
the patolquachtlif or small bales of cotton

* See Vol. ii. p.6a

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. H?

cloth, several metals were used by the antient
Mexicans as money, that is to say, as re-
presentative signs of things. In the great
market of Tenochtitlan, all sorts of goods
were purchased with gold dust, contained in
tubes of the feathers of aquatic birds. It was
requisite that these tubes should be transparent
for the sake of discoveruig the size of the
grains of gold. In several provinces, pieces
of copper to which the form of a T was given
where used as a currency. Cortez relates that
having undertaken to found cannons in Mexico,
and having dispatched emissaries for the dis-
covery of mines of tin and copper, he learned
that in the environs of Tachco (Tlachco or
Tasco) the natives employed in exchan g,
pieces of melted tin *, which were as thin as
the smallest coins in Spain.

* Cortez complains in his last letter to Charles the 5tli,
that after the taking of the capital, he was left without
artillery and without arms. " Nothing," says he, " sharpens
" the genius of man more {no hay cosa que mas los irif
*< genios de los hombres avivaj than the idea of danger.
** Seeing myself on the point of losing what had cost
** us so much labour in acquiring, I was obliged to fall
** upon means of making cannons with the materials to
" be found in the country." I shall transcribe here the
remarkable passage in which Cortez speaks of tin as
money : " Top6 entre los naturales de una provincia que
** se dice Tachco ciertas piecezuelas de estario, a manera
** da moneda muy delgada y procediendo en mi pesquisa
(* hall6 que en la dicha provincia y aun en otras, se
** trataba por mvneda" {Lorenzanot p. 379. § XVII.

118 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE L»«0'5 >v.

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.

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

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.

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.

* 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-

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.

128 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE
Scattered Mines:

[book IV.

Zomelaluiiiraii; Giliiij)a; Sail Antonio de Xa-
rala.

XJl. Old California.
Mine. Real <lo Santa Ana.

Those mIio have stiniud the j^eok)«i(!al eon-
stitutioii of a iTiinini»" eoinitry of great extent,
know tlie difficnlty of reducing" to general ideas
the ohservatiouN niadc! on a great variety of
beds, and metalliferous veins. The naturalist
may distinguish the relative auti(]uit} of the
tlifferent formations, and he is enabled to dis-
cover laws in the stratifi(;ation of rocks, in the
identity of l)cds, and often evi n in the angles
which they form, either with the horizon or the
meridian of the j)lace ; but how can he recog^-
nize the laws which have determined the dis-
position of the uu»tals in the bosom of the
earth, the extent, the direction, and inclination
of the veins, the nature of their wm«.y, and their
particular structure? How can he draw ge-
neral results from the observation of a multitude
of small phenomena, modified by causes of a
purely local nature, and appearing to be the
effects of an action of chemical affinities, cir-
cumscribed to a very narrow space? These
difficulties are increased when it happens, as
in the mountains of Mexico, that the veins.

CHAP. XI.]

KINGDOM OF NKVV SPAIN. 129

the bedsy tiiiil the masses f ( Stock tverke) are scat-
tered in iiii iiiHiiity of mixed rocks of very
different formation. If we possessed an accu-
rate description of the four or five thousand
veins actually wrought in New Spain, or which
have l)een wrought within the two last cen-
turies, we should undoubtedly perceive in the
mass and structure of these veins, analogies
indicative of a simultaneous origin; we should
find that tliese masses {(^anyausfiiUungen) are
partly the sanve with those which are exhi-
bited in the veins of Saxony and Hungary,
and on which M. Werner the first mineralo-
gist of the age has thrown so much light. But
we are yet very far from being acquainted with
the metalliferous mountains of Mexico; and not-
withstanding the great nundjer of observations
collected by myself in travelling through the
country in different directions, for a length of
more than 400 leagues, 1 shall not venture to
sketch a general view of the Mexican mines,
considered under their geological relations. I
shall content myself merely with indicating
the ro(;ks, which yield the greatest part of the
wealth of New Spain.

In the actual state of the country, the veins
are the object of the most considerable opera*
tions ; and the minerals disposed in beds or in
masses are very rare. The Mexican veins are
to be found for the most part in primitive and

VOL. III. K

':;^

I'M

^'iO POLItlCAL ESSAY ON THE [boo* iv.

h'ansiiion rocks (nr-\md ubcr^ans^-gebiirge),
and rarely in tlie rocks of necondary formation
which only occupy Ji vast extent of ^ound to
the north of the Tropic of Cancer, to the east
of the Rio del Norte, in the basin of the Missis-
sippi, and to the west of New Mexico, in the
plains watered by the rivers of Zaguananas
and San Bm-naventnra which abound in
muriatic salts. Iii the old continent granite,
ffnciss and micaceous state (giimma'-schiefer)
constitute the crest of high chains of mountains.
But these rocks seldom appear outwai^ly on
the ridge of the Cordilleras of America, par-
ticularly in the central part contained between
the 18" and 2^" of north latitude. Beds of
amphibolic porphyry, greenstone, amygdaloid,
basalt and othei" trap formations of an enormous
thickness cover the granite and conceal it from
the geologist. The coa<it of Acapulco is formed
of granite rock. Ascending towards the table
land of Mexico we see the granite pierce through
the porphyry for the last time between Zum-
pango and Sopilote. Fsdrther to the east in
the province of Oaxaca the granite and gneiss
are visible in table lands of Considerable extent^^
traversed by veins of gold.

Tin which after Tttanium, Scheelin and Mb-

' lybden^ is the oldest metal of the globe, has never

yet as far as I know been observed in the ginmites

of Mexico; lor the ftbrom tin (wood-Hh) oi ih^

CHAR «.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 131

Gigante belongs to alluvions lands, and the veins
of tin of the Sierra de Guanaxiiato are found in
mountains of porphyry. In the mines of Co-
manja, a tifenite apparently of antient formation
contains a seam of silver; the mine of 6ua-
naxuato the richest of all America crosses a
primitive slate {thon'Schiefer) which frequently
passes into the talk-slate (talksehiefer) : the
serptntine of Zimapan appears destitute of
metals.

The porphyries of Mexico may be considered
for the most part as rocks eminently rich in
mines of gdid and silver. One of the problems
of geology the most difficult to resolve is the
determination of their relative antiquity. They
are all characterised by the constant presence
of amphibole and the absence of quartz, so
common in the primitive porphyries of Em*ope,
and especially in those which form beds in
gneiss. The common felspar is rarely to be
seen in the Mexican porphyries ; and it belongs
only to the mosi antient formations, these of
Pachuca, Real del Monte |Ni4 Moran, where
the vekis furnish twice ms nuteh silver as all
Saxony. We freqmently diecover only vitre-
ous felspar in tke porphyries of Spanish
America. Tke yock which is intersected by
the rich gold vein of Yillalpando near 6ua-
naxuato is a porphyry of which the basis is
semewliat a kin to kUngstein (phenoiite), and

K 2

132 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

in which ainphihole is extremely rare. Several
of these parts of New Spain bear a great
analogy to the problematical rocks of Hungary,
designated by M. Born by the very vague
denomination of mxum metalliferum. The
veins of Zimapan which are the most instruc-
tive in respect to the theory of the stratification
of minerals are intersected by porphyries of
a greenstone base which appear to belong to
trap rocks of new formation. These veins
of Zimapan offer to oryctognostic collections a
great variety of interesting minerals such as
the fibrous zeolith, the stilbite, the grammalite,
thii pycnite, native sulphur, spar fluor, baryte
suberiform asbestos, green grenats, carbonate
and chromate of lead, orpiment, chrysoprase,
and a new species of opal of the rarest beauty,
which I made known in Europe, and which
M. M. Karsteii and Klaproth have described
under the name of (feuer-opal.)

Among the transition rocks which contain
silver minerals, we may mention the transition-
lime-stone (ubergangs-kalkstein) of the Real del
Cardonal, of Xacala and of Lomo del Toro, to
the north of Zimapan. In the last of these
places what is worked is not veins but masses
of galena, of which some nests have yielded in
a short space of time according to the observa-
tion ^fl M^ Sonneschmidt, more than 124,000
quint^U/of lead. The grauwakke alternating

CHAP. «.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 133

with the tfrauwakken slate is equally rich in
metals in Mexico as in several parts of Germany.
In this rock the formation of which im-
mediately preceded that of the secondary
rocks, several of the veins of Zacatocas appear
to he found.

In proportion as the north of Mexico shall
he examined by intelligent geologists, it will
be perceived that the metallick wealth of
Mexico does not exclusively belong to primi-
tive earths aiid mountains of transition, but
extend also to those of sevondanj formation.
I know not whether the lead which is pro-
cured in the eastern parts of the intendancy
of San Luis Potosi is found in veins or beds^
but it appears certain, that the veins of silver
of the real de Catorce, as well as those of the
Doctor and Xaschi near Zimapan, traverse
the alpine lime-stone (alpenkalkstehi) ; and
this rock reposes on a poudinc/ue with silicious
cement which may be considered as the most
antient of secondary formations. The alpine
lime-stone and the jura lime-stone (jurakalkstein)
contain the celebrated silver mines of Tasco
and Teuilotepec in the intendancy of Mexico ;
and it is in these calcareous rocks that the
numerous veins which in this country have been
very early wrought, display the greatest wealth.
They are more sterile in the strata of primitive
slate (ur'thon-schiefer) which as is seen in the

■:d!

134 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [booc iv.

Cerro tie San Ig^acio, serves for base to th«
^ewondary formations.

The result of this jfeiieral view of the
metalliferous depositories (erzfuhrcnde lag'er-
>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

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 absolut<i heights of from 1800
to 3000 metres*. In the Andes the districts
of mines of Potosi, Oruro Paz, Pasco and
Gualgayoc are in regions of which the elevation
surpasses that of the highest summits of the
Pyrenees. Near the small town of Micui-
pampa, the great square of which according to
my measurement is 3618 metresf above the
level of the sea, a mass of silver mineral known
by the name of Cerro de Gualgayoc abounds with
immense wealth at an absolute height of
4100 metresj.

We have mentioned in another j)lace§ the
advantage which in working the Mexican
mines, is derived from the most important veins
being in a middle region where the climate
is not unfavourable to agriculture and vegeta-
tion The large town of Guanaxuato is placed
in a ravin, the bottom of which is somewhat

* From 5904 to 9842 feet. Trans,

t 11,868 feet. Trans,

X 13,451 feet. Trans.

$ See vol i. p. 71, and vol. ii. p. 407.

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 13^

lower tiuiii the level of the lakes of the valley
of Teiiochtitlan. We are ignorant of the
absolute heii>hts 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.

* 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

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<l

^IV

i'M

144 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

Pachiica, and those of Zimapan, or the Doctor,
may be stiled the fourth and fifth groups.
Bolafios (in the Intendancy of Guadalaxara)
Tasco, and Oaxaca are the central points of
the sixthy seventh, and eighth groiipes of mines
of New Spain. This general view is sufficient
to prove that this kingdom, like the antient
Continent, contains vast extents of country,
apparently almost totally destitute of metal-
liferous veins. No considerable operation has
been hitherto carried on in the Intendancies
of Puebla and Vera Cruz, or in tlie plains of
secondary formation, situated on the left bank
of the Rio del Norte, or in New Mexiro. f ^
The following table indicates not the re-
lative wealth, or unequal distribution of the
metals considered in a geographical point of
view, but the quantity of money \v hich in the
present state of the mines is extracted from
the different parts of the kingdom of New
Spain. We have classed the mines according
to the order already laid down, indicating
the name of the chief place which is the
central point of the group, and the surface
of the country in which the different works
are to be found. Several groupes are natu-
rally divided into districts which form so many
subdivisions or particular systems. , , .,ni«» *

<-v

.. ' i

CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 14r>

(

?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

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

Tasco
Zacualpa

Oaxaca
Villalta

}

260,000

J Doubtful

I
if

'1'

I
li

.if;

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

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

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

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

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.)

'H '"ii

III

■ti I*

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!*

<: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.)

. ■ < 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
ill-

'^■L\

'■■i'J

^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

''m

"Mil

*t^:

* See Vol i. c. vii.
t 98fefit. Trans.

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

"ir

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

"ill

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

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1 1

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

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Corporation

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(716)t73-4S03

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»<on (Garc«i, p. 92.) /U the wealth
of the ore is determined from the contents of the monton^
the exact knowledge isX the measure is of great import-
ance in metallurgical calculations.

CHAP. XI.1 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 166

produce of the single year 1791, we shall
find 9^ ounces per quintal. At this period,
when the mine was in the most flourishing
condition, in tlie total mass of minerals thece
were:

M ir. Oit.
■r,'^ of rich minerals {polvillos and Xabunet,)

containing per quintal •• ......223

toSq of rich minerals (apolviUado) .... 93

44^9 of rich minerals (bianco hueno) .... 31

iSai of poor minerals (granzaSy tierras ordind-

riast 8fc.) -.---.. 3

The quantity of rich minerals, was con-
sequently to that of the poor minerals, nearly in
the proportion of 3 to 14. The minerals which
only contained 3 ounces per quintal, supplied
in 1791 (we are always speaking of the
mine of Yalenciana alone) more than 20,0000
marcs of silver, ^vhile there was a sufficient
quantity of rich minerals, to yield a produce
of more than 400,000 marcs. At present, the
mean wealth of the whole vein of Guanaxuato
may be estimated at 4 ounces of silver, per
quintal of minerals. The South West part
of the vein, which intersects the mine of
Rayas, yields, however minerals, of which the
contents generally amount to more than 3
marcs. -'

In the district of the mines of Pachuca,

' ^'it

1^ POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

♦hey divide the produce of the scam of

Biscainn, into three classes, of which the riches

varied in 1803, from 4 to 20 marcs per

monton of 30 quintals. The minerals of the first

class which are the richest, contain from 18 to 20;

and those of the second class from seven to ten

marcs. The poorest mines, which form the third

class are only computed at four marcs of silver per

monton. The result is that the good contains from

^h ^ '^A> 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

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'

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. • *

PinHti<!ii, Mnrm nf lilvcr.

From 1556 to 1578— 49,011,285 or 5,766,033
lS7Qto 1736—611,899,451 —71,929,347
J737to 1789^-127,847,776 — 15,040,914

788,259,512 92,736,294

During' these three periods then there has
been extracted from the Cerro de Potosi an-
nually at an average

Marcs ofailver. Pi«8t«««.

From lSS6to 1S78 — 262, 092 f or 2,227,782

1579 to 1736 —458,1481 — 3,994,258

1737 to 1789 — 289,248 § — 2,458,606

The produce of the vein of Gtianaxuato, how-
ever, is almost the double of that of the Cerro
da Potosi. There is actually drawn from
this vein, for it alone fiimishes all the silver of
the mines of the district of Guanaxuato, in
average years from Jive to six hundred thousand
marcs of silver, and from fifteen to sixteen
hundred marcs of gold.

* 60,864,359 lb. Troy. Trans.
+ 172,0151b. Troy. Trans.
X 300,524 lb. Troy. Trans.
i 189,837 lb, Troy. Trans.

fWll

Jt^lt,

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 173

Gold Produce of the District of Mines of Gua-

naxunto.

liiilil exti iu-ted hv Ania

Iga-

Prrio(l». C

mation.

n.old extracted bv SmelfiiiR. |

;.tMielluni». 1

\>iiiiiie». (I

• .UiU«. (..

a!>tillauu<«. T

tmine*. U.ruum.I

1766

702

35542

1767

552

46325

IT68

40130

176U

31543

0 0

1770

5361

46945

0 0

1771

7918

47 ''80

1772

7759

50917

1773

M35

33662

1774

1«185

308;;o

.")

1775

62S5

50671

1776

225,1

8h'i42

4 j 4 1

1777

21673

74181

3 1 3 '

|77»

23034

;>oioo

6 3 ;

i77>

fi I 1 1 5

50686

1780

25044

29 1 23

1781

30790

27781

1782

24643

15^75

8 !

1783

32887

208 "lO

T !

1784

28332

25194

3 1

1785

26823

20012

1786

25417

12275

1787

21820

13124

1788

13160

10374

1789

16431

16927

1790

21219

13135

1791

25654

23407

1792

16S55

8434

1793

28257

16360

1794

23090

7084

1795

31518

24441

1796

43538

10505

1797

34454

13962

17 ys

92074

34393

1799

67332

31316

1800

qi79l

2 J 83 3

1801

49305

31579

1802

46459

40401

1803

59772

17100

'ti

*!.,

174 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv

Silver Produce of the District of Mines of

Guanaxuato.

1 Silver exti<

ictecl by

Periods

1 Amalgamation.

1 Silver estracted l>y Sineltiii!;.

Marcs.

'Juiicei

>.| Marcs. Ounces jToniinei

.. Granos

1766

207412

86t07

1767

185439

77S47

1768

194579

87y06

1769

194628

106444

1770

2332^5

123782

(;

1771

2990 16

120845

1772

287160

96412

1773

267621

136799

1774

243601

98957

1775

277589

96727

7
I

J 776

434175

164756

. 1

1777

452226

169991

1778

431850

93152

1779

418215

113200

1780

338470

138821

1781

4037/2

162184

1782

309734

148302

1783

430957

113145

1784

386861

100319

1785

365308

100836

5
7

J
4

1786

316332

96300

1787

365038

103223

1788

403894

93657

1789

487321

137120

1790

463807

131318

1791

623921

143683

1792

S4I735

93711

1793

440581

76035

1794

443366

81206

1795

462444

104652

0
6

1796

404639

84486

1797

5925ia

114540

1798

521888

104048

1799

406286

93679

1800

397119

109557

1801

221590

118860

1803

319719

177460

1803

659992

84172

■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,

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.

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

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

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«

* 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

.JI1

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

'• 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\

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.

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!

§^

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,

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.

o
5:3

u
>»

J8
1^

S
**

00
QO

Oi
CO

■*

O >« U 'S

<» ai 2J CJ "^

W.2 fl « -

00
CO

»0
04

00
00

»^

CO
00

^^
00

»0

04
00

00
00

^
$
^

I— »

199

<H§ Sp-S £^

« > o g a (u

^''B S'g S^j

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<!tion attended with
great expence ; and besides this, the produce
was sold at very low j)rices, because the
want of mercury impeded the amalgamation,
and all the mines were incumbered with minerals.
The. year 1803 promised greater advantages
to the proprietors, and they reckoned on a
nett profit of more than half a million of
piastresf. I saw them sell weekly at Valen-
ciaiia, silver minerals to the amount of more
than 27,000 piastres : The expences amounted
to 17,000. At Ray as, the profit of the proprietor
was greater, though the produce was less; for
this mine furnished more than 15,000 piastres
of minerals weekly, while the expence of
working only amounted to 4000 piastres.
This was the effect of the richness of the
minerals, their concentration in the vein, the
inconsiderable depth of the mine, ai^d conse-
quently a less expensive draught. ...

* Above 3,860,000 livres tournois (iC140,01I sterliiig.
Tram.) The proHit distributed annuaUif amoog the share-*
holders of the district Qf Freiberg* only amounts to
S50,000 livres (ifflO,417 Sterling. Ircau.)

f 1^109,383 Sterling. Trojy. ; ^.

To fo
required
it is suf
present

Total expe

The
amounte
that of
pointroh
The nur
interior
to 1800
women,
bariiels <
rals to
shall fin
viduals i
of the >
is entru
of 60,00

v .

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.

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<XXX) livres Tour-
nois

Metallidi

duce
Total expenccii of?

the mme - - j

'^ sh^: hoUe*1 »■««>.««« «"" «»«> «""

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«

* 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 '^

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 be<ls
in a limestone which was undoubtedly secon-
dary. --'' ■ ■ • . ^rr^ ■ -^:''r ^' ^■:-:?^^^.
The savage aspect of the metalliferous moun-
tains of Zacatecas, are a singular contrast to
the g^eat wealth of the veins which they con-

* In the Ravin leading from Zacatecas to the con*
fent of Guadalupe. *'* <•'"

€MAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 207

tain, This wealth is displayed, and the fact
is very remarkable, not in the ravins, and where
the veins run along the gentle slope of the
mountains, but most frequently on the most
elevated summits, on points where the surface
appears to have been tumultuously torn, in the
antient revolutions of the globe. The mines
ot Zacatecas produce yearly at an average,
from 2500 to 3000 bars of silver, at 134 marcs
each*. .. .-• -' •■ ■ ■ ■• • ' ••:!:■'

The mass of the veins of this districtt con •
tains a great variety of metals, viz : quartz^
splintery hornstone, calcareous spar, a little of
the sulfate of bary te and brown spar ; prismatic
black silver called in the country azul ace-
rado ; sulfuretted silver, (azul plomilloso) mixed
with native silver; fuligenous silver (the silber-
schwdrtze of the Germans, polvorilla of the
Mexicans) ; pearl grey, blue, violet, and leek
green muriated silver, (plata ])arda azul y verde)
at very inconsiderable depths, a little red silver
(petlanyue or rosicler) ; and native gold, parti- '

* From 219,866 to 263,839 lib. Troy. Trans.

f Sonneschmidt, p. 185. The minerals called by the in-
habitants of Zacatecas copalillo, metal cenizo, and metal a%ul
de pldtUf appear to this mineralogist mixtures of galena,
sulfuretted silver, and native silver. I have thought proper
to insert these synonimes of the Mexican minerals, be-
cause their knowledge is very important to the mineralo-
gical traveller. See Garces, Nueva Tlieoria del benejcio de
hs mctakft P< 87, 124, ftad 138.

It'

!*U'"

^08 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE L»ooit ir.

ciilarly to the south west of the town of Za-
catecas; argentiferous sulfuretted lead (soroche
plomosa reluciente y tescatete) 5 carbonated lead;
black, brown, and yellow sulfuretted zinc, (esto-
raque and ojo de vivora) ; pyrite of cop]>er 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<l direction, traverse the lime-
stone, which itself covers a transition clay state ;
and the latter perhaps is superimposed to the sye-
nitic rock of the Buffa del Fraile. The greatest
number of these veins are western (spathgdnye) ;
and their inclination is from 25" to 30° towards
the north east.f The minerals which form
the fjam/ue are generally found in a state of
decomposition. They are wrought with the mat-
lock, the pickaxe, and with the hore,(pointrole.)
The consumption of powder is much less than at
Guanaxuato, and at Zacatecas. These mines
possess also the great advantage of being almost
entirely dry, so that they have no need of costly
machines to draw off the water.

In 1773, Sebastian Coronado, and Antonio
Oanas, two very poor individuals, discovered
veins in a situation now called Cerro de Ca-
torce ViejOf on the western slope of the Pp'

^ Near the mine del Padre Flores, and on the road
from San Ramon to Catorce, ( Sonneschmidt, p. 279.)

f Descripcion del Real de Catorce, pw Don Jose Manuef
Gonzales Cueto, 1800 (Manuscript).

'I I

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 211

chaco de la Variga de Plata. Tliey begun to
work these veins, which were poor and in-
constant in their produce. In 1778, Don Bar-
nabe Antonio de Zepeda, a miner of the Ojo
del Affua de Matchuala, went over during three
months, this group of arid and calcareous
mountains. After attentively examining the
ravins, he was fortunate enough to find the
crest or surface of the veta grande, on
which he immediately dug the pit of Guada*
lupe. He drew from it an immense quantity
of muriated silver, and colorados mixed with
native gold; and he gained in a short time
more than half a million of piastres*. From
that period, the mines of Catorce were wrought
with the greatest activity. That of Padre
F lores alone produced in the first year 1,600,000
piastresf ; but the vein only displayed great
riches from 50 to 150 metresf of perpendicular
depth. The famous mine of Purissima belonging
. to Colonel Obregon, has scarcely ever ceased
since 1788, to yield annually a net profit of
200,000 piastres§; and its produce in 1796
amounted to 1,200,000 piastres, while the ex-
pences of working did not amount to more than
80,000. The vein of Purissima, which is not

S>.iK

'.I

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-

' '?■

* See my Nivellement Barometrique,^. 40— 42n, 290 — 312.
t 10,248 feet. Tram.

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

'4. "

■ » ■

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,

-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.

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«

„lr~»l

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

♦ 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''

* 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

* 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<

^ 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

:i^i

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:

'"Hj'

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.

'fi'

nil

''/

V ll

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

* At Rayas, for example, where they draw off from
A depth of 338 varus, water, which might be collected

R 2

'■: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^'

* From rf9O,0flO to jei80,000 Sterling. Tran.

•246 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

I''

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,

*-^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

I'l^'tii

^.-i",'

250 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it.

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

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

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

'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.

'*'«#

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;

■ /

* 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

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 braye<l
mineral (granza) passes through ;i hide pierce<i
with holes; and it is reduced to a very fine
flour under the arastras or tafiotms, which are
called sencillas or de marco, according as they
are furnished with two or four blocks of ])or-
phyry or basalt (piedras vol(tdoras)y which re-
volve in a circle from 9 to 12 metres in cir-
cumference*. From 12 to 15 of these arastras
or mills, are generally ranged in a row under
one shed; and they are moved by water, or
mules which are relieved every eight hours.
One of these machines brays in the space of 24
hours, from three to four hundred kilogrammes j
of minerals. The humid schlieh (lama) which
leaves the arastras, is sometimes washed again
in ditches (estanquesde deslamar), the construction
of which in the districtof mines of Zacatecas,

VOL. 111.

♦ From 29 to 38 feet, trans.

t From 662 to 882 lb. avoird. Trans.

■4'

2i8 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

has been recently carried to perfection by M.
Garces. When the minerals are very rich, as
in the mine of Rayas at Guanaxuato, they are
only reduced under the stones of the mills to
the size of gravel (xalsonte), and they separate,
by washing^, the richest metallick griiins(polvilios)t
which are destined for smelting;. This very
economical operation is called apartar polvillos.

I have been assured, that in destining for
Amalgamation silver minerals which arc very
poor in gold, they pour mercury into the vessel
or trough, on the bottom of which the stones
of the arastms turn ; and the auriferoas amal-
gamation goes on then in proportion as the
mineral is reduced to powder, the giratory
motion of the piedras vohderas being favour-
able to the combination of the metals. I had
no opportunity of seeing this operation, which
is not practised at Guanaxuato. In some great
amalgamation works of New Spain, the arastras
are still unknown ; they are contented with the
braying of the mazos; and the schlich which
comes from under them is passed through
sieves (cedazos and tolvas). This preparation
of the flour is very imperfect; for a powder
of an unequal and coarse grain amalgamates
very ill ; and the health of the workmen suffer
greatly, in a place where a cloud of metallick
dust is perpetually flying about. -

The moistened sehlick is carried from the

ciiAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 259

mills or arasttas, into the court of amalgama-
tion, (patio or galera) which id grenerally paved
with flasrs. The flour is ranged in piles (mon'
tones) which contain from 15 to 35 quintali.
Forty or fifty of these montones form a torta,
by which name they call a heap of humid
schlich, which they leave exposed to the open
air, and which is frequently from 20 to 30
metres in breadth,* by five or six decimetres'l'
\fk thickness. They use for amalgamation ia
a paved court, (en patio) which is the most
generally used process in America, the follow-
ing materials; muriate of soda, (sal blanca)
sulphate of iron and copper, (magistral) lime
and vegetable ashes.

The salt used in New Spain is of very
unequal purity, according as it comes from the
salt marshes which surround the port of Co-
lima on the shores of the South Sea, or the
famous laguna del peflon bianco, between San
Luis Potosi and Zacatecas. This lake was
visited by M. Sonneschmidt. It is situated at
the foot of a granite rock, on tfic slope of
the Cordilleras ; and it dries Up every year in
the month of December. It furnishes annually
to the revenue nearly 250 thousand fnnegas
«f impure or earthy salt, (sal tierra) which u

• From «5 to 98 feet. Trant.
f ld| or 23i inche*. Trans,

■i-i;

.\ lO .1 u Ml

^60 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book rv.

all sold to the amalgation works. On the
spot even the price of a fanejsfa is half a
piastre. The districts of mines of the inten-
(lancy of Mexico, receive salt from the coast
of Vok'n Cruz, and the springs of Chautla ; and
at Tasco the muriate of soda of Vera Cruz,
sells for four piastres the quintal. /-^ rf :. i .

The muffistral is a mixture of pyritous copper,
{kupferkies) and sulphuretted salt, roasted for
some hours in a rever))erating oven, and slowly
cooled. If it is roasted longer, it produces an
acid sulphate of iron and copper, mixed with iron
oxidated to the highest degree. Sometimes*,
though seldom, the azogueros (the name given
to the persons charged with the amalgamation)
add to the pyrites, during their roasting muriate
of soda ; so that there is formed sulphate of soda,
and muriate of copper and iron. I have also seen
vitriolic earths, or copperas, (tierras de tinta o de
alcaparosa), which are ochreous earths containing
fa*on oxidated to the maximum, and sulphate of
Iron, mixed with the magistral. In the dis-
trict of mines of Real de Moran, they employ
in the preparation of the magistral, pyrites of
copper of San Juan Sitacora, the carga of
which is paid for at the rate of ten piastres.
The lime is obtained by calcinating very pure
limestone, and extinguishing it with water;

* GarceSf p. 90.

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 261

and very rarely alkaline ashes are substituted
to calcinated liniC.

By the contact of these different substances,
namely; nioisieued metallick Hour, mercury,
muriate of soda, sulphates of iron and copper,
and lime, that the amalgamation of silver, in
the process of cold amalgamation, (de patio y
por cruto) takes place. They begin at first by
mixing' salt with the metallick flour, and they
stir (repassa) the paste (torta). According to
the purity of the salt used, they give each quintal
of schlich, a quantity which varies from two
and a half to twenty four pounds. If the
muriate of soda is of moderate purity, they
take from three to four per cent. They call
metales salinerosy those which are believed to
require a great deal of salt, and in which the
silver mineral is found in grains of considera-
ble volume. They leave the mineral mixed
with salt {metal ensalmorado) to repose for se-
veral days, in order that the latter may dissolve
and be equally distributed. If the azoguera
judges the metals to be warm, (calientes) that
is to say in a state of oxidation, and naiurally
charged either with sulphates of iron and copper
which rapidly decompose in the air, with
muriate of silver, he adds lime to cool the mass ;
and this operation is called curtir los metales
con cal. But they use magistral, if the schlich
appears too .cold (fnos), for example, if they

462 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

proceed from minerals which display great mc-
tallick luiitre ; if they contain sulphate of lead
(netjrillos offaknadcs), or pyrites difficult to de-
compose in the humid air; and this operation
is called eurtir con magistral. They attribute
to the sulphate of iron and copper, the property
of heating the mass; and they only consider it
as well prepared, when, moistened and held in
the hand, it causes a sensation of heat. In this
case, the sulphuric acid which is concentrated
in the acid sulphate, attracts the water and com-
bines with it in getting free from the caloric.

We have described two processes of chemi-
cal preparation of minerals, salting (el ensal-
morar) and the manner of tanning (eurtir) with
lime or magistral. After some days of repose,
they begin to incorporate, (incorporar) that is to
say to mix the mercury with the metallick flour.
The quantity of mercury is determined by the
quantity of silver which they think will be
drawn from the minerals; and they generally
employ in the incorporation, (en el incorporo)
six times the quantity of mercury which the
paste contains of silver. They allow from three
to four pounds of mercury for a marc of silver;
and with the merciiry or shortly afterwards, they
add to the mass, magistral, according to the
nature, or rather, to use only the barbarous
language of the azogueros, according to th^
temperature of the minerals, segun los grades

eiiAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 2615

(fe friaklad. They allow from one to seven
pounds of inaj^istrul to each pound of mercnry ;
and if tlie mercury assumes a lead colour {color
4iplomado)f it is a mark that the paste is work-
ing, or that the chemical action has hegmi. To
favour this action, and to augment the contact
of the substances, they repass (se da rcpasso)
or stir the mass, either by causing about twenty
horses or mules to run round for several hours,
or by setting workmen to tread the schlich, who
for whole days go about barefooted in this me-
tallick mud. Every day the azoguero examines
the state of the flour; and he makes the trial
{la tentndura) in a small wooden trough {xicartt)
that is to say, he washes a portion of schlich
with water, and judges fVom the appearance of
the mercury and the amalgam, if the mass is too
cold or too warm. When the mercury takes au
ash colour {en Us cenicienta) ; when a very fine
grey powder is separated from it whic^h sticks
to the fingers, they say the paste is too hot;
and they cool it by the addition of lime. But
if on the other hand, the inercury preserves a
met^llick lustre ; i^f it remainsi white, and covered
with a reddish or gilt pellicle {telilla roxiza o de
tornasol morado ot an lis dorado); if it does not
appear to act upon the mass, the amalgama-
tion is then considered to be too cold^ and
they endeavour to heiit it (calentar) by a mix-
ture of magistral. : •' r ,.

I'-t;

Hit:

»ll

v,.i.

20 1 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

III this manner, during the space of two, three,
and even five months, the paste is balanced
between the magistral and the lime; for the
effects are very different according to the tem-
perature of tlie atvnosphere, the nature of the
minerals, and the motion given to the schlich.
Do they imagine that the action is too strong,
and that the muss is working too much? They
allow it to repose : and in doing so do they
* wish to, accelerate the amalgamation, and in-
crease the heat ? They repeat oftener the
repassos, sometimes employing men, and some-
times mules. If the amalgamation is formed
too quickly, and appears in the form of small
globules, called pasillas or copos, they feed the
paste {si ceha la torta), by again adding mercury
with a little magistral, and sometimes with salt.
When from the exterior characters, the azoguerc
judges that the mercury has united with the
whole silver contained in the minerals, and
that the paste has yielded {ha rendido), the
metallick muds are thrown into vats of wood
or stone. Small mills provided with sails placed
perpendicularly, turn round in these vats. These
machines {tinas de cat y canto) which are parti-
cularly well executed at Guanaxuato, have a
resemblance to those established at Freiberg,
to wash the remains of the amalgamation*.

♦ Fragoso de Segueirat Description de Pamdlgamation de
Freiberg f 1800, p. 36.

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN- 266

The earthy and oxidated parts are carried away
by tlie water, while the amalgam and the mer-
cury remain in the bottom of the vat. Aa
the force of the current carries away at the
same time some globules of mercury, in the
great works, poor Indian w^men are to be
seen employed in gathering this metal from
the water used in washing. They separate
the amalgam collected at the bottom of the
Unas del lavadero ii'om the mercury, by pressing
it through sacks ; and they mould it into py-
ramids which they cover with a reversed cru-
cible in the shape of a bell. The silver is
separated from the mercury by means of dis-
tillation. In the process which I have been
describing, they lose in general from eleven
and twelve to fourteen ounces of mercury
for each marc of silver which they extract^
that is to say, from lA) to 17^ kilogrammes of
mercury, for a kilogramme of silver. In the
process of amalgamation introduced into Saxony,
by M. M. Gellert and Charpentier, the consump-
tion of mercury is ^xf of a kilogramme per
kilogramme of silver, or eight times less than
the proportion used in Mexico*.

* In an ordinary y^ar they amalgamate at the work of
Halsbriicke, near Freiberg, from 58 to 60 thousand quintals
of meagre minerals, which contain from seven to eight lots of
silver per quintal (two lots are equal to one ounce). The
waste of mercury in amalgamation properly so called (im an'

266 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

\Vc have descTilicd the cold amalp^amation
(por cnidoydc patio)^ without roasting the mine-
ra]8, and hy expoHinp^ thcni in a court to the
open air. Medina was only acquainted with
the U8(; of salt, and sulphates of iron and cop*
per ; but in 1586, fifteen years after his pro-
cess was introduced into Peru, Carlos Corso de
Leca, a peruvian miner* discovered the hcnefi-
cio de hierro. He advised the mixture of small
plates of iron with the luetallick flour, affirm^
ing that by this mixtiu'c mere than nine tenths
of the mercury would be saved. This process,
as we shall afterwards see, is founded on the
decomposition of the muriate of silver by the
iron, and on the attraction of this metal for
the sulphur. It is now but very little followed
by the Mexican azogueros. In 1590, Alonzo
Barba proposed the hot amalgamation in cop-
per vats. This process is called the beneficio
de cazo 1/ cocimiento ; and it is that which was

quicken J, and in washing the remains, is three quarters of.
an ounce (or a lot and a quarter) per quintal of mineral.
In the evaporation of the mercury fausglUhenJ, they waste '
a quarter of a lot of mercury, for a quantity of silver cor-
responding to a quintal of mineral. Hence according to
M. Heron de Villefosse, for every 60,000 quintals of mine-
rals, they consume or destroy 25\ quintals of mercury, {Lam-
j}a</ti»,B. ii. p. 178.) ^

* Carta de Don Juan Carbajal y Sandi presidente de la.
real audiencia de la Plata, al excellentis, SeHor. Conde de
ChinchoUf virey del Perut 1736, ,,u, i ,,■-;. i

CHAP, ii.j KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 207

proposed by M. Born, in 1780. The loss of mer-
cury is much less by it than in the bent,' Ao
porpatioy because the copper of the vessels serves
to decompose the muriate of silver, while at the
same time the heat favours the ojieration, either
in rendering the action of the affinities more
energetic, or in giving motion to the liquid
ma.?s which enters into ebullition. This hot
amalgamation is used in several of the mines
of Mexico, which abound in horn-silver (art/ent-
corn6) and colorados* Juan de Ordonez, whose
work has been already quot d, even advised
amalgamation by means of stoves. In 1076,
Juan de Corroscgarra, discovered a process
which is very much in use at present, called
the benejicio de la pella de plata ; and in which
silver already formed is added to the mercury
of the amalgam. It is said, that this amalgam
(pella) lavours the extraction of the silver, and
that the loss of mercury is so much less, as
the amalgam disseminates itself with greater
difficulty into the mass. A fifth method is the
beneficio de la colpa, in which instead of an
artificial maffistral, which contains much more
of the sulphate of copper, than the sulphat^^ of
iron, they use colpa which is a natural mixture
of acid sulphate of iron, and iron oxidated to
the ift<mmttm. This beneficio de la colpuy ex-
tolled by Don Lorenzo de la Torre, offers
p?irt of the advantages whicli we have just

)'•

ft f

268 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

pointed out in speaking of the amalgamation
byiron. ...:♦ .. , ,s . • .. ,<.... .. ^.. .

The process invented by the miner of Pa-
chuca, is one of those chemical operations^
which for centuries have been practised with
a certain degree of success, notwithstanding
the persons who extract silver from minerals
by means of mercury, have not the smallest
acquaintance either of the nature of the sub-
stances employed, or the particular mode of
their action. The azogueros speak of a mass
of minerals as of an organized body, of which
they augment or diminish the natural heat.
Like physicians who in ages of barbarism, di-
vided all aliments and all remedies into two
classes, hot and cold, the azogueros sor nothing
in minerals, but substances which must be heated
by sulphates if they are too cold, or cooled by
alcalies if too warm. The custom which was
already introduced in the time of Pliny, of
rubbing metals with salt, before applying the
amalgam of gold, has undoubtedly given rise
to the use of muriate of soda in the process
of Mexican amalgamation. This salt accord-
ing to the accounts of the azogueroSy serves
to clean (Umpiar, castrar) and to unskin (desen"
zurronar) the silver, which is enveloped with
sulphur, arsenic, and antimony^ as with a skm
(telilla or capuz)f whose presence prevents the
immediate contact of the silver with the mer-
cury. The action of this last metal is ren-

CHAP. XL] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 269

dered more energetic by the sulphates with which
the mass is heated; and it is even probable
that Medina only employed simultaneously,
the sulphate of iron and copper, and the muriate
of soda, because he discovered in these first
attempts, that salt was only favourable to the
process in the minerals which contained de-^
composed pyrites. Without having" any clear
idea of the action of the sulphates on the mu-
riate of soda, he endeavoured to recompose {re-
/aire) the minerals, that is to say to add ma-
gistral to those which the miner considers as
not vitriolic.

Since the practice of amalgamation of silver
minerals was introduced into Europe, and since
the learned of every nation met at the metallurgic
congress of Schemnitz*, the confused theory of
Barba, and the Mexican azogueros, has been suc-
ceeded by sounder ideas, better adapted to the pre-
sent state of chemistry. It is supposed that the
practice of Freiberg, where amass of roasted mi-
,nerals is amalgamated in a very few hours, will be
gradually introduced into the Mexican amalga-
mation, where the minerals are generally not
roasted, and where they remain exposed in
the open air to the sun and the rain for se-
veral months. It is believed that in the moist-
ened mixture of silver minerals, mercury, salt,

ttm:

■il

• Properly Szkleno or Gleshutte, near Schemnltz.

270 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [aooic iv.

lime, and magistral, this last, which is an acid
sulphate of iron and copper, decomposes the
muriate of soda; that it is formed of sulphate
of soda, and muriate of silver, and that the
muriate of silver is decomposed by the mer-
cury, which unites to the disoxidated silver.
It is admitted that the lime or the potash, are
added to prevent the superabundant sulphuric
acid from acting on the mercury. According to
this explanation, the silver which is found in its
mineral in the metallic state, though uni-
ted with sulphur, antimony, iron% copper, zincf,
arsenic;|;, and lead§, passes into the state of
muriate before combining with the mercury.

M. Garcesll a Mexican author, whom we have
frequently had occasion to quote, thinks on the
other hand, that no mmiate of silver is formed
in the process of amalgamation. He supposes
that muriatic acid only combines with metals
which are found united with silver : that water
carries off the soluble muriates of iron and
copper, and that silver freed from these me-
tallick substances, combines freely with the

* In prismatic black silver. Klaprath*s Beitrage, T. i.
p. 166. Bergbaukunde B. i. p. 239.

f In Jithhre, ftieissgultigerz and graugiihigerx, Klaproth^
T. iv. p.61.

X In fahlore or argentiferous grey copper.

§ In weisgiiltigerz.

II Teoricadel Beneficio,^>ll^^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

.. 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.»

*!(

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-

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<oducing into Mexico or j^eni, the
pi^oces^ of Freiberg, whidh \i founded on the
roasting of the minerals, and the giratory motion
of the tubs ? At Freiberg sixty thousand quintals

«80 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [aaoic ir.

of minerals are annually amalgamated ; but in
New Spain the quantity is nearly ten millons
of quintals ; and how is it possible to contain
this enormous mass of minerals in tubs. How
can we find sufficient power to turn a million
of these casks or tubs ?* How shall we work
the minerals of a country which wants com-
bustibles, and where the mines are on table
lands destitute of forests ?
' After treating of the amalgamation in use in
America, it remains for us to touch upon a very
important problem, that of the quantity of
mercury annually required by the mines of
New Spain. Mexico and Peru depend very
much upon the abundance and low price
of the mercury for the quantity of silver
which they produce. When the mercury
fails them, which happens often in periods of
maritime war, the mines are not so briskly
worked ; and the mineral accumulates in their
hands without their being able to extract the
silver from it. Rich proprietors, who possess
in their magazines minerals to the amount of
two or three millions of francs, are frequently
in want of the necessary money to make head

* It would undoubtedly require a million c|f casks to
receive at once the 17 quintals of minerals; but supposing
that we could amalgamate as rapidly as in Saxony, 3330
tubs would be sufficient to supply the place of the beneficio
(iff/ jMi<to of all Mexico.

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 281

ag^ainst the daily expenses of their mines. On
the other hand the more mercury is wanted in
Spanish America, either on account of th
flourishing state of the mines, or the proce.%
of amalgamation followed there, the more the
price of this metal rises in Europe. The small
number of countries which nature has supplied
with it, Spain, the department of Mont-Ton-
nerre, Carniola, and Transilvania, gain by this
rise; but the districts of silver mines in
which the process of amalgamation is the
more desirable, as they are in want of the
necessary combustibles for smelting, feel very
disadvantageously the effect of the great im-
portations of mercury into America.

New Spain consumes annually 16,000 quin-
tals of mercury*. The court of Madrid having
reserved to itself the exclusive right of selling
mercury, both Spanish and foreign, entered in
1784, into a contract with the Emperor of
Austria, by which the latter was to furnish
mercury at a price of 52 piastres. The court
sends annually in time of peace by vessels
of the Royal Navy, sometimes 9000, and some-
times 24,000 quintals. In 1803, a very useful
project was formed of supplying Mexico for
several years, in order that in the unforeseen
case of a war, the amalgamation should not be

q
I

* 2,100,312 lb. troy. Trans,

282 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it.

impeded by the want of mercury ; but this pro-
ject (del repuesto) shared the fate of so many
others which have never been executed. Before
1770, when the working of mines was far from
being so considerable as at present, New Spain
received no other mercury but that of Alma-
den and Huancavelica. The German mercury
furnished by the Austrian government, of which
the greatest part is from Idria, was only intro-
duced into Mexico after the falling in of the
subterraneous works of Huancavelica, at a time
when the mine of Almaden was inundated
in the greatest part of its works*, and yielded
only a very inconsiderable produce. But in
1800 and 1802, this last mine was again in
such a flourishing state, that it could alone have
furnished more than 20,000 quintals of mercury
per annum, and there were sufficient grounds
to conceive the hope of not having any neces-
sity of recurring to German mercury, for sup-
plying Mexico and Peru. There have been
years, when ten or twelve thousand (|iiintals
of this last mevcury, have been imported at
Vera Cruz. Upon the whole, from 1762 to
1781^ the amalgamation works of New Spain,
destroyed the enormous sum of 191,405 quin-

* For these mines, and those of Almadenejos, see the
interesting researches of M. Coquebert de Montbret, a
the Journal des Mines, No. 17> 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<

* 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

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<e^icans experieil«fe gt^ikt difficulty in procu-
ring mercury frottir the Continent of Europe;

From all the researches which I could make,
the whole of Spanish America, naiiiely, Mexico^
Peru,. Chili, and the Kingdom of Buenos Ayres,
(for elsewhere the process of amalgamation i!*
unknown) annually consume more than 25,000
quintals of mercury of which the price iii the
Colonies amounts to more than 6,200,000 li vres*'.
M. Heron de Villefosse, in an interesting table
which contains the quantity of each mfetal
wrought over the whole globe, estimates the
mercury annually drawn from ike mines of

♦ ^6240,800 Sterling. Trans.

CHAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 287

Europe, at 36,000 qnintals. Hence, ^oing" oii
this dftta, we find that mercury is after cobalt
the rarest of all metals, and that it is even
twice as rare as tin. '''•'* ^ '• * •' '-'''

What is the quantity of gold and silver ac-
tually produced by the mines of New Spain ?
And w4iat are the treasures which since the
discoveiy of America, the commerce of Mexico
has poured into Europe and Asia. The de*
tails which I procured during^ my stay in the
Spanish Colonies, from the re^sters of the
mints of Mexico, Lima, Santa Fe, and Popayan,
have enabled me to give more exact infor-
maition with regard to the produce of the
mines, than any which- has hitherto been pub-
lished. Part of the results of the fruit« of
my researches, have been already published in
the works* of M. M. Bourgoing, Brongniart,
Laborde, and Heron de Y illefosse, to whom 1
waii eager to make such communication im-
mediately after my return to Europe.

The quantity of silver anfinually extracted
from the mines of New Spain, as we have
already seen^ does not depend so much on the
abundance and intrinsic riches of the mine-

* Bour^oingi Tableau de TEspagne moderne, 4° edit*
T. it. [k 215. Brongniart, Tratke de Mineraiogie, T. ii.
p. 351. Laborde, Itineraire de I'Espagne, V^ e6.\ T. iv.
p. 383 & 504. Heron de ViUe/istef de la richesse mincrale.
T.i. p. 249— 256;

■*ki

""111

«r1

288 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE L«ooK w.

rals, as on the facility with which the miners
procure the mercury necessary for amalgama-
tion. We are not therefore to be surprized
that the number of marcs of silver converted
into piastres, at the mint of Mexico varies
very iiTegularly. When from the effect of
a maritime war or some other accident, the
mercury has failed for a year, and the follow-
ing year it has arrived in abundance, in that
case, a very considerable produce of silver suc-
ceeds to a very limited fabrication of money.
In Saxony, where the small quantity of mer-
cury which is wanted for the process of amal-
gamation, is procured with sufficient facility,
the produce of the mine;s of Freiberg is so
admirably equal, that from 1793 to 1799, it
was never below 48,300, and never above
50,700 marcs of silver. In that country, the
great droughts which prevent the going of
the hydraulical wheels, and the water from
being drawn off, have the same influence on
the quantity of silver delivered into the mint,
as the scarcity of mercury in America. . ;,,.,'_
Prom 1777 to 1803, the quantity of silver
annually extracted from the Mexican minerals,
has almost constantly been above two millions
of marcs of silver*, and from 1796 to 1799,
it was 2,700,000 marcsfj while from 1800 to

* 1,312,633 lb. troy. Trans,
t 1,772,053 lb. troy. Tram,

«HA». XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 9^

1802, it remained below 2,100,000 marts*. It
would be unjust to conclude fiwn thesei data,
that the mining operations in Mexico have
not been so flourishing latterly. In 1801, the
gold and silver olStained amounted only to
16,568,000 piastresf ; while in 1803, the coin-
age again amounted on account of the abundance
of mercury, to 23,166,906 piastres];. » ' '^^ i">

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

ll^llll

^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.

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

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

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.<l'iLij

'II,:.

^■\i

••lit

li*r'

111

»<4

V %

«02 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iook iv.

TABLE 11.

io \ Silver drawn from the mines of Mexico from

Qt\jQZi rnoA ,o 1690 to 1800. Lat .oniz:.!/*

^»/*v .

1690

Marcs

of
silver.

621,835

s
0

1730

Marcs

of
silver.

m
-J

Mures
of

silver.

a
s

O
5

1,146,573

1770

1,638,391

7,'U,024

992,926

1,506,255

629,131

1,0''^6,642

1,996,689

329,691

■ 3

1,177,623

2,227,442

687,121

1,000,771

1,516,714

470,740

932,001

1,675,916

375,366

1,296,000

1,936,856

524,691)

955,545

2,428,61:3

390,560

1,116,500

2,334,765

412,327

9
1740

1,005,963

9
1780

2,199,548

1700

397,543

1,124,240

1.994,073

473,834

1.01 6,96^

2,311,06t

590,900

962,000

2,014,545

715,206

1,014,000

2,709,167

685,532

1,210^0

2,402,965

558,491

1,215,000

2,111,263

726,122

1,354,000

1,978,844

674,709

1,412,000

1,819,141

675,012

1,368,000

2,293,555

613,428

4
T

7
3

9
1750

1,391,000

2,415,821

I7I0

789,480

l..M«,000

1790

2,045,951

666,598

1,486.000

2,363,867

783,932

1,603,000

2,724,105

763,279

1,364,000

2,747,746

731,861

1,364,000

2,488,304

749,284

1,469,000

2,808,380

767.969

1,447,000

2,854,072

794,204

1,474,000

2,818.248

843,951

1,500,893

2,697,038

9
1720

853,963

1,532,000

2,473.542

9i36,390

1760

1,408,000

1800

2,098,712

1,113,027

1,386,000

1,038,109

1,189,940

953,805

1,385,298

926,214

1,152,063

867,037

1,365,275

996.017

1,318,829

956,833

1,225,307

1,085,711

1,444,583

1,037,055

715

1,404,564

41 J

Total in silvnr alone, from 1690 to 1800 149,350,701 marcs*.|

* 98,008,212 jb. Troy. Trans.

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,

1.:'

\ t

' J '

.. ' !,

294 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE L»oo« "^

Progress of the mining operations of Mexico.
Table I. Gold and Silver, * . .

fi>

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

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

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.«:

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^-

III

.Ill

■■V

208 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE * [bookiv ,

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

* 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

; *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

(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

Ylt

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

;: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

,,|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<?ause they are naoi;e
than five varas in breadth*, are merely, foi:
ifeiit^ila^Qn {^i^d inl^eriop conveyance; foi* the
nciine is absolutely fr^e from water. ..jt ol"
'^here has l^,een extractedt from the great
if^if^^ pf ^i^fincav^lica, between 1570 an,d 178.9,
tlfe sum oC 1,940,492 quints^ls of merciifiyjj,

,;!S^vpyp 1570 to 1576 „r,j} J 9,137. qjointals. \„

'n^.hu',r.,)57,Q- ,. 1586 ,vr, ,.60,000 ,,,.,,.,,, v,

\^^.^^ \ •lo.Sf?.

1589

31,590

; y^-'i-^ Hi

.i\. i 1^90.

15.98

59,850

^;\n'v-;^. '-i*'

. .>;-.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

.1 ' T c,l,

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

* 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.

318 ^LIUCAL ESSAY ON THE L^ook i^-
III 1790 - - 2021 quintals 37 pounds.

1701 - - 1795

1702 - - 2054

69
14

'i i-i

1703

2032

1794

4152

• •■.Si A-.

1795

4725

. '. . , :

1796

4182

1797

3927

■ ' -rrVi

1798

3422

1799

3355

1800

3232

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?'^:

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

; i

* 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

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

'^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

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^

i ;
ill

i ,,

Hi"'

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.

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

•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 %

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

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

Duty of assaying

. 6

Duty of 6oc«c/o .

Apartado . . .

Consumo . . .

. 12

Senoreage . : .

. 13

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

■' 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

* 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

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

*<#!'

>'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.

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

* 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, :<f .'■:■;-{

* 1,189,456 lb. troy. Trans, ■

n; t 44,095 lb. troy. Trans,

f\iim

•ii;

mi
T

■ s

346 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [^ok iv.

Produce of the silver mines of Gual^ayoc,

tuamach

ucoy and

i iJoncni

IC0». 1;-

il'fl:?.!-.')',

»itr»

!. , ./•■>

. .' . •

...,., J

i i

Period*.

Weight.

• ■ • /

Number
of ingots

Duty of
fifui

:U\

' \ i

of silver.

Marcs.

Ounces.

XlAlAl*

' " ' T

. ".a.*:. I

Piastres.

1774

182

34,403

33,85^

/ . 9

300

57,894

56,941

432

84,826

82,985

302

60,015

59,051

327

65,062

64,034

324

64,203

63,214

1780

306

60,981

60,021

608

61,4-35

60,387

429

73,698

72,462

329

58,713

57,808

335

61,564

60,440

397

73,604

72,373

398

73,305

72,024

450

83,633

82,209

404

73,835

74,371

469

87,484

83,469

1790

645

119^83

117,241

515

105,383

103,618

731

134,084

131,939

406

72,904

71,713

480

86,876

85,505

434

79,309

78,047

428

77,997

76,755

378

67,789

66,721

501

90,015

88,600

607

108,591

106,889

1800

392

70,595

69,471

255

45,378

44,626

267

48,198

47,413

Total

11,791

2,180,470

2,144,179

29 years.

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,

■i^'

* 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.

:\ m

•m

^■

.^^ ^

•''»**>.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

I I.I
11.25

■ailM 125

£ U£ 12.0

U 1 1.6

HiDtographic

Scierices

Corporation

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* ., <m

f).i-f(i<*

rt; .'^'fV , ■:/',

•\-v

In roasting

C wood
\ labour

Muriate of Soda . . .

Lime - . - . -

Labour in treading the schlieh

Consumption of mercury

\;\y

■M

Reals of Silver.

- 2

6
- • - 12

• a*

Total 56

During my stay in the Cordillera of the
Andes, there were only two districts of mines
where the method of M. de Bom of amalr
gamation in casks, was followed with any degree
of success, namely the Real de Requay, iu
the province of Huailas, and Tallenga, in
the province of Caxatambo f* To judge of
the considerable loss of silver annually ex-

^ Campomanea, de la educacion popular, T ii. p. 132.

t The mines near Requay, where a German amalga-
mation work has been constructed Is called Ticapamba,
and bebngs to Don Juan Ignacio Gamio. The work of
Tallenga was established by Don Juan Baptlsta ArieU.

.^'

352 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

perienced in Peru from the ignorance of the
amalgamators, it is enough to mention the
simple fact that it daily happens that an nzo-
guero extracts 15 marcs per caxon, from the
same mineral, out of ^hich hitherto there has
never been extracted more than ten or twelve
marcs. In the years which immediately suc-
ceeded the discovery of the mines of Yau-
ricocha, they only wrought the pacos or oxides
of iron, mixed with native silver, and muriate
of silver. The prismatic black silver and the
argentiferous grey copper were thrown among
the rubbish. In the same manner on building
the small town of Micuipampa, walls were
constructed of very rich pieces oi gangue, and
those minerals only which were of a yellowish
brown or of an earthy appearance, like the
pacoSf were considered as containing silver.
These facts will not appear so surprising when
we consider that not more than forty years
agOy in one of the most civilized countries of
Europe, calamine was employed in the making
of roadst without its being perceived that this
substance which was soiled with clay con-
tained zinc. ^ . .?' f ivrr.*.* ^41

II. The Prestdencia, or Capitania general
of Chili produces annually in gold and silver,
one million seven hundred thousand piastres *,

j-> .'

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

• 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.

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.

15o61o()734

1564

39(>15s

216117

15574(58534

1565

5 1994 i

1573

234972

1558387032

1566

486014

1574

313778

1559377031

1567

417107

1575

413487

1560382428

1568

398381

1576

544614

1561 405655

1569

379906

1577

716087

1562426782

1570

325467

1578

825505

1563,449965

1171

26620U

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.

Yiar .

One and .t half
per cent. an<l fifth.

Piastres.

16131,200,947
1614 1,269,692
16151,354,412

1616 1,257,599

1617 1,071,932

1618 1,061,264
16191,108,744

1620 1,069,599

1621 1,099,244

1622 1,093,201

1623 1,083,641

1624 1,086,999

1625 1,024,794
1626a,033,868

1627 1,068,612

1628 1,172,352

1629 972,807

1630 962,250

1631 1,067,001

1632 964,370
1,003,756

1634 984,414

1635 946,781
1636 1,424,758
1637 1,197,572
16381,174,393

1.128,738

1(539
1640
1641
1642
1643
1644
1645
1646

978,483
940,367
905,797
924,659
871,174
908,414
840.982

Reals.

6
0

One aiul a halt
per cent, and fitth.

YrH

1(J47

1648

1649

1650

1651

1652

1653

1654

1655

16.56

1657

1658

1(>59

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>.

-m

"'^A

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

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

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

U
2

1783400,238 3i

1784371,362
1785351,777
17861332,507

1787

1788
1789

390,836
380,600
335,468

71
1

7i
6

Total of the 54 years 14,542,684 piastres.

^^*^ 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.

'^m

t^,

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;

i>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

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.

<iif>|

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^

* 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

B70 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iv.

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

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

* 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

^ Aeosta, p. 146.

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.

■0

* 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.

Years. Marcs

Ounces.
2

u
O

O Tomine

Value of Gold.

1789

10,915

Piastres

Reals'Quartos

1,484,454

1790

7,345

998,658

1791

8,318

1,131,251

1792

8,159

1,109,715

1793

8,659

1,177,681

1794

7,327

993,827

1795

Total

9,310

4
5

4
2

1,266,272

7
0

tJ0,013

8,161,862

Average year 8,573 (marcs of gold) or
1,165,980 piastres.

II. Gold coined at Fopayan.

Value

of Gold.

Years.

Marcs.

O
3

Piastres.

Reals.

1788

7,210

980,634

1789

5,945

808,362

1790

7,123

768,745

1791

6,437

875,466

1792

7,344

998,869

1793

7,026

955,648

1794

6,725

1
0

0
2

914,617

Total

47,813

6,502,542

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

1 • Jl*1fl

t 'ffifl

■•^'M

•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, !/

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

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,

'i-

;

* Mina de los Morenos or Chachafrata. From Carthago
to la Vega de Supia, it is in a straight line only SO
leagues.

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

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-

* 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.

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

IT I

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

„•'!

* 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

J ■ .1'

''»;(» f.

CHAP. XI.] ^KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. ^97

'^rr'^m^i^'Ut

2 . I
« ^ S

t*4 X -W

^00 « 1^

QQ CO ;o

00 CO (O

MM*

1-t r-co

M M M

, >

... V d

7 ;* §4 00
-* •} i-

■* 0« t^

1^ t*

'<5ft>H

t^o 00

of i-H to

«o w.o

g 8

11 *"

«5

^ »*H Oi
"V »"• 00

"* 1-1 a

8^8 ^

»oofc5

it:

? < r-.-- »,

•-a

^5 s

,;i^J

v-:Ci

^ 2

I k<

^ *

.'I

'it:

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

*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

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. '
^% C<Knpare the changes made in Liv. viii. ^ xlii. •, Tir.

X. § liv.

iflil^

406 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it;

timated the gold and silver imported from
America into Em*ope, since the discovery of
the New World at nine thousand millions of
piastres ; but in 1780 he reduced this sum to
iive thousand millions. He supposes that the
annual importation of registered gold and silver
into Spain on an average of eleven years from
1754 to 1764 only amounted to 13,984,185
piastres, while we know from the registers!
presei*ved in the mint of Mexico, that at that
yety period. . New Spain alone produced an-
liualljri liearly twelve millions of piastres.? I
oaiiriot Qonoeive how an author full of sagacity
ted gCtteraUy well informed, can have allowed
himstdbfttof form such erroneous notions re-
upectikig th(^ commerce in the precious me*
tak. Raynal gives tables apparently the result
o£ very extensive labour ; he estimates separate-
\y the quantities of gold and silver from each
part of the colonies ; and notwithstanding this
lipparent accuracy, a great number of these
calculationH rest on very far from solid foun^
dations. He aiiirms * that Spain drew from
1780, every year from the continent of America,
89,095,052 iivres in gold and silver, or
16)970,484 piastres; because from an average
year taken during the period from 1748 to 1753
there was imported:

• Hut, Philosophiquet Geneva Ed". 1780, T. II. p. 3S9«

9HAP. XI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 407

il I

Liv.Toumois.

Piastres.

Prom New Spain -
From Cartha^ena or

New Grenada
Fi'oih Lima or Peru -
From Buenos Ayres or

the kingdom of La

Plata
From Caracas

Total of an average year.

44,106,047

14,087,304
25,267,849

5,304,705

239,144

89,095,049

e,4 18,294

2,683,296
4,812,924

1,010,420
45,551

16,970,435,

lit

'**!l

liilf

It is surprisiong to see Raynal confound
the produce of 1750 with that of 1780 : for
during that space of thirty years, the export
tation of silver from Mexico had increased
more than a fourth, and the mines of South
America far from being exhausted were become
more abundant. In 1780 there was coined at
the mint of Mexico, alone, the sum of 17,514,263
piastres ; while the Abbe Raynal estimates
the total prod. of the mines of Spanish
America, at only eigliteca millions, lie ought
to have known from tiie tfistimon of a states*
man, thoroughly informed respecting the com-
merce of Spain*, that in 1775 the total
produce had already risen to 30 millions of
piastres, or to 157,500>000 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-

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

»<!?

i«!^

f.,i

'■'%

*T. V. p. 137.

f Hiitory of America, Vol. iv. p. 62.

X Liv. i. chap. x. (T. i. P. ii.p« 124.)

<10 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE C«ook iv:

America between 1674 and 1723, is estimated
at 672 millions of piastres. Reckoning at the
same rate the 283 years between 1492
and 177d» and adding^ a third for the con*
traband| we find the total of all , the metals
imported into Spain 5072 millions of piaiitres.
The same author estimates the gold imported
from Brazil since th« discovery of that country
at 1350 millions, a sum which appears nearly
double too much, as we shall prove in the
sequel of the discussion. . i j w< . - < ' ^iu /u: - > »

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

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

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

^ Europe, in gold, the value

of ---.--.. - 480,000,000

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

•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^ ^^'

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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^

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

* 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,

±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,

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

ttf

■Id

VOL. Ill

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

* 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

T 1

''■m^'

* 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.

;«>

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-

•n '

* 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

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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

:--'^
•:,•?»

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.

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

«f

I'fi**'"

ru:

III

* 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

fiiit

''■ '" ' i

III

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«

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
<liscovery of the mines of America, produced
its whole efT'ect on the value of money. The
price of grain has not in reality risen to the
present day ; and if the contrary has been
advanced by several authors, it is from their
having confounded the nominal value of coin,
with the true proportion between money and
commodities.

Whatever opinion may be adopted as to the
future effects of the accumulation of the re-
presentative signs, if we consider the people
of New Spain under the relation of their com-
mercial connections with Europe, icannot be
denied that in the present state of things, the
abundance of the precious metals, has a power-
r. ' miluence on the national prosperity. It
is from this abundance, that America is en>
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-

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.

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

••';

si'

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

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

'^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

ill

III

»'

•"r j

* 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

*>■•

;;';!•

'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<j it in ready
money, they take care to supply him with
meat, brandy, and clothes, on which the manu-
facturer gains from fifty to sixty per cent;
and in this way the most industrious work-
man remains for ever in debt, and the same
rights are exercised on him, which are believed
to be acquired over a purchased slave. I knew
many persons at Queretaro, who lamented with
me the existence of these enormous abuses.
Let us hope that a government friendly to
the people, will turn their attention to a spe-
cies of oppression so contrary to humanity,
the laws of the counti'v, and the progress of
Mexican industry.

With the exception of a few stuffs of cotton
mixed with silk, the manufacture of silks is
at present next to nothing in Mexico. In
the time of Acosta, towards the conclusion of
the sixteenth century, silk worms brought from
Europe were cultivated near Panuco, and in
laMisteca, and excellent taffeta* was there ma-
nufactured with Mexican silk. We have al-
ready observed that it was not the homhyx-
mori, but an indigenous caterpillar which sup-
plied the raw materials, for the silk handker-

l^^f

iiii

M f

i<p*

* Acosta,L\h. iv, c. 32. p. 179.— See also Chap. x. p. 57.
•f this volume.

VOL. Ul.

2 H

466 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book y.

chiefs manufactured by the Indians of Mis-
teca, and the village of Tistla near Chilpan-
sing'o.

New Spain has no flax or hemp manufac-
tories; and the manufacture of paper is also
unknown in it. The manufacture of tobacco
is a royal right. The expence of the manu-
facture of cegars an<l snuff, annually amounts
to more than 6,200,000 livres tournois*. The
manufactures of Mexico and Queretaro are the
most considerable. The following is an account
of the whole manufacture during the yearf
1801 and 1802.

Tobacco manufactured in New
Spain.

Value of Tobacco manu-
factured agreeably to
sales ------

Expence of manufacture

Salaries of Officers - -

Price of Tobacco purcha-
sed from the Mexican
husbandmen - - -

Net Revenue (liguido) of
the Crown, on the sale of)
Tobacco , - - - |3,993,834|4,092i629

In 1801.
Piastres.

7,825,913
1,299,411
798,452

626,319

In 1802.
Piastres.

7,686,834
1,285,199
794,586

594^29

On my passage through Queretaro, I visited
the great manufactory of cegars (fabrica de

• i£ 253,060 Sterlinif. Trans. .

OHAK xit.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 46?

puros y cigarros), in which 3000 people, inchi-
dingf 1900 women are employed. The halls
are very noat, but badly aired, very small, and
consequently excessively warm. They consume
daily in this manufacture 130 reams (resmas)
of paper, and 2770 pounds of tobacco leaf.
In the course of the month of July, 1803,
there was manufactured to the amount of
185,288 piastres; viz. 2,654,820 small chests
{caxillas) of cegars, which sell for 165,926
piastres, and 289,799 chests of pU,ros or cegars,
which are not enveloped in paper. The ex-
p6nce of manufacture of the month of July
alori^, afnounted to 3 1,7S9 piastres. It appears
that the royal manufactory of Queretaro, an-
nually produces more than 2,200,000 piastres,
in piitos and cigarros.

The hidnufacttfre of hard soap, is a consi*
derabl* dbject of commerce ait Puebla, Mexico,
and G'uadalaxara. The first 6f thesie towns
produces nearly 200,000 arrobas per ^nnlim;
and in th6 intendancy of Gruadklaxara, tlid
^uacntity mafiuikctured is computed at 1,300,000
lirre^ tbtimois. Thfe abundance of sodk w^hrch
We fhid almost every wher6 at elevatibhd ot
JJ^O of 2900 miBtres*, in the interior table
land of Mexlito, is highly feCvouf abl^ to thi^
manufacture. The tequesquite of which we

* At 6561 or 8201 feet. Trans.
2 H 2

468 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book v.

have several limes had occasion to speak*,
covers the surface of the soil, especially in the
month of October, in the valley of Mexico,
on the banks of tiie lakes of Tezcuco, Zuni-
pango, and 8an Christobal ; in the plains which
surround the city of Pucbla ; in those which
extend from Zelaya to Guadalaxara; in the
valley of San Francisco, near San Luis Potosi,
between Durang-o and Chihuagua, and in the
nine lakes which are scattered over the inten-
dancy of Zacatecas. We know not whether
it derives its origin from the decomposition
of volcanic rocks in which it is contained, or
to the slow action of lime on the muriate of
soda. At Mexico, 1600 arrobas of tierra te-
quesquitosa, that is to say an earth impreg-
nated with much carbonate, and a little of
the muriate of soda, may be purchased for
62 piastres. These 1600 arrobas purified in
the soap manufactories, furnish 500 arrobas
of carbonate of pure soda. Hence the quin-
tal, in the present state of the manufacture,
comes to 50 sous tournois. M. Garces, who
successfully employs carbonate of soda, in the
smelting of muriates of silver, has proved in
a particular memoir, that in improving the
technical process, they could supply in the soda

* See Vol. 11. p. 170; and Del Riot Elenumtos de Orycto-
gnosiat]^, 154.

CHAP. XII.] KINGDOM or NEW SPAIN.

460

manufactorii^s of ^Nlfxiro rnllod tco> 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

m
Pi

I,.

ifc

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

((

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.

^'^^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

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

0
"iiij

4
■'"It'

" it'

4''

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

* Vez S'uperintendente de la real casa de niontda.
t Upwards of jS408,000»000 Stevliog, Trans^

Sl'li

ill

!in

.Ml
1*1.(1

'hi.

1 111

.fff '

III

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.

Months

of the

year 1796.

Gold
Piastres.

Silver

Gold and Silver.

Piastres.

Reals.

. .
71
Oi
1

3
6
2

34
3

Piastres.

Reals.

01
1

3
6
2

3f
3

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

>'!

k
m

PM
II". I

'I't

1 1^5,385,200 Sterling. Trans,
VOL. III. 2 I

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

01 III

.,1 f

ji'i

.'1 tl

«( ■>

* je326,830 Sterling. Trans.
1 I 2

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.

•■11

nil 11'

•1

"Hi

1
I

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

1|; I:

.1'

'i.l

Hif

,n
iti!

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

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

! "!

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.

) li

'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.

'■i '■ "i

;.)

- ^r *: i r "^

'tn

H. Brye- Printer,
Bridge-gtreet, Blaukfriars, London.

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