with ordinary baggage, and in the tramway 15 cents, first class, and 7 cents, second class. The railway company intends to extend its track to Guanajuato in a few months.
GUANAJUATO.
Population, 56,112 ; elevation, 6,836 feet, according to Humboldt.
Hotels.—Del Suizo, Bayas, and Diligencias.
Restaurants.—De Bordeaux, Frances.
Guanajuato is the capital of the State of the same name, and lies in latitude 21° north, and longitude 1° 49' west of the City of Mexico.
The city was founded by the Spaniards in 1554. It received the royal privilege of villa (town) in 1619, and that of ciudad (city) on the 8th of December, 1741.
Places of Interest.—1. The Church of La Parroquia. 2. The Mint. 3. The Prison (El Carcel). 4. The Silver-mills (haciendas de beneficios). 5. The Silver-mines. 6. Cerro (hill) de San Miguel. 1. The Paseo.
In 1803 Humboldt states that the population within the city was 41,000, and in the adjacent mines of Marfil, Santa Ana, Santa Rosa, Valenciana, Mayas, and Mellado, it was 29,600, making a total of 70,600, of whom there were 4,500 Indians. The same writer, in his Political Essay on New Spain, vol. iii, p. 138, ranks Guanajuato first in a list of the richest mining districts of Mexico. He remarks also that the vein of Guanajuato, from the end of the sixteenth century to the year 1800, produced foutteen hundred million (1,400,000,000) francs worth of silver, besides some gold. (See chapter on mines, in Part First.) This vein is familiarly called the Veta Madre, and the mines on it began to be worked in 1558.
For several years past these mines have not paid well, and it is believed by many persons that their mineral wealth has been exhausted. This impression, however, is not well founded, as the mines have in only two instances (Rayas and Valenciana) been explored to a depth of 1,500
