Page:Guatimala or the United Provinces of Central America in 1827-8.pdf/230

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from hence that this is all our mines have produced since a great quantity of these metals have been employed in works of ornament, and a still greater quantity exported, particularly since the year 1821. It is positively known, that the greater part of the merchants of the state of Honduras, and of other parts, have exported to foreign countries great quantities of gold and silver bullion, so that according to the calculation of intelligent persons, scarcely a tenth part of the metals obtained within the last six years, will have passed through the mint. On this account it is impossible to state exactly the effective produce of each year, and much less the amount exported to Europe, because the greater part has been effected clandestinely. In all the territory of this republic there are mines in abundance, but particularly in the state of Honduras, where the greater number are to be found, and where nature presents the greatest mineral wealth. In numbers 111, and 112, of the periodical called the Indicador, there is the following communication.

“'The mine called Tabanco in the state of Salvador, had been abandoned by its owners, who despaired of making it profitable on account of the great difficulty they found in removing the water, in spite of the activity with which

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