were received with the greatest cordiality by the Director Mr. Rule, and his lady, and invited to partake of the most delicious breakfast that I have seen for a long while; a happy mélange of English and Mexican. The snow-white table-cloth, smoking tea-urn, hot rolls, fresh eggs, coffee, tea and toast looked very much à I'Anglaise, while there were numbers of substantial dishes à I'Espagnole, and delicious fresh cream cheeses, to all which, our party did ample justice.
After breakfast, we went out to visit the mines, and it was curious to see English children, clean and pretty, with their white hair and rosy cheeks, and neat straw bonnets, mingled with the little copper-colored Indians. We visited all the different works; the apparatus for sawing, the turning-lathe, foundery, &c.; but I regretted to find that we could not descend into the mines. We went to the mouth of the shaft called the Dolores, which has a narrow opening, and is entered by perpendicular ladders. The men go down with conical caps on their heads, in which is stuck a lighted tallow candle. In the great shaft, called Terreros, they descend, by means of these ladders, to the depth of a thousand feet, there being platforms at certain distances, on which they can rest. We were obliged to content ourselves with seeing them go down, and with viewing and admiring all the great works which English energy has established here; the various steam-engines, the buildings for the separation and washing of the ore; the great stores, work-shops, offices, &c. Nearly all the workmen are British, and of these, the Scotch are preferred. Most of the miners are Indians, who work in companies,
