456 MEXICO. works need be commenced there, until the character of the veins, which it might be in contemplation to work, was suffi- ciently ascertained. The undertaking would, indeed, require an adventurous spirit, and a determination to submit to every privation, at first, in order to ensure success : but if these qualities were combined with a sufficient knowledge of the country, and some personal influence, I am inclined to think that, with a very small capital, success would be undoubted. In the present state of discouragement with regard to all Transatlantic speculations, it is not probable that any experi- ment of this kind will be attempted upon a large scale, for some time ; but I am convinced that, when once it is fairly made, an enormous addition to the mineral wealth of Mexico will be the result. To what an extent this may ultimately be carried, it would be useless now to inquire ; for, without the assistance of Foreign capitalists, years will probably elapse before the gradual spread of population facilitates discoveries in those rich districts, where the want of inhabitants now presents a serious obstacle to commercial enterprise. Population, however, in Mexico, has always followed the course and progress of the mines; and that too with asto- nishing rapidity. The Mexican miners are proverbially inconstant in their tastes, and roam from one district to another, whenever there is a new discovery, or Bonanza, to attract them. Of this, Catorce furnished a memorable instance, in the year 1773- It is impossible to conceive a more bleak and desolate spot than that upon which these famous mines are situated, — the very summit of a mountain ridge, inaccessible, even at the present day, to any thing but mules, — without provisions, or water, or resources of any kind ; yet, in three years after the discovery, it had a population of five thousand souls, and the town now contains sixteen thousand inhabitants. The fame of its riches broiight crowds of settlers from Gua- najuato, Zacatecas, and Sombrerete ; and, notwithstanding
