desired by all the Mining Companies, as the only security against those suspicions, by which their credit has been so frequently shaken, I have laid before the world, without reserve, the whole of the information now in my possession respecting them, together with my own observations upon the mode in which their affairs have been directed. The result will, I trust, be to produce an impression that these great undertakings have been, in many instances ably, in all, honestly conducted; that if errors have been committed, they are errors which it was extremely difficult to avoid; and that although the investments are large, the magnitude of the object, (demonstrated by records of a very recent date,) bears a fair proportion to the magnitude of the stake.
It now only remains for me to add, that the map annexed to the First Volume, though compiled from very incorrect data, (there being few even of the principal places in New Spain, the latitude and longitude of which have as yet been exactly fixed,) will be found to be of use in many essential points.
It gives the new territorial division of the country into States, with the names of the "Partidos,"
