if successful, always creates a population around it; and, from the facility of irrigation, there is no doubt that the valleys between the mountains might be cultivated with success. The roads are very bad, and so steep, and liable to be affected by the rains, that it would hardly be possible to render the mines very accessible; but still there is no doubt that, in a country where the demand for iron is so great, and where the Mining Districts of Guanajuato and Real del Monte are so near, the speculation might answer.
The English Companies will not commence their works at the Encarnacion, until their other Mines begin to pay. The depth to which the Iron-ore, so rich at the surface, extends, has not yet been ascertained; and although I am not aware of there being any reason to question the abundance of the supply at Zĭmăpān, I have heard of another district near San Luis Pŏtŏsī, that presented similar appearances, although, on sinking a shaft, every vestige of iron was lost at a few yards below the surface.
From the Encarnacion, we proceeded, on the 18th of July, to the Gold mine of San José del Oro, which was formerly immensely productive, but which has been, for many years, abandoned, and in ruins.
It has been taken, with the neighbouring Mine of "Chalma," by the Germans, as a speculation, which, from its vicinity both to Zimapan and to the Iron mines, will require no additional superintendence; while, should they be fortunate enough to strike
