scale, and was accomplished by the persevering efforts of an individual. In 1827, when all the vast works, to which the success of those efforts had given rise, came to be comprehended in the negotiation, it required the capital of a Company to undertake the Herculean task of putting them again into repair. This has been effected at an expence of two millions of dollars.
The money, in as far as my own means of observation have extended, has been laid out in a manner, which does credit both to England, and to the gentlemen who were charged with the direction of the Company's affairs. The only question is, therefore, whether the importance of the enterprise bears a fair proportion to that of the means employed, or, in other words, whether the former produce of the mines was such as to justify the expectations entertained by the Company of a profitable investment; knowing, as they do know, that, upon reaching a given point, they will find an abundance of ores, equal in richness to those which gave to the former proprietors of the Biscaina vein their enormous wealth.
Upon this subject the facts stated in the Fourth Book, and in the present Section, will enable my readers to form their own opinions. Mine are not changed by the delay which has occurred in the realization of Captain Vetch's expectations; and although it is undoubtedly in the power of the proprietors here, by frequent changes in the ma-
