A very large proportion of the great Bŏnānză[1] of the Marquis of Bŭstămānte at Bătŏpīlăs, comes under this description, nearly the whole of his enormous wealth having been sent direct to Gūāymăs, and from thence to Gūāyăquīl and Pănămā, where it was shipped for Spain by the Pacific, or sent across the Isthmus to Portobello.
A similar exportation took place from all the Districts to the North of San Luis Pŏtŏsī, and particularly from Catorce, where, from the facility of the communication with the Coast, the Old Spaniards, by whom most of the mines were worked in 1810, were in the habit of shipping off all the Bars that contained a Ley de Oro, and no inconsiderable proportion of the pure Silver, to the Peninsula, without converting them into dollars at all.
I should, therefore, be inclined to estimate the total produce of the country, during the fifteen years ending in 1825, higher, by nearly One million of dollars, than the Mint Returns; and to suppose that, even during the worst of times, the value of the precious metals raised, annually, from the Mines
- ↑ Bonanza is a sea term, used by the Mexican Miners to designate a Mine in such a state as to cover all the expences of working it, and to leave a considerable annual profit to the proprietor. It implies no particular sum, for you may have a bonanza of a million, or a bonanza of 20,000 dollars; but it always signifies that things are going on satisfactorily;—in short, that you are in the Trades, with studding sails set below and aloft, and every prospect of a prosperous voyage.
