adit itself is inaccessible from the extreme foulness of the air. A new shaft must be sunk in order to create a free circulation, before the possibility of draining the mines, at all, can be ascertained; so that it is probable, that the enterprize, if persevered in, will, for some years, rather increase the outlay, than augment the receipts of the Company.
I was deterred by the little interest which the mines of Temascaltepec possessed, from visiting the neighbouring districts of El Cristo and Sūltĕpēc, in which some mines have been taken up, both by the Germans, and the United Mexican Company, as a sort of dependency upon those of Temascaltepec. Both places are situated in the Tierra Caliente; and at El Cristo, which is a narrow valley, shut in, on all sides, by lofty mountains, the heat is said to equal that of Veracruz.
The mines of Tĕpāntĭtlān, which lie far to the South, in the vicinity of the Rio Bolsas, were at much too great a distance for me to think of reaching them. They are held by the Catorce Company, and are celebrated for having given to the Conde de Contramina his title and fortune. The road to this district lies through the very heart of the Western branch of the Sierra Madre; the climate is unhealthy, and there is a great want of timber in the immediate vicinity of the mines. But these disadvantages are compensated by the extreme richness of the ores, some of which produce five and six marcs of Silver per carga, while the metales comunes, (inferior ores,) average one marc and a
