were found, at first, in abundance, in the upper levels of the old mines, abandoned during the Revolution. But when it became necessary to work the deeper levels, few had capital enough to enable them to keep down the water, although with very moderate resources it might be easily effected.
Angangeo may, however, be considered, as a rising district, and one in which with very little risk a great deal might be done. The largest mines there would not require a capital of above thirty or forty thousand dollars; and the metallic riches of the surrounding mountains have been so little explored, that they may be regarded as quite a new field. Labour is cheap; water abundant, and with a fall sufficient for any kind of machinery;—wood, and provisions, are plentiful, and the climate good, though cold.
There are some local peculiarities, however, to counterbalance these advantages. In the first place, the ores are seldom found in a pure state, but contain, on the contrary, a most extraordinary mixture of metals, which vary with the different veins.
In the Veta del Carmen, the silver ores contain a large proportion of arsenic, with which the whole mass is so impregnated, that, when brayed in the arrastres, it is of a dull greyish blue, or slate colour, by which the montones of ore from this vein are easily distinguishable, while undergoing the process of amalgamation.
These ores are reduced in less time than any
