which the absence of the master's eye must always be attended. Under the injudicious management of a Mexican Administrador, (steward,), 130,000 dollars had been spent in two years, without the drainage of any one of the shafts having been effected, although none of them exceeded 155 varas in depth. A visit from Mr. Alaman, the principal Director of the Company, had led to the dismissal of this unprofitable servant, and an Englishman, Mr. Walkinshaw, was associated with a Mexican miner of some reputation, in the management. But time was requisite in order to do away with the effects of the slothful and dilatory system which had been fostered by their predecessor; and the same men, who, at Tlalpujahua, under the eye of Mr. Rivafinoli, worked with an energy which could not easily be surpassed, seemed to lose all their activity on entering the district of El Oro, and performed their several duties with a sluggishness which it was painful to witness.
In August, 1826, the mine of El Rosario was the only shaft from which ore was raised. The vein appeared to be rich, but small. The gold is found in particles, imperceptible to the naked eye, in a matrix of quartz, which contains sulphuret of silver, disseminated throughout the mass in such narrow stripes, that unless the dimensions of the vein increase, they will hardly repay the expences of working.
Gold mines in Mexico generally diminish in value,
