process of amalgamation in New Spain. Săn Agŭstīn was the residence of all the Cornish miners, and for the credit of England it must be hoped that those who sought their fortune in Mexico are not to be regarded as a fair specimen of the population of that part of the British dominions. There were some good and useful men amongst them, who have continued in the service of the Association, and are now amongst its most efficient agents; but the generality of the Cornish have left behind them a character for ignorance, low debauchery, insubordination, and insolence, which has very materially diminished the respect which the Mexicans were inclined to entertain for the supposed superiority in intellectual acquirements of the inhabitants of the Old World. Nothing could exceed the indulgence shown by the authorities of Guănăjūātŏ towards these men, six or seven of whom were often picked up in the streets drunk, and conveyed to the Hacienda of San Agustin by the very watchmen, who, if they had been natives, would have been lodged in jail; but their patience, as well as that of the mine owners, who were compelled to pay enormous salaries, and to see their work badly done,[1] was nearly
- ↑ It must always be borne in mind, that although the outlay is made in the first instance by the Company, it is carried by them as a debt to the account of the Mine, and it is to be paid out of the first proceeds. It therefore becomes the interest of the owners to see that the work is properly performed; and to refuse to pass accounts whenever unnecessary expences are in-
