the Veta Negra were afterwards connected with each other, in the lower levels, by what is termed the "Cañon General," a gallery which traverses the whole of the workings and conveys the water to the western extremity of the vein (the Tiro de San Pedro), where the horse-whims for the drainage are to be erected.
From the shaft of San Pedro to that of Săn Lūcăs, the works upon the Veta Negra comprise a space of 800 varas; the whole of which, when I saw the mines, had been cleared, drained, and retimbered to the depth of 280 varas, since the 3d of December 1825. Works of great extent had been likewise executed in order to give the mines a proper ventilation, (the abundance of arsenical pyrites in the lower levels rendering great precautions necessary,) and a communication had been established throughout the whole by means of the cañon general.
On the vein of El Păvĕllōn, the great shafts of La Cruz and San José, (the first of which is three hundred and ten varas in depth,) had been, in like manner, repaired, and six malacates erected at each for the prosecution of the drainage.
In order to form a just conception of the character of the enterprise in which the Company is engaged, some knowledge of the previous history of the mines is requisite.
Both the Vĕtă Nēgră and the Păvĕllōn were known during the early part of the seventeenth century. Of the first little is known; but the Păvĕllōn in 1670, was worked by a company com-
