Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/561

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MEXICO IN 1827
541

by a lofty wall. The whole is now going to decay, but it is still a splendid monument of the former opulence of the mines, and as such cannot be visited without interest.

The vein of the Pavellon has always been more remarkable for the richness, than the abundance of its ores: during the great bonanza, thirty-five marcs of silver were often yielded by one quintal of ore, and twelve or fifteen marcs per carga was the ordinary produce of metals classed as "Comunes." Mr. Anitua him self has, more recently, reduced ores from a little branch of the vein, in the shaft of El Carmen, which contained forty-five marcs to the carga. One hundred cargas yielded twenty-one bars of silver, or 21,000 dollars; but the vein was small, and soon lost itself in the mountain.

The Făgŏāgăs having entirely abandoned their mines, they remained un worked from 1812 to 1819, when an association of native miners was formed to denounce them anew, at the head of which was Don Narcisco Ānītŭá, the present proprietor. The necessary funds were raised, and the drainage nearly effected, when the declaration of Independence in 1821 threw the country into an unsettled state. The labourers all quitted the mines to join Ĭtŭrbīdĕ 's armies; and Anitua, whose whole fortune was embarked in the enterprise, saw himself compelled to abandon it at the very moment when his labours seemed drawing towards their close. For three years all his operations were suspended; but at the expira-