of dollars, or nearly three times the amount of the Capital now employed in the same way by the British Companies. I am bound to state, that for this estimate I can give no authority. It is a mere matter of conjecture; but since I have seen the number of Amalgamation Works, and other extensive and costly establishments, which are now in ruins in every part of Mexico, and compared them with those which have been rebuilt by the Companies, all that they have done, seems to be as nothing, in comparison with what must formerly have existed. I was particularly struck with this on entering Guanajuato, where more money has been expended by the two Companies established there, (the Anglo-Mexican, and the United Mexican,) than upon any other single spot in the Federation; yet the suburb of Marfil, which was formerly, according to Humboldt, "an imposing sight," from the activity that prevailed in every part of it, is now a scene of desolation: and when, after passing a long succession of ruined Haciendas, one at last enters the Town, the population is found to be still reduced to a little more than one half of what it was in the year 1809, when it exceeded 90,000 souls. Without dwelling unnecessarily upon this idea, I will only add that, in as far as my own means of observation have extended, the remark holds good with regard to every Mining District in the Federation. In Zăcătēcăs, Cătōrcĕ, Sŏmbrĕrētĕ, and Real del Monte, the works of the Companies are lost amongst the re-
