in general. The engagements of the different Companies are all bonâ fide engagements, and no exertions have been spared in carrying them into effect. The efforts which have been made in the service of some of the Associations, and the obstacles that have been surmounted, are quite incredible, and do the highest honour to the gentlemen charged with the direction of their affairs: and, though some of the minor undertakings, in which Capital was, (perhaps injudiciously,) invested, at a time when a desire to employ Capital in this way was universal, have since been given up, still, the great enterprises which were pointed out, in the first instance, as the object of the formation of the different Companies, have been steadily pursued, and are now in a very advanced state.
Those who are unacquainted with the scale upon which Mining enterprises in Mexico are conducted, and who judge of the outlay required there, by a comparison with that which attends the working of one of the smaller Mineral deposits of Europe, are at a loss to comprehend the necessity of an expenditure so large as that of some of the Companies has already been: I shall, therefore, take the liberty of submitting to my readers the following observations, which will be found, more or less, applicable to all the Mining Associations of New Spain, and may tend to throw some light upon this part of the subject.
The Outlay of the Companies has not, in any
