quently the destructive propensities of their comrades, so that their valuable secrets have perished with them. Occasionally, too, the profitable results of such discoveries have been reaped by the government, to the loss of rightful owners; who may not have been able to obey the laws for their regulation, purely because they were without capital to satisfy the demands imposed upon them.
Still it must be said, in justice, that the government of Mexico—inefficient as it is for many good and honest purposes—yet supplies the discoverers and proprietors of mines, in a general way, with judicious facilities and adequate protection. It is the duty of the finder, when he wishes to proceed with such a deposit of the precious metal as he thinks is likely to remunerate him for his labours, to make a report of his discovery, its situation, and his intentions, to the government representative who may reside nearest to the spot. Then he must measure and lay out a certain required amount of ground adjoining it, forwarding specimens, if requested to do so, to the authorities, and straightway employ a given number of labourers, who must begin to work the mine within a given number of days. It
