CHAPTER XXVIII.
MINES AND MINING.
1500-1800.
Traffic with the Natives of Central America — Doings of the Conquerors in that Quarter — Mineral Deposits — Something of South America — Earliest Discoveries in Mexico — Aztec Mining — Protective Policy of the Crown — A Great Discovery — Distribution and Consumption of Quicksilver — Fruitless Efforts to Obtain It in Mexico — Geological View — Silver Ores — Gold and Other Metals — Quarries and Salines — Location of Rich Mines — Attractive Regions — Guanajuato, San Luis Potosi, and Zacatecas — Their Advantage over the North — Mines near the Capital — The Cuerpo de Mineria — A Great Mining Tribunal — New Laws — Mining System — The Total Yield of Mexico — The Share of the Crown — Bibliographical.
Silver and gold! Silver and gold! The image and measure of wealth; the shadow, superior to substance, before which throughout the ages all men bow; what magic spells these metals cast upon the destinies of mankind! Without referring to the earlier-mining fields of history, the Ophir of the Jews, the Pactolian placers of the Greeks, and the gold-producing colonies of the Romans, there is enough to command present attention in our Pacific States territory, throughout the length and breadth of which nature strewed liberally the precious metals. In the present volume I shall speak only of the deposits of Central America and Mexico; accounts of those of the northern regions will appear in the subsequent divisions of this historical series.[1] As there is pleasing fiction in their value, so there is fascinating romance in their story.
- ↑ On the beautiful chromo-lithograph maps of the Munich collection, executed under the direction of Prof. Kunstmann, gold-bearing regions are desig-
