History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 3/Chapter 28

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

 

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. Gold and godliness were the two great engines which drove on the Spaniards to overrun and occupy the lands discovered by Columbus. The dissolute indulgence of these passions, so opposite, and yet in them so strangely blended, resulted not alone in the extermination of the Americans, but reacting upon themselves, dimmed the ancient glory of Spain, and sent rottenness to the bones of the then most powerful nation of Europe. "In that climate," says Gomara, "as in Peru the people turn yellow. It may be that the desire for gold which fills their hearts shines forth in their faces." Some claim to have computed that during the first century after the conquest of Peru there went from the New World to Spain silver enough to make a bridge across the Atlantic, a yard and a half wide, and two inches thick, or that brought together in a heap it would overtop the mountains of Potosí!

In Española, immediately after the discovery of America, one piece of gold was found weighing 3,200 Castellanos. Miners obtained from six to 250 castellanos a day. In the ships which perished with Bobadilla, gold to the value of 200,000 Castellanos was lost. In the year 1501 Rodrigo de Bastidas and Juan de la Cosa exchanged with the natives of Darien hawksbells and glass beads for pearls and the golden ornaments of the naked savages. In 1502 Columbus had no sooner landed upon the coast of Honduras than his mind was excited by reports of distant realms, where gold was found in such abundance that the commonest utensils of the inhabitants were made of that metal. What may have been vague rumors of the civilized kingdoms of Mexico and Peru was construed by the heated imagination of the great admiral to mean no other than the gorgeous cities of the Genghis Kahn. Along the coast of Honduras the natives wore ornaments which they called guanin, an inferior quality of gold. No pure gold was found until the discoverers had arrived at a bay of Costa Rica, called by the natives Caribaro, a place well known to the inhabitants of Honduras as rich in gold.^[2] Here pure gold was worn by the natives in plates suspended from the neck by cotton cords. They also exhibited rude imitations of eagles and other objects in guanin. Perceiving with what cupidity the strangers regarded their golden ornaments, the Indians of Caribaro informed the Spaniards that two days' journey easterly along the coast would bring them to a province called Veragua, where that metal was found in abundance, and where all their ornaments were fabricated. This Indian province of Veragua was situated on what is now known as the river Veragua running through the north-western corner of what was later the state of Panamá The earnest desire of the admiral to find a passage to India prevented his landing at that point on his downward passage; but failing to find a strait, and the supply of gold growing less as he departed from this point, he returned to Veragua, anchored his ships, and prepared to examine the mines of that country. The adelantado, Bartholomew Columbus, on the 6th of February 1503 set out with sixty-eight armed men, on a visit to the mines.^[3] He ascended the river a few leagues when he encountered the quibian, or king of Veragua, who warily welcomed him, and provided him guides to conduct him to the base of the mountains around and away from his own richer and near mines, to those of a neighboring chieftain with whom he was at war. But the Spaniards were not disappointed. The soil over which they journeyed seemed to be impregnated for miles with fine particles of the precious metal. The adelantado and his companions were enabled to wash out small quantities of gold from earth taken from about the roots of great trees. Ascending a hill they gazed with rapture upon the surrounding country, which as far as the eye could reach was filled with riches beyond the wildest dreams of avarice. On another occasion the adelantado made an excursion along the coast westward, everywhere meeting with evidence of gold in abundance. Such were the riches of this country, that the admiral determined to plant a colony at this point, the first colony attempted upon the firm land of North America; but the jealousy of the quibian becoming aroused by the manifest intention of the permanent residence of the strangers within his dominions, they were obliged to abandon the project.^[4]

The returns from the mines of the new dominions of Spain prior to the death of Isabella in 1504 were comparatively insignificant, owing partly to the rapacious spirit of the adventurers, who preferred traffic with the natives to the drudgery of digging, and partly to the humanity of the queen, who forbade the compulsory imposition of native labor. Soon after her death, however, the revival of the inhuman system of repartimientos, or apportionment of Indians among settlers, which was inaugurated during the administration of Bobadilla, led to an immense yield, Española alone sending to Spain half a million ounces of gold annually; and according to Herrera 450,000 ounces of gold passed through the four foundries of that isle during the year 1506. All minerals were reserved by the crown, and were, in common with other royal perquisites, jealously guarded. Private individuals were permitted to work the mines, but were obliged to pay into the royal treasury at first two thirds, and afterward one fifth of the proceeds. Later it was ordered that in every audiencia district there should be a melting-house. In 1508 Ferdinand created a province of that part of the coast of tierra firme extending from the gulf of Darien to Cape Gracias á Dios, and called it Castilla del Oro, or Golden Castile, from the great riches it had already yielded, and the golden visions of Columbus, who believed it to be the veritable Aurea Chersonesus, whence was derived the gold used in building Solomon's temple. Diego de Nicuesa was appointed governor of the province for ten years, with the right to enjoy the products of all mines by paying to the crown one tenth of the proceeds of the first year, one ninth the second, one eighth the third, one seventh the fourth, one sixth the fifth, and one fifth of the products of each of the succeeding five years.

In 1510 the bachiller Martin Fernandez de Enciso, while on his way to San Sebastian, on the gulf of Darien, where was planted the colony of Alonso de Ojeda, touched at Cartagena, and there was told of the fabulous wealth of the province of Zenu, east of the gulf of Darien, the mountains of which were so impregnated with gold that during the season of rains, when the swollen streams rushed in torrents through the mountains, the natives spread nets in which they caught the coarsest pieces, some of them being as large as eggs. Enciso was also informed that Zenu was the burial-place for all the surrounding tribes, and that their sepulchres contained many of the most precious ornaments which had been buried with their dead. The hostilities of the natives prevented their penetrating the country, but the reputed wealth of the province, the ornamented bones of the sepulchres, and the fishing for gold with nets, long afterward excited the cupidity of the Spaniards, and led to subsequent disastrous expeditions. And when the same astute bachiller drove the cacique Cemano from his village on the western shore of the gulf of Darien, he found secreted in the houses and deposited in caverns along the banks of the River Atrato golden ornaments, bracelets, breastplates and anklets, to the value of ten thousand pesos.^[5]

Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1511 sacked the villages of Ponca, and found "certaine poundes weight of gold, graven and wrought into sundry ouches." The Pacific Ocean, as we well know, was first called by the Spaniards the South Sea. The circumstances which led to this appellation are these: In the year 1512 Balboa, then governor of Antigua, a Spanish settlement on the gulf of Darien, with eighty men, visited an Indian province some thirty leagues to the westward. The province was governed by a cacique named Comagre, whose eldest son, called Panciaco, was remarkable for his intelligence and lofty bearing. In order to appease their avarice, Panciaco presented the Spaniards with a large sum of gold, in the division of which they fell to quarrelling. Panciaco, overcome by disgust, stepped forward, and struck the scales a blow which sent the glittering gold flying in every direction. He then told them that it was unnecessary to fall out for such a trifle, for if they would cross those mountains, pointing toward the south, they would discover a mighty sea, where was gold in abundance. A sea to the southward then became a subject of deep interest to all, and the year following Vasco Nuñez crossed the mountains and discovered this South Sea.

While on the march, Ponca, his old enemy, now reconciled, presented him with some finely wrought ornaments from beyond the mountains, besides 120 pounds of gold from his own dominions. As he was laboring under a sense of great indebtedness to the Spaniards for their beads, hatchets, and hawks-bells, he apologized for the smallness of the gift by saying that he had been robbed the year before by his enemies. The next village at which Vasco Nuñez arrived belonged to a cacique named Quasequa, where after putting the inhabitants to flight the Spaniards found a considerable quantity of gold, one fifth of which was set apart for the crown, and the remainder divided among the adventurers. After making the grand discovery of the Pacific from the summit of the mountain near the gulf of San Miguel, Balboa descended to the sea-shore where he encountered a cacique whose name was Chiapes. A volley of musketry and the charge of the bloodhounds soon pacified this province, and Chiapes being informed of the love which his strange visitors entertained for gold, tremblingly presented him with his entire store, some 400 pesos. For although this country abounded in the precious metal, these natives having no use for it took no pains to gather it.

When, on the 29th of October 1513, Balboa had consummated the ceremonial acts of taking possession of the Southern Sea for the crowns of Castile and Leon, the natives directed his attention to a group of low islands which they represented as being exceedingly rich in pearls. He was then standing upon the shores of the main ocean at the entrance to the gulf of San Miguel, and the islands were some seven leagues distant. One distinguished as being the largest of the group was said to abound in pearls of an immense size, "as large as that," said the Indians, placing the thumb and first finger together, "and taken from shell-fish as large as that," pointing to a buckler which hung from the arm of a Spaniard. Vasco Nuñez thereupon called the largest island Isla Rica, and to the archipelago he gave the name of the Pearl Islands. Isla Rica later became known as the island of San Miguel.

From the town of Chiapes Balboa crossed a great river and entered the province of Cocura, where he obtained gold to the value of six hundred and fifty pesos. He then crossed the water to an arm of the gulf of San Miguel, later known as the Rio Savana, and entered a province belonging to a cacique named Tumaco, who, besides gold valued at 614 pesos, brought him a bowl filled with magnificent pearls, 240 of which were of extraordinary size and beauty.

Vasco Nuñez and his companions were by this time fully aware of the immense riches of that country in gold, for, although the natives placed but little value upon it, merely gathering what they could easily pick up from the surface of the' ground, yet everywhere they found it among the Indians, in larger or smaller quantities, usually wrought into various shapes. But here was proof given them, that this southern sea contained pearls in no less profusion than its shores yielded gold, and a knowledge of this fact greatly enhanced the value of their discovery. "Our men marvelled greatly," says Peter Martyr, "at the size and beauty of these pearls, although they were not perfectly white, because they can not take them out of the sea mussels, except they first roast them, that they may the easier open themselves; and also that the fish may have the better taste. For they esteem it a delicate and princely dish, which they prize more highly than the pearls themselves."

When the chief Tumaco beheld the eagerness with which the Spaniards regarded his pearls, to show them the small value which he placed upon these baubles, and how easily they could be obtained, he sent some of his men to fish for them, and after an absence of four days they returned with a most beautiful collection, amounting to twelve marks weight, or ninety-six ounces. The Spaniards taught them how to open the oyster without damaging the pearl, and the Indians very soon learned to prize the jewel more than the fish. Afterward, when the pearls became an important article of commerce, these Indians trained certain of their youths as divers. By practice they accustomed themselves to remain beneath the water for a long time. They could fish for large pearls only in calm weather as they were found in deep water; the smaller oysters were nearer the beach, and were frequently deposited upon it by the winds and tide.

On his return journey, Vasco Nuñez entered and ascended a large river flowing into the gulf, probably the Savana, to which he gave the name of San Lúcar, and landed at a province called Teaochan, the name of whose chief was Fesca, where he was presented with 160 ounces in gold and 200 pearls large and fine, except that they had been somewhat discolored from the action of the fire.

The next province belonged to a cacique named Poncra, who was hideously deformed, and who abandoned his village on the approach of the Spaniards. Gold to the value of 3,000 pesos was picked up in the village, and the Indians who accompanied Vasco Nuñez informed him that this was one of the richest provinces in all those parts. Balboa named the place Todos Santos. Part of his company who had remained at the town of Chiapes joined him at this place. As they journeyed northward from Chiapes they entered the dominions of a cacique called Bononiama. Their fame having preceded them, this chieftain received them with every demonstration of joy. and immediately presented them with gold valued at 2,000 pesos. They then accompanied this band of Spaniards to Todos Santos, in order to pay their respects to Vasco Nuñez. Continuing their journey toward the north, they were one day overtaken by a band of Indians who came from a province which lay some distance out of their course, and, presenting the Spaniards with thirty large gold plates, weighing 14,000 pesos, they invited them to visit their chief, who would give them a much larger amount. They also begged Vasco Nuñez to assist them in subjugating a powerful neighbor, whose riches were very great. During their homeward march, gold had accumulated so rapidly, that they were unable to carry both their treasure and a sufficient quantity of provisions. Although they had Indians in abundance to act as beasts of burden, yet each man was not able to carry more than two days' supply in addition to his load of metal. They endured, therefore, intense suffering.

Descending the northern declivities of the mountains, they rested at a village, the cacique of which was called Pocorosa, who gave them gold valued at 1,500, pesos, at the same time informing them of a neighbor named Tumanamá, whom Vasco Nuñez with seventy men surprised by night and took prisoner with his eighty wives and gold to the value of 9,000 pesos. Not long after he was released, when he collected within a few days ninety marks of gold and gave it to Balboa. Being asked where this gold was found, Tumanamá, refused to answer, fearful that if the locality was made known to the Spaniards they would never leave his dominions. It was ascertained by trial, however, that the soil in the vicinity was richly impregnated, and Vasco Nuñez determined to establish there a fort for the protection of mining and commerce between the two seas. Continuing their way toward the north, the Spaniards arrived at the village of Comagre. The old chief was dead, and Panciaco succeeded to the honors and dignities of his father. He received Vasco Nuñez with great joy, presented him with gold to the value of 2,000 pesos, and received in return a linen shirt and some trinkets, with which he was highly delighted. The Spaniards then returned to Antigua, carrying with them 40,000 pesos in gold, which on account of the immense yield from Peru is worth at this time, a. d. 1600, says Herrera, more than 300,000.^[6]

It appears from the narratives of Vasco Nuñez and others, that upon the Isthmus at this time gold was held by the natives in about the same estimation that copper, iron, or any base metal is regarded by primitive nations. It was usually found wrought into ornaments, such as breastplates, anklets, wristlets, as well as vessels for domestic jmrposes. In fact, when the use of iron became known to the natives, they valued that metal above anything on earth, and thought themselves extremely fortunate if they could obtain a hatchet, a knife, or even a piece of old hoop iron, for an equal weight of gold.

 

Mining for gold on the continent of America was first attempted by Europeans in the year 1514. Three leagues from the settlement of Santa María de la Antigua del Darien was found a spot where the hill-sides, plains, and river-banks were so richly impregnated as to attract the attention of the colonists. It was their custom to first elect a raining superintendent, or surveyor, under whose direction plots of ground were measured off twelve paces square, the location of which was at the option of the claimant, only avoiding preoccupied ground. Indian slaves were then set to work, and if the spot chosen proved barren, it might be abandoned and another selected.

About this time were started among the colonists of Darien stories of the golden temple of Dabaiba, inland from them a little south of west sixty or eighty leagues. The colonists sought to find the place and failed. Two subsequent attempts, both equally unsuccessful were made to capture the golden temple, one by Vasco Nuñez and Luis Carrillo conjointly, and the other by the factor of Pedrarias, Juan de Tabira. A priest of the priory of Darien named Jacobo Alvarez Osorio spent many years searching for the golden temple, during which time he endured great hardships and experienced many dangers.

Tello de Guzman with one hundred men penetrated to the South Sea in 1515. He discovered the site of ancient Panamá, a country famous for its richness, but where he found only some fishermen's huts. From the province of Chagre he obtained gold to the value of 12,000 Castellanos, and from Chepo 12,000. He returned to Antigrua loaded with gold, but almost famished from hunger and thirst. Gonzalo de Padajoz, another captain of Pedrarias, crossed the Isthmus in 1515 from Nombre de Dios to the bay of Panamá with one hundred and thirty men. Upon the summit of the cordilleras Badajoz surprised a chief named Totonagua, from whom he obtained gold valued in all at 12,000 Castellanos. From a neighboring cacique he received in return for his friendship 8,000. They found this mountain region exceedingly rich in gold. "Wherever they digged," says Peter Martyr, "whether on the dry land or in the wot channels of the rivers, they found the sand which they cast forth mixed with gold." At the village of Natá, on the western border of the gulf of Panamá, the Spaniards found gold to the value of 10,000 Castellanos; south-west of Natá from a cacique named Escolia they obtained 9,000, and at other provinces from two to ten thousand Castellanos. Thus far Badajoz had secured gold to the value of 80,000 Castellanos, "which was worth more in those days," says Herrera, "than 500,000 after the discovery of Peru."

The whole country in the vicinity of the bay of Panamá, and for two hundred leagues above and below Darien, according to the last mentioned chronicler, was found to be exceedingly rich in gold. That in the possession of the natives, however, was usually found wrought into breastplates, and utensils of various sorts. Such as was found in a native state must have been quite fine, as Herrera mentions several pieces of extraordinary size found by Badajoz, which weighed two Castellanos, While in this vicinity Badajoz entered the province of a cacique named Cutará, but whom the Spaniards called Paris. The chieftain fled at their approach, but upon being threatened with the bloodhounds, he sent them, in four baskets, gold to the value of 50,000 pesos. The ungrateful Spaniards, flushed with their success, entered his village by night and secured nearly as much more. This base treachery so exasperated the savages that they attacked Badajoz with an army of 4,000 warriors, killed seventy of his men, and captured all the gold which he had taken, amounting to over 160,000 Castellanos, equivalent to at least one million of dollars at the present time. Subsequently he visited the island of Tabogá, where he obtained a small quantity of gold. He then returned to Antigua.

"When I was superintendent of the mint in Castilla del Oro," says Oviedo, "I have often melted gold from Veragua, and am well convinced of the existence of rich mines in that province." The colonists at Natá established a considerable traffic with the natives of Veragua, sending thither their Indian servants with cotton cloth and hammocks to exchange for gold.

The Pearl Islands were first visited by Gaspar de Morales and Francisco Pizarro. After the cacique was pacified by the arms of the Spaniards, he took Morales up into a tower which stood upon the roof of his house, whence an unbroken view was presented, and pointing to the islands on either side said, "Behold the infinite sea, extending even beyond the sunbeams; behold the islands, all are subject to my sway. They contain but little gold; but the deep places in all these seas and about all these islands are full of pearls, of which you shall have as many as you will, so that you continue your friendship to me." He brought a basket of pearls of one hundred marks weight, and agreed to pay annually to the king of Spain one hundred pounds of pearls, as though it was a very light matter.

In 1516 the licentiate Gaspar de Espinosa traversed the Isthmus, and recaptured the greater part of the gold which had been taken from Badajoz; but the natives fled to the mountains at his approach, and although he found the country at large well drained by former raids, the large amount which he recovered was sufficient to enrich every man of his company.

In 1522 Gil Gonzales and András Niño discovered the north-western coast from Panamá, to the bay of Fonseca, taking possession of the province of Nicaragua. During the seventeen months of their absence they journeyed 640 leagues, and with 100 men went inland 244 leagues, begging bread and gold. Of the latter they obtained the value of 112,500 pesos, a portion of which was of inferior quality, and worth twelve or thirteen dollars an ounce. They also obtained pearls to the value of 145 pesos. This inferior gold they found wrought into hatchets and other useful implements, and bells the purity and value of which were tested by the sound, as the purer the gold the more dull and flat would be the sound. Of the 112,500 pesos thus obtained, 40,000 were found between the bay of David and the bay of San Vicente;' 14,000, thirteen carats fine, were donated by the cacique Nicoya in return for the baptism of 6,000 of his subjects. The cacique Nicaragua cheerfully gave the Spaniards 25,000 pesos.

Hernando de Soto, one of the captains of Francisco Hernandez de Córdoba, who was sent to Nicaragua by Pedrarias after the return of Gil Gonzales, collected an inferior quality of gold to the value of 130,000 pesos, which was taken from him by Gil Gonzales in an affray between the Spaniards for supremacy in that country.

Diego Lopez de Salcedo, governor of Honduras, journeyed from Trujillo near Cape Honduras, to the city of Leon in Nicaragua. He reported that in the valley of Olancho, about twenty-five leagues south of Trujillo, were mines so rich that with proper tools gold twenty-two carats fine to the value of 200,000 Castellanos might be taken out in two months.

In the year 1528 Martin Estete and Gabriel de Rojas were sent from New Leon by Pedrarias to the River San Juan ini order to ascertain the character of the stream which drains the lake of Nicaragua and Managua. Taking a circuitous route for the purpose of examining the country they reached the ocean at Cape Gracias a Dios, and such was the richness of the country in that vicinity that they founded a colony at that point, and Gabriel de Rojas remained to work the mines. About this time a large quantity of gold was taken from the River Guayape in the valley of Olancho. The first silver mines of which I find mention, were opened in a beautiful valley of Honduras, at a place called New Valladolid, about thirty leagues from Trujillo.^[7]

The colonists at Trujillo up to June 1533, took from the mines in their vicinity 3,532 pesos. They reported many mines rich in gold and other metals in the neighborhood, but such was the continued hostility of the natives that they were obliged to abandon not only their mining camps but the larger settlements. But after the pacification of the country by Pedro de Alvarado the yield of the mines during six months of 1535 was 60,000 pesos, and as early as 1538 the reputation of Honduras as a rich mining country was established.^[8] Francisco de Montejo, governor of Yucatan, about the year 1535 petitioned the crown to add to his government the province of Honduras, stating as a reason for so doing, that in Honduras were rich mines of gold, while in Yucatan there were none, and without that attraction the land of Yucatan never would be pacified.

Felipe Gutierrez, governor of Veragua in 1537, was guided by a native to some rich gold mines situated within three or four leagues of the sea-shore between the rivers Veragua and Concepcion; but being pressed by disease and famine, he, as all others before him had done, was obliged to withdraw from that country. In 1540, five or six men, formerly occupied in the mines of Honduras, crossed over to Española, and reported that land rich in minerals, with an abundance of game, fruit, grain, and honey.^[9]

Diego Gutierrez in 1540 was appointed by the emperor governor of Nueva Cartago, or Costa Rica, and five years later ascended for a few leagues the river Surre, which is supposed to be the same that is now called Revenrayon which flows into the Caribbean Sea in latitude about 10° 20′. Taking possession of a deserted Indian village within the province which gave name to the river, the caciques occupying adjacent provinces brought in an inferior or alloyed gold to the value of 700 ducats. On being questioned whence it was obtained, they replied that it came from certain rivers flowing down the sides of steep mountains in countries very distant. On the southern slope of the mountains Gutierrez found the gold more plentiful and the quality finer. It was fabricated into necklaces and bracelets. The natives carried also golden trumpets three palms in length. Gutierrez was attacked on one of the affluents of the river Grande, or Virillo, which flows into the gulf of Nicoya, in July, 1545, by about 3,000 natives, and himself and nearly all of his men were massacred. This battle resulted in the recovery, by the Indians, of 100,000 Castellanos in gold, which had been taken from them by Gutierrez.^[10]

Three leagues from the city of Granada, in the lake of Nicaragua, is the volcano Massaya, in the bowels of which a fiery liquid eternally boiled. The fact that the ebullition was perpetual, never discharging anything save smoke and flame, and never becoming reduced by evaporation, led a Dominican friar, named Bias del Castillo, to believe the molten mass to be a precious metal. "What a grand idea," thought he, "to draw melted gold from the bowels of the earth in buckets." At length, taking into his confidence other Spaniards he agreed to descend to the floor of the crater and endeavor if possible to obtain some of the precious liquid. For this purpose he carried with him a bucket-shaped piece of thick sheet iron attached to a long chain. Arrived at the floor of the crater he began paying out the chain. Although the situation was none of the coolest, and the good father imagined himself nearer the infernal regions than he ever expected to be before death, all went well. One hundred and fifty fathoms of the chain were paid out, but as soon as it reached the regions of fire below the bucket shrivelled, the chain melted for some distance, and the dream of the gold-drawers was over. The Spaniards passed the night, without needing the light of the sun, meditating upon the uncertainty of volcanic mining operations.^[11] The old Milanese traveller and historian, Girolamo Benzoni, affirms that when in Nicaragua, about the year 1546, there were no mines of any description, although the natives had in their possession an abundance of gold, much alloyed, however, which had been brought from other provinces.^[12]

The shore of Venezuela was called by the early Spanish settlers the Pearl Coast, from the immense yield of that gem in those parts. The licentiate, Don Pedro Ordoñez de Zevallos, who visited that country in 1660, asserts that he saw at the fishery huge piles of pearls which could be measured by the bushel. On the coast of Urabá, he discovered a temple which contained large idols of solid gold adorned with crowns, sun or wheel-like, the smallest of which had rays or spokes of pure gold weighing twenty-eight pounds.

 

In Peru we shall find equally great gold-gathering stories; and there is no doubt that the yield from this quarter assisted greatly in revolutionizing the commerce and finances of the world.

During his first voyage along the coast of Peru, Pizarro found gold in large quantities only at Tumbez, a town situated at the entrance to the gulf of Guayaquil, although it was discovered to be in the hands of all the natives to a greater or less extent. Having with him but a few men, he gave orders that gold should be treated with indifference, so that the apprehensions of the natives might not be excited, and that the subsequent harvest might be the richer.^[13]

The Indian province of Coaque lying directly under the equinoctial line originally abounded in emeralds, found in no other region upon that coast. When the Spaniards under Pizarro invaded that province in 1531, besides an abundance of gold and silver, they collected large quantities of this gem, some of them as large as pigeons' eggs. It is said that the rude soldiers, not knowing the value of this beautiful stone, broke them in pieces in order to test their value, as they had been informed by one of the missionary friars that the emerald was harder than steel and could not be broken, and by this means alone could their genuineness be proved.^[14]

Proceeding southward and penetrating the interior, the Spaniards seized the ruler of the realm. Not long after his capture the inca offered such a ransom as never prince or potentate dared promise before. "I will cover this floor with gold," said he to Pizarro, "if you will let me go." Then perceiving looks of incredulity, which seemed to treat his offer as the insane boast of an exasperated captive, "Nay," said he, "I will fill the room with gold as high as you can reach," and stepping to the wall he made a mark nine feet from the floor. "And if that is not enough, yonder room," he exclaimed, pointing to a smaller apartment adjoining, "that room shall be twice filled with silver if you will grant me my liberty." The gold was not to be melted down, but was to retain its fabricated form, and two months were allowed for the fulfilment of the agreement. Francisco Pizarro readily accepted the offer, gave a promise of release before a notary, and kept it by finally killing his captive. Atahualpa was garroted in prison, by order of Pizarro, just before the glittering pile had reached the stipulated mark. The rapidity with which this vast treasure came in showed the wealth of the empire. The gold and silver of the Peruvians was lodged for the most part in the temples of the sun, and the palaces of the inca. The chief places of deposit were Quito and Cuzco, five hundred leagues apart, and the metal was transported from every quarter of the realm on the backs of native porters. Sometimes treasure to the value of 40,000 or 60,000 Castellanos would arrive in a single day.^[15]

The articles gathered consisted of plates and other decorations for the temples and royal edifices, domestic ornaments and utensils, vases, salvers, and goblets, besides curiously wrought representations of animals and plants. The golden ear of maize encased in silver husk and tassel; singing birds with gold and silver plumage; golden fountains with golden fishes swimming in their waters were among the articles which composed this motley mass. All this except such of the finest specimens as were set aside for a royal present, was melted down into ingots of a uniform size and standard.

Three Spaniards who were sent to Cuzco to superintend the collecting, stripped from the sacred edifices 700 plates, each about fifteen inches in length by ten inches in width. One of the temples was adorned by a cornice of solid gold, which however was so firmly set as to resist their efforts. Two hundred cargas of gold and twenty-five of silver were thus added to the heap with which the captive monarch hoped to procure his liberty.

Native goldsmiths were employed by the royal inspectors to perform this work of reduction, and such was its magnitude that more than one month was consumed before it was finished. When melted down and weighed, the whole amount which the inca had thus collected for his ransom was found to be 1,326,539 Castellanos of gold, and 51,610 marks of silver, equivalent at the present time to at least twenty millions of dollars.^[16]

The distribution of this magnificent prize among a conjparatively small band of adventurers took place under the superintendence of Pizarro on the 25th of July 1533, in the great square of Caxamalca. After invoking divine assistance in the performance of what he affirmed to be a work of the most solemn responsibility, he awarded to himself 57,222 Castellanos of gold and 2,350 marks of silver. He also ap-. propriated to his own use the chair or throne of the inca, which was of solid gold and valued at 25,000 Castellanos. He awarded to his brother Fernando Pizarro 31,080 Castellanos of gold and 2,350 marks of silver. To Hernando de Soto he gave 17,740 castellanos of gold and 724 marks of silver. The cavalry, about fifty-five in number, were allowed each. 8,880 Castellanos of gold and 362 marks of silver, and of the infantry eighty received each 4,440 Castellanos of gold and 180 marks of silver, and the remainder, twenty-five in number, most of them 3,330 Castellanos of gold and 135 marks of silver each. Servants and underlings received a smaller amount. The church of San Francisco, which had been erected as a testimonial of gratitude to that divine providence which had so highly favored their unrighteous cause, was endowed with 22,220 Castellanos. Fifteen thousand Castellanos were sent to the colonists of San Miguel, and 120,000 were assigned to Almagro and his company.

Departing from Caxamalca the Spaniards entered Cuzco, the imperial city of the incas, on the 15th of November. Although rifled in a measure of its precious ornaments for the ransom of Atahualpa, there remained much which yet lay exposed to the cupidity of the soldiers. The palaces and sacred edifices were again plundered; the royal mummies deposited in the great temple of Coricancha, which had hitherto been respected by the Spaniards, were stripped as were also the sepulchres. Valuables which had been removed to a place of fancied security were unearthed. Not far from the city was found a cavern from which were brought forth golden vases and finely wrought imitations of insects, reptiles, and animals. Among the articles collected in the city were several female statues, life-size, of pure though thin gold, also golden llamas, slippers and sandals of gold, and female dresses made wholly of beads of gold. On their way thither the conquerors had added greatly to their store of wealth. Ten solid silver planks, each twenty feet in length, one foot in width, and from two to three inches in thickness, were found in one place. It is supposed that these huge bars were intended to be used in the construction of a dwelling for some Peruvian prince.

After completing their work of plunder in the capital, the division was made as at Caxamalca. Specimens of the finest workmanship were set aside for the emperor; the whole mass was melted down by native goldsmiths, the king's fifth deducted, and the remainder divided in like proportion as before. The total amount is said by some to have exceeded the inca's ransom. Others place the amount as low as 580,200 Castellanos of gold, and 215 marks of silver. The immediate effect of such vast wealth distributed so suddenly among a band of coarse, lawless men, unaccustomed to the use of money and incapable of self-restraint, was to 'excite the soldiers to every species of debauchery and gaming, and to raise exorbitantly the prices of all such commodities or articles as would minister to their pride or lust. The vice of gambling invariably stands prominent in such cases. Immense sums were ventured on the turn of a card, or on a single throw of the dice. Some lost their entire portion in a single day. A story is told of a horseman named Leguizarro to whom had fallen, in the distribution at Cuzco, an image of the sun. The figure was finely embossed on a burnished plate of solid gold. It had been taken from the wall of the great temple of the sun, and for some reason had not been recast. One night this cavalier continued his play until a late hour. His sun was the bank from which he drew his stakes; in the attempt to retrieve his losses, and just before morning, his sun was gone. Hence the proverb, "Juega el sol antes que amanezca." Gamble away the sun before daybreak. An ordinary horse at that time in Cuzco brought 2,500 Castellanos, equivalent at the present time to about forty thousand dollars. A pair of shoes sold for thirty Castellanos; a quire of paper for ten; a bottle of wine for sixty; a sword for fifty, and a cloak for one hundred. The cavaliers shod their horses with silver.

While Pizarro was thus reaping his magnificent harvest at Caxamalca and Cuzco, the attention of envious cavaliers was turned towards Quito, where like unbounded wealth according to report awaited the conqueror. No less than three adventurous captains, Pedro de Alvarado, the famous hero of Mexico, now governor of Guatemala, Diego de Almagro, and Sebastian Benalcázar who had been left in command of the fortress of San Miguel, met in that city about the middle of 1534. About seven hundred Spaniards besides larger bodies of Indians were thus congregated in and about Quito, ready to vindicate their right to the supposed riches of the city by force of arms. It was soon discovered, however, that the fancied gold and silver stores of Quito were an illusion. Either no treasure to speak of had ever existed, or it had been hidden by the natives. Thus the object of their contention being removed, the Spaniards became brothers. The chivalrous Alvarado even visited Pizarro at Pachacamac, where the two bold and successful adventurers embraced and held high revel for several days.

"From one single hill in Peru," says Garcilaso de la Vega, "200,000,000 pesos were taken as appears by the register, and one hundred more unregistered. One single fleet brought in my time 25,000,000 in gold and silver." Soon after the execution of his old associate, which took place in July 1538, Francisco Pizarro partitioned among his own followers the lands which had been granted by the crown to Diego de Almagro. In this partition, greatly to the discontent of other meritorious cavaliers, the rich silver hills of Potosi fell to Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro. These mines were situated in the province of Charcas, toward the southern extremity of Almagro's dominions. They are said to have been discovered by an Indian who on pulling a shrub out of the ground found hanging to the roots small pieces of silver. They had been worked for a considerable period under the incas. But even the Pizarros, who conducted their operations on a scale much more extensive than any hitherto known in Peru, made no attempt to penetrate any considerable distance below the surface. Subsequently, in 1546, when Gonzalo Pizarro, in opposition to the crown, was master of Peru, large quantities of metal were extracted by his general Francisco de Carbajal. So rich were the veins opened at Potosí that almost all other mines were abandoned as unprofitable, and so common became this metal that iron at Potosi was worth nearly its weight in silver.

According to Zárate the ore was melted in small round furnaces fed by charcoal and sheep's excrements, without the aid of bellows. The best ore was nearly pure silver, and the poorest eighty marks per one hundred pounds. The Pizarros worked these mines wdth Indians, who were obliged to pay to their proprietors two marks or one pound of silver each per day. All over this sum was their own. Over seven thousand Indians were. thus employed. Some of them made much more for themselves than for their masters, and many were worth from three to four thousand Castellanos.^[17]

The Indian method in Peru was to dig a ditch along the side of a river, into which they threw the gold-bearing earth. Then turning in the water the dirt was carried away and the gold remained. "This," says the Spanish captain, "I have often seen done."^[18]

By the beginning of the seventeenth century the product of the precious meta/ls in Peru was $11,000,000 per annum. The immense treasure secured by the conquerors had directed thither the attention of gold-seekers, and the Peruvian mines for a time overshadowed those of Mexico, and all others of the world. This being almost the only industry of the times, the conquerors used to drive the natives at the point of the sword upon the rich silver-hills, so to secure an abundant return. "All the Indians between the ages of eighteen and fifty were enrolled in seven lists, the individuals on each list being obliged to work for six months in the mines, so that this forced labor came on the unfortunate Indians at intervals of three and a half years; four out of every five were supposed to perish annually in these deadly labors."

 

Having thus briefly reviewed the first gold-gatherings of Central and South America, let us turn to Mexico.

It is unnecessary again to recite the efforts of Montezuma to procure his ransom, details of which I have fully given in the first volume of my History of Mexico. Among the earliest gold-seeking expeditions in this quarter, after the fall of the empire, was one under Gonzalo de Umbría, to Zacatula, and another under Pizarro toward Tochtepec and Malinaltepec. Both returned with gold washed from the sands of the rivers.^[19]

The early expeditions to extend conquest gave opportunity to make further researches, and within a few years a number of Spaniards were busily engaged in the examination of what were afterward the several mining districts. Among the first regions thus examined were those of Guazpaltepec and Xaltepec, which the Spaniards reached on the expedition to Tochtepec under Gonzalo de Sandoval. Several years later they extended their labors to Michoacan, attracted by the fabulous yield of the Morcillo mine, which for a short time was worked with great success, but later, as was said, disappeared in a mysterious manner.^[20]

The conquerors, more skilled in arms than in arts, were not able to invent or introduce a new miningr system, but adhered to that adopted by the Aztecs. Expert as were the latter in working the different metals, the exploitation of the mines was still in a primitive condition, which was not much to boast of, beintj little more than skimminof the surface of the ground,^[21] or washing the sands of the rivers. Their smelting apparatus was likewise deficient, and the only means at their disposition to increase the heat of the small furnaces was the use of blow-pipes of bamboo. This explains why golden jewelry was more common than that made of silver: it was not bv reason of the greater scarcity of the latter, but on account of the increased difficulty in extracting it from the ores. In the course of time intelligent miners came from Spain, and introduced improvements, such as smelting by aid of bellows. Due to the stimulation thus given, new reales^[22] sprang up everywhere, especially in the northern region, which proved to be richer in minerals than the southern districts. The discovery, about 1539,^[23] of several mines toward the south, among which were those of Taxco, Sultepec, Tzumpanco, and Temazcaltepec, was soon followed by finding the rich lodes of San Luis Potosí, and of Zacatecas, in 1548.^[24]

From the first, the development of mines had met with the favor of the crown; and franchises and privileges contributed to swell the number of adventurers, who strove to acquire immediate wealth. The great conqueror, Cortés himself, had set the example, by separating for his own share valuable tracts of metalliferous land, and many were eager to secure a similar chance of prosperity. Contrary to the usual policy, the government generously refrained from appropriating to itself the exploitation.^[25] Nominally the mines belonged to the crown, but since 152G they were practically made common property, in so far as with (certain formalities all free inhabitants, indiscriminately, whether Spaniards or natives, were entitled to work them.^[26] Only certain officials were excluded to prevent abuses, and friars and priests were not allowed to be interested in mining schemes. In later years, rewards were fixed for the discovery of new mines, and orders issued to the viceroys to foster exploitations in every possible way.^[27] Mining implements, supplies, and slaves of the proprietors of mines could not be attached unless for debts to the crown, and executions could be levied only against the product, and not against the property. Miners could not be imprisoned for debt except in their own district, and even then they were entitled to certain hours to look after their affairs.^[28] One of the first laws issued for New Spain had temporarily reduced the duty on gold obtained by mining from one fifth to one tenth; subsequently efforts were made to collect the original rate; but owing to the continuous petitions^[29] the crown several times extended the exemption, always for a limited period, until in 1716 it was made perpetual. Evidence of the royal wish was in the laws which required the audiencias and corregidores to compel vagrants, Spaniards as well as mixed breeds, to work in mines.^[30] Criminals sentenced to hard labor could also be thus employed, their wages being turned into the royal treasury.

Soon after the working of the mines was begun steps were taken to secure the natives against the oppression of the Spaniards, but this tended, among other results, to keep the Indians from disclosing the existence of veins. It was ordered that the rewards assigned in such cases should be religiously paid, with exemption from tribute of discoverers and their descendants. Their territorial rights should also be duly respected, so as to leave them the ownership of mines situated within the limits of their property. Under certain conditions Indians could be employed to work in the mines, but strict regulations existed to ensure them a fair compensation, and the abuses from which they suffered in the sixteenth century^[31] gradually disappeared. The payment by shares, partido, which soon predominated over the daily wages given to tanda gangs,^[32] could not fail to promote the interests of both employers and laborers, although the gambling table received only too much of the increased earnings.^[33]

For the first decades the method of extracting metals was so backward that only rich ores could be worked, especially in regions where fuel was scarce. In 1557, however, Bartolomé de Medina, a miner of the district of Pachuca, discovered the amalgamation process, and bestowed on the world a boon of which New Spain may be proud. His plan of extracting the fine metals from ores with the aid of quicksilver rendered results so satisfactory that but few improvements have since been introduced. Little is known of the discoverer,^[34] a fact which almost implies that he derived little benefit from a discovery which was of vast importance to the mining industry. Ores which formerly had been considered worthless, were now regarded with more interest; veins held to be unproductive were worked anew', and so rapid was the adoption of the process that within five years Zacatecas alone had thirty-five reduction works, and yet they by no means displaced existing methods in every place.^[35]

The quicksilver necessary for the amalgamation was sent from Spain by the regular fleets and under control of the government, which reserved for itself the monopoly, partly on account of the revenue derived from it, partly because of the supervision thus obtained over the yield of metal; for miners had to make returns in proportion to the quantity of quicksilver distributed. It was given out only at the capital,^[36] by royal officials, who with the superior connivance of the viceroy formed a body called the tribunal de azogues.^[37] Whenever the quicksilver mines of Almaden in Spain failed to yield the required quantity, which in New Spain alone amounted to fifteen or sixteen thousand quintals,^[38] the deficit was supplied from Austria at a dearer rate, rarely from Peru.^[39] The commodity was supposed to be sold at actual cost, in order to encourage mining,^[40] the price ranging from one hundred and eighty-seven pesos a quintal in 1590 to forty-one pesos for Spanish and sixty-three pesos for German quicksilver in 1777.^[41] Occasionally also special reductions were made to foster the development of certain mines. This liberality of the crown was somewhat counteracted by limiting the distribution in Mexico, and also by the tribunal officials in granting preferences and more substantial favors to those who paid for them.

The government monopoly extended over the quicksilver mines of New Spain. In 1609 a law was issued, promising rewards to discoverers of such deposits, but when found they were not allowed to be worked^[42] lest they should affect the interests of the crown. This fostered a belief that no cinnabar existed in New Spain, while in reality it was most abundant, especially between latitudes 19° and 22°.^[43] In the beginning of the eighteenth century fresh discoveries in Zacatecas and near Cuernavaca^[44] roused such clamor against the existing restrictions that finally a commission was sent from Spain in 1778 to investigate the prospects for working the vein. The result proved a failure. After expending about 160,000 pesos it was declared to be unprofitable to the crown; yet certain private persons duly authorized continued to work mines with varying success.^[45]

 

It is not my purpose in the present chapter to enter fully into the geological features of New Spain, but merely to present a brief outline for the better understanding of the subject. It is astonishing how little attention has been given to this science in a country whose interests are intimately connected with it. The more progressive spirit of the republicans has been so shackled by the unsettled condition of affairs, as greatly to retard exploration, and while certain districts have been the object of diligent investigations only too many remained unnoticed.

Proceeding from the sandy coast at Vera Cruz into the interior, it is not till one ascends the tierra templada that porphyries and limestone are encountered. Above these, volcanic rocks and lava extend over many parts of the plateau, intermingled with porphyries and pebbles under a layer of hardened clay. On the Pacific coast from Tehuantepec to Acapulco granitic rock prevails, but from the latter place toward Mexico porphyries again take their place, mixed with heavy formations of limestone similar to those on the eastern slope. In the volcanic region, almost in a direct line from east to west along the nineteenth parallel, lava and porous amygdaloids are most frequent, but beyond Querétaro they give way to porphyries. The latter indeed abound in the whole country, especially in the northern regions, yet south of Durango numerous veins of trachytic rock are found crossed in an easterly direction by beds of lava. . On the eastern slope of the Sierra Madre, in Durango, the porphyries sometimes overlap extensive beds of veryfine gritstone, and exhibit greater softness than those south of the capital, with a large admixture of mica. Quartz is the most common of gangues, and its outcrops in the plateau serve frequently as a guide to prospectors.

The general direction of metallic veins is from the north-west to the south-east, and this being especially the case with the richer kind it is always taken into consideration on filing a claim. The average breadth of the vein is six feet, except on the Veta Grande of Zacatecas, where it is from thirty to thirty-five feet, the maximum being even seventy-five feet. In some districts, as in Sonora and Chihuahua, the ore lies near the surface, but generally this is not the case, a circumstance which in colonial times, with the prevailing backwardness of drainage and other operations, impeded the search for deeper-lying zones in the veins.

There are essentially two forms under which argentiferous ores occur. Near the surface, where exposed to external influence, the metallic substances are generally in the form of oxides, or combined with iron, chlorine, or bromine, and receive from their reddish color the name colorados. Those at greater depth have usually retained the condition of all primitive sulphuric bases, and are found in connection with pyrites, galena, or blende. The latter two predominate, and a dark color results which has given rise to their designation of black ores, or negros. They give the greatest part of all the silver produced in the country. The average richness of the ores has been frequently overrated, and the occurrence of enormous blocks of native silver considered as frequent,^[46] while in reality they are very rare, and never larger than those found in European mines. The average yield is from three to four ounces of silver to the quintal of ore, and the enormous returns of New Spain are due rather to the great abundance of the ore.^[47] Gold is obtained chiefly from placers in Sonora and the northern regions. In Oajaca it also occurs in rocks, but the exploitation has not proved very profitable. Elsewhere it is rarely found except in connection with argentiferous ores, in some instances in the proportion of about two ounces to the quintal.

 

Although mining was chiefly confined to silver, gold, and cinnabar ores, the country by no means lacked other metals. Iron existed at Colima, in Oajaca, Zacatecas, Jalisco, and other districts, and was worked for some time, but only to a limited extent.^[48] Still worse fared it with copper which abounded in Michoacan. Mines were leased at a low price in 1657 and attempts were made by several viceroys to work them, but they were invariably abandoned after a brief trial.^[49] The great abundance of precious metals seems to have excluded the others;^[50] all mining except for the precious metals was as a rule limited to local demand, and only in the nineteenth century has more attention been given to others, as will be shown in a later volume.

More prominent were the quarries of tetzontli, the porous amygdaloid found in the neighborhood of Mexico and so frequently used for its buildings. Salines were extensively worked in different parts of the country, chiefly in Jalisco, Peñon Blanco in San Luis Potosí, Colima, and Oajaca. As the produce was required not only for domestic purposes but for the amalgamation process, minute regulations appeared as early as August 23, 1580,^[51] concerning their management, and in later years they were temporarily reserved for the crown. The process of extraction consisted merely in distributing the salt water into shallow pools to be evaporated. Rock salt was not known.

From the frequent allusions of the early chroniclers an abundance of precious stones might be supposed to exist in New Spain, and in 1541 petitions were in fact directed to the king, soliciting permission to work deposits of sapphires, rubies, and turquoises in Oajaca. Nothing came of it, however, evidently because the beds proved to be fictitious. A number of simple stones, considered as precious by the Aztecs, enjoyed the same estimation among the conquerors until the fallacy became known, and since then nothing more has been heard of the supposed emeralds, rubies, and sapphires.

 

The mining region of New Spain covered in 1800 about 12,225 square leagues, including the northern provinces, and was divided into thirty-seven departments or diputaciones de minería, with about five hundred subdivisions or reales de minas, comprising approximately three thousand mines.^[52]

Taking as a guide the product of the different mines, those of Guanajuato, Catorce, in San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas, rank as the most prominent,^[53] all of them situated between latitude 21° and 24°. The first had been discovered in the middle of the sixteenth century by muleteers trafficking between Zacatecas and Mexico, and the principal vein was struck in the shafts of Mellado and Rayas in 1558.^[54] The latter mine and the Valenciana take the lead in the district of Guanajato, where the yield, in the beginning of the century, formed about one seventh of the total for all America. Official returns place the aggregate product from 1701 till 1809 at 37,290,017 marks of silver, and 88,184 marks of gold, estimated at $318,935,554.^[55] One single mine, the Valenciana, yielded in less than five years about $14,000,000, and in 1791 as much silver as all the mines of Peru. Although open since the sixteenth century the work had been unprofitable till 1668, when the owners, Obregon, later conde de Valenciana, and Otero, struck a rich vein, which after 1771 gave at times as much as $2,500,000 per annum.^[56] During twenty years the ores averaged five ounces of silver to the quintal.

In San Luis Potosí, the veins in the district of Catorce,^[57] discovered in 1773, and worked with success since 1778, eclipsed all others, which in that region had acquired fame during the preceding two centuries. One mine alone, belonging to a priest named Flores, yielded, during the first year, 1,600,000 pesos. The product of the whole district, from 1778 till 1810, was estimated at 4,000,000 pesos yearly; and that of the entire intendencia San Luis de Potosi, from 1556 till 1789, at 92,736,294 marks of silver, representing 788,258,212 pesos. Next in importance to the mines of Catorce, were those in the districts of Bolaños and Ramos,^[58] which in some years also yielded enormously, and gave weight to the general belief that they were inexhaustible.

A similar view prevailed concerning the third prominent mining region, that of Zacatecas, which, since its discovery in the middle of the sixteenth century, had always offered a vast field to enterprising persons.^[59] That it was not unfounded becomes evident from the estimated production for one hundred and eighty years, till 1732, which is placed at $832,232,880. After this period the yield increased, and in 1808 Zacatecas furnished nearly as much silver as Guanajuato.^[60] The principal vein, the Veta Grande, gave in eighteen years, from 1790 till 1808, 1,293,463 marks of silver, valued at $11,317,792.^[61] The exploitation of mines in the district of Sombrerete was for a time equally successful, the celebrated Veta Negra there having produced within six months more than 700,000 marks of silver, and about four million pesos of net profits. To this period probably belongs the story that a rich miner of Zacatecas on the occasion of his daughter's wedding had the streets paved with bricks of silver, from his house to the church.^[62]

In the northern provinces of Durango, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua, though most of them were supposed to be equal if not superior in mineral wealth to the other districts, mining was conducted on a smaller scale.^[63] The reasons must be attributed to the small population, the frequent raids of wild tribes, and the difficulty of exchanging the bullion for coined silver. The latter could be effected only at the mint of Mexico, a circumstance which proved to be a serious encumbrance on mining operations even in the less remote intendencias of San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas, particularly to miners with small capital.

This difficulty gave rise to the business of middlemen, or of rescatadores, as they were called.^[64] They or their agents would purchase the ore, extract the metal at their own expense, and exchange it in Mexico for coin. The miner, receiving immediate cash returns for his ores, was enabled to continue the output; and although the accommodation was obtained at considerable sacrifice, a great difficulty was removed. In the southern regions rescatadores were less numerous, for the miners there enjoyed greater facilities in being nearer to the capital.

The principal districts in the neighborhood of Mexico were Taxco and Pachuca, and Tlalpujagua in Michoacan. Since the days of the conquest Spaniards had worked the veins of Taxco, and Cortés constructed there a gallery, El Socabon del Rey, of sufficient dimensions to be entered on horseback for a distance of about three hundred feet. This district reached the height of its prosperity between 1752 and 1762, after which it declined so rapidly that at the end of the century the yield, together with that of the mines of Tehuilotepec and others, barely amounted to 60,000 marks of silver. A similar fate was encountered by the mines of Pachuca, including Real del Monte, Atotonilco, and Moran, as the most important. The first, also called from the richest vein the Vizcaina, was worked with fair success from the sixteenth till the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the difficulties of drainage led to its abandonment. Work was however resumed near Moran by Bustamante and Terreros, and with many difficulties concluded in 1762 by the latter. The result was a great success, one vein alone covering all the expenses, whilst others were so productive that within fourteen years a net profit of about five million pesos had been derived by Terreros who afterward figured as Conde de Regla.^[65] Work was conducted with alternating success till 1801,^[66] when it declined under the increasing expenditure, and never resumed its former dimensions.

It has been stated that soon after the fall of Mexico Spaniards engaged in mining speculations in Michoacan. The attraction centred after 1562 at Tlalpujagua, and down to the beginning of the eighteenth century the result proved satisfactory. Work was then suspended till 1743, when again a brief period of successful development began, yielding, within eight years, about ten million pesos. The excessive cost of drainage then caused the mines to be abandoned.^[67]

 

Thus we see that the greatest development of mining took place in the second half of the eighteenth century, when certain important discoveries gave fresh impulse to this industry, fostered at the same time by a beneficial policy. Miners then awoke to the necessity of organizing for mutual aid, notably by framing a new code of laws with which to replace the cumbrous and faulty regulations in force. Consequently, in February 1774, a petition was directed to the king, for constituting as the Cuerpo dc la Minería de Nueva España, a corporation which was to embrace all owners of mines in New Spain.^[68] Similar plans having already been entertained by the government, the request was granted by royal cédula of July 1, 1776, In the following year, the 4th of May,^[69] the formal installation took place under the above given name, and steps were taken for the establishment of the tribunal de minería simultaneously created, which had also legal jurisdiction in mining cases.^[70]To defray expenses one real was levied for every mark of silver coined, an impost formerly collected under the name of derecho de señoreage, and now donated by the king. It served to defray the salaries of the officials,"^[71] and the expenses of the mining college, any surplus being employed to pay the interest of capital taken up by the tribunals for subventions, or avíos,^[72] to needy miners. The labors of the tribunal in the latter respect proved of great benefit, and gave a new impulse to exploration of mineral districts. In later years this branch, which might be called a mining bank, met with reverses,^[73] and the college, which depended upon it, could be maintained only with great sacrifices, the expenses amounting annually to about thirty thousand pesos. The Real Seminario de Mineria, as it was proudly called, indeed never fulfilled its object, although for some time it was under the management of able directors and teachers,^[74] for it had been founded on a plan too vast and elaborate to be practicable.^[75]

The greatest achievement of the tribunal was the compilation of the celebrated Ordenanzas de Minería, which, translated into several languages and widely commented upon, have formed the first complete code of colonial mining laws. For two hundred and fifty years, since Cortés planted the banner of Castile on the ruins of Tenochtitlan till about 1770, the legislation of the mining industry had been ruled by a mixture of decrees and ordinances^[76] which had gradually become inapplicable. Therefore when the mining tribunal was created, orders came that it should frame a new code, a work completed in 1779. In August of that year it was sent to the court, and approved by royal cedilla of May 22, 1783.^[77]

A prominent new feature therein was the change of jurisdiction in mining cases. Hitherto with few exceptions miners had been tried in the usual way, by the ordinary courts; now the mining tribunal was given an authority which finally-became exclusive, and which it exercised in the districts through diputaciones. Great stress was laid upon the requirement for the judges to be expert miners,^[78] and for conducting the trials in a summary way.^[79] Suits for small sums could only be carried on verbally, and in all cases the respective judges had to attempt the reconciliation of the contending parties.^[80]

The former regulations for taking up new as well as abandoned mines^[81] were reformed, and the rights of previous owners received greater respect. The discovery of new veins was rewarded by a greater allotment of ground.^[82] Foreigners could not hold possession of mines or work the same, unless with special permission from the crown, nor were the clergy and religious corporations entitled to do so. In view of the greater efficiency of raining corporations as compared with individuals, their formation was fostered by the grant of exceptional privileges, but withal the interests of the laborers were not overlooked. A number of regulations set forth their duties and their rights; they should receive equitable pay in coin, or in goods at the lowest prices. The diputaciones were instructed to protect them against usury or imposition and see to it that their food be of good quality. When imprisoned for debt the laborer could demand permission to pay off his obligation by working under guard, and to receive a share of his wages for the support of his family. The prevailing idea in the new ordinances was, in fact, to encourage mining operations by liberal protection. The sharp practice of financial agents was checked by limiting the rate of interest on advances to five per cent.^[83] As the bank connected with the tribunal had been created to abolish abuses, minute instructions were issued for the management of its funds. The establishment of the mining college not being regarded as sufficient to awaken interest, the study of mineralogy was further stimulated by granting its students honors of nobility, and to practical miners certain other privileges.^[84]

The paternal policy so characteristic of Spanish colonial legislation was displayed in these ordinances. Diputaciones were to admonish extravagant miners, and the tribunal at Mexico had the power to appoint guardians for them. In a similar manner the safety of laborers was provided for by instructions how to effect the ventilation and drainage of mines, and the labor in general. Thus for the first time a check was placed on the random system of working mines hitherto so customary, although no very important innovations appeared. During the two hundred and fifty years since the first mines were worked, so little progress had been made in working methods that Europeans expressed surprise. The hoisting apparatus was greatly neglected, and instead of ladders for the shafts a series of beams were used about five yards in length, placed in pairs in an inclined position and provided with wedge-shaped notches to serve for steps, ten or eleven inches apart. On this primitive contrivance the carriers would climb for hours, loaded with ore, sometimes three hundred pounds in weight. But the greatest defect was the manner of constructing the pits and galleries, which seldom or never connected, greatly increased the cost of transportation,^[85] and prevented ventilation. Equally deficient were the contrivances for draining the mines; pumps were seldom or never used,^[86] the water being brought to the surface in large bags of hides attached to the ropes of a windlass moved by horse-power. Toward the close of the eighteenth century several German miners were sent from Spain and distributed over different districts to efiect improvements. They attempted several innovations, and although successful in some parts they failed in others, chiefly owing to the prejudice against them. The reports concerning their utility were contradictory,^[87] and after a few years they returned home. Besides the organization of the cuerpo de minería, the reduction in the prices of quicksilver, the greater liberty granted to commerce, and the discovery of new rich mines, gave a fresh impulse to the mining industry, so much so that the increase in production after 1778 amounted to more than twenty-five per cent.^[88] The total annual yield of Mexico in gold and silver has been estimated at $1,500,000 for the epoch 1521-48, at $2,000,000 from 1548 till 1600, and at $3,000,000 for the following nine decades, aggregating $414,500,000. Since that time the statistics of the mint of Mexico show a considerable increase of the amount yearly coined; from $5,285,581 produced in 1690, it advanced with slight fluctuation till in 1805 it reached the maximum of $27,165,888. In the following years it declined to $21,886,500 for 1808, the total amount till then, from 1690, being $1,496,832,112.^[89] To this must be added the value of all metal wrought into jewelry, and of that which was illegally exported without being coined or taxed. The amount, frequently overrated, in all probability did not exceed one million pesos yearly; and adding this, the average

The statistics given by Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., i. 25-8, which have served as a base, contain evidently information from official sources, some of which have not been seen by Humboldt. annual produce in the beginning of the century may be placed at 23,000,000 pesos.^[90]

The revenue derived by the crown from this flood of wealth amounted to about sixteen per cent on silver, and nineteen on gold admixtures.^[91] During a term of twenty-five years, comprising part of the most flourishing mining period, from 1765 to 1789, the total revenue, according to official statements, amounted to $43,641,469.^[92] The district of Guanajuato alone paid from 1760 till 1780, more than $13,000,000, and during the whole eighteenth century about $41,000,000. There is no doubt, however, that a wiser policy on the part of the crown, especially if initiated at an earlier period, would have produced a still better result. Before reformations were firmly established, political convulsions came to neutralize their influence, and reluctant admission had to be given to foreign capital to effect that for which Mexico felt herself unequal, as I shall have occasion to explain in a later volume.

 

Numerous as are the authorities consulted by me for this chapter, not one among them affords a complete view of the development of the mining industry, although the voluminous matter in Humboldt and other writers might lead one to expect a more thorough result. Here, as in many other places, I have had literally to grope my way in search of long-hidden material ere I could apply the refining process. One of the most valuable aids for the task which covers not only a special subject, but between lines gives many items of mining history, is the compilation of laws, published in 1783, and repeatedly quoted, the Reales Ordenonzas. . . de la Minería, Madrid, 1783, pp. 214, of which I possess an official copy with the rúbrica of the minister Josef de Galvez, besides such modern editions as that of Paris, 1870, pp. 335, xlviii. It is indeed remarkable not only for contents, but for style, differing as it does from the verboseness so common to Spanish writings. The language in the petition of the mining body has a clear business ring, and conveys the impression of men animated by stanch energy, patriotism, and far-seeing prudence; and the same spirit seems to pervade the laws annexed, which savor of mature deliberation. It is to be regretted that this important collection has met with so little attention from Humboldt. In his Essai Politique, nearly 200 pages are devoted to the description of the mines in New Spain, chiefly of sections, and to statistical material, while the history of mining receives comparatively little attention. The view taken by this scientist refers rather to its condition at the time of his visit, and even the recently established code of laws did not elicit from him any special comments. This leaves another void in the mass of information furnished by him, yet its value is undoubted. Subsequent writers have nearly all followed his steps, and it would be impossible to write the mining history of New Spain without consulting the statistics which form the chief fruit of his researches.

The want of a commentary on the mining ordinances was early recognized by the able Mexican mineralogist, Joaquin Velazquez de Leon, and supplied by him in the Comentarios de las Ordenanzas de Minería, MS., pp. 62. They by no means exhaust the subject, and cover only special points, but they have an additional interest in coming from the pen of a man who took active part in the compilation of the code, and whose ability gave him a right to interpret not only the letter but the spirit thereof. Among other authors who have thrown some light on the mining industry of New Spain are Fonseca and Urrutia, who in their Historia General de Real Hacienda, i. 5-44, 297-387, iii. 6-140, iv. 521-636, v. 43-57, give much information, together with copies of official documents which in many cases are unattainable to foreigners. The value of the work is, however, much impaired by a deficient arrangement and their method of handling the bulky material at their disposal. Of modern writers, Alaman ranks prominent, less on account of the extent of his information, than for the reliable statements which he presents in different parts of his Disertaciones and Historia de Mejico. His ability has been acknowledged by Ward, who, in his Mexico in 1827, several times confesses his indebtedness to Alaman in no stinted terms. Ward admits also to have largely drawn from Humboldt, but his work dwells chiefly on the condition of Mexican mines after the Independence, and belongs therefore more properly to that period. This applies also to Burkart, Aufenthalt und Reisen in Mexico, Stuttgart, 1836, 2 vols, pp. 392, 286, with maps and cuts. This author was at different times manager of the mines of Tlalpujagua and Bolaños, and the ample opportunity thus offered him to make investigations, united with his professional knowledge, has been freely exercised with good result. I shall have occasion to speak of him again as well as of Duport, whose Métaux Précieux, Paris, 1843, pp. xiii. 429, with cuts and maps, corresponds with about the same period.

In addition to these a number of treatises exist, bearing on special subjects, one of the oldest being the Providencias sobre Azogues, 44 folios, a manuscript coetaneous copy on stamped paper of the regulations and orders issued from 1670 till 1673 by Viceroy Mancera, for the distribution of quicksilver to the miners. The influence of that metal on the mining industry of New Spain and the opportunies for raising or lowering its price gave repeatedly occasion for troublesome questions. Instances of these disputes are found in Compendiosa Demostracion, Mexico, 1743, pp. 178, and Seganda Demostracion, MS., the same place and year, pp. 616, by Joseph Antonio Fabri, general mining attorney. Both works aim at a reduction of the prices for quicksilver, and gix'e a description of the methods employed for the extraction of ores, and are essentially directed against the Respuesta of Joseph Antonio do Villa-Señor y Sanchez, Mexico, 1742, pp. 136. The latter writer, so well known through his voluminous Theatro of New Spain, opposes as one of the chief officials of the quicksilver department any reduction in the price, and adduces in support the judgments rendered by several of the district tribunals. Of a later date is Joseph Garcés y Eguia's Nueva Teórica y Práctica, Mexico, 1802, pp. 168, a work written by order of the crown to diffuse a knowledge of amalgamation and smelting processes. A specimen of another class of material is the Descripcion de la Serrania de Zacatecas, Mexico, 1834, pp. 39, by C. de Berghes, which gives a detailed description of the mining region of Zacatecas, containing many historical and statistical items, part of which belongs to the period after the Independence.

 

Authorities of more or less value, consulted in the preceding chapter: Purga, Cedulario, 11-12, 21, 43, 79; Ordenes de la Coróna, MS., iii. 96-8; iv. 16.3; Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 32, 38-9; ii. 51; Cedulario, MS., iii. 61-2; iv. 42; Azanza, Ynstruccion, MS., 70-1, 82-7, 122-6; Leijes Varias Anot., MS., 12.3-7; Providencias sobre Azoyues, MS., passim; Recop. de Ind., i. 218; ii. 68-87, 94, 446-8, 493-4, 577; iii. 131-2; Revilla Gigedo, Banco, passim; Bandos, nos 45, 51; Instruccion, MS., i. .365-552; ii. 1-391; Lassaga, Representacion, passim; Ordenanzas de Minería (ed. Madrid, 1783), passim; Id. (ed. Paris, 1870), passim; Velazquez, Comentarios, MS., passim; Cuevas, Informe, passim; Gamboa's Commentaries, i. ii., passim; Fabri, Compend., passim; Id., Segunda Demostracion, MS., i. et seq.; Garces y Eguia, Nueva Tedrica, passim; Berghes, Decrip., i. et seq.; Lombardt, Informe, passim; Humboldt Esai Pol., i. 73-4, 127, 202, 237, 288; ii. 488 et seq.; Id., Life and Travels, 275-88; Id., New Spain, iii. 104-454; iv. 279-81, 356-72; Id., Tabla Estad., MS., 54-65; Id., Versuch, iv., passim; Alaman, Disert., i. 177-8; ii. 73-8; Id., Hist. Méj., i. 23-4, 43-4, 60-4, 99-102, 144; iii. 39-48; v. 32-4; Burkart, Reisen, i. ii., passim; Monumentos Domin. Esp., MS., 112; Vireyes de Méx., MS., 2; Montemayor, Sumarios, 55-8, 205-7; Torquemaia, i. 336-7; Vetancurt, Teatro Mex., 8-24; Villa Señor y Sanchez, Respuesta, passim; Id., i. 23-6, 38-41; ii. 267-8; Disposiciones Varias, 28-31; Burgoa, Geog. Descrip. Oajaca, ii. 226; Medina Chrón. S. Diego, 250-3; Calle, Mem. y Not., 49; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 209; iii. 487-8, 530-3; vi. 487-8; xiii. 218-19, 259;Concilios Prov., MS., 227; Icazbalceta, Col. Doc., i. 502-3; Col. Doc. Inéd., xxi. 532-4; Morfi, Col. Doc., MS., 1-7; Cartas de Indias, 340, 876; Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iii. 299, 544-6; iv. 475-82; v. 71-98; Beleña, Recop., i. 106-9, 311-12; ii. 212-96; Pinart, Doc. Sonora, MS., 16-22; Fonseca and Urrutía, Reed Hac., i. 5-44, 297-387; iii. 6-140, 521-636; v. 433-57; Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. i. 34-5, 427, 499; Id., série ii. tom. iv. 196, 210-12, 272-4,.301-3, 343-5; Galvez, Informe, 6.3-77; Arlequi, Hist. Chron. Zac., 132 et seq.; Ward's Mex., ii. 12-58, 145-8, 160-2, 320-9, 373-97, 464-548, 612-18; Arévalo, Compend., 71-9, 95-6, 110, 119-20; Castelazo, Manifesto, 1-63; Guijo, Diario, 34-5, 427, 499; Ternaux-Compans, Voy., série ii. tom. v. 178-9, 223, 327; Laet, Am. Descript., 288; Galvan, Ordenanzas, 43-7; Michoacan, Prov. S. Nicolas, 95, 107; Peralta, Not. Hist., 177-8; Gonzales, Col. N. Leon, 72-8; Rivera, Diario, 4; Mina de S. Nicolas, 27-35; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, ii. 18-22, 32-3, 40-1;-ii. 307, 313; ix. 89, 94, 101; xi. 267; Id., 2da ép. iii. 25; iv. 389; Romero, Mich., 158, 165; Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 68, 105; ii. 138-9, 145, 164, 171; iii. 22-3; Prescott's Mex., iii. 332; Arroniz, Biog. Mex., 309-11; Id., Hist, y Cron., 139-40, 153; Estalla, xxvii. 15, 212-14, 221-4, 232-3; Berlandier, Diar. Viaj., 45-50; Castillo, Mem. Azogue, 29, 78-84 Bustamante, Cuadro Hist., iv. 68-76; Id., Voz de la Patria, v. 66-8; Pap. Var., xxxvi. 6; ci. 63, passim; cxiv. 27-35; Alzate, Diario, 18-21, 53-6, 118-23, 197-208; Id., Gacetas, i. 206-8; ii. 67-8, 177-9, 380-2; iii. 7-21, 311-16, 319-21, 433-5; Beltrami, Mex., i. 260; Cortes, Diar. Ofic., x. 278; Gac. Mex., i. 9 et seq.; ii. 11, passim; iii. 125, 209, 245, 319, 383; iv. 9, 65, 218, 249, 345-6; v. 6, 57, 217-18, 271; vi. 317, 442-3, 534; viii. 51 et seq.; ix. 461; x. 76, 211-15; xi. 192; xii. 73-5; xv. 331-2, 543-5; Diario Mex., ii. 56, 84; iv. 175, passim; v. 117-18; vi. 69-71; vii. 226 et seq.; ix. 452, 486; x. 16; Campillo, Nuevo Sistema, 155-71; Rivera, Gobernantes, 234, 246,249; Mayer's Mex. Aztec, i. 235, 238, 249; ii. 95-6; Willie, Not. Hac., 2-3, 19-23; Compañia de Minas, passim; Alegre, Poblana, 75-6; Wapp, Mex., 68-70; Album Mex., i. 354, 451; Calvo, Annales Hist., i. pp. xxix.-xxx.; Gallo, Hombres Ilustres, ii. 227-36; Alvarez, Estudios Hist., 374-83, 424-5, 447-86; Zamacois, Hist. Méj., iv. 560; v. 21-2, 245-6; 457, 479-83, 550 et seq.; vii. 20; viii. 504-7, 755-6; x. 1317-18; xi. 3-6; Almanac. Calend. Galvan, 1841, 3-10; Fossey's Mex., 301-2; Lafond, Voy., i. 163-4; Zamora, Bib. Leg., iv. 313-48; V. 318-19; Dicc. Univ., ii. 370-4; iii. 177-8; v. 343-60, 409-10; vi. 829-34; ix. 342, 393-4; x. 36, 105, 326-7, 781-4, 798-804, 1032-4; Campbell's Span. Amer., 114; Anderson's Commerce, ii. 139; Id., Silver Country, 29-78; Jacob's Hist. Enquiry, ii. 123-4, 145-54; Id., Precious Metals, ii. 48-9, 59, 152-3; Conder's Mex. and Guat., 32-3; 105; Andrew's Illus, of W. Ind., 03; Carey and Lea's Hist. Am., 338; Rockwell's Span, and Mex. Law, 1-110; 653-63: Blomfield's View, ii. 632-3; Arrillaga, Informe, 9; Stricker, Bibliothek, 85-7; Winterbotham's Hist. U. S., iv. 84-5.

 

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1. On the beautiful chromo-lithograph maps of the Munich collection, executed under the direction of Prof. Kunstmann, gold-bearing regions are designated by gold-colored or gilt spots. On map no. iv., supposed to have been drawn by Salvat de Pilestrina about 1515, gold is indicated in our territory only on the Pearl Islands. Map of Fernando Colon, 1527, represents gold in Castilla del Oro, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Yucatan, and none on the islands. Map no. vi., the maker not known, but supposed to have been drawn between the years 1532 and 1540, has gold indicated on the Pearl Islands, the island of teguante paque in the vicinity of Tehuantepec, island of sancius tomas (Santo Tomás), off cape St Lucas, two islands off the coast of Lower California called madalena and los cazones. Map no. vii., by Baptista Agnese, 1540-50, Pearl Islands, Iucatan, Yucatan which is represented as an island, two small islands off the southern coast of Central America, called y de guerra and y de gatos. Further north off Tehuantepec the island teguante paque. Off Sinaloa one small island sorata. Maps nos. x., xi., xii., by Vaz Dourado, 1571, a multitude of islands on both shores of Central America and Mexico are represented as gold-bearing. None of the interior is so colored.
2. 'Of the two Cariaians whiche he brought with him from Cariai, he was {{{1}}}enfourmed that the regions of Cerabaro and Aburema were rich in gold, and that the people of Cariai have al their gold from thence for exchange of other of their thinges. They tolde him also, that in the same regions there are five villages, not farre from the sea side, whose inhabitantes applie themselves onely to the gathering of gold. The names of these villages are these, Chirara, Puren, Chitaya, Cureche, Atamea.' Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. 4.
3. 'The natives of Veragua believed that in order to be successful it was necessary to practice temperance and chastity for some time before seeking for gold; and Columbus, desirous of inculcating in the minds of the Spaniards so wholesome a superstition, encouraged in them the practice of abstaining from women, of fasting and praying, before setting out upon a mining expedition. Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. 4; Herrera, dec. i. lib. vi. cap. i.; Carta de Colon, in Navarrete, i. 296; Las Casas, Hist. Ind., lib. ii. cap. 25; Fernando Colon, Hist, del Almirante, 108, in Barcia, i.
4. Diego de Porras, in Navarrete, i. 277; Pedro de Ledesma, in Id., iii. 550.
5. Oviedo, tom. i. lib. xxviii. cap. 2; Peter Martyr, dec. ii. cap. 2; Herrera, dec. i. lib. viii. cap. 6.
6. 'Acordó de partirse para el Darien, con mas de quarenta mil pesos de oro, qne valian entonces mas que aora trecientos mil, lo qual ha sido causa la infinidad que dello ha dado el Pirú.' Herrera, dec. i. lib. x. cap. 5. See also Peter Martyr, dec. iii. cap. 3; Oviedo,.lib. xxix. cap. 5; Gomara Hist, Ind., 80.
7. 'Esta assimisino en esta provincia la nueva Valladolid, con un valle, con gentil disposicion, y vista, y de ayre sano; en la compaña ay multitud de ganados, y buenas minas de plata.' Herrera, Hist. Ind., dec. iv. lib. viii. cap. 3.
8. They begged Pedro de Alvarado, governor of Guatemala, to grant them aid 'é dar órden cómo no se acabassen de perder los españoles que allí estaban, despoblándose una provincia tan rica de minas de oro é otros metales. ' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., lib. xxxi., cap. 7.
9. 'Las minas di Honduras son en la villa que llaman Comayagua, hácia el valle de Vlancho, treynta y cinco leguas desta mar del Norte, y especialmente digo las minas de plata; é de un quintal de la vena se sacan seys marcos de plata é dos pessos de oro, y esto se ha visto ser assi por el ensayo.' Oviedo, Hist. Gen., Hb. xxxi., cap. 11.
10. 'Poi venirono certi Signori à visitarlo, e gli presentorono da settecento dncati d'oro di bassa lega.' Poi gli dimandó doue pigliauano l'oro, e gli risposero, che lo conduceuano da paesi assai lontani, trouati in certi fiumi, che discendeuano da certe asprissime montagne.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, lib. ii., fob 84.
11. 'Año de Mil y quinientos y cinquenta y vno se dio licencia al licenciado, y Dean Juan Aluarez, para abrir este Volcan de Masaya, y sacar el metal.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 262.
12. 'Non hanno minere di metallo di forte alcuna, à bene che cuando gli Spagnuoli vi andarono, haueuano vna gran quantità d'oro di bassa lega, condotto d'altre prouincie.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, lib. ii. 102.
13. 'Et volendoli dare il Gouernatore alquante gioie d'oro non le volse accettare, dissimulando, che non andaua cercando tal cosa, e tomato alle naue e dato notitia del tutto.' Benzoni, Hist. Mondo Nuovo, lib. iii. fol. 119.
14. 'Arriuammo a vno terra chiamata Coaque, qual è sotto la linea equinottiale, done trouammo, qualche poco d'oro, e qualche pietra dí Smeraldo.' Relationé d'un capitano Spagnuolo, in Ramusio, iii. 371. 'Precianse de traer muchas joias de oro en las orejas, i en las narices, maiormente Esmeraldas, que se hallan solamente en aquel parage; aunque los Indios no han querido mostrar los veneros de ellas; creese que nascen alli, porque se ban hallado algunas mezcladas, i pegadas con guijarros, que es señal de quaxarse de ellos.' Zarate, Hist, del Perú, lib. i. cap. iv. 'Caminaron basta llegar a un gran Pueblo, que se dice Coaque, al qual saltearon, porque no se alçase como los otros Pueblos, i alli tomaron quince mil Pesos de Oro; i mil i quinientos Marcos de Plata, i muebas Piedras de Esmeraldas, que por el presente no fueron conoscidas, ni tenidas por Piedras de valor; por esta causa los Españoles las daban, i rescataban con los Indios por Ropa, i otras cosas que los Indios les daban por ellas.' Xeres, Conq. del Peru, in Barcia, iii. 182.
15. 'Atabaliba q se temia cayo enello, y dixo a Piçarro que no tenian razo de andar descontentos ni de acusarle, Pues el Quito, Pachacama y Cuzco, de dónde, principalméte se auia de traer el oro de su rescate, estauan lexos.' Gomara, Hist. Ind., 152. 'Zarate, libro segundo capitulo siete, sacada à la letra dice. A su magestad le perteneciò de su real quinto, treinta mil marcos de plata blanca, fuia y cendrada; y del oro cupo à su magestad de quinto, ciento y veinte cuentos de marcos, Gomara, capitulo ciento y diez y ocho dice; Francesco Pizarro hiço pesar el Oro, y la plata despues de quelatado.' Garcilasso de la Vega Com. Reales, parte ii. lib. i. cap. 28. 'Les trésors que l'on avait livrés pour sa rançon furtagés entre les Espagnols; ils formaient uno somme d'un million vingt-cinq mille cinq cent castillans d'or, et cinquante-deux mille marcs d'argent.' Balboa, Hist, du Pérou, Ternaux-Compans, 327.
16. Garcilasso de la Vega compares at length the principal authors on the subject, and produces the following enormous results. The inca'a ransom he places at 4,605,670 ducats, and the spoils afterward taken from Cuzco amounted to still more. Father Bias Valera says that the inca's ransom was valuetl at 4,800,000 ducats. 'De manera, que sumó, y monto todo este Rescate de Atahuallpa 4,605,070 ducados. De losquales, lostres cuentos y novecientos y treinta y tres mil ducados, son del valor del Oro; y los seiscientos y setenta y dos mil y seiscientos y setenta ducados son del valor de la plata, con las creças la cendrada, y ambos numeros hacen la sum.a de los quatro millones y seiscientos y cinco mil y seiscientos y setenta ducados. Esta suma de ducados huvieron los Españoles en Cassamarca; mucho maior fue, la que huvieron en el Clozco, quando entraron en aquella ciudad, como lo dicen los mismos autores Gomara, y Zarate, que adelante en su lugar citaremos. El P. Bias Valera dice que valio el rescate de Alahuallpa quatro millones y ocho cientos mil ducados.' Com. Reales, parte ii. lib. i. cap. 38.
17. According to Pizarro y Orellana, these were the first mines worked in Peru. 'Traxo consigo muchos capitanes y caciques que descubrieron secretos de minas de oro, y de plata finissima, que fueron, las primeras que por industria deste raleroso capilan se abrieron en aquellos ricos Imperio. Y pareciendo à Hernando Pizarro, que convenia al servicio de dios, y de su Magestad fundar alli un pueblo, dexó la gente, repartiendo las minas, las mejores para su Magestad, y entre el, y los demas capitanes y soldados las demas.' Varones Iustres, 3.35.
18. 'Disse di piu il cacique, che l'oro che si caua di quel firme, non lo ricogliono con bateas, che sono a modo d'vno bacil da barbiere, con li manichi doue lauano l'oro nell 'acqua, anzi fanno in questo modo, che met tono la terra cauata della mínera, in vn luogo a modo d'una fossa appresso l'acqua, e con vna ruota cauano l'acqua del fiume, e la fanno andar in quella fossi, c cosi. lauano la terra.' Relatione d'un Capitano Spaqnuolo, Ramusio, iii. 378.
19. For details of these expeditions see Hist. Mex., i. 320-2, this series.
20. Herrera, dec. iii. lib. viii. cap. xv., gives the matter a miraculous turn, because of an order of 1528, Puga, Cedulario, 24, to take possession of it for the crown. Another supposition, that the Indians buried the mine, is more credible, and strengthened by the fact that difficulties had arisen between the Tarascan ruler, Tangaxoan, and the grasping Spanish miners. See also Hist. Mex., ii. 53, 54, this series.
21. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 482, asserts, however, that the Aztecs were versed in the building of subterranean shafts and galleries. Duport, Mét. Préc., 2-6, gives several reasons why he supposes the Aztecs to have been unacquainted with subterraneous mining.
22. Real de minas was the name given to the small fortress of any settlement, established around a newly discovered mine, meaning only that it was an encampment, not that it belonged to the king.
23. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 498, supposes that the mines of Taxco, Sultepec, Tlalpujagua, and Pachuca were the first ever worked by Spaniards; but there is no doubt that those in the Tochtepec district and the Morcillo mine of Michoacan were of older date. Albornoz, Carta, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 72, speaks in December, 1525, of mining developments in Michoacan.
24. The latter date is given in Beaumont, Crón. Mich., iv. 580, 582; v. 98; Berghes, Descrip. Zacatecas, 3; Humholdt, Essai Pol., ii. 499, 534. Alaman, however, followed by Prescott, Mex., iii. 332, asserts that documents in the archives of the family of Cortés prove that the latter worked mines in Zacatecas during his lifetime, and consequently before 1548. Esposicion, 25, 01. The site of Zacatecas had not been discovered till 1546. See Hist. Mex., ii. 761, this series. In his Hist. Méj., i. 100, Alaman intimates that the mines of Zacatecas were not worked until 1550. Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 105, followed by Zamacois, Hist. Méj., iv. 560, gives the date as 1531.
25. In the early time, however, it seems that the government began the exploitation of certain mines, for a law of 1573, later reiterated, authorizes the viceroys to alienate crown mines, except those of sulphur, if such an operation be of benefit to the royal treasury. Recop. de Ind., ii. 49.3-4.
26. The law, dated November 9, 1526, is given in full in Puga, Cedulario, 12, 21. It was repeated and reformed in 1551, 1563, 1568, and 1575. Recop. Ind., ii. 08, 71; Montemayor, Sumarios, 203.
27. Robertson, Hist. Am., ii. 391-2, censures the policy of Spain in favoring the development of mines, as against agriculture and industries. But it was too much to expect of royalty in those days, that it should study the permanent interest of the colony instead of its own immediate desires.
28. Laws of 1540, 1572, 1590, 1602, 1619, 1620. Puget, Cedulario, 11, Recop. Ind., ii. 72; Montemayor, Sumarios, 204, pt. iii. 44.
29. Libro de, Cabildo, MS., 170. In 1525 the crown revoked this exemption, and the city council resolved to petition for a prolongation, owing to the small profits. See also Herrera, dec. iii. lib. v. cap. iii.
30. 'De no permitir gente ociosa en la tierra.'
31. Viceroy Mendoza's letter of 1537 to the king in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., ii. 209; Henriquez, Instrucc., in Id., iii. 487-8. The latter recommends the introduction of negroes to relieve the native race, a suggestion repeated by his successor, Conde de la Coruña, who estimated at 2000 or 3000 the number required to work the mines properly. Carta al Rey, in Cartas de Indias, 340. The prices of such negro slaves are given in Concilios Prov., Ms., no. 4, 227. A number of laws, the first dated as early as 1528, were issued, referring to the position of Indians in mining matters; they are given in the Recop. de Ind., ii. 308 et seq.; Montemayor, Sumarios, 203-4, pt. iii. 44-5.
32. Tanda was the name given to the gang of native workmen drawn from Indian villages and relieved once a month. Ward asserts that this system was chiefly used in Peru, Mex., ii. 145, and Alaman, Disert., i. 177-8, shows that the name has survived in that of the monthly markets or fairs in Guanajuato.
33. Arlegui, Chrón. Zac., 137, says Indian miners were entitled to one bag of ore per day, which sometimes would sell for $100.
34. Calle, Mem. y Not., 49, and Garcés, Nueva Teórica, 76-7, merely allude to him as a native of Spain, and Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 559, mentions the names of two others to whom certain authors have attributed the discovery.
35. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 55, 72, gives interesting details concerning both the old and new methods. A statistical table on page 556, comprising the produce of all the mining districts from 1785 till 1789, shows that about two sevenths of the entire yield were submitted to extraction by smelting. In 1805, however, this fraction was reduced to about one fifth. Ward, Mex., ii. 434-9, gives also a full description of the mode of extraction, with several illustrations of the implements used.
36. Vera Cruz was for a short time made the place of distribution.
37. Consisting of an administrador, a contador, a fiscal, a notary, and three subaltern officials. Villa-Señor, Theatro, i. 38, 39. See also Fonseca and Urrutia, Real Hac., i. 297-387; Galvez, Informe, 74-77. For other laws relative to this department see Recop. de Ind., ii. 569 et seq.; Providencias sobre Azogues, MS., 1—44, passim; Montemayor, Sumarios, 205-7. A royal cédula of 1709 made the office of the administrador independent of the viceroy. Reales Cedulas, MS., i. 32. The revenue of the tribunal is considered in the chapter on finance.
38. Villa-Señor, Theatro, i. 38-9, speaks only of about 5,000 quintals for the middle of the eighteenth century, but he is evidently mistaken. In some years it was only about 10,000 quintals. The total yearly consumption of the Spanish colonies in America amounted to 25,000 quintals, while the total production of the European quicksilver mines averaged 30,000 quintals, Humholdt, Essai Pol., ii. 572-5.
39. Only in urgent cases the second Count Revilla Gigedo made importations from China, and suggested to his successor the convenience of promoting this trade. Insruc., 250-1. Although Humboldt, Essai Pot., ii. 575, asserts that the project was dropped, the later viceroy Azanza resumed it. During a prevailing scarcity he made contracts with private persons and took steps to bring the commodity from China, Habana, Jamaica, and Peru. Azanza, Instrur., MS., 122-6. See also Guijo, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i., tom. i. 244, 427; Robles, Diario, i. 1 et seq.
40. Recop. de Ind., ii. 308-9; Montemayor, Sumarios, 205-7. Miners were entitled to six months' credit, Beleña, Recop., i. pt. iii. 107, but could not obtain a second supply until the first had been paid for.
41. In 1750 the price was fixed at $82, in 1707 at $62. Humboldt. Essai Pol., ii. 573-4. Montemayor, sumarios, 205, says that as early as 1017 the price was reduced to 60 ducats a quintal. In the Recop. de Ind., ii. 577, the same fact is recorded for 1679. See also Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., 248-9; Beleña, Recop., i. pt. iii. 107; Fabri, Segunda Demostracion, MS., 1 et seq.
42. The first discovery in Michoacan occurred under the rule of viceroy Salvatiena, who granted the right of their exploitation for the term of 10 years to Alcalde Luis de Berrio. ^Vhen assayed the ores yielded 10 ounces per quintal. Guijo, Diario, 34-5, 499.
43. And in the intendencias of Guanajuato and Mexico, at San Juan de la Chica, San Felipe, Rincon del Centeno, Durasno, Nuestra Señora de los Dolores. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 583-5.
44. The exploitation was suspended by cédulas of July 5, 1718, and Nov. 24, 1730. Reales Cidulas, MS., i. 35-9; Fonseca and Urrutía, Hist. Real Hacienda, i. 324-5.
45. In the beginning of this century, during the war between Spain and France, a temporary activity set in.
46. Och, Reise, in Murr's Nachrichten, 236-7, makes the assertion that in Mexico the ore nearly always gives one half or one third of its weight in pure silver, and that near his mission in Arizona blocks of native silver, from 200 to 900 lbs. in weight, were found on the surface after lying neglected for centuries.
47. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 514-15, gives some interesting comparisons with European ores.
48. Chiefly because Biscayan iron could be introduced at a lower price. Vetancurt, Teatro, 21.
49. The crown had forbidden their alienation and included the produce in the list of monopolies. Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., 321.
50. Lead was found in Nuevo Leon and Nuevo Santander, tin as wood-tin in Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Taxco, the last two districts yielding also some zinc. About the use made of these metals before the conquest see my Native Races.
51. Montemayor, Sumarios, pt. iii. 55-8.
52. This is from official sources. Ward, Mex., ii. 53, estimates the number of mines at from three to five thousand. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 487-92, gives the names of the diputaciones and reales, classified according to the intendencias. A list of all the mines of New Spain and the minerals they produced, together with a mineralogical description, is also given in Karsten, Tablas Mineralogicas, l et seq., a Spanish translation by the learned mineralogist Antonio del Rio, with notes by Humboldt. Another list of reales de minas arranged according to bishoprics is given in Panes, Vireyes, MS.,112; Gaz. Mex., 1728, 95-6.
53. Next in order follow those of Real del Monte in Mexico, Bolaños in Guadalajara, El Rosario in Sonora, Sombrerete in Zacatecas, Taxco in Mexico, Batopilas in Durango, Zimapan in Mexico, Fresnillo in Zacatecas, Ramos in San Luis Potosí, and last, Parral in Durango, Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 498.
54. Jacob, Hist. Enquiry, ii. 123, places erroneously the opening of the Guanajuato mines in 1630. For a geological description of the districts, see Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 520-6, where also are given comparisons vidth mines of Europe. Burkart, Reisen, i. 326 et seq.
55. Yield from March 4, 1671, to August 9, 1673, 142,952 marks of silver. Mancera, Instruc. Vireyes, 292-3. From 1766 till 1803, 43,030 marks of gold, and 18,723,537 of silver, worth $165,002,145. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 505, 519. From 1766 till 1808, gold 53,881 marks, and silver 22,631,980 marks. Burkart, Reisen, i. 360. Ward gives the yield from 1796 till 1810 at 8,852,272 marks silver and 27,810 marks gold, which he chooses to value at $79,028,017.
56. Total yield from 1788 till 1808, $29,558,807, netting $11,986,312. Ward, Mex., ii. 140. This differs somewhat from the figures of Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. app. 23-4, which give the total net profit from 1788 till 1797 at $7,949,923. Humboldt, lib. cit. 528-533, makes some interesting observations on the produce and working expenses of the Valenciana and rich European mines.
57. For geologic and general description, see Burkart, Reisen, i. 107 et seq.; Ward, Mex., ii. 464-518. Concerning the origin of the name Catorce, there are two versions, one by Cavo, Tres Siglos, ii. 22, who applies it as the place of refuge for 14 outlaws; the other, by Iturribarría, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, viii. 307, who attributes it to the murder of 14 soldiers.
58. Ward, Mex., ii. 139, gives statistics which show the product of the Bolaños mines, from 1752 till 1780, to have been 3,702,209 marks silver, worth $30,543,720. During the preceding period, from 1646 to 1752, the annual yield has been estimated at from three and a half to four million pesos. The ores of the Ramos mines gave after 1798 frequently 14 ounces silver to the quintal. Burkart, Reisen, ii. 121.
59. The geological feature of Zacatecas is described in full by Berghes, Descripcion de la Serrania de Zacatecas, 1-39. See also Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 534-6, where some peculiarities of that region, as compared with others, are minutely given; Laet, Novus Orbis, 288; Ward, Mex., ii. 519-48, 612-18.
60. In 1728 the aggregate product amounted to $1,800,000, or one fifth of all the silver then coined. Alaman, Hist. Mej., i. 100-1. Humboldt estimated in 1803 the average yield at 402,000 marks silver. Essai Pol., ii. 535. Arlegui, Hist. Chron. Zac., 74, makes the startling assertion that the Pabellon mine gave during five years, $20,000 daily.
61. The product from 1795 till 1808 is given by Burkhart, Reisen, ii. 74, at 1,072,656 marks silver. Ward, Mex., ii. 44, for the same period, makes it 1,146,393 marks.
62. Santos Chronología, ii. 464. The same author adds that some time after the miner died in poverty.
63. In the mines of Batopilas in Durango pieces of pure silver 400 pounds in weight were found on several occasions. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 509. The mines of Sinaloa were not discovered till 1753. Castro, Diario, in Doc. Hist. Mex., série i. tom. iv. 161-2. In the beginning of this century the entire yield of gold in Sonora was estimated by Humboldt at 7,000 marks. The same author refutes the supposition that platina existed in that province; lead, however, is found with argentiferous ores in the veins of Cosalá. Essai Pol., ii. 503-8. The subject will be treated in my Hist. North Mex. States.
64. Meaning literally traders.
65. He presented king Cárlos III. with two war vessels, one of them carrying 112 guns, and made also a loan to the crown of 1,000,000 pesos, which it seems was never repaid. He acquired immense territorities, and left at his death to descendants a fortune equalled only by that of Conde de Valenciana. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 540-1, 514, 538-43. For details about the Vizcaina mine the reader is referred to Castelazo, Manifestacion de. . . la Veta Vizcaina, 1-63; Lassága, Representacion, 10 et seq.; Durkart, Reisen, i. 127-32.
66. From 1794 till 1801 the yield still amounted to $6,000,000. Ward's Mex., ii. 21; Burkart, Reisen, i. 130-1; but Humboldt asserts that this was not sufficient to cover the expenses. Essai Pol., ii. 541.
67. Full particulars about this district are given in Burkart, Reisen, i. 73-97.
68. The petition was made on the 25th of February by Juan Lúcas de Lassága and Joaquin Velasquez de Leon, as attorneys for the miners. The full text is given in Lassíga, Representacion, Mexico, 1774. 1-98, with notes by the two representatives, and an appendix containing the letter to the king, and one to Viceroy Bucareli, requesting his protection for the petition. The latter gives a brief account of the mining history of New Spain since the conquest, attributing as reasons why development had not been greater, a lack of knowledge and insufficient financial encouragement. Hence the necessity of organizing a corporation with a tribunal, competent to control the mining interests and protect them if necessary. In order to obtain the necessary funds for supporting the tribunal and a college, and to pay the interest of money, loaned to foster the development of mines, a remission of taxes was suggested.
69. Beleña, Recop., ii. 213; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iv. 314. Alainan says erroneously. May 4, 1774. Hist. Méj., i. 60-1.
70. It consisted of an administrator general, who was president of the board, a director general, and two or three general deputies elected by miners. Ordenanzas de Mineria, 7. Changes took place by the time of Humboldt's visit, and he speaks of a staff of one director, two deputies, one assessor, two consultores, and one judge, the chief of the juzgado de alzadas de minería. Essai Pol., ii. 596. The first administrator and director-general were appointed for life, but their successors were to be elected every three years by deputies from the various reales de minas. Of the latter only those forming a regular settlement with church and a curate had a vote, but to prominent districts more were given. Thus Guanajuato had six votes, Zacatecas four, San Luis Potosi, Pachuca, and Real del Monte three each; in general, reales with the title of city had three, and villas two votes. For more details about organization of the tribunal see the Ordenanzas.
71. Revilla Gigedo says the salaries of the tribunal were about $39,000, Instruc., 119, while they really amounted to $25,000.
72. The system had been introduced years before; it was a contract between the owner of a mine and one or several wealthy persons, who furnished the avíos, or funds necessary for exploitation, and received in compensation a share of the yield. This was called to habilitar a mine. Lassága, Repres., 18 et seq., gives the basis on which the avios were made.
73. The crown obliged the tribunal on one occasion to make a donation of about $500,000, and soon afterward a loan of about $4,000,000, the repayment of which met with great difficulties. Alaman speaks also of bad management of the funds and the consequent failure, with liabilities amounting to $4,000,000. Hist. Méj., i. 63. Ward, Mex., ii. 50, says the forced loan to the king was $3,000,000. Revilla Gigedo mentions two loans of $1,000,000 each. Instruct., 119-20. The revenue of the tribunal in about 1792 was estimated at $160,000.
74. Alaman mentions among them Fausto de Elhuyar and Andrés de Rio, both men whose names have acquired a well founded reputation as able mineralogists. Hist. Mej., i. 63. The creation of the college had been ratified by royal cédula of May 22, 1783. Beleña, Recop., ii. 284, 292.
75. Its imperfection is well illustrated by the statement of two prominent travellers, that the collection of ores though comprising numerous and valuable specimens from Europe, was extremely deficient in Mexican minerals. Instruction was given gratuitously to twenty-five pupils, either of Spanish blood or noble Indians; descendants of miners being preferred. There were also a number of paying pupils. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 506: Burkart, Reisen, i. 265-6.
76. The original base was the laws in force in Española enlarged by a number of decrees, usually bearing on some special subject, and occasionally reformed by local regulations. Of the latter the first issued were those of Mexico City, of July 31, 1527. Libro de Cabildo, MS., 197-9.
77. The text is given in Beleña, Recop., ii. 214—292; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iv. 314-344.
78. The administrador, director, and deputies of the tribunal at Mexico were obliged to have more than ten years' experience as practical miners. Ordenanzas de Minería, 6-7.
79. A similar order had been given on November 26, 1602, 'porque no se distraygan (the miners) con pleytos, ni hagan largas ausencias.' Recop. Ind., ii. 73.
80. Appeals only aiming at delay were to be rejected. Courts of appeal could be formed in the mining districts of the highest judicial officer assisted by substitutes for deputies. That for Mexico was composed of the director-general of the tribunal, one ex-member of that body, and an oidor. Beleña, Recop., ii. 226-9. A few years later the tribunal de minería was made the court of appeal for all new Spain. Ordenes de la Corona, MS., iii. 96-8; Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., 120-1. Other instructions for the proceeding of the tribunal and the different diputaciones are given in Ordenanzas de Minería, 31-61.
81. A law of June 18, 1629, provided that the abandonment of a mine for a term of four years gave any one a right to claim it as a new discovery. The Spanish term for filing claims to a mine was denunciar. Montemayor, Sumarios, 204; Recop. de Ind., ii. 69.
82. Three claims were to be granted, but none could exceed 200 varas square. The dimensions varied according to the inclination of the vein. The first labor, to sink a shaft of 4 feet in diameter and 30 in depth, had to be done within 90 days after filing the claim. The details of the ordinance are giver in Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., iv. 324-9.
83. Contracts were not valid unless drawn up before witnesses, and advances affected only the mine for which they had been made, not any other property of the owner. Ordenanzas de Minería, 156-108.
84. Owners of mines and their assistants could not be imprisoned for debt, but the latter, when indebted, were forbidden to leave the district until their master had paid the obligations from their salary. An execution on private property could not include a saddle-horse, one mule, arms, and other necessary effects. To old or poor miners and their descendants, offices should be given in preference to other persons. Ordenanzas de Minería, 203-9.
85. Humboldt compares them with ill-constructed buildings, wherein an adjoining room could be reached only by passing round the whole house. Essai Pol., ii. 550.
86. Yet in the time of Cortés pumps appear to have been used at Taxco. Alaman, Exposicion, 24.
87. The intendentes of Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and Oajaca, the diputacion of Taxco, and other persons, admitted that some progress had been made, but the diputaciones of Guanajuato, Sombrerete, and several other places, reported adversely. Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., 122-6. The expenses attributed to them by the middle of June, 1793, amounted to $403,209.
88. The total value of gold and silver coined in Mexico during the years 1766 till 1778 amounted to $191,589,179, against $252,525,412 for the period 1779-91. Humboldt, Essai Pol., u. 577.
89. Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., i. 25-8, followed by Alaman, Hist. Méj., i. app. 13-17. Their statements for the period of 1690 to 180.3 give the total coinage of gold and silver at $1,373,939,000, whilst Humboldt places it at $1,353,452,020. Essai Pol., ii. 578. The aggregate yield of silver from 1690 till 1800, was of 149,350,721 marks, whereas the annual average at the close of the eighteenth century was 7,000 marks gold and 2,500,000 marks silver, worth about $22,000,000. Id., 576-9. The following table shows the production from 1690 till 1808, by decades:
    
    

    	Amount in Pesos.		Amount in Pesos.
    1690-99	43,971,340	1750-59	130,219,836
    1700-09	51,933,145	1760-69	119,556,109
    1710-19	65,828,482	1770-79	174,772,560
    1720-29	84,151,727	1780-89	193,403,561
    1730-39	93,677,484	1790-99	231,080,280
    1740-49	108,124,854	1800-08	200,112,734
    Total yield		$1,496,832,112

90. Revilla Gigedo asserts that but a small amount of metal failed to pass through the mint, but he would hardly have cared to disclose a high figure had it been known to him. Instruc., 118.
91. Besides the tenth, one per cent was charged, and the derecho de monedage y señoreage, of 3 2-5 reales for every mark of silver. The duty on pure gold was reduced to 3 per cent by royal cédula of March 1, 1777. Fonseca and Urrutía, Hist. Real Hac., i. 39.
92. In 1777 alone it was $1,636,577. Vireyes, Instruc., MS., série i. pt. iv.