and silver in the United States is far greater than that of Mexico. Thus, for the year 1883 the production of the United States was estimated to have been—gold, $30,000,000; silver, $46,200,000; total, $76,200,000. For Mexico, the estimates for the year 1883-'84 were, gold, $500,000; silver, $24,000,000; total, $24,500,000.
The greatest obstacle in the way of the successful prosecution and development of the mining industry of Mexico, as also in the case of manufactures, is the scarcity of fuel and water for the generation and application of mechanical power, and also the scarcity of labor—many of the mines being at great distances from centers of population—and the lack of convenient and cheap means of transportation. The impression which an American visitor to one of the great Mexican silver-mines, or reducing-works, at first receives is almost always that of surprise at the apparent rudeness and shiftlessness of the methods of working. But a further acquaintance soon satisfies him that what is done is the result of long experience, and is the best that probably could be under all the circumstances. Thus, for example, for the purpose of extracting the silver from the ore by amalgamation, the rock, ground to a fine powder and made into a paste with water, is spread out on the floor of a large court, and then
