coal in the district of Alatriste and that of Noreste los de Tezintlan. Native quicksilver is plentiful in the districts of Atlixco and Matamoros, and gold and silver mines are worked clandestinely. In the districts of Tecali and Chiantla lead abounds of a high grade. In Chiantla and Acatlan are iron mines, worked only on a small scale. In the district of Chalchicomula exist abandoned mines of gold and silver, the chief one being called 'La Preciosa.' In the district of San Juan de los Llanos is the famous 'Hucha,' now abandoned, and the 'Cristo.' In Tetla de Ocampo are those gold placers which formerly gave the town the surname of 'The Golden.' In the same district is the tract of kaolin which gives life to the manufactory of porcelain or stoneware called 'cuayuca.' In the district of Zacatlan one of the cities furnishes abundance of quicksilver, and another rock crystal; beyond Ahuacatlan there is a mountain, conical in shape, known as Zitlala, which in the Nahuatl tongue means 'star,' this name having been bestowed by the natives by virtue of its brilliancy, like a sparkling star, in the rays of the rising and the setting sun. This is simply one great rock crystal, whose tiniest fragments resemble diamonds. In the district of Huactunango are various mines of gold, silver, and iron, which no one has engaged to work, and in Tefiji are three crags where emeralds are found, but which the natives of the Zapoteco race have concealed from the eye of the explorer. As a specimen of these emeralds, in a little town in the district of Cholula existed one of these gems, three-quarters of a Spanish yard in length, which served as the ara, or consecrated stone, on the altar of the church. Maximilian had it in his hands, and offered for it $1,000,000, which the Indians would not accept. Later, an armed force went to attack the town, to capture this gem, which was worth more than $2,000,000, but they were repulsed. In consequence of this attempt, the Indians concluded to lose the emerald by design, to protect it from the covetous. However, that remarkable treasure found its way into the hands of the wily Jesuits. They, in order to secure it, promised eternal salvation to the dead, the living, and the as yet unborn, in the vicinity of that town, that they might obtain
