Zăcătēcăs; which furnished together so precarious a supply, that the registered consumption of Guanajuato, at the time of my visit, did not amount to one half of that of the mine of Valenciana alone, during its more flourishing period. Salt, likewise, produced but little, although the demand is universal, and the consumption great.
The Post-office, under a different system, might be made to produce at least double what it now yields: as it is, there is so little security, the conveyance of letters is so slow, and the postage so high, that none have recourse to it who can forward their correspondence through any other channel, and yet the awakening activity of the country has given it importance.
The produce of the Mint of Mexico, (of which alone the Supreme Government has the direction, as belonging to a Federal City,) will never be comparable to that of former times, the Mining States having acquired the right of establishing Mints of their own, in which nine-tenths of the silver, formerly transmitted to the Capital, will henceforward be coined. But there are several very important mining districts in a circle around the Capital, (Real del Monte, Chīcŏ, Zimăpān, Tĕmăscāltĕpēc, Tāscŏ, and Tlălpŭjāhuă,) the produce of which will be sent to the Mint of Mexico in preference to any other; as will the silver from the mines of Ŏăxācă, where there is no Provincial Mint; so that, as soon as these districts become again productive, the Mint of the
