their own land, and it is not surprising that they fall back into their old occupation, when set free in a new country. The road from Manzanillo to Mexico, via Colima, Guadalajara, Guanajuato and Queretaro, is but little traveled by foreigners visiting the country, and the few who do go over it, generally carry no valuables and ride in the stage, trusting to luck to get through without being robbed, or in any event losing but little. The rural guards keep the road in tolerable safety for the diligencias, and by law the owners of property in the immediate vicinity of a point where a robbery has been committed are pecuniarily responsible to the victims for damages, though few suits of recovery are brought, I imagine. On the road from Acapulco to the the city of Mexico, travelers always secure a guard of six to twenty macheteros and usually pass through the worst districts in safety.
On our return to the city, we passed within sight of the second great mine of the district of Guanajuato, "El Reyes," situated, like the Valenciano, on a hill, with a large town around it, but we did not have time to visit it.
After dinner we went to the Serrano mine, which is being worked at a profit at this time. This is situated in the hill below the Buffa at the upper end of the city. Five hundred men, women, and children are employed at this mine, getting out the ore, breaking it up, and sorting, it. The men generally work in small gangs for a share of the sales of the ore they take out. The amount of silver mined weekly is about five thousand dollars, and the expenses one thousand dollars, leaving a net profit of four thousand dollars.
The great tiro is about 950 feet, in depth.
