HUACAL.

Scarcely half a mile from the San Pedro, is the Huacal, of which tradition speaks as being a mine of nearly pure silver. Immense dirt heaps high up on the mountain side, are the first evidences we have of the existence of this mine. There are a series of excavations along the course of the vein, some to a depth of one hundred feet. What is supposed to be the main opening is pointed out; it is now covered with debris, and tradition has it that it was designedly closed by the former owners when obliged to abandon it. However this may be, it is very evident that this mine has been rich, and profitably worked. The encasing walls are similar to the formation of the San Pedro mountain, except that there is an appearance of petrosilex. The vein is strong and well defined, almost vertical, and with an easy parting from the walls; its quartz gangue is a soft, decomposed crystalline, through which the ores are thickly and evenly disseminated. Its ores are argentiferous, accom panied by native silver. In the rubbish from the openings I found antimonial sulphuret of lead and silver (frieslebenite) and black sulphuret occurrences, which would have me believe that in the deeper workings these ores were making their appearance. The width of the vein is about five feet. The ruins of the ancient reál of Huacal, with the ever accompanying scoria piles, are at the foot of the mountain.

EL ROSARIO.

Yet a mile further west, and situated high up on the southern face of a lofty mountain, is the El Rosario mine, which has been very extensively worked. An open cut follows the vein a distance of several hundred yards; there are several nearly vertical openings, the principal one of which may be descended to a depth of 200 feet. It is ap

parent that at this depth excavations have been made a considerable distance in the vein, though cavings have occurred which will not permit them to be explored. The encasing formation is a compact gray porphyry, containing triclinic mica and quartz crystals. The vein is exceedingly well defined and is nearly vertical. The predominating ore is a chloro-bromide, accompanied with argentiferous galena and blende, the latter barely distinguishable. The vein has been worked to a width of 6 to 10 feet, and it is evident that in its workings a superior system of mining to that which has generally been followed in this country was adopted. It would appear that this mine has been one of superior merit.

On the northern face of the mountain are several workings, all of extent. One of these is supposed to be a continuation of the Rosario; the others-two in number— occur on veins; one three and the other five feet wide. Their formations and ores are identical with those of the Rosario.

DON EDUARDO.

South-west of the San Pedro but a short distance is the Don Eduardo, which has seemingly been little worked. A shaft sunk on the vein outcrop on the side of a ravine had partially caved, leaving the opening about 20 feet in depth. The rubbish from the excavation contained a few samples of the ore, which I found to be a bromyerite (bromic silver), accompanied by small crystals of a beautiful azurite (a blue carbonate of copper, differing from malachite in containing a hydrated oxide in conjunction with the carbonate), occurring in a matrix of silicious clay and comby barytes. I think if put to a careful test the gangue will be found to contain small particles of both silver and copper, in their native state. The vein is well defined, occurring in a feldspathic

granite, with triclinic amphodelite of a dingy red, and prismatic mica. It can be traced by its outcrop a distance of a mile or more. It is evident that its class of ores were not understood by the native miners.

CHERUNIVAVA.

In the midst of mines whose riches occasioned astonishment, the Cherunivava was the mine par excellence of the Jesuits. It occurs about three leagues north-west of San Juan del Rio, and the amount of work done upon it is certainly immense. The vein ores average six feet in width, though in many places they have been worked to a width of twenty feet. It is now impossible to determine the depth of the openings, as the walls of the extensive open cut following the vein along the mountain side have in many places caved, covering the deeper openings. Even where such caves have occurred, however, the cut remains open one hundred feet in depth. Though I here again made diligent search in the waste banks, I could find no pieces of the ore, so carefully had they been gathered; and I could only form conclusions from what was exposed in the bottom of the taho. The wall formations are a diorite, the quartz gangue is an opaque white variety, and the accompanying ores are the chloro-bromide, with native silver and gold-very rich. The vein can be traced into the ravine and the adjoining elevation. Indications of the walls which once surrounded what are supposed to have been the main openings into the mine, and also of the ore houses and quarters of the guard placed over them, are yet visible.

On the northern end of the hill is a taho quite as extensive as the one already described, but in as dilapidated a condition. It is upon a parallel vein, and in appearance and character is similar to the main mine.

PINAL.

The Pinal, between San Juan del Rio and Cherunivava, and two leagues from the former place, occurs-as do all mines in Mexico-on a mountain side. The course of its vein is north-west and south-east; it has four openings, the deepest of which is now 130 feet, though the inevitable caving has here again taken place. The encasing formation is similar to that of the Cherunivava, with a well defined and strong vein six feet wide. I had the usual success in my search for specimens of the ores, though I determined they were the chloro-bromide and argentiferous galena, with native gold and silver; the ores contain a heavy percentage of gold, which is seemingly the predominating metal of the mine.

GARRIGON.

Half a league nearly due west of the Pinal are the Garrigon mines, a number of excavations of extent, occurring on nearly parallel veins. The principal workings are in the form of open cuts upon the veins, with an occasional vertical opening following the metals down. These mines have suffered severely through the depredations of time, and but little can be determined concerning them beyond that which we can see in their present existing workings. The veins are three to six feet in width, and are regular and strongly defined, and their ores are similar in character to those occurring in the Cherunivava. The invariable accompaniments a ruined mining reál and banks of scoria from the once existing reduction furnaces-are here; and in their existence is ever presented a reliable evidence of the former richness and prosperity of their mines.

TAHO AND SAN NICHOLAS.

Continuing west, a distance of two leagues from the Garrigon mines, brings us to the equally ancient mines of Taho and San Nicholas. The first named is, as its name implies, a mountain cut, though I was not prepared, even by the very full traditional particulars concerning this mine which I had listened to, to witness such an astonishing, and, I may say, stupendous mining work. Did we not know from the heaps of rubbish everywhere in the vicinity, that this was the work of man, we would conclude that nature had cleft the mountain in twain, forming a huge rent 500 feet deep from the summit ridge, and extending nearly 400 yards in length and entirely through the mountain. There are no means of determining how far below this cut the ancient workings extended, for here also the walls have in places caved, filling the bottom of the cut with debris.

The San Nicholas is perhaps a league distant, and was almost as extensively worked by open cut, the outcrop of the vein occurring high up on the mountain side; it is in a more dilapidated condition, and it was with great difficulty that I could determine the occurrence of its ores to agree in many particulars with those of the Taho. The veins have a course nearly east and west, occurring in a feldspathic porphyry, fine grained, and with peroxide of iron visible. The width of the veins is five to eight feet, though in some places they occur ten feet wide. They are strongly defined, with quartz gangues containing chloride and chloro-bromide ores, accompanied by native silver, and, in places, argentiferous galena, having only a trace of blende. In the San Nicholas is a considerable percentage of gold, and there are evidences that the workings have extended to the black and gray sulphuret ores. I found traces of antimonial sulphuret of lead and silver. At the ancient reál of San Nicholas are the ruins of fifteen arrastres, which would indicate that