Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/130

120 are very peculiar. No one in Mexico, be he native or foreigner, can own a mine absolutely, or in fee, no matter what he may pay for it. He may hold it indefinitely, so long as he works it; but under an old Spanish law, promulgated as far back as 1783, and still recognized, if he fails "to work it for four consecutive months, with four operatives, regularly employed, and occupied in some interior or exterior work of real utility and advantage," the title is forfeited and reverts to the state; and the mine may be "denounced," and shall belong, under the same conditions, "to the denouncer who proves its desertion." The denouncer, to keep the property, must, however, at once take possession and begin the prescribed work within a period of sixty days. Any person also may denounce a mine, no matter upon whose land it may be found; and also have the right to a ready access to it. This practice has one great advantage over the American mining system; and that is, that litigation about original titles and conflicting claims to mining property are comparatively rare in Mexico.

On the plateau of Mexico, where nine tenths of its present population live, there is undoubtedly much good land; but the great drawback to this whole region, as already pointed out, is its lack of water. During the rainy season, which