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15 crater of Popocatepetl, the mining of which has been going on since the time when Cortez' soldiers let themselves down by ropes and baskets to gather material for powder for the conqueror's cannon.

The most primitive methods of mining are yet in use in Mexico, but modern machinery is being introduced. The shafts, sometimes hundreds of feet deep, are worked with a wandlass and mule-power, and in some places the miners pass up and down on ladders or steps cut in the side of the shaft. The peon miners do not mind the heat or the water, but trudge along day after day for the smallest wages or a percentage of what he handles.

The old patio process, for the amalgamation of silver, invented by Bartolome Medina in 1557, is still used in some old mines. The ore is first crushed in a mill which consists of an immense rolling stone turned by mules; the smaller particles fall through a seive, the larger ones are crushed again, and so on, are passed through other revolving stones till the ore becomes a powder, this powder is carried by water through a trough to a paved patio or court, and when the mass is about two feet deep, blue vitriol, salt and quicksilver are thrown into it by handfuls till sufficiently impregnated, then a herd of mules is driven round and round in the patio till the mass is thoroughly mixed, taking from two to four weeks. The silver mud is then taken to the washers, or tanks, and stirred in the water till the amalgam of silver and quicksilver, being heavy, sinks to the bottom; this mass is taken then to a sort of distillery and the mercury, separated by distillation, leaves the pure silver to be smelted into ingots.

Manufactures--Mexico has advanced wonderfully in manufactures in the last decade, till, within herself, she could supply all wants of her people without the imports from the outside world, could clothe them from head to foot, feed them, give then wine to drink and houses to live in. Statistical information as to manufactures is not expected here. The percentage of increase is not easily calculated. The advance has been from the primitive hand loom of reeds to the factory of the most improved machinery. The lack of the important factor of fuel will necessarily relegate the manufactories to the timbered regions, or to the line of the water-powers of the country, where fuel is not needed. The forests are for the most part in remote sections and in the hot lands. Coal is not yet mined in sufficient quantities, though it exists in many parts of the Republic, and there are abundant evidences of petroleum, and some flowing wells.

The water-powers have never been utilized to their fullest capacity, and there are great possibilities in this direction, as at Juanacatlan, near Guadalajara, where a wide river makes a sheer fall of seventy-one feet. It is used only for street car power, an electric light plant, and one mill and a factory, but the whole river from its source to the mouth has scores and scores of sites for other factories and mills.

Carpets and woolen cloths are made at Soria, near Celaya, at Salvatierra, and several other points; calicoes and cotton goods in the Federal District and in many of the larger cities; blankets and zerapes at Durango, Saltillo, San Miguel de Allende, Aguas Calientes, Guadalajara and San Luis Potosi; saddles, bridles, shoes and leather goods at Leon, Maravatio and the City of Mexico; cigars and cigarettes at Vera Cruz, the City of Mexico, and the larger cities; breweries are at Monterey, San Luis Potosi, Chihuahua, Puebla, Orizaba, Guadalajara and Toluca; foundry and rolling mill near the iron mountain at Durango. Chihuahua and Monterey are the largest manufacturing centers of the country; the factories include almost every branch of trade.