Page:Face to Face With the Mexicans.djvu/147

Rh The great mine of the Mala Noche was operated for centuries, but is not now worked—though the name survives—the Mexican owners not having capital to cope with the water. The La Plata, lying between the Mala Noche and the Veta Grande, is also owned by Mexicans. Its ore now yields $800 to the ton.

The Cantara Lode is an immense ridge, running along the face of La Bufa, a mountain five hundred feet in height, overlooking the town, its crest crowned with a quaint, historic old church. In this and its principal branch, the Quebradilla vein, are situated some of the most productive mines, the workings of which extend under the city in all directions.

The suburban town of Guadalupe, five miles distant from Zacatecas, is reached by street-cars run by gravity. The mules which draw the cars to the city are unhitched, and the return is made, sin mulas ("without mules"), with startling velocity down the steep incline.

My impressions on entering Zacatecas were vivid, and what I saw of this interesting city will remain indelibly impressed on my memory, but on leaving it I found that the bounteous hand of Nature held in reserve a vision of exquisite beauty. The results of the highest human effort often bring disappointment to the beholder, but the works of the Divine Architect never! In the early morning a capricious veil of mist almost obscured the sun, but now and then its genial rays pushed through this curtain, disclosing a towering mountain peak, crowned with a gorgeous rainbow. Instantly upon an opposite height appeared a mellow neutral-tinted bow, bending like a "triumphal arch" over mountain and plain carpeted with tender verdure.

The rainbow tints upon the mountains were reflected in the valley, in the characteristic and peculiar dress of the hundreds of busy