Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/285

Rh small population of 3,000 Mulattos, Zambos and a few Mexicans, who are chiefly pearl divers, fishermen and farmers, fully indicates the decline of its commerce and civilization.

The mountains of the State of Mexico are rich in deposits of precious and base metals. North and north-east of the Valley of Mexico are the mining districts and mines of Real del Monte, Moran, Atotonilco el Chico, Pachuca, El Cardinal, Zimapan, Lomo del Toro, Macroni, Pechuga, and San José del Oro. West and south-west of the Valley, are the districts of Rancho del Oro, Temascaltepec, Real del Cristo, Sultepec, Zacualpan, Tasco, Tepantitlan, Tetéla del Rio, and several others. These were all diligently worked by the Spaniards prior to the revolution, but have not been found as profitable by the foreigners who undertook their management since the Independence of Mexico. In the year 1835, numbers of British subjects and Germans formed companies to work these mines, and although the results have been favorable in some places, the greater part of these luckless enterprises have been altogether abandoned. Such has been the sad issue in most of the speculations in silver mines; but we learn that a native company has explored and worked an iron mine at the foot of the Volcano of Popocatepetl, which promises to repay them for their trouble and expense with a plentiful supply of this useful metal.