Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/589

Rh Leon, Tamaulipas, and San Luis Potosi, which, although in parts exceedingly fertile, contain large tracts of land in which the sterility of the soil and the want of water will always reduce the population to a very limited number. Consequently it may, in a great measure, be considered as an Oasis, and must always have considerable influence upon the destiny of the circumjacent districts.

river Cañas, the mouth of which lies in latitude 23 North, is the Southern boundary of Cĭnăloă, and separates it from the territories of Jălīscŏ or Guădălajāră. After crossing the frontier, the first town of importance is Rŏsārĭŏ, (about twenty-four leagues from the river,) which is handsome, and contains six thousand inhabitants. It took its first rise from the discovery of a famous mine of the same name, which is not only one of the oldest in the Republic, but has produced immense quantities of silver, and has been worked to almost the same extent as the Valenciana, at Guanajuato. Unfortunately, water got into this mine some years ago, which the owners are unable to drain, from the manner in which the shafts are sunk; there being three shafts, one below the other, at different levels, instead of one perpendicular shaft extending to the lowest levels. They succeed, however, in keeping about one hundred and sixty yards clear of water, and still extract silver from the upper works with some profit. Since the opening of the port of Mazatlan, Rosario has become a place of great commercial importance, being the depôt of merchandize for that port, as Tepic is for that of San Blas. The merchants from various parts of Cinaloa, now resort to it in order to purchase their stocks, and dispose of their produce: I saw upwards of two hundred bars of silver, and a considerable quantity of gold, in bars and grains, (some of from ten to twenty ounces,) in one house, belonging to Ignacio Fletes and Robert Wyley, (the former a native of the State, and the latter a Scotchman,) who carry on a very extensive business, and have vessels constantly trading between India, China, and Mazatlan. Besides