Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/605

Rh our journey to these long-forsaken mountains; that on the following day his servants, whom he had dispatched to the Hacienda for the purpose, would bring horses and mules for the whole party, and that he himself, with a number of the principal inhabitants, and the Alcalde at their head, would accompany us. Two of the Cura's sisters, and four other ladies, announced their determination to be of the party, and prepared provisions of every description for a week, besides plenty of wine and brandy.

On the 8th of March we set out, our party consisting of forty-five persons, including servants, cooks, &c. and we arrived at San Juan, preceded by a musician mounted on a mule, playing a guitar; for nothing can be done in Sonora without music. On the present occasion the ladies were interested in the question, as they wished to dance in the evenings. On our arrival, we found nothing remaining of a place once so famous, but the outer walls of the Church, one room of which was entire, while we soon made another tenable with bulls' hides and blankets, which we appropriated to the ladies. The greater part of the men slept in the open air. Here we remained four days, and completely investigated the whole of the surrounding mountains, returning every evening to the camp, where the women prepared every thing for our comfort.

The "mineral" of San Juan is a mountain of itself, encircled by others to the North, West, and South, of considerably greater elevation. It is three thousand yards in length, from East to West, and fifteen hundred yards in breadth, where the broadest; terminating at both ends in a point, and is entirely surrounded by a ravine, which discharges itself at the east end into a large open plain. This mountain, or hill, has an elevation of six or seven hundred feet where highest, at which part the principal vein, called Santa Ana, crosses from North to South. This is crossed by another vein, on the Northern slope of the mountain, which is called El Rosario. These two mines have been worked to a considerable extent, and have produced, according to existing documents and tradition, in which no one varies, immense wealth. They now contain a great deal of water, (at least fifty or sixty varas,) which would require new shafts and