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Rh by the Company, there are undoubtedly some, from which no advantage can ever be derived, the command of all the mines in the district was indispensable in order to exclude competition, the ruinous effects of which, in other parts of Mexico, have been very severely felt.

Tlălpŭjāhuă enjoys many advantages as a mining district. It is situated at a moderate distance both from the Capital and the Coast, in the midst of a country so fertile, that maize, which in Guanajuato and Mexico, sells for four and a half or five dollars the carga, (of 300lbs.) seldom rises there above two and a half or three dollars. Wood is equally abundant and cheap. Mining labour of all kinds is lower than in any of the neighbouring States. Few of the mines exceed one hundred and fifty varas in depth, and almost all are so situated as to facilitate their drainage by a single Adit, for a very considerable space below the deepest of their present workings. The ores of some contain a Ley de Oro, so considerable as to raise the value of the Marc to twelve and sixteen dollars; and in reducing these ores, the assistance of water power is almost always to be obtained.

At the period of my first visit, two Haciendas de beneficio (Santa Rosa and el Chimal) were completed, in each of which twelve stamps were at work, capable of pulverizing twenty-five cargas of ore, (of twelve Arrobas, or 300 lbs.) in the twenty-four hours. Another large Hacienda (San Rafael) was