Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/371

Rh which timber, of a size never transported before in Mexico, is brought to the mines in the waggons that were originally sent out for the conveyance of the steam-engines from the coast. Another road, equally good, and equally necessary, leads to the farms of Gŭajălōtĕ and Zĭmbŏ, from the last of which the largest timber is principally supplied.

When, in addition to the works already enumerated, it is recollected that seven steam-engines have been transported from Veracruz to Real del Monte, the aggregate weight of which amounted to fifteen hundred tons;—that one of these (that of Moran) was already on the point of beginning to work, and that two others (those of Guădălūpĕ and Dŏlōrĕs) were in a state of great forwardness, it is impossible not to confess that the greatest praise is due to those, by whose exertions so much had been effected in the short space of two years.

Disappointed speculators may complain of the want of speedier returns; but their murmurs must be ascribed, as I have already stated, to their ignorance, in the first instance, of the nature of the enterprise in which they engaged. They know neither the hardships which have been endured, nor the difficulties which have been overcome, in their service; many of which, it is my firm conviction that it would have been impossible to surmount, but for the science and energy displayed by Captain Vetch, and Captain Colquhoun, to whom, most fortunately for the Company, the direction of this