Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/515

Rh upon which the Socabon of La Purisima strikes the Veta Madre will be the commencement of a new epoch in the annals of Catorce, equal in splendour to that of the discovery of the district in 1773, when an addition of nearly four millions of dollars annually was made to the mining produce of New Spain.

Besides these mines, the Company possesses that of Zăvālă, commonly called "Del Padre Flores," from the name of its first proprietor; the history of which is exceedingly curious, although the expectations of future produce are by no means great.

In 1778, when the fame of the riches of Catorce attracted settlers from every side, the Padre Flores was amongst their number, and, unwilling to remain idle where all were employed in seeking the gifts of fortune, he purchased for 700 dollars a mine recently denounced upon a little vein nearly due north of the town, where he began to work. After following some little "Hilitos," or threads of rich ore, to about twenty varas from the surface, a small Boveda, or vaulted chamber, was discovered, full of a loose metalliferous earth, so completely impregnated with particles of silver, that it was bought up at once by the Rescatadores, at the price of one dollar for the pound weight of ore. Neither powder nor the usual implements of mining were required for the extraction of this earth, which was, in fact, nothing more than extremely rich ores in a state of decomposition. The first Boveda was small, in