Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/534

514 state of wretchedness to which all similar establishments there are reduced. An arroba of common Zacate, (dry grass,) costs at Catorce from one and a half to three reals. Maize rises during moments of scarcity to eight and ten dollars the fanega. The ordinary price is from two to three dollars, and even at this the expence of maintaining the number of mules required for a large establishment of tahonas, or arrastres, where water-power cannot be applied, would be enormous. It is on this account that every possible mode of shortening the process of amalgamation has been resorted to by the rescatadores of Catorce, who have introduced a mode of treating the poorer ores, called El beneficio de Cazo, which is but little known in other districts. The ores are prepared for this process by washing, upon an inclined plane, (La Planilla,) which is in fact a bad substitute for the concentrating machine, mentioned in the preceding book. When separated, as much as possible, from the earthy particles, they are placed in a large cauldron, with a copper bottom, called El Cazo, below which a fire is kept up. The metalliferous earth is then diluted with water, until it becomes quite of a thin consistency, when salt is added, (pa. limpiar, castrar,) and quicksilver in the usual proportion; this is not, how ever, thrown in until the fluid has been in a boiling state for at least two hours. The whole is kept in motion by a man provided with a rake, (rastrillo,) and in six hours the incorporation of the quicksilver with a portion