Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/567

Rh into which he looked, there was no inattention or negligence amongst the subordinate agents, but all the parts were made to work well together. Upon the whole, I did not see in Mexico a better-regulated enterprise; and there are very few the management of which is so entirely free from defects.

In the two Haciendas of the Company, La Purisima and La Soledad, amalgamation is but little employed. The ores are usually smelted, and in this process great use is made of the tĕqŭesqūitĕ, (carbonate of soda,) from La Sălādă, which is employed as a dissolvent. The lead ore (or Grētă) used, is brought from Măpĭmī, or Cuēncămē, (on the frontiers of Dŭrāngŏ and Chĭhūāhuă;) the charcoal from the Mēzquītāl, or the Mēzquītĕ woods belonging to the Hacienda of Mŭlērŏs, on the road to Durango. The charcoal costs one dollar for the carga of ten arrobas, or 250 lbs.; the lead varies from eight to twelve dollars per carga, about one arroba, or 25lbs. of which is lost in the reduction of a carga of ore.

Mr. Anitua, who manages the whole smelting department himself, and is thought to understand the process better than any man in the district, informed me that the average expences may be estimated at fifty-six dollars to the monton of twenty quintals; they consequently exceed considerably the charge for reducing a similar quantity of ore by amalgamation; but it is a favourite theory in all the smelting districts, that the ores yield a greater proportion of