Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/590

570 ten, and in some places more than fifteen varas wide. An adit was driven, with an intention of piercing the lode one hundred varas below the old workings; but from some miscalculation in the measurements, it did not reach the point where it would have cut the vein, and was given up by the proprietors in despair. Since that time Gavilanes has been upon the decline, and, in 1826, the district only contained one mine in activity, although abounding in metalliferous veins.

Gūārĭsămĕy, the head of the surrounding districts, owes its discovery to the lode of Tĕcŏlōtă, which crosses the high road from Dŭrāngŏ to the Coast, by Cŏsălā. The abundance and richness of its ores soon brought settlers into the vicinity of the mines: the neighbouring mountains were explored, and the veins of Ărānă, Cinco Señores, Bŏlāñŏs, Pĭrāmĭdĕ, Cāndĕlārĭa, Dŏlōrĕs, and Tāpĭă, discovered, with numberless others, which have not yet been worked; the miners of Guarisamey having never attacked a vein that did not leave a clear profit from the very surface of the earth.

Almost all the lodes mentioned above were denounced by Zămbrānŏ; and all produced bonānzas, some of which were very considerable. The mine of Arāna was remarkable for containing, between two small stripes of rich ore, a cavity filled (like the bovedas of the mine of Zăvālă, at Catorce) with a rich metalliferous dust, composed almost entirely of gold and silver. It was likewise distinguished by many