Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/629

Rh is pretty, is suffered to grow up in uneducated idleness. His own habits are abstemious; and his religious notions extremely strict. He dislikes allusions to his wealth, and considers any enquiry respecting his mine almost as a personal offence. To all proposals for a cession of the right of working it, even for a limited time, he has constantly given the same answer, namely, that he does not want money, and that if he did, those who offer him the most liberal terms know best that he could take out of his mine double the amount of any thing that they could give, in less time than they would themselves require to raise the money.

Under these circumstances but little is to be expected from the mine of Guadalupe until the death of its eccentric proprietor; but if any faith can be reposed in the uniform opinions of those best acquainted with Cŏsălā, its wealth is almost unparalleled; and the three sons of Iriarte must, at some future period, astonish the world by the immensity of their resources.

Cŏsălā and Ōpŏsūră are almost the two only spots in Mexico, in which the inhabitants are afflicted with wens, a disease so common in the mountainous districts of Columbia that the possibility of discovering a remedy for it has frequently occupied the attention of the Legislature. In both places it is attributed to some peculiarity in the water, which descends from the Sierra Madre strongly impregnated with mineral substances. It is singular