Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/702

682 the paths so little frequented that all trace of them is frequently lost. I succeeded however, with an excellent horse, in making my way to the mouth of a Barranca more than a league in length, towards the upper part of which the village and mines are situated. The mountains on either side are lofty, and clothed with a fine growth of oaks and firs, while a rapid, though shallow, stream occupies nearly the whole of the intervening space. The road winds alternately from bank to bank, until, at a sudden turn, a little platform is discovered, upon which the village stands. The only air-tight house in it is that occupied by the Company, close to the Socabon of San Pedro. The Hacienda built by them stands a little below. It is in the establishment of the reduction works that the principal expence of the Company at Ozumatlan has consisted, for the goodness of the mines had been ascertained by Mr. Dollar, (who had laid out 22,000 dollars upon them,) before they were contracted for. The Hacienda has cost about 35,000 dollars more. It contains a large water-wheel for stamping the ores, and every other requisite for a smelting establishment; this being the only process used in Ozūmătlān, where the ores contain a quantity of lead: and where amalgamation in the Patio would be doubly tedious, on account of the total absence of sun, there being only three or four hours out of the twenty-four, in which its rays can penetrate into the lower parts of the Barranca. At the time of my visit, nine