Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/216

210 hours at a shift. In all my mining experience, I have never seen such a waste of power and such thoroughly primitive appliances for mining.

I went through many of the galleries and drifts, and examined the vein carefully. The main vein is five to twelve feet wide, quite irregular, and runs in a generally south-western and north-eastern direction, dipping to the south-westward as it descends. It carries metal in a very unequal degree, in different portions, and though presenting rich specimens and bunches of almost pure silver in spots, is not generally very rich.



In one chamber I saw a number of mules and horses feeding a thousand feet below the surface.

These poor creatures are let down in slings from the surface, through the tiro, and never go out again alive.

They turned their glazing eyes upon us, with evident pain, as we passed with lighted torches, and appeared to regard us with mournful interest, as in some way connected with the world above,