Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/470

462 This hacienda was established by the Condé de Regla over one hundred years ago, and the reason for having the reduction works so far from the mines is that there is an abundance of water here, and little there. It is said that he employed slaves in this hacienda, as in his mines, and kept them in caverns in the cliffs.

Directly in front of the church is the patio, court or yard, in which is carried on the operation of mixing, kneading, and amalgamating the silver ore, called the "Patio process." It is the oldest Mexican system of extracting silver from its ore, and in substance the only one tolerated. The ore is brought here from the mines, on the backs of mules and burros, and in great carts, crushed into pieces the size of a walnut, and then further crushed and triturated beneath heavy blocks of basalt, whirled about in a circular basin, called an arrastre, by water-power. The comminuted ore is then run out into the patio, where it is spread out in great mud pies, and this mud, mixed with salt, quicksilver, and copperas, is trodden and thoroughly kneaded by droves of horses being driven through it a certain number of hours daily,—a custom introduced from Peru in 1733. The establishment has over two hundred horses and mules, and when I arrived six groups of twenty-four horses each were at work on different beds in the patio. They are tied together by a long line, which a man who stands in the centre holds in his hand, and compelled to travel round and round during eight long hours. When they leave the valuable deposit they are covered with precious mud, which is washed from them in a large tank. Further mixing with chemicals, washings, and triturations, are necessary before the final process of volatilization and running into bars, each and every one requiring watchful care and skill sharpened by long experience. The process is wasteful in the extreme, about twenty per cent, it is calculated, probably remaining in the residuum. The cost of reducing ores in this manner varies from twenty to twenty-five dollars per ton; consequently, ores yielding less than thirty dollars per ton are not generally worked.

It was worth a week's journey to look upon these mighty