Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/598

578 gold-seekers, and the Peruvian mines for a time overshadowed those of Mexico, and all others of the world. This being almost the only industry of the times, the conquerors used to drive the natives at the point of the sword upon the rich silver-hills, so to secure an abundant return. "All the Indians between the ages of eighteen and fifty were enrolled in seven lists, the individuals on each list being obliged to work for six months in the mines, so that this forced labor came on the unfortunate Indians at intervals of three and a half years; four out of every five were supposed to perish annually in these deadly labors."

Having thus briefly reviewed the first gold-gatherings of Central and South America, let us turn to Mexico.

It is unnecessary again to recite the efforts of Montezuma to procure his ransom, details of which I have fully given in the first volume of my History of Mexico. Among the earliest gold-seeking expeditions in this quarter, after the fall of the empire, was one under Gonzalo de Umbría, to Zacatula, and another under Pizarro toward Tochtepec and Malinaltepec. Both returned with gold washed from the sands of the rivers.

The early expeditions to extend conquest gave opportunity to make further researches, and within a few years a number of Spaniards were busily engaged in the examination of what were afterward the several mining districts. Among the first regions thus examined were those of Guazpaltepec and Xaltepec, which the Spaniards reached on the expedition to Tochtepec under Gonzalo de Sandoval. Several years later they extended their labors to Michoacan, attracted by the fabulous yield of the Morcillo mine, which for a short time was worked with great success,