Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/604

584 were made to foster the development of certain mines. This liberality of the crown was somewhat counteracted by limiting the distribution in Mexico, and also by the tribunal officials in granting preferences and more substantial favors to those who paid for them.

The government monopoly extended over the quicksilver mines of New Spain. In 1609 a law was issued, promising rewards to discoverers of such deposits, but when found they were not allowed to be worked lest they should affect the interests of the crown. This fostered a belief that no cinnabar existed in New Spain, while in reality it was most abundant, especially between latitudes 19° and 22°. In the beginning of the eighteenth century fresh discoveries in Zacatecas and near Cuernavaca roused such clamor against the existing restrictions that finally a commission was sent from Spain in 1778 to investigate the prospects for working the vein. The result proved a failure. After expending about 160,000 pesos it was declared to be unprofitable to the crown; yet certain private persons duly authorized continued to work mines with varying success.

It is not my purpose in the present chapter to enter fully into the geological features of New Spain, but merely to present a brief outline for the better understanding of the subject. It is astonishing how