ising an adequate building, and this was completed
in 1813, and it has been considered one of the best architectural
features of the capital. It contained a special chapel, where services
were held for the students up to the time of the Reform, after which it
was turned into a library.

Important as mining has been in the past history of Mexico, it is, and
must remain, the most important of the industries of the country--in
the sense of wealth produced. This does not mean, of course, that it is
the most beneficial to the interests of the country and its inhabitants
at large, for agriculture is that by which the bulk of the native
Mexicans earn their means of subsistence.

The mineral-bearing zone of the country is a very extensive one, and
includes all that portion of the Republic traversed by the Sierra
Madres and their offshoots. From the State of Sonora in the north, the
boundary with the United States, to that of Chiapas in the
south--bordering upon the neighbouring Republic of Guatemala--minerals
are found. The region in which the most important mining districts
exist, and in which the historic mines of Mexico lie, forms a great
zone 1,600 miles long--between the States of Sonora in the north to
Oaxaca in the south--and 250 miles wide. These more famous and
largely-worked mines are chiefly upon the western slope of the Eastern
Sierra, and their elevations above sea-level range from 3,000 feet to
9,000 feet, and more. The minerals which are found throughout this
great region include almost all those known to commerce, and, more or
less in relative order of their importance, are as follows:--

Silver, copper, gold, lead, quicksilver, iron, coal, zinc, salt,
antimony, petroleum, sulphur, tin, bismuth, platinum; and others more
rarely, as nickel, cobalt, &c. Onyx, marble, opals, emeralds,
sapphires, topazes, rubies, are found, and other precious stones,
whilst diamonds are said to exist in certain localities. Agates,
cornelians, obsidian, are also among the products of this nature.

The following table shows the principal distribution of minerals in the
various states:--

+----------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| | MINERALS. |
| +----------------------------------------------------+
| STATE. | Silver. | Gold. | Copper. | Lead. | Tin. | Mercury.|
+----------------+---------+-------+---------+-------+------