t in the
history of any of them. Their story is made up of notices of silver
mines, and times of great _bonanzas_ and cattle-raising. Here the
population is mostly white, made up of the hardy peasantry from Biscay.
The Indians on the high table-lands were too hardy to be reduced to
slavery: the result is the same here as in Chili. The two races have
not extensively intermixed, as the Indians were driven northward,
where, for a period of three hundred years, they have, in a measure,
maintained their independence, and have so much improved in the art of
war that they are able to return again and fight for the homes of their
ancestors. The white inhabitants of these states are more cleanly in
their habits, and more industrious than the Southern people. The little
state of Queretaro has little to boast but its agriculture, but to the
north of it is a country of mines and pasturage.

There was formerly great rivalry between the states of Guanajuato and
Zacatecas on the ground of their mining successes. Each in turn has had
its season of boasting, for it has happened that, in those years when
Guanajuato was most prosperous, Zacatecas was not in _bonanza_, and
_vice versa_. When I was first in Mexico, San Luz and San Luce, at
Guanajuato, were in _bonanza_, with divers others; and out of
$300,000 in silver bars brought down to the city of Mexico, nearly ten
per cent. of gold was extracted. But now both these _bonanzas_ have
given out, and the annual product of silver in the State of Guanajuato
has fallen off over $2,000,000, while the mines of Zacatecas are in a
most flourishing condition, as is shown by the large sum of $1,200,000
being demanded by government for renewing the lease of the mint at
Zacatecas.

Fresnillo is the most flourishing of the mines of Zacatecas. This mine
was formerly considered of little value. Among its advantages is an
American manager, who for many years has aided in the direction of its
affairs. On my return from Mexico, I found the road up the Perote
covered with wagons laden with portions of a monster steam-engine, the
fifth that was to be employed to pump the water from this mine. It
seems incredible that so large a sum as $1,000,000 should be required
for the freight alone of this new machinery. But, after I had become
familiar with the vast scale on which every thing is conducted at a
large silver mine, where millions appear as the small dust of the
balance, I can credit what my readers might