red a very fair fortune for an unmitred ecclesiastic.

The Mineral Report, mentioned in the last note, which is so full on the
subject Fresnillo, insists that it is a continuation of the formation
of Cuatorce and the other mines of San Luis. The mountains at Cuatorce
are more dreary, bleak, and barren than in any other of the principal
mining districts, as it is more exposed to the storms and tempests from
the northeast and from the ocean. It was in this State of San Luis
Potosi that Dr. Gardner's quicksilver mine was alleged to exist, and in
the ineffectual efforts made to determine its whereabouts our
government has become quite familiar with the location of all the
worked mines of this state. The mines upon the mountains of Cuatorce
are said to have been discovered in 1778 by a negro fiddler, who, being
compelled to camp out on his way home from a dance, built a fire upon
what proved to be an outcrop of a vein, and, in consequence, found in
the morning, among the embers, a piece of virgin silver. It is a
doubtful question among those who are anxious about trifles whether the
name _Potosi_ given to this mine, owes its origin to the similarity
between the mode of its discovery to that of the celebrated mines of
that name in South America, or to the vast amount of silver at one time
taken from it.

Guanajuato, when it yielded its six millions a year of silver, besides
a fair supply of gold, was one of the most important States in the
republic. With every successful speculation, new adventurers were found
to invest their capital in resuming the working of abandoned mines,
until at last men have become bold enough to undertake, for the third
time, the draining of the great shaft of the Valenciana, so famous in
the last century. When I was last in Mexico that undertaking was
reported to have been accomplished. This mine is on a more magnificent
scale than even the Real del Monte. Its central shaft alone cost a
million of dollars; and though steam power can not be used, yet it is
so dry that horse windlasses can keep it clear of water. Its
abandonment in every instance has been in consequence of some
insurrectionary chief setting the works of the mine on fire, and not
from any deficiency in its product of silver. When I was in Mexico, so
little progress had been made in restoring the mine that it was not
thought worth visiting. But the most sanguine hopes were entertained
that it would again be as productive as in the time