e been considerable, and in
more abundance than in the mineral districts of the other states of the
republic.

Attention having been much called to the ley and weight of the grains
of pure gold found on the surface in Quitovac, Cienequilla, and San
Francisco, as well as those masses of virgin silver found in Arizuma,
which wonderful riches stimulated the colonial government to despoil
the proprietors of it, and afterward the King of Spain, in declaring
that it pertained to his royal patrimony.

All those places in Sonora which are actually abandoned, as well as all
the lands of that state, are susceptible of producing great riches. The
reasons on which these assertions are founded are those which M. Saint
Clair Duport mentions in speaking of the probable variation there will
be in value of gold and silver in time, by reason of the great
extractions hereafter of these metals, particularly in California [this
was before the annexation of California] and Sonora, where, as in the
Ural Mountains, and the Altai Mountains of Central Asia, gold is
extremely abundant, and because in the _placers_ mentioned explorers
have recognized gold in dust, which they have not washed for want of
water in some, and from the difficulty that exists in others in order
to work them, such as those of Arizuma and La Papagueria.

Nothing could be said in relation to the number of operatives who are
employed in working the mines of this state, nor the day-laborers; nor
in respect to articles consumed there, as well in the digging of the
metals as in extracting them from the ores, because, as has already
been said, his Excellency the Governor has not been able to give the
notices which have been sought, and there are no other better
authorities through whom information can be procured. For in this state
there are no mining courts,[84] but the ordinary judges of first
instance are the authorities which take cognizance of matters which
occur in the department of the Mineria.

[84] The title to all mines in Mexico rests solely upon discovery
and improvement, without any regard to the proprietorship to the
land on which the mines are located; but the proof of discovery
and improvement must be made and recorded in the mineral courts,
except in Sonora, where the ordinary courts have jurisdiction.

There are no companies for the exploration of the mines in that remote
state. Some inhabitants, in distant periods, have procu