them to a large rate of profit. Had Don Carlos got the upper hand before
they had reimbursed themselves, their lien upon the mines would have
been so much waste paper; or even, without that, they might have been
exposed to considerable loss and delay had Messrs Cabrera, Balmaseda,
Palillos, or others of the same kidney, chosen to take a turn in that
direction, carry off the workmen, destroy or damage the works, or drown
out the mines. Gomez did pay Almaden a visit when he made the tour of
Spain with his expeditionary corps. He burned a part of the town and
plundered all he could; but did no harm to the mine--which was either
very foolish or very considerate of him.

There is room for much curious speculation as to the effect which the
increased and increasing value of quicksilver may have upon the monetary
system of Europe, especially in France and other countries where silver
is the legal currency, and gold very little used on account of the
premium on it. It has been seen above, that, in Mexico, silver is not
worth refining, owing to the dearness of the mineral required for the
purpose. Unless something be discovered as a substitute for quicksilver,
the same result will, in all probability, ensue in other mining
districts; and the natural consequence will be the diminished use of
silver as a circulating medium, and the increased employment of gold,
the more so as the supply of the latter metal has of late years been
greatly augmented--a great deal now coming from Asiatic Russia--while
its wear and tear are very small. This change would not arise from a
scarcity of quicksilver, the quantity and quality of which, at Almaden
at least, improve as the miners get deeper into the vein; and, moreover,
the portion extracted is limited to 20,000 quintals, or weights of 105
pounds English. "All the works are executed in a truly royal manner; and
so capacious and enlarged are the views carried out in the management,
that they only take away about one-half of the mineral, leaving the
other as a legacy to the future possessors of it, and to provide a
supply in case of unforeseen accidents in the workings." There are other
uses besides the refining of silver to which quicksilver is applied; and
should the contractors continue to raise the price of the latter, the
consequence must necessarily be an increase in the value of the former,
and a diminution in its consumption.

There are five thousand men employed at the Almaden establish