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MEXICO IN 1827

fitted up extensive Haciendas of their own. The Anglo-Mexican Company possesses eight of these Amalgamation works; the United Mexican four; and this new plan, should it be found to answer, will undoubtedly tend to discourage, for some time, the re-establishment of the independent Haciendas.

On the morning of the 13th of November, we visited the mine of Vĭllălpāndŏ, situated in the mountains to the East of Guănăjūātŏ, about four leagues from the town, upon a separate vein, totally unconnected with the Veta Madre. A number of small mines are united in the "Negotiation" of Villalpando, but the depth of the deepest levels does not exceed two hundred varas: the ores are rich in gold, and in appearance resemble those of the Rancho del Oro: picked stones have been found to contain as much as two ounces of Silver, to one pound of ore; and the Ley de Oro, or proportion of gold found combined with this Silver sometimes amounts to five hundred and fifty Grains in the marc; the value of which at the Mint is raised, in these cases, from eight and a half to thirty and thirty-five dollars. The principal proprietors of the mine are the Conde Vălĕnciānă, the Countess Rūhl, and the Conde de Pĕrĕz Gālvĕz. The Anglo-Mexican Company, to which it belongs, was in possession of eight Barras, or one-third of the mine; but the whole outlay was to be repaid out of the first produce, and a fund of reserve of 150,000 dollars for future contingencies, to be set aside, before any division of