Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/411

MEXICO. (where any were attempted) being confined, almost entirely, to the upper levels. Tasco, (an important military station to the South of the Capital,) forms a solitary exception to this rule ; for the town being constantly garrisoned by Royalist troops, and only once taken by the Insurgents, the Tribunal de Mineria under- took to work the Mines there, which formerly belonged to the famous Laborde ; and did so with Such success, that the pro- duce is supposed to have averaged 400,000 dollars annually. The other Mining Districts in the vicinity of the Capital, (Pachuca, ChTco, Zimapan, Temascaltepec, Tlalpiijahiia, el Oro, Zacualpan, Angangeo, Siiltepec, and el Doctor,) were all nearly abandoned, or their produce so much reduced, that no returns of it were kept. The amount of the silver known to have been raised since 1810, is, therefore, as follows : — Dollars. Zacatecas, (average) 1,000,000 Guanajuato, Gold and Silver, (average) . 1,608,034 Catorce, ditto .... 599,400 Sombrerete, ditto . . 300,000 Tasco, ditto .... 400,000 Real del Monte, ditto 14,285 Guarisamey, San Dimas, (included in Durango Coinage) 461,176 Northern Districts, included in Chihuahua Coinage 316,767 Total given by Registers in my possession 4,699,662 The above Table is only meant to show the impossibility of attempting, in the present state of Mexico, to ascertain the actual produce of the country by any other standard than that of the Coinage. It was in the different Mints that the silver raised was ultimately concentrated, as they alone afforded the 2 B 2