Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/457

MEXICO. the whole management is confided to Natives ; and although this system has not, I think, been generally successful, (from the listlessness, and want of activity, of many of the agents,) in some places it has been productive of the very best effects, as at Sombrerete, where nothing could exceed the beautiful order in which I found the works, under the management of Don Narciso Anitua, who acts, at the same time, as Pro- prietor, and as Mining Director for the Company. At Tlalpujahua, the attempt to introduce a strictly Euro- pean system was never made; and that Company has, con- sequently, experienced fewer changes, and incurred less ex- pense since its establishment, than any other. Its whole outlay does not exceed 180,000/. while, by engrafting upon the old Mexican machinery a number of modern European improvements, a steady progress has been made in the works, which now present every prospect of a favourable result. I have been unavoidably drawn into these details, in order to place in a proper light, strictures, which, although they apply, in some measure, to all the Companies, are not appli- cable, in the same degree, to each : nor can I terminate this unpleasant portion of my task, without pointing out a few additional circumstances, by which the prospects of the Ad- venturers in the Mexican Mines have been more or less in- fluenced. There is hardly a single Company, amongst those now formed, that has not expended considerable sums upon Mines, which, had they been better acquainted with the country, they would never have attempted to work. This is not to be attributed entirely to the Directors in Mexico. In 1825, the rage for taking up Mining contracts was such, that many adventurers, who presented themselves in London for that purpose, disposed of Mines, (the value of which was, to say the least, very questionable,) to the Boards of Management in England, without the Agents of the Company upon the spot having been either consulted, or even apprized of the VOL. I. 2 E