Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/463

M EX ICO. 423 nication between them ; to wall in the Patios, or courts, in which amalgamation is at last effected; and to construct water-wheels wherever water power could be applied ; nor is there one of these expenses, that is not in so far indispensa- ble, that, without them, the drainage of the mines themselves could lead to no sort of advantage. It is, therefore, by works of this nature that the Compa- nies have commenced their operations, and in them the largest portion of their outlay has consisted. Authorised by their contracts to look forward to a long term of possession, (generally from twenty to thirty years,) and entitled, by the former goodness of the mines, to expect an abundant pro- duce, their preparatory works have been constructed in such a manner as to combine durability with convenience, and, in most instances, will require but few additions. Of the scale upon which things have necessarily been done, I shall beg leave to adduce a few examples. The possessions of the Real del Monte Company, on the two great Veins of Santa Brigida, and La Biscaina, (which are usually regarded in England as one mine,) cover a space of 11,800 yards, and are intersected, at intervals, by thirty- three shafts, varying in depth from 200 to 270 yards, but all sunk with a magnificence unparalleled in Europe. The whole of these shafts, together with the great adit, which fol- lows the direction of the two veins, branching off from the Santa Brigida Vein at the point where it intersects that of the Biscaina, and from which the wealth of the Regla family was principally derived, were delivered over to the Company* in July 1824, in a state of absolute ruin. Many of the shafts had fallen in, (though cut, at intervals, in the solid porphy- ritic rock ;) in others, the timbers had given way, and in all, as the adit was completely choked up, the water had risen to an enormous height. In July 1826, when I visited Real del Monte, the adit was cleared, and retimbered, from the mouth,