MEXICO. 435 investment of 150,000/., (or 750,000 dollars,) commencing in the year 1826, he looks for a produce of two millions of dol- lars in the year 1829. This estimate is a fair one, as it does not exceed one half of the produce of some former years, before the expense of the drainage compelled the proprietors to abandon the deep- est levels.* Half the sum, (supposing the other half to be absorbed by the expenses,) would repay the whole capital invested, in the year 1829 ; and leave one million of dollars annually, to be divided by the proprietors in every subsequent year ; so that the profits of the Company, as long as the mines continued to be productive, would be equivalent to two-thirds of their whole original expenditure, or something more than sixty-six per cent. Under such circumstances, loss, at all events, either of capital, or of a return upon it, much exceeding any ordinary interest, can hardly be apprehended ; for, although mining cannot be subjected to fixed calculations, it is a fact univer- sally admitted in Mexico, that the chances of loss diminish, in proportion to the extent of the operations carried on ; and that, although many a poor miner has lost his little all upon one ill-chosen spot, few instances have occurred, in which a district of known richness has disappointed the hopes of those who have possessed the means of exploring it in every part. The Report of Mr. Williamson, Director of the Anglo- Mexican Association, (dated June 1826,) after stating the pro- gress made, and the probabiKty of concluding the drainage of the Valenciana mine in eighteen months, proceeds to give the average annual produce of Guanajuato before 1810,t which appears to have been, on a term of fifteen years, 5,572,206 dollars ; two-thirds of which, or 3,714,804 dollars, actually proceeded from the mines now working by the Company.
- Vide Table of Produce, No. J, at the end of this Section,
•f Vide Table, No. 7, annexed to preceding Section. 2 F 2
