Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/480

440 MEXICO. pects high. But, at the same time, it must he confessed, that the vast extent of their undertakings is a disadvantage, from the impossibility of enforcing uniformity of system in opera- tions, which are spread over 800 leagues of country, (from Jesus Maria, North-west of Chihuahua, to Teojomulco, in Oaxaca,) and that, consequently, there is reason to fear that the difficulties of management will tend, whatever be the ex- ertions of the Directors, considerably to diminish the profits. It would be folly in me to attempt to fix what Mr. Alaman has declared his inability to do, — the period at which the Company may look for the repayment of its advances ; but should any one of their great undertakings succeed, (and it is difficult for the most desponding to suppose them all failures,) that period cannot be more distant than that fixed by the Di- rectors of other Companies — viz. the year 1831 or 1832. The Report with which the Directors of the German Com- pany were so obliging as to furnish me, contains many in- teresting facts, some of which tend not a little to confirm the opinion expressed in the preceding Section, that, had the at- tention of the British public not been exclusively directed to the mines which came recommended by Baron Humboldt's authority, capital might have been, in many instances, in- vested more profitably, in mines of less celebrity, but easier of access, than some of those selected by the English Com- panies. Not one of the German mines is known in England ; for Arevalo, the most important one amongst them, (at Chico,) was discovered after Humboldt's visit to Mexico; yet the Germans, by a judicious selection, made upon the spot, by miners of great experience, and activity, have done more, (in proportion,) in less time, and with a smaller capital, than any of the Foreign Companies established in New Spain. By the statement of the Directors, it appears that they commenced their operations in the Autumn of 1825; and