Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/499

MEXICO, 459 A similar enterprise will shortly be attempted in Eng- land, by an English gentleman, (Colonel Bourne,) who has been long a resident in Mexico, in conjunction with Mr. Escalante, the representative of the state of Sonora in the Senate. They have taken up contracts for the mines of ArTzpe, (about 36° north latitude,) in a situation possessing great local advantages, a fertile country, the vicinity of two large rivers, and a communication by water with the Pacific. The mines themselves were formerly celebrated for their riches, and the capital required to bring them again into activity is very small. The specimens which I have seen of the ores extracted from them, almost induce one to adopt the theory, that the proportion of silver contained in the ores increases as you ad- vance towards the North ; a theory very generally believed, at present, in Mexico, and certainly confirmed by the supe- riority of the Northern ores to those of the richest districts in the South. The idea probably originated in the discovery of the famous Bolas de Plata, (Balls of Silver,) of Arizona, in the beginning of the last century, which was, and probably still is, believed in Europe to be one of those fables, with which mining coun- tries always abound. But the attention of the present Government of Mexico having been drawn to the subject, a search was made in the Vice-regal Archives, by order of the President, for the cor- respondence, which was known to have taken place respecting it in the year 1736. This correspondence I have seen, and I have in my posses- sion a certified copy of a Decree of Philip the Fifth, dated Aranjuez, 28th May, 1741, the object of which was to ter- minate a prosecution, instituted by the Royal Fiscal against the discoverers of Ariz5na, for having defrauded the Treasury of the duties payable upon the masses of pure silver foimd there.