a great variety of colours; some of them present a mixture of bright red, yellow, green, and other varied tints. In traversing these mountains you meet with many excavations; but the principal mine, called San Pedro de Nacosari, is a phenomenon. The vein runs east and west, and is laid open from the surface more than one thousand varas, to the depth of seventy varas; the breadth of the aperture is about two yards, but on each side are immense quantities of rubbish thrown out. Much dirt and sand have washed in and covered the vein; but general report says, that the mine has no water in the interior, and that the ores were so rich that the best yielded from twenty-five to thirty marcs of silver for twenty-five pounds of ore.
The mines of Churunibabi, Pinal, Huacal, Aguage, and many others, are situated to the north and north-east of Nacosari, at no great distance from San Juan del Rio, built upon a stream which falls into the Yaqui. These minerals are equally rich with those already described. Pinal contains a greater proportion of gold than silver. It is recorded in the archives of Arispe, that the former owner, a lady, by name Maria Quijada, lent, at one time, 700 marcs of gold for the use of the Government.
Churunibabi is a very old mine, worked in the same way as San Pedro; as, indeed, are all the mines in this part of the country. The direction of the vein is east and west, the breadth two varas. The last persons who undertook to work this mine, were three men by the names of Escalante, Vasquez, and Coulla. They cleared away the rubbish at one end until they found a pillar, left to support some of the old workings, from which they took ores that produced 70,000 dollars, and yielded seventy marcs of silver per carga, of 500lbs. Not immediately finding the principal vein, they divided the money, and discontinued their works. The mine is laid open from the surface 400 yards in height. Tradition says that the first discoverers found the vein of virgin silver half a vara in breadth, that it was abandoned in the Apache war, with the vein as described above two varas, and ores of seventy marcs per carga. The richness of these ores appears almost incredible, but when we consider the great quantities of bars of silver that Sonora has produced,
