sible to wheel-carriages. On the first discovery of the mines it was intended to build the town upon this spot, and many regret that the resolution was not adhered to; for water, which the Potrero wants, might have been easily conveyed to it by an aqueduct, while provisions and other necessaries would then have reached Catorce in carts, without the expence or risk with which their conveyance up the Cañada is at present attended. It is supposed that the Viceroy, Count Revilla Gigedo, was misled by the representations of some individuals, whose habitations were already built upon the present site of the town, to which a preference was consequently given for the construction of the Government Offices, and these determined the position of the rest.
It is difficult to conceive any thing bolder than the idea of the Sŏcăbōn, (adit,) of La Purisima, or more magnificent than its execution. In order to understand its object, it is necessary to have an idea of the position of the Veta Madre, which, as already stated, occupies the whole side of the mountain above the town, running in a direction nearly due North-east and South-west, and varying in width from three, to thirty, and in some parts, even forty varas. Upon this vein are situated a large proportion of the mines, from which the great wealth of Catorce has proceeded. The uppermost, La Purisima, is followed in regular succession as you descend towards the town, by the mines of Valenciana, San José, Guadalupe de Veta Grande, La
