intersected in all directions by small threads, or veins, of white earth, containing gold in so large a proportion that the ore of inferior quality was disposed of at twelve and fifteen dollars the arroba, while the richest sold for two hundred dollars.
Two of the crests have been extensively worked, but the third is nearly virgin. All three may be explored to advantage by commencing at the summit, and sinking through the crest to the level of the ground, as the veins of gold traverse every part of the rock. The gold of Mulatos is nearly pure, the lowest quality being twenty-three "quilates," while it sometimes rises to twenty-three quilates, three and a half grains.[1] Some idea may be formed of the abandoned state of the district from the facts related by Mr. Glennie, to whom I am indebted for the above account, and who says, that when he visited Mulatos, he found a number of Indians suspended by ropes upon the side of the rocks, or crests described above, picking out the earth in which the gold is contained with wooden stakes, but without attempting an excavation of any kind.
I much regret that Mr. Glennie's continual absences from Mexico should have prevented him from continuing the account of his visit to the Northern Mining Districts, of which I have made such frequent use in the preceding parts of this Section. He visited both Ālămŏs and Cŏsălā, of which I shall have
- ↑ 4 grains= 1 quilate; 24 quilates, pure gold.
