least day wages, which is here represented by forty cents.
Others were producing sun-dried brick out of the clayey substance, after
it had been rewashed by the independent miners. This river becomes a
torrent in the rainy season, and owing to its situation the town is
liable to dangerous inundations, one of which occurred so late as 1885,
causing great loss of life and property. Creeping slowly upward over the
rough road, an abrupt corner of the gulch was finally turned, and we
suddenly found ourself in the centre of the active little city, so
compactly built that business seemed to be overflowing its proper
limits and utterly blocking the narrow streets. The provision and fruit
market was trespassing on every available passageway. Curbstone and
sidewalk were unhesitatingly monopolized by the market people with their
wares spread out for sale. In Guanajuato is found the richest vein of
silver-bearing ore in the country, known as the _Veta Madre_, and though
the most primitive modes of mining and milling have always been and
still are pursued here, over eight hundred million dollars in the
argentiferous metal have been realized from this immediate vicinity
since official record has been kept of the amount; and with all this
Mexico is still poor!

The ore has now to be raised from a depth of fifteen hundred feet and
more. There are between fifty and sixty crushing mills in operation at
this writing, reducing the silver-bearing quartz. Two of the mills are
operated by Europeans, who use steam power to some extent, but the
scarcity of fuel is a serious objection to the employment of steam. We
saw scores of mules treading the liquid, muddy mass for amalgamating
purposes, driven about in a circle by men who waded knee-deep while
following the weary animals. As these huge vats contain quicksilver,
vitriol, and other poisonous ingredients, the lives of men and animals
thus occupied are of brief duration. The mules live about four years,
and the men rarely twice as long if they continue in the business. This
result is well known to be inevitable, and yet there are plenty of men
who eagerly seek the employment.

Without going into detail we may describe the process of obtaining the
silver from the rocky mass in a few words. The ore is first crushed, and
by adding water is made into a thin paste. Many tons of this are placed
in a huge vat, at least a hundred feet square, and into it are thrown,
in certain quantities, sulphate of