upon each _torta_.

Let us now run over the many chemical processes that have been resorted
to in order to separate the silver from the ore. The roll-brimstone,
that has been procured in Durango, or in the volcano of Popocatapetl,
is bought up at the mint in the city of Mexico, where it is burned in a
room lined with lead, and into which water is jetted until the smoke of
the burning brimstone is condensed. This water of sulphur is then
carefully collected, and distilled in a boiler of platinum, on which
sulphur can not act. The sulphuric acid obtained by this distillation
is used to separate the gold that is found in the silver bars from
silver. This sometimes amounts to ten per cent. The acid dissolves the
silver, but does not act upon the gold, which is thus separated from
the silver. The sulphate of silver is drawn off and poured upon plates
of copper, by which means the silver is precipitated, and sulphate of
copper, or blue vitriol, is produced, which, not being of use in the
mint, is sold to the Real del Monte Company, where it is employed in
obtaining silver. The process by which the company obtain their salt
has been already stated, while the lime they use is burned upon the
mountains. After all these hard and laborious processes, only from five
to ten per cent. of silver is obtained, except in cases of _bonanzas_,
which shows that silver mines can be profitably worked only in those
countries where labor commands the lowest standard of wages.

THE HEIRS OF REGLA.

The heirs of the Count Peter inherited his accumulated treasures, his
purchased estates, his title, and his prospects of future success in
mining, which were as brilliant as they had been in his lifetime. They
never dreamed of financial embarrassments in the midst of accumulations
of wealth which surpassed the wildest of Oriental romances. They forgot
that their wealth rested upon the perfect security which they inherited
from the wise and virtuous government of Carlos III., of blessed
memory; that he it was who had put out the fires of the Inquisition,
and so curtailed the power of the priests that they could no longer
plunder with impunity, or rob the Terreros of the fruits of their
father's enterprise by threatening them with the censure of the Church,
which, in the reign of a feeble king, had a significant meaning. The
new code of mining laws, the cheapness of quicksilver, and the opening
of commerce, had all combined to make their fortune, w