s when its abundant
riches secured for its owner the title of Marquis of Valenciana, though
he had worked with his own hands on the shaft which afterward yielded
him its millions.

THE MINE OF LOS RAYAS.

Second in importance among the old mines of Guanajuato is _Los Rayas_.
Its history presents a new feature in the mining system of Mexico, not
before mentioned, but which is important to a right understanding of
the operation of the mining code. The right of discovery gives title to
two hundred _varas_ along the mine, and to two hundred _varas_ (about
500 feet) in depth. The consequence of this limitation is, that when a
very rich claim is made, there immediately springs up a contest to get
below it, and to cut off the lucky discoverer from the lower part of
his expected fortune, and he has no means of avoiding such a result but
by driving his shaft downward until he reaches a point below his first
two hundred _varas_, which entitles him to claim another section
downward.

This principle is strikingly illustrated in the case of the famous mine
of the priest Flores at Cuatorce, which he blasphemously named "the
Purse of God the Father,"[77] where there are marks of divers attempts
being made to undermine him, though without success. But the case is a
different one when the _bonanza_ is upon a high ridge, and it can be
undermined by drifting in from a lower level. Then commences a lively
contest to determine who can dig the fastest, and make the most rapid
progress in this contest of mining and countermining.

The Marquis de los Rayas owes his title and his princely fortune of
$11,000,000 to a successful contest of this character. The Santa Amita
was in _bonanza_, yielding an ore so pregnant with gold that the crude
mass often sold for its weight in silver.

DEEP MINING.

Contests of this kind are very different from those which used to take
place in California some years ago, when twenty feet square was marked
off upon the top of a ridge, through which the claimant had to sink his
shaft to the base rock on which the gold was supposed to be deposited.
When the rock was reached, it was often found difficult to keep the
lines that had been marked off on the surface, particularly when the
lead grew richer as it approached the border of the claim.
Controversies were frequent, and frequently resulted in subterranean
quarrels and fights, and, of course, ended in superterranean lawsuits.
But the Mexican rival parties