their great
discovery, the keeper of the store had refused to credit one of them
for a little corn for his _tortillas_. They extracted from their claim
$270,000; yet, in December, 1826, they were still living in a wretched
hovel, close to the source of their wealth, bare-headed and
bare-legged, with upward of $200,000 in silver locked up in their hut.
But never was the utter worthlessness of the metal, as such, so clearly
demonstrated as in the case of the Arancos, whose only pleasure
consisted in contemplating their hoards, and occasionally throwing away
a portion of the richest ore to be scrambled for by their former
companions, the workmen."

Near the Morelos is the _Jesus Maria_. Though on the western or Sonora
slope of the mountain, it is only eight leagues from Chihuahua. This,
like Morelos, is a modern discovery, and, of course, was not included
in the number of those Sonora mines which produced such an intense
excitement about a hundred years ago in Mexico, and even in Spain.
Here, within the circuit of three leagues, two hundred metallic _lodes_
were registered in one year. The story of the mine of _El Refugio_,
discovered by a fellow of the name of Pacheco, gave occasion for
anecdotes like those of the Arancos which we have just recited. A
dealer had an old cloak which took the fancy of Pacheco, and to
purchase this thing he gave ore from which the dealer realized $8000.
Three twenty-fourths (three bars) of the product of this mine netted,
between the years 1811 and 1814, $337,000. On the Sonora side of the
mountain is _Santa Eulalia_. The ores of this _real_ [district] are
found in loose earth, filling immense caverns, or what are called
"rotten ores" in California, and are easily separated by smelting. One
shilling a mark ($8) was laid aside from the silver which one of these
caverns produced, which shilling contribution constituted the fund out
of which the magnificent Cathedral of Chihuahua was built.

THE MINE OF ARAZUMA.

Proceeding northward, we come to a spot the most famous in the world
for its product of silver, the mine of _Arazuma_. For near a century,
the accounts of the wealth of this mine were considered fabulous; but
their literal truth is confirmed by the testimony of the English
embassador. After examining the old records which I have quoted, I have
no doubt that the facts surpassed the astonishing report; for in
Mexico, the propensity has ever been to conceal rather than
over-estimate