CHAP. XXII.

AMERICAN MINES.

145

CHAPTER XXII.

On the production of gold and silver from the year 1700 to1809 inclusive.

It is not the design of this inquiry to enter intoa description of the mechanical inventions by whichthe ores were obtained from the bowels of theearth, nor the various chemical operations by whichthe precious metals were separated from the lessvaluable substances with which they are commonlycombined ; nor is it intended to enter into therelations of the different classes of society in thecountries where those metals were produced, far-ther than may appear to be necessary to accountfor the fluctuations in the quantities which atvarious periods they have furnished to the generalcommerce of the world.

Mexico as long as it continued under the go- Mexico ,vernment of Spain yielded a vast mass of goldand silver. It had from the commencement ofthe European power in that country increasedgradually and regularly, with very few interrup-tions. We have no intention of entering into thehistory of the conquest and the continued sub-mission of the native inhabitants. When Mexico was first visited by the Spaniards, some progress

VOL. II.

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