CHAP. XXII.
153
lent him upwards of two hundred thousandpounds, which was never after repaid. The minesof the district of Zaccatecas were about the year1750 in such a state of abandonment that theyscarcely furnished silver to the amount of morethan one hundred thousand pounds; but by thespirited exertions of an individual, Laborde, in afew years after their produce was raised to tentimes that amount. Thus, whilst the numeroussmall mining-establishments, if they had not lan-guished, had increased but slowly, the larger oneshere noticed, with some others, had made a mostastonishing progress.
The gradual increase of capital which had pro-duced this effect had been aided by another favour-able circumstance. The supply of mercury hadbecome more regular, and at a cheaper rate. Inthe year 1590 the price was one hundred andeighty-seven piastres the quintal; in sixty yearsafter it had fallen to eighty-two, in thirty yearsmore to sixty-two, and in the next ten years toforty-two. Mercury had been furnished by thegovernment at a monopoly price: it had beenused as an implement of favouritism by the viceroysin Mexico , and the officers under them in themining-districts. It had been chiefly drawn fromHuancavelica in Peru, or from Almaden in Anda-lusia ; but after the calamities suffered by thosemines the court of Spain drew a large supply fromthe Austrian mines of Idria, by which, after gain-