CHAPTER VII. SOUTHWARD AGAIN.--CROSSING A BARRANCA.--BARRANCAS IN MEXICO.--LAGOS AND ITS PECULIARITIES.--LEON, THE MANUFACTURING CITY OF MEXICO.--SILAO.--ARRIVAL AT GUANAJUATO.--A SILVER CITY.--THE VALENCIANO MINE.--AN UNHEALTHY PLACE.--BAD DRAINAGE.--A SYSTEM OF RESERVOIRS.--THE CASTILLO DEL GRENADITAS.--AN INDIAN'S ARMOR.--EXPERT THIEVES.--STEALING A GRINDSTONE.--MARKET SCENES.--HEADS OF SHEEP AND GOATS.--SCHOOLS AT GUANAJUATO.--EDUCATION IN MEXICO.--DOWN IN THE RAYAS MINE.--SIGHTS UNDERGROUND.--AN INDIAN WATER-CARRIER.--HOW A SKIN IS TAKEN WHOLE FROM A PIG.--THE REDUCTION HACIENDA.--MR. PARKMAN'S MACHINE.--QUERETARO.--THE HERCULES AND OTHER COTTON-MILLS.

Satisfied with a day at Aguas Calientes, the party took the south-bound trains and did not stop until reaching Silao, after a run of 130 miles. An hour or more after leaving Aguas Calientes, they crossed the barranca, or caÑon, through which the Encarnacion River flows; the bridge by which they crossed it is built of iron, and is more than 700 feet long. It is fully 150 feet above the water, and the view as one looks downward from the centre of the bridge is apt to cause dizziness to a nervous traveller.

"Perhaps you don't know what a barranca is," wrote Frank, in his next letter to his mother. "Well, it's a deep channel which the water has worn in its steady flow for thousands of years through the earth or soft rock. The channel of Niagara River from the falls to Lewiston may be called a barranca, and so may any similar cutting made by a stream, whether large or small. Some of the Mexican barrancas are 2000 feet wide, and 1000 or 1500 feet deep; their sides are almost precipitous, and every year the waters wear a deeper way through the rock or earth.

"Did you ever walk through a field, and come suddenly upon a ditch or brook that was not visible a few yards away? Well, that's the case with some of these barrancas. You come upon one without being aware that you are near it; you may be galloping along enjoying the fresh air and the pleasure of a ride, when all at once your horse stops, and as you draw the reins you find yourself on the edge of a precipice, looking down hundreds of feet, perhaps, to the turbid stream struggling along its course. On the other side of the barranca the country is level again, and you could gallop on without trouble but for the yawning chasm that stands in your way.

"The barrancas are crossed by descending to the stream along a sloping road built with great ingenuity and at much expense; the stream is passed by an ordinary bridge, and the high ground is reached again along another sloping road. Barrancas have long been a serious obstacle to the construction of wagon-roads in Mexico, and in recent years they have taxed the ingenuity of railway engineers who sought to pass them."

The first important city on the route was Lagos, which has a population of 25,000 or thereabouts, and is devoted to manufacturing; farther on is Leon, which is four times as large, and five or six times more important, as it is the principal manufacturing city of the republic, and was founded about 1550. Formerly there was a great fair held at Leon annually for the sale of goods; it was similar to the great fairs of Europe before the invention of the railway, but has dwindled in importance as the railways have come in, and will probably be abandoned before many years.

"What do they make at Leon?" one may ask. For answer, Fred or Frank will tell you that they make pretty nearly every kind of article that finds a market in Mexico and can be fashioned by Mexican hands. There are numerous tanneries there, and the leather which they produce is made into boots, saddles, harnesses, leggings, and other things into whose composition leather enters. There are factories for the manufacture of cotton and woollen cloth, serapes, rebozos, and the like; there are large shops where hats are made of every Mexican style and kind, and sent to all parts of the republic; and there are soap factories, iron founderies, cutlery establishments, tool-shops, and so on through a long and possibly tiresome list. And it is safe to say that a popular vote of the inhabitants of Leon would show an overwhelming majority in favor of a protective tariff. Leonites are firm believers in protection to home industries, and look frowningly on any movement to supplant their goods with those of foreign make.

About seven o'clock in the evening the train reached Silao, whence there is a branch fifteen miles long to Guanajuato, or rather to Marfil, its suburb. It was nearly nine o'clock when they reached the hotel at Guanajuato; there was not much to be seen in the evening, and so the time was passed mostly at the hotel, and devoted to a consideration of the history of the place. The youths found that the site of Guanajuato (pronounced Gwan-a-what-o) was given by one of the early viceroys to Don Rodrigo Vasquez, who was one of the conquerors who came with Cortez; the gift was a reward for Don Rodrigo's services in assisting to add this valuable possession to the crown of Spain. According to tradition, the discovery of silver was made here by accident some time in 1548, and it immediately brought a crowd of adventurers in search of fortunes. For a long time Guanajuato was one of the most productive silver districts of Mexico; but since the Spanish domination ended, the product has greatly diminished; the yield at present is about $6,000,000 annually, and there are said to be something like 2000 mining claims in the district.

The most famous mine of Guanajuato is that of San JosÉ de Valenciano, and it is said to have yielded in the days of its prosperity about $800,000,000 worth of silver. When Humboldt visited it at the beginning of this century he estimated that it produced one-fifth of the silver in the world. It was "in bonanza," as the miners say, for about forty years after it was opened, and paid enormous dividends to its owners in spite of the heavy taxes exacted by the Government. From ten to twenty thousand people were employed in and around the Valenciano mine when it was in full operation. The galleries, chambers, and drifts of the mine are said to be more extensive than all the streets of the city, and the great tiro, or central shaft, is nearly 2000 feet deep. All the lower part of the mine is now filled with water, and it cannot be removed except at a cost so great that nobody is willing to undertake it. The veta madre, or "mother-vein," on which the mine is located is pierced by several other mines, and many persons believe that Guanajuato has "seen its best days."

Doctor Bronson arranged for his party to visit one of the mines where the process of working could be seen; his application to the administrador, or director, of the mine that they wished to see was courteously received, and the desired permission granted at once. Fred will tell the story of the excursion.

"While waiting for the pass from the administrador," said Fred, "we took a look at the city, which has a population variously placed at from fifty to seventy thousand, mostly dependent on the mines for their support. The city stands in a ravine, and reminded us of Zacatecas. All the world over, mining towns are almost always in mountain ravines or valleys, and Guanajuato is no exception to the rule.

"The streets are narrow, and badly paved with cobble-stones, and locomotion with carriages is not at all easy. The little stream that flows through the city is formed into three reservoirs at the upper end of the ravine, one above the other. When the upper reservoir is filled, the water overflows into the next below, and that in turn fills the lower one. From the water thus collected the city and the mills below it are supplied. When the rainy season begins, the floodgates are open, and the waters rush in a torrent through the ravine and wash it thoroughly. This is the only washing it gets until another year comes around; and you will understand from this that Guanajuato is a very 'smelly' city, and has a large death-rate. There isn't water enough for a good, healthy system of sewerage; but this does not trouble the Mexicans very much.

"In every Mexican town or city we have visited thus far, we have seen women at the plaza and fountains and encountered troops of donkeys carrying water. Water-carriers have no occupation here, as the liquid is supplied through pipes, just as in New York or any other American city. The concession to establish water-works was given to an enterprising citizen, SeÑor Rocha, and he made a good deal of money by the operation. He built walks and seats all around the reservoirs, and thus gave the inhabitants an agreeable paseo, or promenade.

"Our guide showed us the Castillo del Grenaditas, which is an immense building like a fortress, and now used as a carcel, or prison. It was built in the early part of this century as a storehouse for grain for public use in times of scarcity; its walls are several feet thick, and it has a large court-yard in the centre. It was a place of refuge for the Spaniards when Hidalgo made his pronunciamento in 1810 and set up a revolution. Several hundred Spaniards fled to the Castillo and shut themselves in. They made a vigorous defence, and the attacking force was steadily repelled. Hidalgo tried many times to reach the gates, but every time his men attempted it they were shot down.

"At last an Indian, carrying a flat stone on his back as a shield against the Spanish bullets, reached the gates and set them on fire. The stone which he used in this exploit was shown to us, at least one that purported to be the identical shield. The besiegers rushed in through the gates, and the castle fell. A year or so afterwards Hidalgo was captured and executed in Chihuahua. His head and the heads of three of his companions were brought here and hung on hooks at the four corners of the building. They were taken down and buried with high honors in 1823, but the hooks are still in position; the one on which Hidalgo's head was placed was pointed out to us.

"At almost every step along the streets we were accosted by men who had all sorts of articles for sale. Shoes, clothing, spurs, cutlery, rebozos, serapes, and similar things were offered, and the prices seemed very low; but we were told not to offer more than half what was asked for anything, and unless we really needed it we had better be careful about offering anything at all.

"We were cautioned to be watchful of our pockets, as there are expert thieves in the city who could steal anything for which they set out. We saw some grindstones in one of the shops, and asked our guide why they were chained to the wall and the chains fastened with padlocks. He said it was because there were men around who would steal them on general principles. They had no use for them, nor any idea what they were for, but as they were the heaviest articles to be seen, they were supposed to be the most valuable!

"In the market we saw that the poor people of this mining city are compelled to be very economical. When meat is not disposed of fresh, it is dried and sold in that shape. The dried heads of sheep and goats were piled on the ground to be sold as food; dried with the skin and horns on, and the people stood around and haggled for them down to the fraction of a cent. An important article of food here is boiled calabazas, or pumpkins; and another staple of diet is gruel made of coarse corn-meal. The guide said the head of a sheep or goat or the nose of a bullock was added on Sunday to this very meagre diet, and the miners and their families were quite contented with such food. Truly, one half of the world doesn't know how the other half lives.

"We were invited to visit one of the schools, but hadn't time to do so any more than to look at the building as we went past it. A gentleman whom we talked with told us that the State college is in a flourishing condition, and has upwards of three hundred students, many of them of pure Indian blood. Education among the people of Mexico is not very far advanced, but is better than many people suppose. It has made great progress in the last twenty years. Before that time it was very backward, and a considerable part of the population could not read or write.

"The Government seems to be thoroughly awake to the necessity of having its population intelligent, in order to advance the interests of the country. In all the towns and villages there are free schools supported by the Government or by the local authorities, and in the cities there are advanced schools and colleges and a great number of private schools. Then there are technical and industrial schools, where trades are taught, and military schools for those who desire a military education and intend entering the army. In the cities free night schools for men and women, similar to the night schools of New York and other American cities, have been established. Some of them are well attended, but that is not the case with all.

"All of the Mexican States make liberal appropriations for public primary schools, and they tell us that last year there was an aggregate school attendance of 500,000. There must be an equal number of pupils in the private schools and in schools maintained by churches, missions, and benevolent societies, so that the whole attendance may be set down as an even million. Of course this is not up to the standard of the United States, especially of the northern portion, but it is a great advance for Mexico, where forty years ago not one person in ten could read. It is believed that fully one-half of the Mexican people to-day can read and write, or certainly a large proportion of them.

"Accompanied by our guide we drove to the Rayas Mine, or rather quite near it. The administrador met us at his office near the entrance, and assigned to us a guide who spoke English, though not very well. His English was better than our Spanish, and as he seemed to prefer it, we did not try to talk to him in his own tongue. We expected to descend by a cage in the tiro, but found that the way to the vein was down a stone staircase. The steps were slippery in places, and we had to be careful about placing our feet, as any carelessness might result in a fall. Frank began to quote the old Latin lines about facilis descensus, but our guide said 'chestnoot,' which he said he learned from an American, and Frank had nothing more to say on the subject.

"We had a long and tiresome walk through the mine, and the dim light of the lantern and candles only served to make the darkness visible until our eyes became accustomed to it. When we reached the vein we were unable to distinguish the rich ore from the worthless rock in which the mineral lay, and soon made up our minds that we were as far as possible from being experts in mining.

"It was well for us that we laid aside our own clothes and put on some garments especially intended for the underground excursion, as we were splashed from head to foot with mud when we came out, and were sorry-looking spectacles for a photograph gallery. Each of us had a candle stuck to the top of his hat by a lump of wet clay. Every little while one of us knocked off his candle, and then there was a halt until it was adjusted.

"We saw many of the peons at work, each with a candle fixed in his hat, the fashion that has prevailed here since the mines were first opened. Sometimes they were in little groups, who put their earnings into a general pool, and sometimes they were working singly on spots allotted to them by the superintendents. The guide told us that the men worked on shares, half the ore taken out being the property of the owners of the mine, and half going to the peon. The ore is placed in heaps. The shares of the miners are sold at auction or private sale, or they may be reduced and the proceeds turned over to the proper claimants after taking out the cost of the reduction. The miners generally prefer the system of direct sales, for the reason that they can more readily obtain their pay in this manner than by waiting for the reduction of the ore and extraction of the silver.

"The hardest part of the work seemed to be the carrying of the bags of ore up the long flights of slippery steps to the mouth of the mine. From the lower levels the water is removed by pumping, and in some places it is carried in pig-skins on the backs of naked Indians to where the pumps are at work. A pig-skin filled with water on the back of a man climbing up the sloping steps looked at a little distance like some strange animal which has not yet been assigned a place in natural history. These skins have the exact shape of the pig, and are without cut or seam, and we naturally wondered how they were obtained so nearly whole as they seemed to be. We had seen them before in the Mexican towns, as they are in common use by the water-carriers, and one day we asked an American resident how they skinned pigs in Mexico.

"'Why,' said he, 'it's easy enough when you know how. They don't give the pig anything to eat for a couple of days; then they tie him to a tree by his tail, hold an ear of corn about three feet in front of his nose, and so coax him out of his skin.'

"Another man told us that the body of the animal is beaten with a club till the bones are smashed to pieces, and the flesh reduced to a pulpy mass, which is then drawn out through the neck, along with the fragments of bone. This seems more probable than the other process; at any rate, we give it the preference."

From the mine our friends went to one of the reduction haciendas, where they saw the process of extracting silver from the ore, which has been described on previous pages. There are about fifty reduction-mills at Guanajuato, some worked by horse or mule power, others by water, and others by steam. Three kinds of crushers are in use, the Mexican arastra, the Chilian mill, and the American stamp-mill, all of which have their advocates, who prefer them to the others. The patio process is employed here as well as elsewhere, and hundreds of horses and mules are annually worn out in treading the ores. An American named Parkman made an improvement on this system by rolling a loaded barrel over and through the mixture by means of horses or mules walking in a circle, as in an old-fashioned cider-mill. The barrel mingles the ore and the chemicals as well as the horses' feet could do it, and the injury to the hoofs of the animals is prevented, as they do not come in contact with the mass. Sometimes heavy wheels are used instead of the barrels, and they are arranged on a graduated scale, so that they move slowly from centre to circumference of the torta, or pulp heap, as they revolve, and from circumference back to the centre again. In this way the entire surface is gone over; the reduction of the mass takes from twenty to thirty days, and is thoroughly done.

From the hacienda they were taken to the mint, where silver coins are made in the same manner as in mints in other parts of the world. The machinery of the mint is of English construction, and several Englishmen are or were connected with the establishment to superintend the more delicate parts of the apparatus. From the mint they went to a hill called the Cerro de San Miguel, which gave them an excellent view of the city and the hills that surround it. The number of elegant residences in sight convinced them that there is yet a great deal of wealth in Guanajuato, notwithstanding the decline in the yield of silver from the mines.

The next stop in the journey towards the capital was made at Queretaro, eighty-five miles from Silao, or one hundred from Guanajuato. It is a city of from fifty to sixty thousand inhabitants; it has no mines on which to base its prosperity, but is devoted to manufacturing, having been famous for 200 years and more for its production of cotton goods. The largest cotton-mill in Mexico is at Queretaro; it is known as the Hercules, and stands in a ravine, about two miles from the city. It was built by SeÑor Rubio, is enclosed by a high wall loop-holed for musketry, and could stand an ordinary siege very fairly, provided the besiegers brought no cannon. A defensive force of forty soldiers is maintained at the mills, and they are armed with rifles and howitzers.

The Hercules mill employs about fifteen hundred operatives, all Mexicans, with the exception of a few foreigners to look after the general management of details and keep the machinery in order. Not far from it is a smaller and older mill, which is surrounded with pretty gardens that require a considerable annual expenditure to keep them in order. Frank thought he would commend the plan to American mill-owners, and suggest the addition of gardens to their establishments; Fred was of opinion that the manufacturers of Lawrence and Fall River would not look favorably upon the suggestion, as they were much more interested in making the best possible showing in their bank accounts than in beautifying their surroundings.

The Queretaro mills are chiefly employed in turning out manta, a variety of cheap cotton cloth, out of which the garments of the lower classes of the population are made. The Hercules mill makes 6000 pieces of cloth thirty yards long every week, and it pays the weavers about one cent a yard. The employÉs make from two and a half to five dollars weekly, and are furnished with lodgings, at very low rentals, close to the mills. They work from 6 a.m. to 9.30 p.m., with half an hour's intermission for breakfast, and an hour for dinner.

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