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offer themselves as bachelors of arts, land surveyors, architects, or masters of works, or as having been administrators of mines, or as having been in any way employed in the same.

SECTION II.

The said Mining Professors shall have in their possession the necessary and proper instruments for measuring mines, whether subterraneously or on the surface, which instruments must always be true and correct, and made according to rule, so that there may be no failure, or irregularity in the performance of such operations; for which purpose they shall be inspected and examined at the time when the said persons are appointed, and afterwards on the occasional visits (of the Deputies.)

SECTION III.

The Surveyors of reduction shall have a suitable public laboratory, provided with furnaces and machines for grinding and washing the metals, as also with the proper ingredients, utensils and correct balances and weights, and every thing that may be necessary for making assays, on a small scale, and also for reducing by smelting, one, two, or three quintals of ore.

SECTION IV.

The Mining Professors are to examine at the proper time, and to give cer tificates of examination to all persons desirous of being employed as miners, or mining-captains, to direct the under-ground operations, and to persons employed in the lining of mines, and in the brick-work, and to the carpenters and smiths; and I prohibit all persons from exercising such offices, or from employing themselves in the quality of masters in any place, where such business shall be going on, without having the above certificates of examination, under the penalty of three months imprisonment for the first offence, and of being banished from such place for the second, which punishments are to be imposed by the respective Territorial Deputies.

SECTION V.

The Surveyors of reduction of each mining district, shall examine, and give a certificate of approbation to all persons offering themselves as amalgamators, smelters, and refiners, without which certificate, no one shall be capable of being employed in any of these capacities, at any work, or reducing Establishment, under the penalties contained in the preceding Section; and I ordain that, all these examinations, and all others, treated of in the present Chapter, shall take place, without any fees being received thereupon, and altogether gratis.

SECTION VI.

If any person shall pass from one Mining District to another, after having

been examined and approved of by the proper authorities in that which he has left, there shall be no necessity for a further examination, but he shall produce his certificate, signed by the proper professor, and attested by the clerk, or in default thereof, by the Deputies of the District and two witnesses.

SECTION VII.

The said Mining Professors, and Surveyors of reduction, shall, at the time of their appointments, take a solemn oath before the Royal Tribunal, in due form, but gratis, that they will at all times, and in all cases, discharge their offices well and faithfully, to the best of their knowledge, without fraud, deceit, or any bad intention whatsoever; after which, they shall not be required upon every occasion which may arise judicially or extra-judicially to repeat the same; since, when the oath has been once administered, as above, they are ever afterwards to remain bound by it..

SECTION VIII.

The most perfect credit is to be given to the said mining Professors and Surveyors of reduction, in all matters connected with their office, but they may be objected to in case they have been appointed by the Judges; and when one has been appointed by one party in a suit, the other party may appoint another, and the Judge elect a third in case of their disagreeing, although they need not belong to the same District; but these objections and appointments of new Professors, shall not take place where there is reason to suspect that they originate in fraud or malice, or a wish to delay the determination of the case.

SECTION IX.

The Mining Professors and Surveyors of reduction, shall be present at all the visits (of the Deputies) to the Mines and Establishments, and shall observe and comply with every thing that is laid down in these Ordinances, and shall give their assistance in all cases properly belonging to their business, in which it may be required by the Judges and Deputies; taking on account thereof, such fees as shall be settled by a proper table of fees, which fees shall be proposed by the Territorial Deputations to the Royal Tribunal General; and when that body shall have gained information upon the subject, and consulted with the Viceroy thereupon, the said Viceroy shall, by means of such information, resolve and determine what fees are to be received, and without this previous authority the taking of fees shall not be carried into

effect.

SECTION X.

In the interval that must elapse before the College for the education and

instruction of young persons intended for the business of metallurgy, mineralogy, and other sciences necessary in the operations of mining, (the estab lishment of which college will be treated of in the next Chapter), shall supply a number of persons properly qualified, according to the provisions of the preceding Section, to fulfil the object of these Ordinances, I command that all persons at present employed in the operations of measuring mines, projecting shafts, and pits, and other important works, connected with the operations of the mines, whether appointed from having the name of land surveyors and measurers of mines, or from having been highly esteemed in the Mining Districts for their practical knowledge, shall present themselves before the Royal Tribunal General, in order to be examined, and to obtain the certificate of examination, without any fees being required, (as is provid ed by Section v. of this Chapter), and to exhibit the instruments which they use, in order that they may be examined and approved of; and in default thereof, they shall not be entitled to any credit either in causes which may arise, or otherwise; and if in any works directed by them any mischief should happen, the Mine-owner or Administrator who has employed them, shall not be excused from the responsibilities and penalties imposed by these Ordinances, and by the laws in general, upon all persons acting without the authority of surveyors, in cases where surveyors are required.

SECTION XI.

All persons to be appointed Mining Professors, or Surveyors of reduction must be either Spaniards, Mestizos derived from them, or noble Indians of known birth, parentage and education, and of good life and manners; under which circumstances these employments are always to be accounted honourable and meritorious, and persons who have served in them with fidelity, shall enjoy all the privileges of miners, and shall be eligible to higher occupations either in the mines or otherwise, having their seat in the public sittings next to the Judge and Deputies of the District, in the order of the seniority of their appointments, and without any distinction being made between the Mining Professors and Surveyors of reduction, who are to be treated with like and equal honours and distinctions.

CHAPTER XVIII.

OF THE EDUCATION AND INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG PERSONS INTENDED FOR THE MINING BUSINESS, AND FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THEIR INGENUITY.

SECTION I.

To the end that there may never be wanting a supply of persons of good

education, and instructed in all the learning necessary for carrying on the operations of the mines, and that what has been hitherto acquired by long and painful experience, in the course of many centuries, being the result as well of the progress of the different Mining Countries, as of the individual skill and industry of the American Miners, may be preserved in a more certain and effectual manner, than by mere tradition, which is usually scarce and fallacious; I will and ordain that the College and Schools of Miners, which have been proposed to me for these purposes by the Deputies General of the said important body of Miners, shall be erected and established, or, if already established, that they shall be maintained and supported in the form and manner contained in the following Sections.

SECTION II.

There shall be for the present maintained, and provided with board and clothing in a suitable manner, twenty-five children, either Spaniards or noble Indians of legitimate birth, the near relations, or decendants of Miners, having always a preference in such appointments, and particularly those whose ancestors have resided in the Mining Districts.

SECTION III.

I grant besides free entrance into the Schools, and gratuitous iustruction therein, to all children whose fathers or tutors may wish to bring them up to the mining business, such children being sent every day from their homes to attend the lessons; and I further command that all children of the above mentioned quality and birth shall be admitted to live in the College as pupils, upon paying the expences of their maintenance while they are in the College.

SECTION IV.

The necessary secular professors are to be appointed at the said College with proper salaries, for the purpose of teaching the mathematics and experimental physics, which are conducive to the carrying on and advancement of mining operations.

SECTION V.

There shall also be appointed masters in such parts of mechanics as are necessary for the preparing and working of timber, metals, stones, and other materials used in the construction of buildings, machines, and instruments for carrying on the operations of the mines, and the reduction of the metals, and there shall also be a master of the arts of drawing and designing.

SECTION VI.

The said College is to bear the Title of "The Royal Seminary of Miners," and two secular Priests of mature age are to reside in it, one as Chaplain-rec

tor, the other as Vice-rector, who are to superintend the religious and political education of the children, to see that they devote a due proportion of their time to these purposes, and to say Mass to them every day in the year.

SECTION VII.

The immediate controul and direction of the said Royal Seminary shall be entrusted to the Director General of Miners, to whom I grant the privilege of proposing to the Royal Tribunal the proper persons to be appointed to the professorships, and to other employments; and also the nomination of the children who are to be admitted as collegians, (Colegiales de ereccion), or pensioners, supposing them to possess the necessary qualifications; and he shall also, after hearing the opinions of the respective masters of the college, propose the arts and sciences proper to be taught therein, and the method to be pursued in teaching them, so that the Royal Tribunal may be able to deter mine upon what is most proper; and it shall also be entrusted to the said Director to observe and take care that all persons employed in the college fulfil the duties of their situation, and to form particular rules for the government in the detail of the said college, which he shall also lay before the Royal Tribunal, by them to be submitted to the Viceroy, who after obtaining the necessary information on the subject, shall lay them before me for my Royal approbation, having obtained which the said regulations shall be observed and carried into effect, with exactness and punctuality.

SECTION VIII.

The expences of erecting, perserving, and supporting the said Royal Seminary, shall be defrayed out of the general fund of Miners, according to the provisions of Section III. of Chapter XVI. of these Ordinances.

SECTION IX.

The said seminary shall be under my Royal protection, and immediately subject to and dependant upon the Royal Tribunal General of Miners, in all its concerns and appurtenances.

SECTION X.

For the election and appointment of master professors of the sciences, which are to be taught in the schools of the college, there shall be issued, at a certain fixed time and place, letters of convocation; and to those who present themselves for the appointments certain problems in the respective sciences shall be delivered by lot, which they are to return with their solutions within three days, on condition, however, that before the delivery of problems to such persons, the director shall have presented to the Royal Tribunal the solutions of each of them separately folded and sealed up, which

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