not be sufficient, but the inspection or intervention of one of the aforesaid Professors of Mining shall be necessary, with the obligation on his part of visiting the work once every month, or once in two months, as the progress of it may require, in order that, if he perceives any error in the execution, he may amend it in time, and before it occasions further expences.

SECTION IV.

In mines opened on a vein, of which the sides and interior substance are soft, and have so little tenacity, or adhesive property, that on being exposed to the air they moulder away, and open into cracks and crevices, or which, from any other causes, are perceived to be insufficient by themselves to maintain the security and firmness of the mine, I ordain and command that the works shall be lined and secured with large solid timber of known durability, and such as is least liable to decay under ground, cut and prepared according to the rules of art; or with good mason work of stone and mortar, if the value and other circumstances of the mine permit or require it: for which purpose there must be in all the mining places, towns, and districts, a certain number of those artificers, carpenters, and masons, who are called liners, (ademadores), and these must have journeymen and apprentices, in order to preserve and continue the exercise of this important business, which ought to be well paid and encouraged.

SECTION V.

In order to prevent the introduction of artificers who have not the requisite experience and intelligence in subterranean architecture, none shall be admitted (in any place), who have not been examined and approved by the Mining Prefessor of that place, or of some other.

SECTION VI.

If any mine-owner, in censequence of the great richness of the metallic substance in his vein, is desirous of substituting for the pillars, beams, or sufficient and necessary supports, made of the metallic substance itself, others constructed with mason-work of stone and mortar, he may be permitted to do so, under the inspection of one of the deputies of the district, assisted by his clerk, and with the approbation of the Mining Professor.

SECTION VII.

I strictly prohibit any one from taking away, or in any degree weakening and diminishing the pillars, beams, and necessary supports of the mines, under pain of ten years' imprisonment, to be inflicted according to the form prescribed by Chapter III. of these Ordinances, by the respective judge in each case, upon any workman, searcher (buscon), or investigator, (cateador) who shall have committed such offence, and the same upon the Miner or Mine-watcher who has permitted it; and the master of the mine shall lose the same, together with the half of his property, (bienes), and be for ever excluded from all mining employments.

SECTION VIII.

I ordain and command that the mines shall be kept clean and unobstructed, and that the works necessary or useful for the circulation of air, the carriage and extraction of the metal, or other purposes, although they may contain no more metallic matter than such as may remain in the pillars and partitions (intermedios), shall not be encumbered with rubbish (atierres), and clods of earth (tepetates), but that all these must be carried out, and thrown by each person on the earthmound of his own property, but on no account upon that of another person, without his express leave and consent.

SECTION IX.

In the mines there must be proper and safe steps or ladders, such and as many as are considered necessary by the Mining Surveyor, for the purpose of ascending and descending to the farthermost works, so that the lives of persons employed in the mines may never be endangered by their being weak, insecure, rotten, or much worn.

SECTION X.

In order to avoid the violation of the provisions of any of the Sections contained in this Chapter, it is my sovereign will that the Deputies of the Miners, accompanied by the Mining Professor of the district, and by the clerk if there be one, or, in default of him, by two witnesses in aid, shall once in every six months, or once in every year, (in places where the former is impracticable) visit all the mines in their jurisdiction which are in a course of actual working; and if they find any failure in the points referred to in the above-mentioned Sections, or in any others whatever, which regard the security, preservation, and better working of the mines, shall provide immediately a remedy for such defect, and take means to assure themselves that such remedy is carried into effect. And if the remedy be not applied, or if the same failure shall occur again, the proper penalties must be exacted, multiplying and aggravating them even to the extent of dispossessing the person so offending of the mine, which shall then belong to the first person who may denounce it; provided the Deputies proceed in the form prescribed by Chapter III. of these Ordinances.

SECTION XI.

I most rigorously prohibit all persons from piercing through adits or cross levels (cruceros), or other subterraneous passages, from works which are higher and full of water, or from leaving between them and others such slight supports as may allow the water to burst through; on the contrary, persons owning such works, must have them drained by engines before they shall attempt to communicate with new ones, unless the Mining Professor should judge that such piercing through will not be attended with danger to the workmen engaged in it.

SECTION XII.

Also I prohibit all persons from introducing workmen into any works containing noxious vapours, until they have been properly ventilated, according to the rules of art.

SECTION XIII.

Whereas the mines require incessant and continual working in order to procure the metals, certain operations being indispensable, which cannot without much time be accomplished, and which, if interrupted, generally require as great expences in their re-establishment, as they did in their original undertaking; wherefore, to remedy such inconvenience, and also to prevent masters of mines, who either cannot, or will not, work them, from keeping them in an useless state for a length of time, by pretending to work them, and thus depriving them of the real and effective labour which others might bestow on them, I ordain and command, that whosoever, during four successive months, shall fail to work any mine with (at least) four paid workmen, (operarios rayados) occupied in some exterior or interior work of real utility, shall, by so doing, lose all his right in the said mine, which shall belong to any person denouncing it, upon his satisfatorily proving, according to the provisions of Chapter VI. such act of desertion on the part of the

owner.

SECTION XIV.

Experience having shewn that the provisions of the preceding Section have been eluded by the artful and fraudulent practice of some owners of mines, who cause their mines to be worked during some days in each (interval of) four months, keeping them in this manner many years in their possession; I ordain that whosoever shall fail to work his mine in the manner prescribed by the said Section, during eight months in the year, counting from the day of his coming into possession, even though the said eight months should be interspersed with some days or weeks of labour, shall by such labour forfeit the mine; and it shall be adjudged to the first person who denounces the same, and satisfactorily proves this second species of desertion; unless for this, or the one mentioned in the preceding Section, there be just cause assigned, such as pestilence, famine, or war, in that same mining place, or within twenty leagues thereof.

SECTION XV.

Considering that many Mine-owners, who have formerly worked their mines with ardour and diligence, expending large sums in shafts, adits, and other undertakings, may often be obliged to suspend their operations, while soliciting supplies, or from want of workmen, or necessary provisions, and other just and sufficient causes, which, combined with their former merit, render them worthy of equitable consideration; I declare that any such Mine-owner,

keeping his mine in disuse in the manner and for the time above mentioned, shall not forfeit it at once in the manner described above, but his mine shall nevertheless be liable to denouncement before the respective new Tribunals of Miners, in order that both parties having been heard, and alleged merits and causes considered and proved, justice may be done between the parties.

SECTION XVI.

Since many Mine-owners abandon their mines, either for want of the capital necessary for carrying on operations therein, or because they do not choose to consume that which they may have already acquired from them, or because they have not spirit to venture on the difficulties of those undertakings, from which they may have conceived great hopes, or for other causes; and since persons are not wanting, who might be desirous of taking such mines, if they were informed of their intended abandonment; and as it is much easier to maintain a mine when in a course of working, than to reinstate it after it has suffered the injuries of time, it is my will that no person shall abandon the working of his mine or mines without making the Deputation of the district acquainted therewith, in order that the Deputation may publish the same, by fixing a notification on the doors of churches and other customary places, for the information of all persons.

SECTION XVII.

In order to avoid the false or equivocal reports which are often spread concerning deserted mines, the consequence of which reports is to augment the distrust in which this profession is ordinarily held, deterring many persons from engaging therein, who do not otherwise want inclination to follow it, ordain,

SECTION XVIII.

That no one shall abandon the working of his mine without giving notice to the respective Deputation, in order that an inspection may immediately be had thereof by the Deputies, accompanied by the Clerk and Surveyors, who must examine and measure the mine, particularizing all its circumstances, and draw up a map describing its plan and outlines, which, together with all the necessary information, must be preserved in the Archives, with liberty of access to all persons who may wish to see it, or to take a copy thereof.

CHAPTER X.

OF DRAINS IN MINES.

SECTION I.

As in most of the mines springs and currents frequently occur, from whence

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the water issues continually, and in such abundance as might in a short time inundate and overwhelm the works, to the hindrance of all progress in the extraction cf the metals; I desire and command that the owners of such mines shall keep their works constantly drained and evacuated, so that at all times the operations may be carried on, and the metals extracted without interruption.

SECTION II.

As it is much the most convenient and least expensive method of draining to countermine (contraminar) the veins by means of adits, I ordain that in all those mines which require draining, and whose situation will admit of it, and where benefit is likely to arise therefrom, according to the judgment of the Mining Professor of the district, the owners be obliged to make an adit sufficient for the draining and clearing of the works, provided the riches and and abundance of the ores are likely to repay such expence.

SECTION III.

Whereas several mines may sometimes be drained and cleared by one and the same adit, though each of them singly might be insufficient to support the expence thereof, I declare that the adit shall be made and completed, and the expence divided among all the proprietors in proportion to the benefit they will each derive from it: and if this proportion cannot at the time be ascertained, the expence shall be divided among them in the mean time in equal parts, such parts being fixed according to the sum which the poorest of them can afford to pay, and should this one improve in condition, then the said parts shall be regulated according to what the poorest of the others can pay; so that the works of the adit may not be suspended; and all these points must be estimated and regulated by the Deputation of the district, according to the judgment of the respective Mining Professor.

SECTION IV.

If any individual should offer to make an adit by which one or more veins, or the mines opened in them, might be drained and cleared, although he be not the proprietor of any of them, either entirely or in part, his denouncement shall be received in due form, and immediate notice given to the owners of the said mines, who, if they will undertake such work themselves, are always to have the preference; but, on their refusal, it shall be assigned to the adventurer under the following conditions:

SECTION V.

That the adit be really useful, and its formation practicable, according to the judgment of the Mining Professor, who must be charged with tracing out and determining the plan of the work, and directing its execution in the manner above expressed.