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lished according to the forms before prescribed), upon the ground that such dead works would consume a part or the whole of the produce of the mine, the rest of the partners may retain and devote to this purpose a part or the whole of the produce which falls to his share.

SECTION X.

If one or more mines are worked by two partners, and they desire to break up the partnership, on account of disagreement, or other cause, they shall not be reciprocally obliged to sell or buy their shares to or from one another, but each of them has the right of selling his share to a third person, giving his partner, however, the first offer thereof.

SECTION XI.

The company is not to be considered as broken up by the death of one of the partners; but the obligation devolves on his heirs, who have, however, the privilege of selling their share, according to the terms prescribed in the preceding section.

SECTION XII.

If any share in a mine, or any entire mine, should be sold, after having been appraised and valued by Surveyors, according to its condition at the time of the sale, and it should afterwards become of great value; I declare that the sale shall not on that account be rescinded, on allegation of the great loss sustained, nor on demand of being restored to his former situation, (i. e. on the part of the seller) nor of any similar privilege.

CHAPTER XII.

OF THE LABOURERS IN MINES, AND IN THE WORKS OR ESTABLISHMENTS FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE METALS.

SECTION I.

Forasmuch as it is a notorious and well established fact, that the working Miners are a very poor class of people, and very useful to the state, and that they ought to be adequately remunerated for the severe toil they undergo, I ordain and command that no Mine-owner shall presume, on any ground or pretext whatsoever, to alter the rate of wages established by long usage, and adopted in all the mining districts, but that the same shall be observed, as well in regard to persons employed in the works and machinery, as to the labourers in the mines, under the penalty, if at any time any Mine-owner shall diminish the established wages, of paying the said labourers the double thereof; and the labourers shall be obliged to work according to the said established rate of wages.

SECTION II.

The workmen in the mines must be registered by their own proper names and must mark with plain and distinguishable strokes, each occasion of their leaving their work; so that they themselves may know and recognise the same, even when they are not able to read; according to the forms hitherto adopted in New Spain.

SECTION III.

The amount of the wages are to be paid every week to each workman, according to his tallies, (rayas*), and with the greatest punctuality delivered in ready money and into their own hands, in current coin or in silver or gold bullion of good quality, if there be not ready money, or by part of the metal which may have been extracted, if it shall have been so agreed between the parties. And I strictly prohibit their being compelled to receive such payments in merchandize, effects, fruits, or provisions.

SECTION IV.

At the time when their wages are paid, they (the workmen), shall not be forced to satisfy the debt and charges for which they may be liable, even though they be such as are usually termed privileged, without a judicial order for so compelling them, except as to those which they may have contracted with the Mine-owner, with an understanding that the same should be paid out of their labour, and even in these cases, not more than a fourth part of their wages shall be so retained.

SECTION V.

I prohibit the making demands upon the workmen for alms, charity, collections for brotherhoods, (cornadillos de cofradias), or any similar purposes, until they have received their dues, and these being settled, such donations shall be left entirely to their free will and disposition.

SECTION VI.

Where the workmen are paid by weekly rations and monthly salaries, the rations supplied must be of good wholesome meat, wheat, maize, Indian corn, pinole, (a fruit of the country), salt, red pepper, (capsicum), and such other articles as may be usual, according to fixed and exact measures and weight, to all which particular attention must be paid in the visits, (of the Territorial Deputations).

* Literally, the strokes or tallies which represent the wages due to them. In future, wages will be used in the translation, as being a more familiar expression.

SECTION VII.

Each workman or servant of the mines, referred to in the preceding Section, must keep in his possession a paper, in which shall be marked the parts of his monthly salary which shall have become due, as well as every thing which he may have received on account, all written by the accountant, (Rayador*), or paymaster of the mine and establishment and the dollars and reals distinguished by circles, lines and half-lines; so that each workman may adjust and understand his own account, and have a proper statement thereof in his possession.

SECTION VIII.

The duties or tasks (tequios o tareas) of the workmen shall be assigned by the captain of the Barrast, who must attend to the hardness or softness of substance, the abundance, scarcity and other circumstances of the work, proceeding with the greatest justice and equity in moderating the said tasks, in allowing good pay to those employed in such tasks, and in encreasing the same, under any change of circumstances; and in case any party should complain of any particular grievance the respective Mining Deputation shall proceed to redress all injuries by a verbal decree, or by judicial process, if the parties cannot otherwise be brought to an agreement, all which shall be done in the form prescribed by Chapter III. of these Ordinances.

SECTION IX.

It is also my Royal will that no supplies shall be afforded to the Indians of allotment, (repartimiento), in order that immediately on concluding their tasks they may return to their villages and habitations, and others be employed in their stead as the law requires. And that the free Indians alone may receive supplies, as far as five dollars to each, conformably to an act granted by my Royal Audiency of Mexico; although in cases of any peculiar urgen‐ cy, such as the celebration of their marriages, or the funerals of their wives. or children I permit that on the same being proved to the satisfaction of the Mine-owner. Administrator, or Overseer, (Mandon), by a certificate from the curate (of the parish of an Indian so circumstanced), he may be furnished with what is necessary for such purpose.

Rayador, literally, the inspector or settler of the rayas or tallies, alluded to and explained in Section III. of this Chapter; as it evidently means accountant, in future that expression will be used for Rayador.

↑ These Barras are the shares, twenty-four in number, into which every mine is divided. Indios de repartimiento, the Indians who are lotted in division from time to time, and sent to work in the mines; in opposition to free Indians.

SECTION X.

Both the Mine-owners and the workmen shall be entirely at liberty to agree between themselves whether they shall be paid for their work by the task, by a share of the profit, (a partido), or by salary and share of the profit. Supposing this mutual liberty understood, when the mine is not worked by share of the profits merely, the owner or administrator shall pay the workmen such wages or salary as shall be conformable to the First Section of this Chapter; and if, when the arrangement is for task-work, any one of the la bourers, called Barreteros", having finished his task, shall continue voluntarily for all or part of the time remaining, to extract further ores, the Mineowner shall not be obliged to pay otherwise than in money, and in proportion to his daily rate of wages, for all such ore as may be extracted. But if in order to promote and stimulate the exertions of the workmen, the Mineowner or administrator should agree to pay them at a certain rate for every sack or bag (tenate) of metal which they may extract beyond their task, or to pay them for the same with a part of such metal, all such contracts shall be fulfilled according to the engagements on both sides, provided the circumstances shall not have materially changed in the opinion of the respective Mining Deputies; and if these should disagree, the respective Substitutes shall decide according to the rule already established in such cases; but in all that regards the terms on which labourers are to work in the mines, whenever there shall arise any dispute between them and the master or steward of the mine, (Mayordomo), which may occasion injury to its working and progress, and consequently to the State, and either of the parties shall make an appeal, the respective Deputation shall decide the same, and eventually if necessary, the said Substitute, conformably to the practice established in the mine in question, or, if it be a new mine, then in conformity with the practice of the district.

SECTION XI.

The ore extracted in the course of the task-work, and that extracted in working for a share of the ore, shall be received and attested by the accountant, or inspector, or other person, appointed for that purpose by the Mineowner; and if he thinks the ore delivered by any labourer as his share-work, better or purer than that of his task, they shall both be mingled together in the presence of the workman interested, and shall be stirred about as much as he may desire, in order that he may chuse, from whatever part of the heap so mingled he may prefer, as many sacks, bags, or measures as there were in his share before such mixture was made: it being understood that no Mine owner, his steward, overseer, or other servants shall, on any pretence whatever, prevent the labourers interested from being present during all these proceedings, or cause the sacks to be filled from any other part of the heap than that which the said labourers shall choose.

*Barretero, literally, a person employed in such barras or shares as are explained above, Section VIII. Note.

SECTION XII.

The Inspector may examine all those who go in and out of the mines, observing, with the greatest care, whether they are in a state of intoxication, or whether they carry with them any intoxicating liquors; and he may also register all that comes in or out of the mine under the head of breakfasts, dinners, &c.; and if he should discover any stolen metal, tools, gunpowder, or any thing of the like kind, he shall preventively apprehend, confine, and secure the thief; and thereby give notice to the Territorial Deputation, in order that due proceedings may be instituted, conformably to the regulations established by Chapter III. of these Ordinances.

SECTION XIII.

Idle persons and vagabonds, of whatsoever cast or condition they may be, who shall be met with in the mining districts, or the neighbouring villages, may be seized and compelled to work in the mines, as well also as the labourers who from mere idleness shall have withdrawn themselves from this employment, without engaging in any other; for which purpose the MineOwners may appoint proper officers, (recogedores) by licence of the Courts, and the Territorial Deputations of the districts, as usual in such cases; but it is to be understood, that no Spaniard, or Spanish Mestizo, the latter being considered as a Spaniard, can be included in such regulation, as both one and the other are by law exempted; and when such persons have incurred punishment by their idleness or offences, other penalties must be inflicted on them, by the proper judge, according to the nature of their offences.

SECTION XIV.

In the distribution and allotment of the Indians of the Villages near the mining districts, commonly called the Indians of the Quatequil, or Mita,† to the reducing establishments, the rights and pretentions, acquired at different times by the proprietors of such establishments, shall be maintained. and observed in those which are in a course of working, and have continued so without interruption; but in the establishments which have been deserted and abandoned, and whose allotment of Indians may have passed to others

* Mestizos are a mixed race, the offspring of an European and Indian: they are mentioned .by Robertson as the third class of inhabitants in the Spanish Colonies. -See Rob. Amer. Vol. iv. p. 33.

+ The Mita, or compulsory labour in the mines, by chosen bands of Indians, so many out of every hundred, is by Humboldt said to be wholly abolished in New Spain.-Humb. New Spain, Vol. i. p. 124.

I can find no account of the word Mita. Perhaps the number of Indians taken for this purpose out of every hundred may have been originally the half, (mitad); this conjecture is rendered more probable from the circumstance of the final d being often omitted in the Spanish pronunciation.

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