"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.
CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO, GUANAJUATO.
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.
COURT-YARD OF A MEXICAN TENEMENT-HOUSE.
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."