A few words on the procuring of the metal from localities where it was discovered by the natives, may find a suitable place here. Mining, as we understand it to-day, or as the Spaniards understood it already at the time of the conquest, was not practised by the natives. Gold and silver were not broken from the entrails of the rocks. They were collected from the _placeres_ by a process of mere washing. No notice at all has come down to us how copper was gathered. We can, however, easily imagine, that whenever by a chance outcropping a copper vein or stratum became visible, they probably broke off the ore or mineral to a depth easy to be reached, and only selected the most solid pieces. It is evident that the results of such superficial mining must have been very trifling, certainly not greater than would barely suffice for the fabrication of the most necessary tools. Herein we will find an explanation, why this people, though possessing the metal and the technical skill, nevertheless did not use it for the manufacture of arms. The production could not have been abundant enough to supply the whole nation or even the professional soldier with metal weapons. They preferred therefore, to continue in the ignorance of the Stone-Age. Where the Mexicans found the _lead_ that was seen in the market-place, nay, even the purposes for which they might have used it, we have been entirely unable to learn. _Lead_ in the language of the Nahoas, is called _temeztli_ (telt stone, metzli moon), moon stone, a name picturesque and characteristic, as were most of those which stand in the list of objects that belong to the realm of nature. Not a single picture referring to lead can be found in the Mexican Codices. The same must also be said of _tin_, the name of which was _amochictl_, a word seemingly Nahoatl in form, but whose root was probably derived from a foreign language. It will be gratifying, however, to learn from the pen of the great conqueror Cortes himself, where the natives, and afterwards his followers, found their _tin_. To quote the language of Cortes,[9] “I am without artillery and weapons, though I have often sent money to obtain them. But as nothing drives a man to expedients so much as distress, and as I had already lost the hope that Your Royal Majesty might be informed of this, I have mustered all my strength to the utmost in order that I might not lose what I have already obtained with so much danger and sacrifice of life. I have therefore arranged to have men immediately sent out in search of copper, and in order to obtain it without delay I have expended a great amount of money. As soon as I had brought together a sufficient quantity, I procured a workman, who luckily was with us, to cast several cannons. Two half-culverines are now ready, and we have succeeded as far as their size would permit. The copper was indeed all ready for use, but I had no _tin_. Without _tin_ I could do nothing, and it caused me a great deal of trouble to find a