property, and letters patent, will be issued by the Executive to pay off the indebtedness. The details of the settlement involving the amount recognized are left entirely to the Executive.
The sum of $300,000 is paid annually out of the National Treasury to the United States, on account of the debt of July 4, 1868.
A dispatch from the City of Mexico, dated July 28, 1883, reads as follows:
"It is understood that the President has sent to Carlos Rivas, in London, a power of attorney to settle with the British bondholders, with certain modifications. Bonds to the amount of only £15,000,000 are to be issued; the additional £4,700,000 in bonds, first agreed upon for the expenses of the bondholders' committee, will not be issued. The bonds will be signed in Mexico. The coupons will begin bearing interest on July 21, 1884."
XV.
Money—Coins.
In the Aztec empire, current money consisted of bits of tin, bags of cocoa with a specified number of grains, and quills filled with gold-dust.[1] These commodities were used by measure and number, rather than by weight. (See Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, vol. i, p. 145, and vol. ii, p. 140.)
The Spaniards introduced gold and silver coins soon after their arrival in the country. A few of these old coins
- ↑ Gold-dust has been employed as currency on the Pacific coast of the United States for many years. This kind of money was evidently suggested to the Spaniards and Americans by the Aztecs.
