Mexico in 1827/Volume 1/Chapter 3
SECTION III.
PRODUCTIONS.—THOSE NECESSARY FOR THE SUPPORT OF THE INHABITANTS, AND THOSE CALCULATED FOR EXPORTATION.
the fruits of Tierra caliente, and those of the Table-land.
Indeed, I do not consider it essential to make even this distinction, as the simplest mode of conveying an idea of the agricultural wealth of Mexico, will be to give a precis of the most important productions, mentioning the characteristics of each, and the parts of the country in which its cultivation has been most attended to.
I shall begin with those which are essential to the subsistence of the inhabitants, amongst the most important of which is Indian corn.
MAIZE.
(Mexican—Tlaouili—Haytian—Mahiz—Blé Turc—Indian corn)
There are few parts, either of the Tierra caliente, or of the Table-land, in which Maize is not cultivated with success. In the low hot grounds upon the coast, and on the slope of the Cordillera, its growth is more colossal than on the Table-land; but even there, at seven and eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, its fecundity is such as will hardly be credited in Europe. In some particularly favoured spots, it has been known to produce eight hundred fanegas for one sown; and wherever irrigation is practicable, from three to four hundred for one is the ordinary ratio of increase. Where the crop depends upon the season, it is more variable, So that, upon the high lands of Zăcătēcăs, and San Luis Pŏtŏsī, where there are few reservoirs to supply the want of the periodical rains, the farmer does not reckon upon more than one very good year in ten: but although the ratio of increase in the intervening years does not exceed forty or fifty bushels for one sown, it is usually sufficient to supply the demand, and to prevent any dearth of provisions from being felt amongst the lower classes, to whom wheaten bread is a luxury almost unknown.
The great majority of the inhabitants of New Spain subsists almost entirely upon maize flour, made up into a sort of unfermented, doughy, but nutritious bread, called ărēpă, or more generally tŏrtīllăs, which they eat rather warmed through, than baked, with a pingent sauce, composed of chile, (a sort of capsicum) and tomates.
The price of maize varies with the year, and the distance from the principal markets. In the capital, I have seldom known it lower than two dollars the fanega, (of 150lbs.); but it sometimes rises to three and a half, as was the case a short time before my departure from Mexico, (April 1827,) in consequence of the total failure of the crops, after the unusually dry season of 1826. In the interior, from three to four reals, (of eight to the dollar,) is the ordinary price; but in 1826, it rose to two dollars, and two and a half; to the great distress of the Indian population. Maize may be cultivated to almost any extent in Mexico: but a great deal of the land which was devoted to this purpose before the Revolution, has been neglected since 1810, in consequence of the suspension of mining operations, which regulate the demand everywhere, except in the immediate vicinity of the great bishoprics, and the capital.
Some idea of the consumption in the mining districts may be formed by the fact, that, in Guănăjūātŏ alone, fourteen thousand mules were in daily use, all of which were fed on maize, straw and zăcātĕ, the maize-stalk dried, of which all animals are fond. There was a similar demand, in a more or less extended circle, around each of the other mining towns, so that the agricultural prosperity of the country depended in a great measure upon the prosperity of the mines; while the labours of the miner, on the other hand, were never carried on with such facility, or to such an extent, as when a succession of favourable years, by placing an abundant supply of agricultural produce, at moderate prices, within his reach, enabled him to augment his establishment in such a manner as to reduce even the poorer ores with profit. A great rise in the price of maize, affected the mining interests almost as much as a rise in the price of quicksilver; and, were a table drawn up of the years most productive in mineral riches, they would be found to tally exactly with those which are recorded as most abundant in the agricultural annals of the country. But upon this subject I shall have occasion to enlarge in a subsequent part of this work. It therefore only remains for me to add here, that the districts now most abundant in maize, are the Băxīŏ, (which comprises the central part of the Table-land;)—the plains of Tŏlūcă,—the Southern and Eastern parts of the valley of Mexico itself,—the state of La Pūēblă, and the vicinity of Āgŭas Călĭeñtĕs. It may, however, be grown wherever there is water to be obtained, and will be so, undoubtedly, as the demand increases. In some parts of the country, a variety of fermented liquors, known by the general denomination of Chicha de maiz, are prepared from maize by the Indians; they are all more or less intoxicating, as is the Pulque de maiz, or Tlaolli, which is composed of the sugary juice or syrop, extracted by pressure from the stalk. Before the conquest this syrup was condensed by the natives, and used as sugar.
CEREALIA.
Under this head I include Wheat and Barley, Oats being but little known: for cattle, barley is in general use, either mixed with maize, or alone.
Wheat succeeds well throughout the Table-land of Mexico. The minimum of height, at which the proper temperature may be found for bringing it to perfection, has not been ascertained; but both in the Tierra caliente, and on the Eastern and Western slope of the Cordillera, experience has shown that, from, perhaps, too great a luxuriancy of vegetation, the ear will not form.
About Jalapa, (678 toises above the level of the sea) it is severely sown to be used as green forage for cattle. At Perote (530 toises higher) it seems to find its proper level, and continues from thence without interruption towards the north, where a less degree of elevation is required, in every succeeding parallel, to produce it, until, in California, it may be found in the lowest valleys. On the Table-land, want of water is the great difficulty with which the farmer has to contend: wherever the ground affords any facility for irrigation, his crops are sure to succeed, but where this is not the case, the natural fertility of the soil becomes almost a secondary consideration; as the success or failure of the crop depends, entirely, upon the timely commencement of the rainy season. In Mexico our division of the year into four separate periods, is unknown. They have no distinction but the Rainy season, (Estacion de las aguas) which commences about the end of May, and lasts four months; and the Dry season, (el Ēstīŏ) which comprises all the rest of the year.
The rain begins on the Vera Cruz coast, and spreads gradually from East to West, in the direction of the trades; but its commencement is very uncertain, and whenever the dry season is prolonged beyond the middle of June, the Cerealia, and the maize, suffer severely, unless artificial means are employed to counteract the effects of the drought. Irrigation is, therefore, the great object of the Mexican farmer, and to attain it immense sums are expended on the principal estates, in the construction of ăcēqŭiăs (canals of irrigation), prēsăs (dams, or reservoirs), and norias (water wheels, roues à godet), by the aid of which a sort of balance is established between the dry and the rainy season, and the soil refreshed, when burnt up by the rays of a vertical sun. There have been instances of the dry season continuing for three whole months beyond the usual period, as in 1802, when almost all the crops throughout the country failed. In 1826 the rains did not commence till quite the end of July, and the maize was lost in consequence; but these irregularities are, fortunately, rare. Wherever a system of irrigation is established, the corn lands, (haciendas de trigo), are watered twice; once in January, when the young shoot appears above ground, and again in the beginning of March, when the ear is about to form; and so well is the importance of this process known, that a situation is seldom chosen for a hacienda de trigo, where a supply of water cannot be obtained.
The great corn lands of Mexico are those of La Pūēblă, (near Ătlīscŏ, San Mărtīn and Chŏlūlă) the Băxīŏ, which comprises a portion of the States of Guănăjūātŏ, Qŭerētărŏ, Văllădŏlīd, Zăcătēcăs, and Guădălajāră, in the vicinity of the great river of Santiago;—the valley of Tĕnōchtĭtlān or Mexico; that of Pŏănăs, in Durango; and the missions in Caifornia. These are but spots of cultivation on so large a surface as that presented by the territory of New Spain; but it is supposed that the ground cleared, in the vicinity of each, is capable of producing a supply of wheat, sufficient for a population, five times as numerous as that of Mexico, at the present day.
This is partly owing to the fertility of the soil, which gives an extraordinary ratio of increase, and partly to the large consumption of maize and Bananas, in lieu of wheaten flour, in the Tierra caliente, and upon the whole line of coast. The difficulty of communication with the table land renders wheat an article of luxury to the inhabitants of these regions; for, strange as the assertion may appear, in the present state of the roads it would be easier, and cheaper, for towns upon the Eastern and Western coasts to draw their supplies from the United States, or California, by sea, than from the nearest corn lands on the Table land. American flour, for instance, sells for fourteen dollars per barrel, at the Havanna, after paying a duty of six dollars. Each Carga, (or 300lbs. weight) of flour, from Atlisco, if sent as a mule load to Veracruz, would cost this, or more, as freight, at the present day, without allowing any thing for prime cost. Veracruz could, therefore, be supplied from Kentucky, or Ohio, at almost one half the price which flour now costs there; nor do I think that the amelioration in the internal communications of New Spain can easily be carried to such an extent, as to prevent the Mexican land owners from being undersold in their own market by their northern neighbours, unless they are protected, (as it is called) by prohibitory laws. They have indeed, in the extraordinary fertility of their soil, and the cheapness of labour, some compensation for the difficulties of communication, with which they have to contend; but the amount of produce on good land, however much it may exceed that of Europe, is not much superior to that of the most productive districts in the United States.
Humboldt gives, twenty five bushels for one, as the average annual produce of the whole of the corn lands of Mexico. In France, the maximum of the ratio of increase would be as ten to one: in England, perhaps twelve.
In the poorer parts of Germany, from five to six bushels for one is reckoned a very good crop. In Kentucky, twenty-two is, I believe, the maximum; but in Mexico, where irrigation is properly conducted, and the year good, from sixty to eighty bushels for one, have frequently been produced. At Chŏlūlă the common ratio of increase is from thirty to forty for one. At Zĕlāyă, Sălămāncă, Lĕōn, and Sāntĭāgŏ, from thirty-five to forty, communibus annis. In the valley of Mexico it varies from eighteen to twenty; and even as far North as New California, from fifteen to seventeen is not at all uncommon. Humboldt affirms too, that the proportion between the seed and the produce, would appear still greater, were it not for the quantity of grain unnecessarily employed as seed, a great part of which is choked, and lost: yet, notwithstanding this prodigious productiveness, wheat in Mexico is half as dear again as at Paris, and considerably exceeds the price which it now bears in the English market.
It is difficult to institute any exact comparison between two countries, where the measures in use are entirely dissimilar; but the following statement may give some idea of the relative value of corn in England, and New Spain.
The Carga, or mule load, which is the usual mode of selling the more bulky agricultural produce, weighs twelve Arrobas, or three hundred pounds, which, taking the English bushel at sixty pounds, are equivalent to five bushels English measure. The price of the Carga, I have found to vary but little; for, as the consumption of wheaten flour is confined almost entirely to the towns, where the demand can be pretty correctly ascertained, a sufficient supply is raised, in the vicinity of each, to meet that demand, and no more. Thus, there is neither much competition, nor any great fluctuation in the value of the article when brought into the market.
The Carga fetches, almost uniformly, from Mexico to Dŭrāngŏ, from thirteen, to sixteen dollars, according to the year; which, taking the dollar at four shillings, and the Carga, (as stated) at five bushels, gives 10s. 4¾ d. or 12s. 9½ d. as the price of the bushel, which is now selling here at seven shillings. This is the more remarkable, as it is not the case in any other part of South America. The best Chilian corn, for instance, sells upon the spot for 313 reales de plata, the fanega, or seven reals per carga.
The carriage to the coast, (near which it is usually grown,) and freight to Lima, which is the great market on the Pacific side, are estimated at three reals more; and, at Lima itself, it sells for twenty-four reals, (three dollars,) or about twelve shillings English money; while in Mexico the average price is nearly five times as much. But in New Spain, the want of roads, and the consequent difficulty of intercourse between the corn growing States, excludes from competition, in each market, all those who are situated beyond a very circumscribed circle in its immediate vicinity; and thus maintains a sort of factitious price, for an article, the intrinsic value of which ought not to bear any sort of proportion to that which it now possesses, from the abundance in which it is already produced, and the facility with which its cultivation might be carried to almost any extent.
Whether the obstacles can be overcome, which have given it this factitious value, and to what extent they will be so, are questions which time, and the good sense of the Mexican people, must decide; but the contents of this chapter will prove that a very great change must take place in the interior of the country, before any idea of exportation can reasonably be entertained, if, indeed, it be found practicable at last, of which, as I have stated in the first chapter, I entertain great doubts.
THE BANANA.
Platano-Musa.
The Banana is to the inhabitants of the Tierra caliente, what maize is to those of the Table-land: it furnishes them with the principal article of their daily food, and has the merit likewise of producing more nutritious substance in a less space, and with less trouble, than any other known plant. Humboldt calculates that one acre of ground, planted with the Platano Arton, is sufficient to support fifty men; while an acre of wheat, communibus annis, would barely supply the wants of three. Its cultivation requires but little attention: the suckers once planted, nature does the rest. In ten or eleven months the fruit comes to maturity; the old stalks must then be cut away, with the exception of the leading sprout, (pimpollo,) which bears fruit about three months after the mother plant; and if the earth about the stems be loosened once or twice in the year, a Plătănār may be kept in full produce without any farther exertion. The fruit is used either fresh, or sliced, and partially dried in the sun, when it is called Platano Pasado. It requires a mean temperature of 24° of the centigrade, (19 of Reaumur or 75 of Fahrenheit,) to bring it to perfection.
CASSAVA BREAD.
Pain de Manioe.
This bread, which is prepared from the root of the Yuca amarga, (jatropha manihot,) is more in use on the Western, than the Eastern coasts of Mexico: on both sides it is peculiar to the Tierra caliente. The root which yields the flour, (which is afterwards made up into thin, brittle cakes,) is a deadly poison in its raw state; but it loses its deleterious qualities when rasped, and pressed in a bag called cĭbŭcān, during which process the juice exudes, until nothing but a farinaceous pulp remains.
The consumption of Cassava bread in Mexico is not considerable, nor at all likely to increase.
RICE
Is but little cultivated, and not very generally known.
OLIVES.
The first Olive plantation known in Mexico, was that belonging to the Archbishop, at Tăcŭbāya, near the Capital; but, during the Revolution, a great number of Olive trees were planted, both in the Provinces, and immediately about Mexico, all of which are now flourishing. The oil which they yield is as pure as the finest French or Italian oils, and as the climate is particularly favourable to the growth of the tree, there is reason to suppose that the quantity of oil produced will soon render importation unnecessary. Before 1810, the cultivation of the olive was prohibited, as it was apprehended that it might interfere with the interests of the mother country.
THE VINE.
The vine was likewise a forbidden fruit before the Revolution, although the soil of Mexico is so well adapted to it, that it flourishes naturally in Texas, (which is overrun with wild vines,) and has succeeded as far North as Parras, the only spot where, under the old system, wine was allowed to be made, in consequence (I suppose) of the difficulty of supplying it from the Capital. In the centre of the country, vineyards were destroyed wherever an attempt was made to carry the cultivation to any extent.
As late as 1802, a general order to this effect was issued, which was acted upon at Dŏlōrĕs, (the curacy of the first insurgent chief, Hidalgo,) in 1805.
There is little doubt, however, that the vine will flourish, and that wine may be made, in almost every part of Mexico; whatever be its quantity, it cannot well be worse than the coarse Catalonian vintages, with which the country has been hitherto supplied; while on the balance of trade it would have a considerable effect, the sum averaged by wines imported, before the Revolution, being not less than 700,000 dollars per annum. The attention of the landed proprietors is already turned to the subject, but much time must elapse before any change can be effected; and as the French have, in the mean time, possession of the market, it is probable that they will find it to be their interest to keep it so well, and so cheaply supplied, that the project of growing wines for home consumption will be abandoned, before the attempt has been seriously made.
CHILE, OR CAPSICUM.
Whole estates are devoted, on the Table-land, to the cultivation of this most powerful stimulant, and few are more productive, as it constitutes one of the necessaries of life with the Indian, and Mestizo, population, and is used in very large quantities at the tables of the Creoles of all ranks. Its pungency is so great, that, amongst the uninitiated, it produces absolute excoriation; but the palate becomes accustomed to it by degrees, and habit renders it indispensable. It is used by the lower classes as a seasoning to the insipid tortilla, and the two together furnish a meal, which they would not exchange for an allowance of meat, and wheaten bread.
In addition to the vegetable productions already enumerated, Mexico possesses the potatoe, which is found in great abundance on every part of the Table-land; the yam, which is confined to Tierra caliente; Tomates, (Tomatl,) with every variety of garden plants and vegetables; apples, peaches and pears, and most European fruits; together with pines, guavas, chirimoyas, oranges and lemons, pistachio-nuts, melons, and all the usual productions of the tropics. It likewise has the
Maguey—( Metl—Agave Americana.)
A species of Ananas, or Aloe, from which is drawn the favourite beverage of the lower classes in the central part of the Table-land, a spirituous liquor called Octli, or Pulque.
It is in the States of La Pūēblă, Mēxĭcŏ, Guănăjūātŏ, and a small portion of Văllădŏlīd, that the principal plantations of Măgūēy are found; the most celebrated are those in the vicinity of Chŏlūlă, and in the Llanos de Āpăm, between the towns of Hŭămāntlă, Tlăscălă, Āpăn, and the Capital: the valley of Tŏlūcă is likewise famous for its Pūlquĕ; which is drawn from the extensive Maguey grounds in the vicinity of Lĕrmă: but in general, although the plant is found wild in every part of Mexico, no attempt to extract Pūlquĕ from it, is made, except in the districts which are within reach of the two great towns of La Pūēblă, and Mexico; where, amongst the lower classes of the inhabitants, the consumption is enormous. Before the Revolution, the revenue derived from a very small municipal duty exacted on the Pūlquĕ, at the gates of these towns, averaged 600,000 dollars, and amounted, in 1793, to 817,739 dollars, about 170,000l. sterling. Pūlquĕ is so little known in Europe, that some account of the process, by which it is made, may be acceptable.
The Maguey, or Aloe, from which it is extracted, differs but little, (if at all) in appearance, from those which abound in the South of Spain, and which are known, though of a much smaller size, in England. Its growth is slow, but when arrived at maturity, its leaves are usually from five to eight feet in length, although some considerably exceed these dimensions.
In the plantations, the plants are arranged in lines, with an interval of three yards between each. If the soil be good, they require no attention on the part of the proprietor until the period of flowering arrives, at which time the plant first commences to be productive. This period is very uncertain; ten years, however, may be taken as a fair average, for, in a plantation of one thousand Aloes, it is calculated that one hundred are in flower every year. The Indians, acquainted with the plant, know, by certain signs, almost the very hour at which the stem, or central shoot, which is destined to produce the flower, is about to appear, and they anticipate it, by making a deep incision, and extracting the whole heart, or central portion of the stem, (el cŏrăzōn,) as a surgeon would take an arm out of the socket, leaving nothing but the thick outside rind, which forms a natural basin, or well, about two feet in depth, and one-and-a-half in diameter. Into this the sap, which Nature intended for the support of the gigantic central shoot, is continually oozing, in such quantities, that it is found necessary to remove it twice, and even three times in the day. In order to facilitate this operation, the leaves on one side are cut away, so as to admit of a free approach: an Indian then inserts a long gourd, (called ăcŏjōtĕ,) the thinner end of which is terminated by a horn, while, at the opposite extremity, a small square hole is left, to which he applies his lips, and extracts the sap by suction. This sap, before it ferments, is called Aguamiel, (honey-water,) and merits the appellation, as it has a very sweet taste, and none of that disagreeable smell, which is afterwards so offensive. From the plant, a small portion of it is transferred to a building prepared for the purpose, where it is allowed to ferment for ten or fifteen days, when it becomes what is termed Mădrĕ Pūlquĕ, (the mother of Pulque,) which is distributed, in very small quantities, amongst the different skins, or troughs, intended for the daily reception of the Aguămīēl. Upon this it acts as a sort of leaven; fermentation is excited instantly, and in twenty-four hours it becomes Pulque in the very best state for drinking: the quantity drawn off each day is replaced by a fresh supply of Aguamiel, so that the process may continue during the whole year without interruption, and is limited only by the extent of the plantation. A good Maguey yields from eight to fifteen quartillos, (pints,) of Aguămīēl in a day, the value of which may be taken at about a real, (sixpence); and this supply of sap continues during two, and often three months. The plant, therefore, when about to flower, is worth ten dollars to the farmer; although, in the transfer of an estate, the Magueyes de corte, (ready for cutting,) are seldom valued, one with another, at more than five. But, in this estimate, an allowance is made for the failure of some, which is unavoidable, as the operation of extracting the cŏrăzōn, if performed either too soon, or too late, is equally unsuccessful, and destroys the plant altogether. The cultivation of the Maguey, where a market is at hand, has many advantages, as it is a plant, which, though it succeeds best in a good soil, is not easily affected either by heat or cold, and requires little or no water. It is propagated, too, with great facility; for, although the mother-plant withers away as soon as the sap is exhausted, it is replaced by a multitude of suckers, which spring from the old root, and grow well when transplanted. There is only one drawback, the time that must elapse before a new plantation can be rendered at all productive, and the uncertainty with regard to the time of flowering, which varies from eight to eighteen years. But the Maguey grounds, when once established, are of great value, many producing a revenue of ten and twelve thousand dollars per annum.
The natives ascribe to Pulque as many good qualities as whiskey is said to possess in Scotland. They call it stomachic, a great promoter of digestion and sleep, and an excellent remedy in many diseases. It requires a knowledge of all these good qualities to reconcile the stranger to that smell of sour milk, or slightly tainted meat, by which the young Pulque drinker is usually disgusted; but if this can be surmounted, Pulque will be found both a refreshing, and a wholesome beverage; for its intoxicating qualities are very slight, and as it is drunk always in a state of fermentation, it possesses, even in the hottest weather, an agreeable coolness. It is found, too, where water is not to be obtained; and even the most fastidious, when travelling under a vertical sun, are then forced to admit its merits.
It is only to be met with in perfection near the places where it is grown, as it is conveyed to the great towns in skins, on asses: a tedious process, in the course of which the smell increases, while the freshness of the liquor is lost.
A strong sort of brandy, called Mēxĭcāl, or aguardiente de Maguey, is likewise prepared from the aloe, of which there is a great consumption in the country. Nor is the utility of the plant confined to this; the Aztecs prepared from its leaves the paper on which their hieroglyphics were written, pieces of which, of various thickness, may be found at the present day; and the more fibrous parts supply the country with pita, a strong thread, or twine, which is made up into ropes, and used not only in the mines, but on the Western coast, as cordage for vessels. It is not so pliable as hemp, and is more liable to be affected by the weather; but it is extremely tough, and durable, and consequently of very general utility. The annexed plate contains an Aloe in full produce, with the leaves cut, the central cup displayed, and the skin, gourd, and scraper, used in extracting the sap.
COLONIAL PRODUCE.
I come now to those productions, which are termed in Europe "Colonial produce," as being, usually, the growth of Colonies founded by the nations of the Old World in the warmer regions of the New, and supplying the parent States with those articles of luxury, or necessity, which the climate of Europe is not calculated to produce.
In Mexico they comprehend sugar, coffee, tobacco, indigo, chocolate, and cotton, besides vanilla and cochineal, of which Nature seems to have given to New Spain the almost exclusive possession. I shall begin with sugar, as being the only article of general consumption in Europe, the exportation of which, before the Revolution, was carried to any extent.
SUGAR.
Humboldt has endeavoured to fix the maximum of height at which the cane in Mexico may be cultivated; and to his scientific disquisitions I must refer such of my readers as are inclined to view this part of the subject with interest. It is my own belief, that no general theory can be established; for, as I have stated in the first section, a thousand local causes, totally independent of elevation, may, and do, produce the degree of heat required to bring the cane to perfection. It is admitted, however, that the juice is more, or less, abundant, and rich in saccharine matter, in proportion to the height at which it is grown; and that the produce of a plantation in a valley on the Table-land, would not be equal, either in quality, or quantity, to that of a plantation of similar extent upon the coast.
Elevation has, therefore, some peculiar effects upon vegetation, even where external appearances are the same; but to what extent, and in what way its influence is exercised, it remains for future naturalists to determine. In general, it is thought that the sugar-cane requires a mean temperature of 19 or 20 degrees of the centigrade thermometer, (68 or 69 of Fahrenheit). Mexico possesses upon her Eastern and Western line of coast, a vast extent of country in which this temperature may be found; but as exportation was only permitted, before 1810, through the port of Veracruz, while the great body of consumers was concentrated on the Table-land, but little attention was paid to those situations, which were not within reach of one of these markets.
It is to the constancy of the demand in the Interior, that we must attribute the choice of the valleys of Cuĕrnăvācă and Cūāūtlă Āmīlpăs, (within twenty leagues of the Capital,) as the seat of the principal sugar plantations of the country; and the fact, that these plantations have maintained themselves during the whole of the revolutionary war, while those of Orizava and Cōrdŏvă, on the slope of the Cordillera, which depended more upon the foreign market, fell into decay, as soon as the progress of the Insurgents put an end to all freedom of communication with the coast.
In the course of time, the increasing intercourse with foreign countries will, probably, create a change in this respect, and render the value of a sugar estate upon the coast at least equal to that of one in the interior. The number of vessels that now return in ballast from Veracruz insures a ready market, and although the rate of wages upon the coast is higher, the superior fertility of the soil will more than compensate this disadvantage.
Humboldt gives 2800 kilogrammes, or 224 Arrobas (of 25lbs) of raw sugar, as the produce of a hectare of the best land in the province of Veracruz, in situations favourable to irrigation.
That of Cuba does not exceed 1400 kilogrammes; so that the balance is as two to one in favour of Veracruz.
The immense amount of the capitals which have been withdrawn from the country since 1822, and the distrust which a recollection of the Revolution still inspires, render any very speedy extension of the cultivation of the sugar-cane improbable.
Enough is hardly grown, at present, for the home consumption of the country, which is enormous. In 1802 it was estimated at 1,400,000 Arrobas, (35,000,000 of pounds;) the value of which, at the market price of two dollars and a half per Arroba, was 3,500,000 dollars, or nearly 700,000 l. sterling. In addition to this, in the years 1802, 1803, and 1804, sugar to the amount of nearly one million and a half of dollars was exported, and although the exportation s afterwards diminished, the quantity raised up to 1810 was not supposed to have materially decreased.[1]
At the present day, the amount of the total produce is not exactly known, but it must be considerably less than that of the best years before the Revolution, as the sugar estates are confined almost entirely to the valleys of Cūāūtlă and Cuĕrnăvācă. Those of Oăxācă, the Băxīŏ, Văllădŏlīd, and Guădălajāră, were destroyed during the civil war, and the machinery has never been reestablished, so that the most distant provinces are obliged to draw their supplies of sugar from Cūāūtlă; a circumstance, which, of course, limits the consumption exceedingly, by raising the price so as to exclude the poorer classes from the market. The present price of the Arroba of sugar in the Capital, is from three, to three and a half dollars, (twenty-four to twenty-eight reals,) which, taking the dollar as I have done throughout this sketch, at four shillings, and the Arroba at 25lbs., will give something more than sixpence a pound (English money) as the value of sugar in Mexico, within twenty leagues of the place where it is grown. When sent into the interior, the price rises with every twenty leagues, until, in Dŭrāngŏ, the Arroba sells for six and seven dollars, and in Chĭhūāhuă, for nine and ten. This can only be remedied by a more equal cultivation of the cane in those situations, which are more especially favourable to its growth; and there is, perhaps, no Transatlantic speculation that would prove so advantageous as this, if properly conducted.
I was induced, by the proximity of the great sugar estates of Cuĕrnăvācă, and Cūāūtlă, to the Capital, to visit the valley in which they are situated. It lies at the foot of the first step, or terrace, on the descent from the Table-land towards the Pacific, about 319 toises[2] below the level of the Capital; and extends nearly fifty miles, in a direction from S.W. to N.E. The plains of Cūāūtlă are considerably lower than those about Săn Găbrĭĕl, in the vicinity of Cuĕrnăvācă; but, with the exception of a ridge of hills which divides the two valleys, the whole space from Īzūcăr to Cuĕrnăvācă is occupied by a succession of Haciendas, (estates,) all of which are in a state of the most beautiful cultivation. The valley abounds in water, both for irrigation and machinery, which last, in the opinion of a gentleman who accompanied me, and who is well acquainted with our West India Islands, is fully equal to that employed in the British Colonies, where steam-engines have not been introduced.
The crops are usually very abundant, the cane being planted much closer than is customary in Jamaica, but the ground is not exhausted by this system, as the Mexican planter is enabled, from the extent of his estate, to divide his sugar lands into four equal parts, one only of which is taken annually into cultivation. The remaining three lie fallow, until their turn comes round again.
The sugar produced, though abounding in saccharine matter, is generally coarse in appearance, and of a bad colour, being merely clayed, in order to free it from the molasses: the art of refining, though well understood, is seldom, or never, carried beyond the first stage of the process, there being no demand in the market for double-refined sugar.
The principal estates in the neighbourhood of Cuernavaca, are those of Tĕmīscŏ and Săn Găbrĭĕl, both of which belong to the family of Don Gabriel Yērmŏ, a Spaniard, famous for the arrest of the Viceroy Iturrigaray, in 1808, with which the Mexican revolution may be said to have commenced:) Trēintă-pēsŏs Treinta-pesos, El Pūēntĕ, Mĕăcătlān, Săn Găspār, and Săn Vicente Chĭconquăc. Those in the valley of Cūāūtlă are San Carlos, Pāntĭtlān, Cŏcŏyōc, Căldĕrōn, Căsă-sānŏ, Sānta Inēs, Cohăhūistlă, Măpăstlān, and Tĕnĕstĕpāngŏ. None of these estates produce less than 30,000 Arrobas of sugar in the year, while the annual produce of some of the largest may be estimated at from 40, to 50,000. The profits in a good year are very great, for, as each arroba of sugar yields an equal quantity of molasses, which sells at the door of the Hacienda for five reals and a half per Arroba, the sale of this alone is sometimes sufficient to cover the raya, or weekly expenditure of the estate, leaving only the wear and tear of the machinery to be deducted from the produce of the whole crop of sugar. From the molasses, 30,000 barrels of Chĭngăritŏ, or coarse rum, are made every year, in the neighbourhood of Cuernavaca alone. At Sānta Inēs, where a private distillery is established upon the estate, in which 4,000 barrels are manufactured upon the owners account, the speculation is found to be a very lucrative one, as the barrel sells in Mexico for thirty-two dollars, and is worth twenty-four net, after paying both duties and carriage.
The possibility of cultivating the sugar-cane beneath the Tropics by a system of free labour, has often been canvassed, but I know no country except Mexico where the experiment has been fairly tried upon a large scale. The plantations of Cuernavaca, were all worked, in the first instance, by slaves, who were purchased at Veracruz, at from three to four hundred dollars each. The difficulty of ensuring a sufficient supply during a war with a maritime power, and the number of slaves who perished from the sudden change of climate on the road from the coast, induced several of the great proprietors to endeavour to propagate a race of free labourers, by giving liberty to a certain number of slaves annually, and encouraging them to intermarry with the native Indians, which they soon did to a very great extent.
The plan was found to be so economical, that, on many of the largest estates, there was not a single slave in the year 1808; but the policy of the measure became still more apparent in 1810, for, as soon as the Revolution broke out, those planters who had not adopted the system of gradual emancipation, were abandoned, at once, by their slaves, and forced, in some instances, to give up working their estates; while those who had provided themselves, in time, with a mixed caste of free labourers, retained, even during the worst of times, a sufficient number of hands to enable them to cultivate their lands, although upon a reduced scale.
The great Haciendas now expend in wages, and other current charges, from 8 to 1200 dollars a week.
The labourers are mostly paid by the piece, and can earn, if industrious, from six to seven reals per diem (three shillings, or three and sixpence, English money.)
The number of workmen employed upon an estate capable of producing 40,000 Arrobas of sugar, is one hundred and fifty, with occasional additions, when the season is late, or the work has been retarded by accidental causes.
They are divided into gangs, as in the West Indies, and appeared to me to perform their several tasks with great precision, and rapidity. Fifty men are employed in watering the canes;[3] twenty in cutting; ten in bringing the cut canes from the field, (each with six mules ;) twenty-five, (mostly boys,) in separating the green tops, which are used as fodder, and binding up the remainder for the muleteers.
Twenty men, in gangs of four each, feed the engine, day and night; fourteen attend the boilers; twelve keep up the fires; four turn the cane in the sun, when the juice is expressed, and dry it for fuel; and ten are constantly at work in the warehouse, clarifying the sugar, and removing it afterwards, to the store-rooms, from whence it is sent to the market.
All these labours proceed without difficulty or compulsion, and the sound of the whip is never heard; but whether freedom will have the effect (as many hold here) of raising the workmen in the scale of civilization, is a question which I cannot pretend to decide. It is much to be desired, certainly, for a more debauched, ignorant, and barbarous race, than the present inhabitants of the sugar districts, it is impossible to conceive. They seem to have engrafted all the wild passions of the negro upon the cunning, and suspicious character of the Indian; and are noted for their ferocity, vindictiveness, and attachment to spirituous liquors. When not at work, they are constantly drunk; and as they have little or no sense of religious or moral duties, there is but a slender chance of amendment. They are, however, an active, and at intervals, a laborious race, capable of enduring great fatigue, and, apparently, well suited in constitution to the dangerous climate which they inhabit.
The valley of Cuĕrnăvācă suffered much in the first years of the revolution, and particularly during the siege of Cūāūtlă Āmīlpăs, in 1814, when most of the neighbouring estates were destroyed by the contending armies. They have, however, recovered their losses during the last ten years, and I could not discover that there was any reason to believe that the total produce of the valley ever much exceeded that of the present day.
The establishment of a Trapiche (a term which implies all the works requisite for a sugar estate) is attended with too much expense for me to venture to predict any very rapid extension of the cultivation of sugar; although, in thirty years, (from 1763 to 1793,) the number of Ingenios, (sugar plantations,) in the island of Cuba, increased from seventy, to three hundred and five; and, in ten years more, (1796 to 1806,) rose from three hundred and five, to four hundred and eighty: but this was occasioned by an influx of planters from Hayti, who brought with them both capital, and science; whereas, in Mexico, the men who possessed the largest share of both these essential requisites, (the old Spanish proprietors,) have quitted the country, and abandoned, in many instances, whatever property they could not realize. This is a drawback, for which the present freedom of intercourse with the Old World cannot afford any immediate compensation. That it will do so, ultimately, I cannot doubt; for the advantages of this mode of investing capital must long be great, in a country where the home consumption alone has kept the price of sugar, during the last ten years, at nearly double the average market-price in the Havanna,[4] and where the system of free labour renders the expense of working the estate infinitely less. That it does produce this effect, seems to be proved by the fact, that one hundred and fifty slaves are employed, in the Island of Cuba, upon a plantation capable of producing one thousand cases, or 16,000 Arrobas of sugar, (vide Humboldt Essai Politique sur I'lle de Cuba;) while, in the valley of Cūāūtlă, one hundred and fifty free labourers are found sufficient for a Hacienda, which yields from thirty-two, to forty thousand Arrobas. Thus, (supposing the expense in other respects to be the same,) in the one case, the produce of each individual would be 2666lbs., and in the other, 5332lbs., or even 6666lbs., taking the maximum of 40,000 Arrobas. The correctness of this calculation, depends, of course, upon the comparative fertility of the soil in the island of Cuba, and in the valley of Cūāūtlă Āmīlpăs, respecting which I am not competent to give an opinion. There is no reason, however, to suppose that there is any superiority in the soil of Cūāūtlă, sufficiently great to account for so marked a difference in the amount of the sugar, raised by an equal number of labourers; for the elevation of the valley above the level of the ocean, renders it impossible to apply Humboldt's estimate of the extraordinary fertility of Veracruz, to the plantations of Cūāūtlă, or Cuernavaca.
I regard all these points as well worthy the attention of capitalists, and it is with this view, and not with that of raising upon them any theory of my own, that I have made them here the subject of particular consideration.
COFFEE.
Coffee is another of the Tropical productions, for which the soil of Mexico is admirably adapted, and which is likely to be cultivated, almost immediately, to a great extent, because the capital required to establish a plantation is comparatively small.
Coffee has, however, never formed an article of exportation in New Spain, nor has the use of it been very general in the interior of the country, until within the last few years, when the large returns derived by the merchants of the Havanna from their Cafetales, or coffee grounds, induced some of the Mexican proprietors to turn their attention to this branch of colonial agriculture.
In 1818 and 1819, extensive plantations of coffee were laid out near Cōrdŏvă and Ŏrĭzāvă, to which constant additions have been made during the last three years.
The tree has likewise been introduced into the valley of Cūāūtlă, by Don Antonio Velasco, and into that of Cuĕrnăvācă by the Agent of the Duke of Monteleone; who possesses, as representative of the family of Cortes, the large estate of Ātlăjŏmūlcŏ, in the immediate vicinity of the town. The two estates of Velasco, at Cŏcŏyōc and Pāntĭtlān, contain about five hundred thousand coffee plants, fifty thousand of which were in full produce when I saw them in 1826. The crop of the preceding year amounted to five thousand Arrobas, or 125,000lbs., which gives two and a half pounds of coffee as the average produce of each plant, I am induced to believe that this will be the ordinary produce of good land throughout Mexico: it considerably exceeds that of the Havanna, where Humboldt gives 860 kilogrammes as the average of a hectare of land, containing 3500 plants; but it is a much lower estimate than any Mexican planter would make, as, in many parts of the country, from three to four pounds are said to be a fair average crop. I could not ascertain, however, that this calculation was founded upon correct data; and I do not, therefore, give it as one that may be strictly relied upon: but I know one instance, of a single coffee tree, having produced twenty-eight pounds of coffee, in the garden of Don Pablo de la Llave, at Cordova, and it is the certainty that this fact is unquestionably true, that induces me to give as the possible average of good grounds in Mexico, a produce more than double that which, in the Island of Cuba, is the maximum of the best year in three.
The cultivation of coffee in New Spain possesses at present, many advantages over that of sugar. The Arroba sells in the capital at from five, to seven dollars, (nearly double the price of the Arroba of sugar,) and may be raised at a much less expense; as a plantation, containing 200,000 plants, does not require the permanent attendance of more than twenty men to weed and water.[5]
The young plants, however, are delicate, and must be protected from the sun for two whole years, for which purpose a large piece of ground, called the Sĕmĭllērŏ, is covered in, and thickly planted with young shoots; the third year these will bear transplantation to the open field, and the fourth they may be reckoned in full vigour; they last from twenty-five to thirty years. From the attention which is now paid to coffee plantations throughout Mexico, it is probable that coffee will soon be added to the list of her exportations, in which case the European market will, undoubtedly, draw from New Spain a very considerable addition to the supply now derived from the West Indian Archipelago; for, although the islands have the advantage of being already in possession of the market, Mexico has that of attracting annually to her shores a vast number of European vessels, to all of which a return cargo is an object of no little importance. The slope of the Eastern Cordillera is well calculated to supply this, by its vicinity to the coast as are the Peninsula of Yŭcătān, (in which a few small coffee plantations already exist,) and the State of Tăbāscŏ, where coffee, which was originally cultivated merely as an apendage to the cacao plantations, is now considered as a separate branch of agriculture, and has already been grown, and exported to some extent.
The plantations of Cūāūtlă will be excluded from the foreign market by the distance, and the difficulties of communication; but they will supply the whole consumption of the Interior, which is daily increasing.
Of the rapidity with which the cultivation of coffee may be extended, the Havanna has furnished a memorable example.
In the year 1800, the island only contained sixty plantations, in 1817 it possessed seven hundred and seventy-nine, and at the present day the number is estimated at nearly nine hundred.
| The total produce was, | Arrobas | ||
| in 1804 | 50,000 | ||
| in 1809 | 918,203 | ||
| from 1818 | 1,218,000 | ||
| to 1824 | |||
This extraordinary impulse was communicated by events not calculated to exercise so direct an influence upon the prosperity of the country, as those which have taken place in Mexico, where the bonds by which the internal resources of the country were so long cramped, have been burst at once. It was the ruin of St. Domingo, and the relaxation of the Colonial System in Spain, that led to the prosperity of the Havanna; nor is it assuming much, to suppose that a free trade may produce a similar effect in a country, even more favoured by nature than the Island of Cuba. The want of a market need not be apprehended, for the consumption of Europe appears to increase every year, and will, probably, continue to do so, as the supply augments, until the price falls to that point, at which the planter would cease to derive any advantage from his labours. What this point is, has not yet been ascertained. According to Humboldt, coffee has varied, at the Havanna, during the present century, from thirty, to four dollars the quintal, (of four Arrobas.) From 1815 to 1819 it was constantly between thirteen and seventeen dollars; now it is only twelve, and may be expected to fall still lower.
In the interior of Mexico, it was worth, in 1826, from five, to seven dollars the Arroba, (twenty and twenty-eight dollars the quintal,) but this value it will, of course, lose as the cultivation extends. On the coast, I have little doubt that the coffee of Cordova might be sold, already, at the same price as that of the Havanna. The quality, is in general, excellent, and equal, in the opinion of the best judges, to that of any other country in the world.
TOBACCO.
Mexican tobacco is chiefly important as an article of revenue. The plant is a government monopoly, and the growth of it is confined to a small district in the vicinity of Ŏrĭzāvă and Cōrdŏvă. It is, therefore, not likely to become an article of exportation, and is only interesting to European commerce, from the quantity of paper used in the sugar manufactories: of these, as well as of the mode in which the Tobacco monopoly is conducted, I shall have occasion to speak elsewhere. The quality of the plant in New Spain is thought to be inferior to that of the Havanna.
INDIGO.
Anil.
The use of this plant was general among the Aztecs before the conquest: they called it Xiuhquilipitzahuac, (the pronunciation of which would be an admirable coup d'essai for any one who may desire to cultivate the Aytec tongue.) During the last century it has been almost entirely neglected, from the preference given in Europe to the indigo of Guatemala, or Central America, and the failure of the native cotton manufactures, in which it was principally used. A little indigo is now grown on the Western coasts, and an attempt is making to introduce it into the valley of Cūāūtlă; but, upon so small a scale, that many years must elapse before it can possibly rise into importance. In Yŭcătān, there are some plantations of indigo, and in Tŏbāscŏ, according to the statistical report transmitted by the State to Congress, it is a natural production of the soil, which is marshy and hot. Indeed, from the vicinity of Tabasco to the great indigo plantations of Săn Sālvădōr, (in Guatemala,) which produce annually 12,000 tercios, or 1,800,000 lbs. of indigo, valued at (3,000,000 of dollars,) there is reason to suppose that the plant might be cultivated there with great success; but for this, as for every thing else in Mexico, time is requisite. The resources of the country cannot be developed in a day; and whatever the future capabilities of Tabasco may be, it is now one of the poorest states of the Federation.
CACAO.
Cacava quahuitl.
It is from Mexico that both the use, and the name of chocolate, (Aztec chocolatl,) were borrowed, and introduced into Europe; but the cacao of Sŏcŏnūscŏ, (in Central America,) from its superiority to all others, has entirely supplanted, in Mexico, the use of the cacao of Mexican growth, and but little attention is, consequently, paid to its cultivation. The plant appears to succeed better nearer the Equator, in the low hot grounds of Cărāccăs, Guătĕmālă, and Gūāyăquīl, where it is now grown to a great extent. From all of these Mexico draws an annual supply: but there are still some plantations of cacao near Cōlĭmă (on the Western coast,) in the Isthmus of Tĕhuatĕpēc, and in the State of Tabasco, where it appears, by the statistical report of 1826, to form an article of considerable importance. Like indigo, it is supposed to have been originally an indigenous plant, but the principal plantations are now found on the banks of rivers, or in districts liable to be annually overflowed, (tierras anegadizas,) in which the cacao tree thrives best. The number of trees now under cultivation is not known, but the average annual produce is stated not to be less than 15,000 cargas, of 60lbs. each.
COTTON.
Cotton was found amongst the indigenous productions of Mexico, at the time of the conquest, and furnished almost the only clothing used by the natives. The cultivation has been since much neglected, and the art of imparting to it the brilliant colours so common amongst the Aztecs, entirely lost. Up to the close of the last century, however, the annual value of the cotton manufactures of the country was estimated at five millions of dollars. They are now gradually disappearing, as the supply of European manufactures becomes more abundant, and will probably cease to exist in the course of a few years; but the raw material, by which they were supplied, may become of the greatest importance, if the Cotton plantations be kept up as an article, not of home consumption, but of exportation for the foreign market. The Mexicans are not yet aware of all the advantages which they might derive from this change, or of the facility with which it might be effected.
Throughout the United States, Cotton is a plant of annual growth; the frost destroys it, and every year the labour of clearing the ground, and forming a fresh plantation, must be undertaken anew.
In the Tierra caliente of Mexico, nothing of the kind is required; the tree propagates itself, and the only attention requisite, on the part of the proprietor, is to prevent the ground from being overrun by the multiplicity of other plants, which the profuse vegetation of the Tropics is continually calling into existence.
There are still considerable Cotton plantations upon the Western coast, and in the vicinity of the River Nāzăs, in Dŭrāngŏ, from whence the Cotton spinners of Zăcătēcăs, Săltīllŏ, and San Luis, are supplied with raw material for their Tapalos (shawls) and other domestic manufactures.
The price of cotton on the Table-land has been hitherto, very high, from the expense of carriage; for, until very lately, a cotton gin (simple as the invention is) was unknown in any part of the country, and the cotton was sent from the place where it was grown, to the nearest manufacturing district, without being even separated from the seeds, much less cleaned, or pressed, or submitted to any of those processes by which the bulk is usually reduced. But this state of things cannot last; and where the remedy is so easy, and the advantages so great, it is impossible that public attention should not, speedily, be turned to an object of so much interest, not only to Mexico, but to all the manufacturing countries of the Old World. Twenty-five thousand Arrobas of Cotton is the utmost that has yet been exported from Veracruz in the year; but the supply must increase with the demand, since no great exertion or capital are required to produce it. In Texas, Austin's colony already makes large remittances of cotton to New Orleans; and I doubt not that this branch of agriculture will soon be everywhere duly appreciated.
In the United States, the production of cotton increased, (according to Humboldt,) in six years, (from 1797 to 1803,) in the ratio of three hundred and seventy-seven to one.
Were it possible to communicate a very small portion of similar activity to Mexico, the effect upon her external trade would be considerable; for, in 1824, the value of the cotton exported from the United States, amounted to 21,947,404 dollars, (vide Mellish's United States,) one-tenth, or even one-twentieth part of which would form no unimportant item in the exports of a country, which, at present, is forced to cover the amount of its importations, almost entirely with cochineal and bullion.
VANILLA.—( Epidendrum Vanillœ.)
This is one of the endless variety of parasitic plants, with which the forests of Vĕrăcruz Veracruz abound. It was long thought to be confined, almost entirely, to the district of Mĭsāntla, at the foot of the mountain of Qŭilātĕ, (in Vĕrăcruz,) and to the vicinity of the village of Teŭtĭlă, in the state of Ŏăxācă; but it has recently been discovered in great abundance in Tabasco, upon the mountains near the coast, where, during the last two years, some hundreds of millares have been collected, with every probability of a farther increase. In Ŏăxācă and Vĕrăcruz, the cultivation is entirely in the hands of the Indians. It is a very simple process, for a shoot of the Vanilla, when planted at the foot of the tree destined to support it, requires no other care than to be freed, occasionally, from the hardier creepers, by which its progress is impeded. It gives fruit the third season, and continues to produce for thirty, or forty, years without interruption. The pods are sold by the Millar, or thousand, subdivided into mazes, or packets of fifty pods each. To prepare these for the market, the Vanilla is dried for some hours in the sun, and then wrapped in woollen cloths, to sweat it; after which it is again exposed to the sun, dried, and packed up.
There are several different qualities of Vanilla, designated as Grande fina, Chica fina, Zacate, Rezacate, and Basura. The best of these sold, before the revolution, at Veracruz, for about forty-four dollars a Millar, from nine to eighteen hundred of which were exported annually.
JALAP.
Convolvulus Jalapœ.
This drug takes its name from the town of Jalapa, in the vicinity of which it is found. It is the root of a parasitic plant, with leaves like the ivy, and a red flower, which has the property of shunning the light, and opening only at night, whence the French name for it, Belle de nuit. The quantity exported from Veracruz seldom exceeds three thousand quintals.
COCHINEAL.
Cochineal is another of those precious productions which Nature seems to have bestowed, almost exclusively, upon Mexico; for the insect which bears the same name in the Brazils is of a very inferior kind. It is that known by the naturalists as Grana Silvestre, and the dye extracted from it is neither so brilliant, nor so durable, as that of the Grana Fina, with which Mexico supplies the European market. The Grana Fina, at its utmost growth, resembles a bug in size and colour, with the exception of a mealy, or whitish powder, through which the rings, or cross stripes on the back of the insect, are distinctly visible: The female alone produces the dye; the males are smaller, and one is found sufficient for three hundred females.
According to Humboldt, the insect is bred on a species of Cactus, (opuntia, or Indian fig,) the fruit of which is white.
The Cochineal feeds only upon the leaf the process of rearing it is complicated, and attended with much difficulty: the leaves of the Nopal, on which the seed is deposited, must be kept free from all extraneous substances, and in the Cochineal districts the Indian women are seen bending over them for hours together, and brushing them lightly with a squirrel's tail.
In a good year, one pound of Semilla, deposited upon the plant in October, will yield, in December, twelve pounds of Cochineal, leaving a sufficient quantity of seed behind to give a second crop in May.
The plantations of the Cochineal Cactus are confined to the district of La Mīstĕcā, in the State of Ŏăxācă. Some of these Haciendas de Nŏpālĕs contain from fifty, to sixty, thousand plants, arranged in lines, like the Aloes in the Maguey plantations which I have already described, and cut down to a certain height, in order to enable the Nopaleros to clean them more easily.
In the year 1758, a government registry office was established at Ŏăxācă, in consequence of the complaints of some English merchants, who had received cargoes of adulterated Cochineal, in which all the Cochineal produced in the province was ordered to be examined and registered. By the official returns which I possess, it appears that the value of the Cochineal entered upon the books of this office up to 1815, was 91,308,907 dollars, which, upon fifty-seven years, gives an average of 1,601,910 dollars per annum, without making any allowance for contraband, which has always been carried on to the amount of nearly half a million more. The number of pounds collected during the same time was 37,835,104lbs.; so that the price current upon the spot, averaged two dollars, three and a half reals, a pound; it has varied, however, from six, to thirty-four reals, and has even risen from six, to twenty-four, in the same year.
The annual registered exportation of Cochineal from Veracruz, has amounted, according to the Consulado reports, during a term of twenty-five years, (from 1796 to 1820 inclusive,) to 34,316,961 dollars, being the value of 352,843 Arrobas of Cochineal; which gives an average of 1,372,678 dollars, and 14,113 Arrobas upon each year. The total registered produce of Ŏăxăcă being, as we have seen, 37,835,104lbs. (1,513,404 Arrobas,) on a term of fifty-seven years, which gives 26,550 Arrobas, as the average of each year, it becomes evident, that an illicit trade, to an enormous extent, must have been carried on; as the difference between the produce and the exportation, would give 12,437 Arrobas as the annual home consumption of Mexico, where, certainly, not half that number of pounds are employed. If, therefore, it be supposed that one-Fourth more is produced in Oaxaca than is registered, an allowance of at least one-Third must be made for contraband upon the coast. This would give 1,830,237 dollars as the value of the exportations, (taking 1,372,678 dollars as the average of the registers;) while the produce, adding one-fourth, as before stated, to the average registered value on fifty-seven years, (1,601,910 dollars,) would be 2,002,387 dollars, which bears a fair proportion to the exportation, and at which I am consequently inclined to think that the cochineal annually raised in Mexico may fairly be estimated.
Many are disposed to rate it much higher, (two millions and a half of dollars,) but as I am not in possession of any data that warrant this supposition, I shall confine myself to the calculation given above, in which I am borne out by positive facts. The crop is divided into three classes,—Grana, Granilla, and Polvos de Grana, to which may be added, Zacatilla, the name given to the December crop in the Misteca, the quality of which is thought to be superior to that of the others.
WAX.
The great consumption of wax in the church ceremonies renders this an article of much importance. Some attention is paid to it in the Peninsula of Yŭcătān, where there are Colmenares, containing six and seven hundred hives.
But Mexico imports annually a large quantity, (from two to three thousand Arrobas,) which, now that the direct trade with the Havanna is closed, are introduced principally through New Orleans.
Mexico possesses, in addition to the productions which I have passed in review, Tabascan pepper, (Pimienta malagueta, o'llainada,) which grows wild throughout that State, and is collected in the months of July and August; Campeche log-wood, Mahogany, equal to that of St. Domingo or Cuba, and a thousand other varieties of timber, of the most beautiful and variegated kinds. All these have been, hitherto, neglected, nor is there yet a single sawmill in the Tierra calientes, in which they are principally found; but the States are endeavouring to bring this branch of national industry into activity, by fitting up with native woods the halls of Congress, and other public offices, which have been established under the New System.
Pearls are found in abundance on the western coast, and particularly in the Gulph of California, where, although the diving-bell has failed, the native divers are by no means unsuccessful.
Few countries are richer than Mexico in domestic animals, the horned cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and horses, introduced by the Spaniards, have flourished in every part of her territory, and multiplied to such a degree that their numbers are now incalculable.
In Texas, California, and the Indian country, vast herds run wild in the forests, and even in the interior the number both of horses and cattle kept on many of the large Haciendas is hardly known. Buffon's theory of the degeneration of European animals in America is totally unfounded. As Humboldt beautifully expresses it, "since the facts alleged have been carefully examined, naturalists have discovered proofs of harmony, where the eloquent writer announced only contrasts."
The wool of the Mexican sheep is supposed to be of an inferior quality, but I am inclined to attribute its defects more to neglect, and to the too great abundance of the Cactus, and other thorny shrubs, in the plains where the great flocks of the Interior are fed, than to any peculiarity in the climate.
Wherever due attention is paid to the subject, and care taken to preserve the fleece from injury, the quality seems to improve, and the price rises from ten, or fourteen reals, to twenty-four, and twenty-eight reals, per Arroba. This is the case at Qŭerētărŏ, with what is termed the Lana de chinchorro, of which I shall have occasion to speak in the account of my journey into the Interior.
The total agricultural produce of Mexico, calculated by Humboldt upon the Tithes, (on a term of ten years,) with an allowance of three millions of dollars for the Cochineal, the Vanilla, Jalap, Sarsaparilla, and Tabascan pepper, which paid no tithes, and two millions more for the Sugar and Indigo, upon which the clergy only received a duty of four per cent., was found to amount to twenty-nine millions of dollars, and thus to exceed, by four millions, the annual average produce of the mines, from which the wealth of the country was supposed to be principally derived.
Of the present amount it is impossible to form any correct estimate, from the state of disorganization into which both church, and state, have been thrown by the civil war.
But the produce, under less favourable circumstances, cannot be objected to as a criterion of what may again be; and, should the country continue in a state of tranquillity, I am inclined to think, that before the year 1835, the agricultural wealth of New Spain will be at least equal to that of 1803.
Without wishing to found any unreasonable hypothesis upon the contents of the preceding pages, it appears to me that they warrant the following conclusions.
That Mexico possesses the means of maintaining, in abundance, a population infinitely superior to the present number of its inhabitants.
That although, from the peculiar structure of the country, the agricultural wealth of the Table-land is not likely to be brought into the European market, it ensures the general prosperity of the interior; while the cotton, coffee, sugar, and indigo, cacao, and other productions of the Coasts, will form, in the course of a few years, a very considerable mass of exportable commodities.
That these, in conjunction with the cochineal, and the precious metals, must render the external trade of New Spain highly interesting to Europe; while the amount of the population, and the absence of manufactures, give to the internal consumption of the country an importance, which none of the other New States of America possess.
Mexico contains nearly one half of the seventeen millions of inhabitants, that are said to compose the population of the former colonies of Spain, and this half possesses, perhaps, the largest share of the mineral and vegetable riches of the New World.
It is not, therefore, a mere theory to suppose that the progress of such a country must exercise a considerable influence upon the manufacturing industry of the Old World.
Of its future consumption, (as I stated in the first section,) no estimate can be formed by that of former times, when its resources were prevented from developing themselves by the jealous policy of the Mother country, which will form the subject of the following section.
Its probable importance may be more easily deduced from the facts which I shall endeavour to embody in the present work, in order to enable my readers to form their own conclusions upon data, the authenticity of which I need not add that I have taken all possible pains to ascertain.
- ↑ Extract from "Balanza General del Comercio de Veracruz:
Value of Sugar Exported. 1802 1,454,240 1803 1,495,056 1804 1,097,505 1809 482,492 1810 269,383 1813 19,412 From 1814 to 1820 - ↑ This is the level of the town of Cuernavaca itself, but the plains of San Gabriel are, I should think, at least eighty toises lower than the town, and those of Cūāūtlă approach nearer to the level of Īstlă, which is 664 toises lower than Mexico.
- ↑ The Spanish names, in regular succession, are, Rĕgădōrĕs, Măchĕtērŏs, Ārrĭērŏs, Zăcătērŏs, Atăjădōrĕs, Trăpĭchērŏs, Hōrnērŏs, Căldĕrērŏs, Vōltĕădōrĕs, Alzadores, Pūrgădōrĕs.
- ↑ The prices at the Havanna averaged, from 1810 to 1815, sixteen to twenty reals per Arroba; in 1822, from ten to fourteen reals; in 1826, from nine to thirteen, or twenty-four dollars the case.—Vide Humboldt, Essai Politique sur I'Lle de Cuba.
- ↑ Ten regadores (waterers) and ten escardadores (weeders) are the allowance for a plantation; but in addition to these, from fifty to sixty men must be employed in collecting the crop, and as many more in cleaning and pruning the trees afterwards, (la poda;) but these operations do not last above three months.