HEXEQUEX, OR SISAL HEMP. 29 



markets where it was consumed were New York and Liverpool, Antwerp and 

 Hamburg. But in 1872 the price of the staple fell, and fluttered from five cents to 

 six and six and a quarter cents per pound. In 1S78 the price dropped as low as 

 four and a half cents per pound, and then the unhappy planters lamented their hard 

 fate in the depreciation of a staple that paid them for its cultivation some ten or 

 twelve per cent at this low price clear of all expenses on the value of their farms, 

 as assessed by them when the price ruled as high as eight and nine cents per pound, 

 and when they were gaining at least twenty-five per cent on the capital invested. 



" Even now, when the price is from five and a half to six cents per pound, the cul- 

 tivation of henequen is a most profitable investment for capital. Labor rules at 

 from six to eight dollars per month, while the system of peonage that obtains in 

 Yucatan is still more oppressive and more degrading even than in Mexico." 



From statistics furnished the writer by United States Consul Ayme, at Merida, 

 Yucatan, it will be seen that the henequen industry is assuming vast and unexpected 

 proportions: — 



Values to all places : 1S80, $1,805,848.18; 1881, $2,774,166.88, increase over pre- 

 vious year, $969,318.70 ; 1S82, $2,729,556.07, decrease from previous year, $44,610.81. 



Bales to the United States: 1880, 85,434; 1881, 116,209; 1S82, 109,867. 



Bales to Europe: 1880, 11,917; 1881, 23,424; 1882, 25,216. 



Three thousand bales were burned at Progreso in 18S1, of which 2,481 were 

 destined for the United States, and 519 for Europe. The noticeable features are, 

 for three years: a great increase in exportations in 1881 over 18S0; a considerable 

 decrease in 18S2 from 1S81. But while the percentage of increase in number of 

 bales in 1881 was about 40 per cent for the United States, the European imports 

 were over 100 per cent greater, and in 1882 the whole decrease fell on the United 

 States, while Europe increased her imports, still further lowering our amount. 



Indigo, which was once a special product of Mexican soil, has declined in impor- 

 tance, like cochineal, until it is no longer profitable to engage in its cultivation. The 

 total amount for 1880 is given at $358,000. 



Cochineal, which was formerly raised and exported to the amount of over $2,000,- 

 000 annually, has no longer a value that will tempt the cultivator in Mexico other 

 than the patient Indian, descendant of a long line of cochineal raisers, to attempt 

 its difficult, though fascinating, culture. These two industries are very evidently 

 relegated to the things of the past. 



Maize 2.x\A Wheat. — Indian corn, or maize, was probably the only cereal origin- 

 ally possessed by the Mexicans, but all the grains of Europe have been successfully 

 introduced. Maize grows everywhere from coast to mountain-top ; wheat and bar- 

 ley only in the colder regions : but all flourish here, and yield abundant harvests. 



Columbus, in his first voyage, in 1492, discovered corn in use by the Indians of 

 Cuba, and afterwards by those of Haiti. " Among the trophies of the New World 

 that this great navigator laid at the feet of his sovereigns, on returning from this 

 remarkable voyage to the unknown country, were a few ears of maize, or ' Indian 

 corn.' Neglected were they amongst the mass of rich plunder — gold, gems, and 

 strange copper-skinned captives — that greeted the eyes of Ferdinand and Isabella; 

 but the golden ears were of far more value to the world than all the treasure that 

 subsequently flowed into their coffers from New Spain." 



The spread of the wonderful grain was rapid, and that which had hitherto con- 

 stituted the chief food of the American Indian was soon all over Europe, Asia, and 



