MEN. 



553 





of the Sonora mines to upward of $78,- 

 000,000, and \>y the value of the contraband 

 portion to u!>out $20,000,000. The State of 

 Sinnloa is said to be liu-rally covered with tul- 

 viT-min. -s t!i.- t'. iivL'n property in which is 

 <listrilmtl us follows : American, 12,000,000; 

 Spanish, $1,450,000; English, $250,000; and 

 (..niiiin, $50,000. Mexicans there work so 

 mines on so small a scale, that accurate 

 .-t.-itiMic-; concerning them cannot bo obtained. 

 Si u-ntifio explorers, who visited the Sinaloa 

 iiiim-s in 1872, reported that those on the Pacific 

 slope would bo the great source of the supply 

 of silver for the next century. In 1870 there 

 were in Oajaca 83 silver and 40 gold mines ; 

 in Sonora, 444, chiefly yielding gold, besides 

 688 in which, although very productive, the 

 works were suspended. 



Lower California is justly celebrated for the 

 number and superior quality of its pearls. 

 The fisheries of the Amcula margaritifera, or 

 pearl-oyster, are carried on all along the gulf- 

 coa^ts of the Californian peninsula, and have 

 long been highly productive. In the year 

 1870 there were gathered 10,200 quintals of 

 shells, worth $25,500, yielding pearls to the 

 value of $62,000 ; making a total yield of $87,- 

 500. The number of divers employed was 581, 

 regularly occupied from April to October, in- 

 clusive. In 1873 the value of the shells ob- 

 tained by 636 divers was $112,030, and of the 

 pearls, $64,300. 



Notwithstanding that mercury occurs in 

 Chihuahua and elsewhere, that article, now so 

 extensively used in the amalgamation process, 

 is for the most part imported, and at enhanced 

 prices. The value of the landed property of 

 Mexico is set down as follows in an official re- 

 port for the year 1873: municipal, $147,819,- 

 162.20 ; rural. $173,641,176.81 ; total, $340,- 

 891,403.17. The Minister of Finance remarks, 

 however, that triple that amount ($1,022,374,- 

 200.57) would more nearly approximate the 

 truth. 



It is difficult to present an accurate statement 

 of the foreign commerce, for systematic smug- 

 gling is so prevalent at all the ports that the 

 official returns can never be regarded as cor- 

 rect. The figures representing all the imports, 

 and those for bullion iu the exports, may safely 

 be doubled. 



The articles most largely exported are silver 

 and gold coin, silver and copper ore, cochineal, 

 indigo, and other dye-stuffs, coffee, vanilla-beans, 

 hides, timber, cabinet-woods, Sisal hemp, ixtle, 

 etc. ; and the imports consist mainly of cotton, 

 linen, woolen, and silk fabrics, iron, wrought 

 and unwrought, machinery, hardware, provi- 

 sions, etc. 



Coffee is a compartively new article of ex- 

 port for Mexico ; before 1869 none was sent 

 out of the country, and indeed very little was 

 cultivated. It has now become more important 

 than all the other commodities sent from certain 

 States, Vera Cruz, for instance, as will be seen 

 in the table of exports from that State and port 



below. A similar increase is noticeable in the 

 exportation of vjinillii-b. HUB, of which one tin- 

 gle shipment to France two or three years ago 

 waa of tliu \nl in- of $400,000. The coffee of 

 Colima, with an annual yield of tome " 

 Ibs., is by many esteemed equal in quality to 

 that of Mocha ; and that grown in Vera Cruz, 

 particularly in Jalapa, Cordoba, and Orizaba, 

 is likewise much sought after. 



The great cacao centre is Oajaca, where its 

 three yearly crops render its culture the most 

 profitable in the State. The tobaccos of Tabas- 

 co and Vera Cruz are quite equal to the finest 

 of Cuba ; large quantities arc manufactured in 

 the State of Vera Cruz, especially into cigars , 

 but the exportation thereof is still limited, for 

 there seems to be some defect in the process of 

 curing and manufacturing which impairs the 

 quality of the cigar. 



There are in Mexico fifty-nine classified spe- 

 cies of medicinal plants, and some of these 

 form important branches of export trade, es- 

 pecially jalap, the annual shipments of which 

 at the beginning of the present century were 

 over 170,000,000 Ibs. Of this drug the United 

 States alone took $10,000 worth in 1873. 



Agriculture is assiduously but extremely la- 

 boriously carried on by the natives, who here, 

 more than elsewhere in Spanish America, per- 

 sist in using the implements handed down to 

 them by their forefathers, to the almost abso- 

 lute exclusion of efficient modern appliances 

 for husbandry. 



One of the chief cultivated products is 

 maize, of which three and even four abun- 

 dant crops are obtained annually in many dis- 

 tricts, and which thrives in all parts of the 

 country. "Wheat gives an increase of about 

 sixtyfold, and rice about forty-six. The an- 

 nual value of the food-crops in the republic 

 may be estimated at some $58,000,000, and 

 that of all agricultural products at $110,000,- 

 000. 



Tortoise-shell, from the coasts of Yucatan 

 and Guerrero is annually exported to the 

 amount of about $20,000. 



The value of the exports to Great Britain 

 for the six years, 1868-'78, was as follows: 



Yean. Value 



1868 $1,753,320 



1,752.850 



Tean. Value. 



1871 |1,966,0 



1872 2,217,620 



1870 1,499,06611873. 



The imports from the same source in the 

 period just referred to were : 



Yean. Value. I Yean. Value. 



1868 $4,242.940 



1869 8,158,620 



1870 4,854,410 



1671 $5,345.065 



4,815,930 



1873 



The total value of the exports to all coun- 

 tries in the year ending September 80, 1878, 

 was estimated at $25,500,000 ; and that of the 

 imports at $28,500,000. It is here seen that 

 the balance of trade is uniformly against Mex- 

 ico, and chiefly so with respect to Great Brit- 

 ain ; and, for the reason already hinted of the 

 prevalence of smuggling, it is even greater 

 than the difference between the foregoing 



