346 RECAPITULATION. 



bare. In the equinoctial region the different climates 

 rise, as it were, one above another from the shore, 

 where the mean temperature is about 78°, to the 

 central plains, wTiere it is about 62°. 



Population. — The whole population is estimated 

 at 5,840,000, of which 4,500,000 are Indians, 1,000,000 

 Creoles, and 70,000 European Spaniards. 



Agriculture. — The banana, manioc, maize, wheat, 

 and potatoes constitute the principal food of the 

 people. The maguey or agave may be considered 

 as the Indian vine. Sugar, cotton, vanilla, cocoa, 

 indigo, tobacco, wax, and cochineal are plentifully 

 produced. Cattle are abundant on the great savannas 

 in the interior. 



Mines. — The annual produce in gold is 4289 lb. 

 troy; in silver, 1,439,832 lb. ; in all, 23,000,000 of 

 piasters (5,031,250/.), or nearly half the quantity 

 annually extracted from the mines of America. 

 The mint of Mexico furnished from 1690 to 1803 

 more than 1,353,000,000 piasters (295,968,750/.), 

 and from the discovery of New-Spain to the com- 

 mencement of the nineteenth century, probably 

 2,028,000,000 piasters (443,625,000/.). Three mining 

 districts, Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, and Catorce, yield 

 nearly half of all the gold and silver of New-Spain. 



Manufactures. — The value of the produce of the 

 manufacturing industry of New-Spain is estimated 

 at 7,000,000 or 8,000^000 of piasters (valuing the 

 piaster of exchange at 3^. Vnd., 1,152,083/. to 

 1,316,667/.). Cotton and woollen cloths, cigars, 

 soda, soap, gunpowder, and leather are the principal 

 articles manufactured. 



It is scarcely necessary to add, that the regions 

 of America, which at tlie time of Humboldt's visit 

 were Spanish colonies, have, after a series of san- 

 guinary struggles, excited by tiie real or imagined 

 grievances under which the inhabitants laboured, 

 now succeeded in acquiring independence. This con- 

 dition is more suitable than subjection to a remote 



