MEXICO. 



537 



structed under the second Montezuma, who, 

 having done nothing to perpetuate his name, 

 determined to construct a sacrificial stone as 

 his predecessors had done. He wanted to 

 make it larger than any of the others, and gave 

 orders that it be two elbows larger than they 

 were. The Indians began hauling the stone, 

 which finally said it would not go any farther. 

 There were 10,000 Indians pulling the stone, 

 and the ropes broke, and the stone would not 

 move. This the historians cite to show that 

 supernatural phenomena were connected with 

 the event. However, it appears that the stone 

 was really brought to town, and it was so 

 heavy that it broke the dike and fell down. 



Wages. Wages are steadily increasing in 

 Mexico. In the capital, a common laborer re- 

 ceives $1.25 a day. Mechanics get from $1.75 

 to $2.25. Along the railroad lines the prices 

 are about $1 a day for unskilled laborers, and 

 $1.50 to $2 for mechanics. The laborers from 

 the rural districts are coming in to the rail- 

 road districts in large numbers. 



Gold and Silver Production. Some of the gold 

 and silver mines have been worked without in- 

 termission since the Spanish conquest. Dur- 

 ing colonial times, from 1537 to 1821, the sil- 

 ver-mines turned out $2,035,000,000, and the 

 gold-mines $68,765,000. From the tims when 

 Mexico gained her independence to 1880, the 

 silver product amounted to $900,000,000, and 

 the gold product to $1,841,000. Grand total, 

 1537 to 1880, $3,008,606,000. 



Tin Discoveries. The first ton of tin coming 

 from the Durango mountains of Mexico was 

 landed in the United States in 1883. This tin 

 discovery was made by Mr. H. Freeman, of 

 Australia, who spent a year in Mexico in pros- 

 pecting for tin, following therein the records 

 left by the Spaniards. 



The Mines of Sonora. Sonora has not more 

 than 125,000 inhabitants, and 75,000 of these 

 are Indians. There are about 5,000 natives of 

 the United States in the State, mostly specula- 

 tors. Fabulous sums are said to have been 

 taken out of her mines, and now and then a 

 vase filled with gold nuggets left by the Span- 

 iards. Such a discovery was lately reported in 

 Ures, $30,000 in gold being found in an old 

 earthen vessel a few fee f underground. But, 

 although there are many old abandoned mines 

 that may be worked profitably, the principal 

 industry is stock-raising and fruit-culture. 



Resources of Michoacan. Michoacan, brought 

 -into communication with the world at large 

 by the opening of the Mexican National Rail- 

 way to its capital, Morelia, is the Pennsylva- 

 nia of Mexico. Here, in close juxtaposition, 

 are found iron and coal. Pending their de- 

 velopment, the State has other resources which 

 now become of immediate value. In it is one 

 edge of the great lumber-region of south- 

 ern Mexico, the region whence in future must 

 be drawn the domestic supply of lumber for 

 the whole country ; in it are extensive silver- 

 workings, including the famous Ooalcoman 



mines; in it coppor, lead, sulphur, marble, and 

 lithographic stone are found ; in it wheat, 

 Indian corn, barley, beans (a most important 

 crop in Mexico), sugar-cane, cotton, and coffee 

 are grown ; and in Morelia, a trim little city 

 of 38,000 inhabitants, weaving and various 

 small manufactures are carried on. These prod- 

 ucts furnish a substantial basis for a brisk ex- 

 port trade, and promise a counterbalancing im- 

 port trade from Europe and the United States. 

 Even the Mexicans themselves at hist seem to 

 be inspired with some sort of confidence in the 

 future of their country. Heretofore, with some 

 few exceptions, they have maintained a posi- 

 tion of observation, while the " Americanos " 

 have been building railroads and pushing other 

 enterprises. Apparently now they are con- 

 vinced that these ventures will pay ; for that 

 very rich and very conservative institution, 

 the Banco Mercantile, the old " Spanish Bank," 

 the strongest in the country, has agreed to ad- 

 vance at once $500,000 against subsidy certifi- 

 cates owned by one of the American roads. 



Tunneling a Volcano. It is proposed to drive 

 a tunnel into the crater of Popocatepetl, and 

 to build from the mouth of the tunnel a rail- 

 way to connect with the Interoceanic Rail- 

 way at Amecameca. Those who are in ne- 

 gotiation for the property with the owner of 

 the volcano, Gen. Gaspar Sanchez Ocha, are 

 said to be a rich American house. The repre- 

 sentative of the house visited the volcano with 

 the French engineer Charles Roay. A con- 

 tract is said to have been made for the expor- 

 tation of 50,000 tons of , sulphur a year. It is 

 also proposed to establish a factory of sulphu- 

 ric acid for use in Mexico, selling at $3 a quin- 

 tal of 101^ pounds, American, of 65 strength. 



Petroleum. A company, composed of Boston 

 capitalists, has secured large interests in the 

 Tuxpan oil-region, in the State of Vera Cruz. 

 The company has been preparing for extensive 

 developments for more than a year. The geo- 

 logical formation is the same as that of the 

 Pennsylvania oil fields, and there are many 

 marvelous oil-springs. The oil-field lies at the 

 base of the San Felipe mountains, southwest 

 of the port of Tuxpan. The petroleum, which 

 resembles in gravity and appearance the Penn- 

 sylvania oil, oozes from the rocks and ground 

 in many places. Around a small lake in the 

 district, Lake Oulco, there are forty oil-springs ; 

 the oil runs from them in such quantities that 

 the lake is constantly covered with it. Penn- 

 sylvania oil-well drillers are superintending 

 the development of the district. 



There are also extensive petroleum deposits 

 in the State of Tabasco. The oil-fields, or 

 what will be the oil-fields if they are ever de-. 

 veloped, are about forty miles from the capital. 

 What is undoubtedly the most promising oil ter- 

 ritory in Tabasco in the San Jose mountains 

 is owned by natives, who are not inclined to 

 dispose of it, and who care nothing for the 

 petroleum it contains. 



Viticulture. Great efforts were made in 1883, 



