WINE — SUGAR. 331 



The vine is cultivated in Mexico, but in so small a CHAP.XXV. 

 quantity that wine can hardly be considered as a product yj^g^^ 

 of that country ; but the mountainous parts of New 

 Spain, Guatimala, New Grenada, and Caraccas, are so 

 well adapted for its growth, that at some future period 

 tliey will probably supply the whole of North America. 



Of colonial commodities, or productions which furnish Sugar cane, 

 raw materials for the commerce and manufacturing in- 

 dustry of Europe, New Spain affords most of those pro- 

 cured from the West Indies. The cultivation of the 

 sugar-cane has of late years been carried to such an 

 extent, that the exportation of sugar from Vera Cruz 

 amounts to more than half a million of arrobas, or 

 12,680,000 lb. avoird. ; which, at three piasters the 

 arroba, arc equal to 8,000,000 francs, or £318,760 

 sterling. It was conveyed by the Spaniards from the 

 Canary Islands into St Domingo, from whence it was 

 subsequently carried into Cuba and the province just 

 named. Although the mean temperature best suited to 

 it is 75° or 77°, it may yet be successfully reared in 

 places of which the annual warmth does not exceed 66 

 or 68° ; and as on great table-lands the heat is increased 

 by the reverberation of the earth, it is cultivated in 

 Mexico to the height of 4921 feet, and in favourable ex- 

 posures thrives even at an elevatian of 6562. The 

 greatest part of the sugar produced in New Spain is 

 consumed in the country, and the exportation is very 

 insignificant compared with that of Cuba, Jamaica, or 

 St Domingo. 



Cotton, flax, and hemp, are not extensively raised, cotton nnd 

 and very little coffee is used in the country. Cocoa, coffee. 

 vanilla, jalap, and tobacco, are cultivated ; but of the 

 latter there is a considerable importation from Havannah. 

 Indigo is not produced in sufficient quantity for home 

 consumption. 



Since the middle of the sixteenth century, oxen. Domestic 

 horses, sheep, and hogs, introduced by the conquerors, i"!"!"!.-^ 

 Iiave multiplied surprisingly in all parts of New Spain, 

 and more especially in the vast savannahs of the provin- 



