CONSUMPTION DUTY. 69 
the bill. It supplies the place of a direct tax 
for the support of the departmental govern- 
ment, and is decidedly the most troublesome, 
if not the most oppressive revenue system 
that ever was devised for internal purposes. 
It operates at once as a drawback upon the 
commercial prosperity of the country, and as 
a potent incentive to fraudulent practices. 
The country people especially have resort to 
every species of clandestine intercourse, to 
escape this galling burden; for, every article 
of consumption they carry to market, whether 
fish, flesh or fowl, as well as fruit and vege- 
tables, is taxed more or less; while another 
impost is levied upon the goods they pur- 
chase with the proceeds of their sales. This 
system, so beautifully entangled with corrup- 
tions, is supported on the ground that it su- 
persedes direct taxation, which, in itself, is 
an evil that the ‘free and independent’ peo- 
ple of Mexico would never submit to. - 
sides the petty annoyances incidental upon 
the laxity of custom-house regulations, no one 
can travel through the country without a 
passport, which, to free-born Americans, is a 
truly insupportable nuisance. 
Having at Jast gone through with all the 
vexatious preparations necessary for our jour- 
ney, on the 22d of August we started for Chi- 
huahua. I fitted out myself but six wagons 
for this market, yet joining in company with 
several other traders, our little caravan again 
amounted to fourteen wagons, with about 
forty men. Though our route lay through 
