ECONOMIC CONDITION OF MEXICO. 



179 



even taking into account the vast sums whicli were smuggled out of the country, 

 and of which no returns coukl be made. There are numerous auriferous deposits 

 in Mexico, but her chief treasures are the silver mines, which since the discovery 

 of America have yielded fabulous sums to the trade of the world. According to 

 the researches of Humboldt, the total value of the gold and silver furnished by the 

 metalliferous veins of New Spain amounted to £425,000,000 from the conquest to 

 the year 1803. This figure is regarded as somewhat too high by Soetbeer, Del Mar, 

 Neumann, and other economists, who, however, estimate the value down to the 

 year 1890 at no less than £800,000,000, or over one-fifth of the total production 

 of the world during the four centuries since the first voyage of Columbus. 



In 1850, before mining oper- 

 ations had begun in California, ^^S- 76.— The World's Yield of the Pbecious Metals. 

 Arizona and Xew Mexico, regions 

 formerly belonging to New Spain, 

 the proportion yielded by Mexico 

 since the conquest had been much 

 higher, or about one third. This 

 country has contributed more 

 than any other to the spread of 

 a metal currency as representative 

 of value ; yet till recently cacao 

 beans, squares of soap, and simi- 

 lar objects of daily iise were em- 

 ployed in Mexico itself for petty 

 dealings. The j'ield of the Mexi- 

 can mines, so far from falling off 

 during the present century, his 

 considerably increased, despite 

 wars and revolutions, and flooded 

 mines. The improvement in 

 the highways of communication, 

 combined with the introduction 



of better mining processes, has more than compensated for the advantages enjoyed 

 by Mexico at a time when the precious metals possessed a greater relative value 

 than at present. An oscillation in international trade favourable to the develop- 

 ment of the mining industries would have the result of increasing to an enormous 

 extent the production of silver in jMexico, where there are thousands of well- 

 known deposits still untouched owing to their relative poverty, or to the lack of 

 communications. Even the slag heaped up about the workshops still contains 

 from 25 to 80 per cent, of metal, or altogether £240,000,000. In the year 1889 

 alone, as many as 2,077 declarations were registered respecting new mines. At 

 present the yearly production exceeds two tons of gold, valued at £300,000, and 

 600 tons of silver, valued at £5,500,000, and in 1889 the total yield exceeded 

 £8,000,000. 



Mexico. 



CD 



other Countries. 



