182 îklEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



national costume. The artisans of the plateau are also skilled in all the crafts 

 connected with saddlery, leather- dressing, embroidery and other trimmings so 

 highly appreciated by the Mexican cavaliers. The comjDlete outfit of a regular 

 dandy is worth some hundred pounds, including the trappings of his mount. All 

 the large European industries, even those requiring a deep knowledge of scientific 

 processes, have now been introduced, and are contributing to transform the 

 economic conditions of the countr}^ Moreover, a large number of the small local 

 industries still hold their ground. Thus the Indians of Michoacan continue to 

 produce those articles of featherwork which the conquerors admired in Monte- 

 zuma's palaces, and the Mixtec women still weave, with the cocoons of a native 

 species of bombyx, certain silken stuffs, coarse to the touch but very stout, and 

 highly prized by the natives. 



In most of the provinces the ceramic art has undergone but slight change 

 since pre-Columbian times. The Indians, as a rule, are excellent craftsmen, as 

 patient, methodical, and regular in their operations as the machines which they 

 employ. Nor do they lack the necessary initiative where it is needed by the 

 character of the work. They display remarkable talent in designing and modelling, 

 they copy without difficulty all objects presented to them, and knead wax with 

 rare skill. In them survives the genius of their forefathers, who sculptured the 

 façades of the temples, carved hieroglyphic inscriptions, designed and painted 

 t:»pographic charts. 



This general increase of culture, shown by a more scientific and a more active 

 utilisation of the local resources, has at the same time reacted favourably on the 

 development of foreign commercial relations. At the beginning of the century 

 under the Spanish régime, the annual movement of the exchanges carried on 

 exclusively through Vera Cruz was about £''^,000,000. At present it has in- 

 creased more than threefold, while the precious metals, which till recently formed 

 seven-eighths of the exports, have now fallen to two-thirds or even one-half. 

 Amongst the more important exports are dyewoods, timber, skins and hides, 

 besides such colonial produce as coffee, vanilla, tobacco, caoutchouc, sugar and 

 indigo. Mexico also forwards large quantities of fruits to the United States, but 

 no manufactured goods are exported. "These industries have not yet acquired 

 sufficient development, nor are they sufficiently specialised to find an opening in 

 foreign markets. Of imported goods the chief are, in their order of importance, 

 textiles, machinery, hardware, paper, chemicals, glass and china ware, besides flour 

 and other alimentary substances. Thanks to the proximity of the United States 

 and the connecting lines of railway, the first place in the foreign trade of the 

 country is taken by the northern republic : hence, in the Mexican ports nearly all 

 shipping documents are drawn up in the English language. Great Britain comes 

 next in importance to the United States, France occupying the third place. These 

 three countries, which collectively possess nine-tenths of all the exchanges, are 

 followed by Germany, whose relations are increasing, especially along the Pacific 

 coast ; whilst Spain, which formerly monopolised the whole trade of the colony, 

 now takes only the fifth place. 



