221 
picked and decorticated indiscriminately and mixed as they come to 
The various plants from — istle is extracted are found at present 
chiefly on the plains and rugged mountain slopes of the States of 
Coahui in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and San Luis Potosi. ‘The central 
towns for the trade in the several States are : Coahuila, Saltillo ; Nuevo, 
Leon, Monterey ; Tamaulipas, : aumave, eres ve vean and formerly 
Matamoras ; ; for San Luis t i, San Lui 
The trade is carried on in these States o pa Lie the exporting con- 
veniences, but the plants éaist ‘all over the Republic. San Luis Potosi 
does by far the largest business in fibre, exporting by sea from Tam 
and also from the different points on the railroad en route to to the United 
States. The heights at which these plants grow, lie approximately 
within the £ierras templadas and the lower regions of the terras frias ; 
the former comprising * all the higher terraces and the central plateaux 
* themselves between about 3,000 and 8,000 feet, with a mean tempera- 
* ture of from 62 to 70° F ahr., and oscillating between such moderate 
“ extremes as 50° and 86°; ” the latter “all the highlands from about 
* 8,000 feet and upwards." 
The soil of the mountain slopes and wide plains where the plants are 
found, is of the barest description, oes covering in s on 
the hillsides the rocks beneath. Generally speaking it is a detritus of 
hard whitish limestone, and the fresca s smarting eyes will soon force 
on his notice the fact that the fine dust E many of the broad pan-shaped 
valleys is ree impregnated with lim 
= Th uilla (Agave AMijerücontha) | is found associated with five 
Or six Mti: of Cactus, Maquey (Agave icio Huapilla, Zacate, 
Zamandogue, and palmas; forming a sparse vegetation about 6 feet high, 
with a long wiry grass so pooras to leave the grey dusty soil ex 
underneath. Almost the only use to which this kind of land is put is 
that of corn raising and that only in small patches where irrigation is 
possible. The grazi ng of Mesi m sheep, cattle, and horses is also at tempted, 
i eagre Her from the No} 
(Cactus), i Ee: Se On the e rugged barren panii sides and 
is composed of christianised Indians and half-breeds, both called peons. 
These build round the hacienda their villages of mud, sticks and palm- 
leaf thatch hovels fenced in with cactus and maquey hedges and mud 
and are (gue and docile, but lacking utterly any spark of in ntelli- 
e hands 
