oo 
ELEMENTS OF THE POPULATION. 355 
maize, potatoes, or wheat, as is necessary for their 
own maintenance, or at most for the additional con- 
sumption of the adjacent towns and mines. The 
inhabitants of Mexico have increased in a greater 
ratio than the means of subsistence, and accordingly, 
whenever the crops fall short of the demand, or are 
damaged by drought or other local causes, famine 
ensues. With want of food comes disease; and 
these visitations, which are of not unfrequent oc- 
currence, are very destructive. 
The working of the mines has also contributed to 
the depopulation of America. At the period of the 
conquest many Indians perished from excessive toil, 
and, as they were forced from their homes to distant 
places, they usually died without leaving progeny. 
In New Spain, however, such labour has been free 
for many years. The number employed in it does 
not exceed 28,000 or 30,000, and the mortality among 
them is not much greater than in other classes. 
The Mexican population consists of the same ele- 
ments as that of the other Spanish colonies. Seven 
races are distinguished :—l. Gachupines, or persons 
born in Europe; 2. Spanish Cveoles, or Whites of 
European extraction born in America ; 3. Mestizoes, 
descendants of Whites and Indians; 4. Mudlattoes, 
descendants of Whites and Negroes; 5. Zambos, 
descendants of Negroes and Indians; 6. Indians of 
the indigenous race ; and, 7. African Negroes. 
The Indians appear to constitute at least two-fifths 
of the whole. Humboldt seems to favour the opinion, 
that the Aztecs, who inhabited New Spain at the 
period of the conquest, may have been of Asiatic 
origin. As the migrations of the American tribes 
have always taken place from north to south, the 
