216 



SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Manufactories. — Customs. — Manners, &c., &c. 



The account of the manufactories of New- 

 Spain will occupy but a small space. The 

 policy always pursued by the mother-country 

 in keeping the colonies as much as possible 

 dependent on her, induced her to frame strong 

 prohibitory laws for the purpose. Silk-worms 

 were not allowed to be reared, nor flax to be 

 cultivated ; and the vine and olive were pro- 

 hibited under severe penalties. A few coarse 

 woollens and cottons, amounting in value in 

 the whole country to scarcely a million and a 

 half sterling, were, it appears, formerly made, 

 but during the revolution even these have 

 diminished. 



