OUR NEIGHBOR, MEXICO 



497 



herded, the wool-clip being utilized lo- 

 cally for the production of serapes, re- 

 bosas, and sombreros, the hides tanned, 

 and the meat consumed by the inhabit- 

 ants. The individuality of design in 

 serapes or blankets, like the color or 

 forms of pottery, indicates the section of 

 Mexico in which they are produced. 



The forest products of the highlands 

 embrace oaks, pines, palo-blanco ( cotton- 

 wood), mesquite, and huisache, while the 

 hot country supplies dye-woods, ebony, 

 mahogany, and other hard woods valued 

 at 5 million dollars annually. Depend- 

 ence for centuries upon wood, or char- 

 coal made from wood, as the source of 

 fuel, has denuded much of the territory 

 convenient to the more densely populated 

 sections, and the timber demand for rail- 

 ways has also influenced the available 

 forest area. But some mountain districts 

 are well timbered and the government 

 has inaugurated a systematic study of 

 forestry. 



There are few soil products which do 

 not flourish or that could not be grown 

 in Mexico, and the variety now obtained 

 would be greater if closer attention were 

 paid to cultivation and had not the 

 growth of some important staples been 

 prohibited while Spain ruled the country 

 under its repressive colonial policy. 



Mexico's foreign trade in 1910 ex- 

 ceeded 225 million dollars, nearly 130 

 million dollars representing exports, of 

 which three-fourths were to the United 

 States, Great Britain ranking second. 



Of 95 million dollars in imports for 

 the same fiscal year, three-fifths were 

 from the United States, including boots, 

 shoes, chemicals, machinery, coal, coke, 

 cereals, mineral oil (although large de- 

 posits have recently been opened in Mex- 

 ico along the Gulf), building woods, cot- 

 ton in yarn, goods and manufactures, 

 railway materials, and fabrications of 

 iron, paper, etc. 



MEXICO LEADS THE WORLD IN PRODUCING 



SILVER 



Mexico is pre-eminently the silver 

 country, leading the world in producing 

 "white metal" to the amount of 40 mil- 



lion dollars annually. Its output of 

 copper, valued at 13 million dollars, is 

 second to that of the United States, and, 

 in the production of 3^2 million dollars' 

 worth of lead, it follows that country 

 and Spain. Gold, mercury, tin, antimony, 

 bismuth, iron, marbles, and sandstones 

 are also mined, and the country possesses 

 fields of mineral oil and valuable deposits 

 of coal. 



The coal mines in the State of Coa- 

 huila produce iy 2 million tons of fuel 

 per year, much of the coal being coked 

 for the Monterey Iron and Steel Works 

 and for silver smelters. About an equal 

 amount of foreign fuel is imported, and 

 late explorations have developed large 

 quantities of satisfactory coal in the 

 State of Oaxaca. 



Among the famed Mexican deposits 

 of precious minerals whose names pro- 

 moters delight to conjure with are Santa 

 Eulalia, Batopilas, Sombrete, Zacatecas, 

 Cananea, Catorce, San Luis Potosi, 

 Guanajuato, Pachuca, Real del Monte, 

 El Oro, Taxco, and Oaxaca, interest in 

 the history of some of these being stimu- 

 lated by the wondrous tales of pave- 

 ments of silver ingots, magnificent cathe- 

 drals built, and munificent gifts or loans 

 to rulers by mine owners or operators. 



In some of the Mexican mines, notched 

 tree trunks still serve as ladders, and ox- 

 hides raised to the surface by animals 

 operating "malacates" are used for drain- 

 age. In others the highest types of eco- 

 nomic mining and pumping equipment 

 have been installed at great expense, and 

 improved methods of crushing and treat- 

 ing the ore, including vanners, tables, 

 lixiviation, have displaced "arrastras" 

 and the "patio," familiar features in 

 Spanish methods of extracting the pre- 

 cious metals. Mules dragged heavy 

 boulders around on a prepared bed of 

 stones to crush the ore to a powdered 

 sludge in "arrastras," and other mules 

 or horses were driven about for weeks 

 in patios over large masses of this 

 sludge, to which copperas, salt, and mer- 

 cury were added, so as to form an amal- 

 gam, which was recovered by washing. 



