70 
horned cattle, besides a considerable quantity of horses. At 
present they have not more than 1500 of the former, and only 
a few hundreds of the latter. 
Table No. 2 shows that the whole of the black cattle in this 
district amounts to some 44,000 head, one-fourth of this num¬ 
ber occupying the Marquesanas estates. 
The number of horses and mules may be estimated at 
25,000, and that of the sheep at 1500. No use whatever is 
made of the wool. 
FISHERIES. 
The lagoons, the rivers, and the ocean contain a variety and 
quantity of fish truly astonishing, as well as a considerable 
number of tortoises of various kinds. The divers of other 
parts are in the habit of coming to the neighbourhood of the 
Morro in quest of the valuable tortoise-shell, coral, and pearl, 
which these coasts contain in abundance. The alligator in¬ 
habits the lakes near the coast. The natives of Tehuantepec 
find also near the Morro a kind of purple shell-fish, from 
which they extract a substance which is much in use among 
them as a dye. 
The shrimp and dry fish prepared by the Huaves in the 
four villages of the coast, besides providing for the consump¬ 
tion of the inhabitants of the country, are sent in rather large 
quantities to Oajaca, and other points of the Republic. 
SALT PITS. 
Salt pits are so numerous, that it would be difficult to de¬ 
termine the quantity they yield; but from a proximate calcu¬ 
lation, made with the assistance of some well-informed persons, 
their produce may be estimated during the period when they 
were worked on account of the government at 75,0001bs; and 
it may be asserted with truth that the whole of their produce 
was not turned to account, since it is no exaggeration to say 
that from Huamelula to Tonala the entire intervening space is 
one continued salt mine. 
This salt is highly esteemed in various parts of the Repub¬ 
lic, both for its purity and its whiteness. The principal con- 
