MANUFACTURES. 315 
The average price o^7nantas, (cotton cloth) of one vara width, in 1842, 
was about twenty-five cents the vara; and of twist, No. 12 to 22, about 
seventy-five cents the pound. It was estimated, that if cotton fell in con- 
sequence of importations being allowed, or a larger crop, to $25 the quintal, 
these articles would be reduced to 18f cents the vara for the first, and to 
■ 50 cents the pound for the second. This condition of the market would 
prevent all importations from abroad, even aided by smuggling. 
An intelligent merchant of the city of Mexico, who has resided long in 
the country, and has an extensive acquaintance in the Republic, informs 
me, that there are about five thousand hand -looms throughout the Depart- 
ments, which will work up all the spun yarn into mantas and reiosos as 
fast as it can be made. Many of these looms are entirely employed in 
the manufacture of the common rebosos — described in some of my pre- 
ceding letters — the consumption of which is. so great among the poorer 
classes. The value of these looms is estimated at between six and seven 
hundred thousand dollars. The number of persons employed, in every 
way, in manufactures, cannot be much short of thirty thousand. 
The power made use of for the movement of the factories is water ; 
which is abundant, for that purpose, all over the country, proceeding from 
small streams falling from the mountains into the neighboring plains or 
barrancas. Owing to the scarcity of wood, and the costliness of its 
transportation, steam cannot be advantageously applied. 
There are several manufactories of cotton balls, or thread, in Mexico, 
but they are not of very great importance. 
Paper factories are working with considerable success. Thei'e are 
two near the Capital, one at Puebla, and one in Guadalaxara. Their 
productions are very good, but by no means adequate to the consumption 
of the country. The quantity of this article used for cigarritos, or paper 
cigars, is inconceivable. The best coarse wrapping or envelope paper, I 
have ever seen, is made in Mexico from the leaves of the Agave Ameri- 
cana, the plant which yields " pulque." It has almost the toughness and 
tenacity of iron. 
Both at Puebla and Mexico there are several glass factories, making 
large quantities of the material for windows, and common tumblers. 
Their produce is, nevertheless, insufficient for the wants of the country. 
Woollen blankets, and some very coarse woollen cloths or haizes, are 
also manufactured in the Republic. The blankets, or serapes, I have 
heretofore described when speaking of the equipment of a Mexican horse- 
man. They are often of beautiful texture, and woven, with the gayest 
colors and patterns, into a garment that frequently costs a fashionable 
cavalier from two to five hundred dollars. As this is as indispensable an 
article for the comfort of a lepero as of a gentleman, and as necessary 
for a man as a reboso is for a woman, you may readily imagine how great 
is the consumption. 
