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CHAPTER VI.

 Occupations of the people of Mexico — Drawbacks to the pursuits of agriculture — Land-titles in Mexico — Mining laws — Scant agricultural resources of Northern Mexico — Origin and original home of the "cowboy" — Resources of the Tierras Calientes — Agriculture on the plateau of Mexico — Deficiency of roads and methods of transportation — Comparative agricultural production of the United States and Mexico.

Agriculture. — Although the main business of the country is agriculture, this branch of industry is carried on under exceptionally disadvantageous circumstances.

One of its greatest drawbacks is, that the whole country is divided up into immense haciendas or landed estates, small farms being rarely known; and, out of a population of ten million or more, the title to the soil (apart from the lands held by the Indian communities) is said to vest in not more than five or six thousand persons. Some of these estates comprise square leagues instead of square acres in extent, and are said to have irrigating ditches from forty to fifty miles in length. Most