Page:Memoir upon the negotiations between Spain and the United States of America which led to the treaty of 1819.djvu/59

49 in this traffick, are vagrants without a fixed abode.

The annual product of the three articles just spoken of, is calculated at fifteen millions of dollars; ten are consumed in the country, and five exported.

The fisheries in the rivers and sea, give a product of from seven to eight millions of dollars. Three millions are exported, and the rest is consumed in the country. It is said, that in this branch of industry, from sixty to eighty thousand tons of shipping are annually employed, and from eight to nine thousand fishermen; and that each one brings a revenue to the country of 900 dollars per annum. The fishermen, therefore, constitute the most productive class to the United States: for it is calculated that the others do not produce more than 450 dollars a head, that is to say, the people who follow the sea 700, artists and mechanics 500, free farmers 400, the farming slaves 200, and others employed in different occupations 300.

The raising of cattle gives a product of great consideration in these States, which may be calculated by their number, and the annual consumption and exportation of them. The number of horses in all the States, is estimated at one million and a half: the horned cattle at four millions, and the sheep at ten millions. The number of swine and fowls is very great. There are consumed in the United States 300 millions of pounds of butter, a million and a half of horned cattle, two millions of sheep, two millions 7