Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/129

Rh The exportation of is estimated to range from seven hundred thousand to one million of dollars worth;—and, when we add to these articles,, Vainilla, Sarsaparilla, Jalap, Hides, horns, and a small quantity of Pepper, Indigo, and Coffee, together with an occasional invoice of sugar sent from the west coast to Columbia and Peru, we may consider the list of merchantable Mexican exports as completely ended.

In all the Mexican towns and cities, and in many of the large villages there are weekly markets held at which a considerable trade for the neighborhood is carried on; and, in addition to these, there are nine great at which immense quantities of foreign manufactures are disposed of. These are held at the following places and times:

1. The Fair at Aguas Calientes—begins on the 20th of November and lasts 10 days.

2. The Fair at Allende in Chihuahua—begins on the 4th of October, and lasts 8 days.

3. The Fair at Chilapa in Mexico—begins on the 2d of January, and lasts 8 days.

4. The Fair at Chilpanzingo—begins on the 21st of December, and lasts 8 days.

5. The Fair at Huejutla—begins on the 24th of December, and lasts 4 days.

6. The Fair at Ciudad Guerrero—begins on the 12th of December, and lasts 6 days.

7. The Fair at Saltillo—begins on the 29th of September, and lasts 8 days.

8. The Fair at San Juan de los Lagos—begins on the 5th of December, and lasts 8 days.

9. The Fair at Tenancingo—begins on the 6th of February, and lasts 10 days.

It will not be considered singular when we recollect the colonial and subsequent revolutionary history of Mexico, that she has not fostered her shipping and become a commercial country. The original emigration to New Spain was not maritime in its character. The Spanish trade was carried on by the mother country in Spanish vessels exclusively, and these ships were not owned by or permitted to become the permanent property of the colonists. The settlers who emigrated retired from the coasts to the interior where their interests either in the soil, cities, or mines, immediately absorbed their attention. It was not to be expected that the Indians,