Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/43

 the intercourse of the States in the Interior with each other. On the Table-land there are no canals, (with the exception of that from Chalco to Mexico, about seven leagues in extent,) and no navigable rivers; nor does the nature of the roads allow of a general use of wheel-carriages; every thing is therefore conveyed on mules from one point to another, and this mode of carriage, when applied to the more bulky agricultural produce of the country, increases, enormously, the price of the articles of most general consumption, before they can reach the principal markets. Thus, in the Capital, which draws its supplies from a circle of perhaps sixty leagues, comprising the valley of Mexico, and the fertile plains of Tǒlūcă, as well as the great corn lands of the Băxĭŏ and La Pūēblǎ, wheat, barley, straw, maize, and wood, are not only dear, but the supply is uncertain; while in the districts immediately beyond this circle, but which, from their distance, are excluded from the market, the same articles are a mere drug, and may be purchased at a fraction of the price.

The same effect is produced in the vicinity of each of the great towns of the Interior, and more particularly of the mining districts, where, from the number of animals employed, the demand is very great. But for the mass of the produce of the country there is no home-market, and therefore no encouragement for industry, beyond the production of the mere necessaries of life.

On the Table-land, there is no doubt that this disadvantage may, to a certain extent, be removed, and distant points be brought more into contact, by the establishment of lines of road, traversing the country from North to South, or even of canals, as soon as the civilization and population of the Republic are sufficiently advanced for the attempt. The nature