Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/90

 58 MEXICO. seventeen dollars ; now it is only twelve, and may be expected to fall still lower. In the interior of Mexico, it was worth, in 1826, from five to seven dollars the Arroba, (twenty and twenty-eight dollars the quintal,) but this value it will, of course, lose as the cultivation extends. On the coast, I have little doubt that the coffee of Cordova might be sold, already, at the same price as that of the Havanna. The quality is, in general, ex- cellent, and equal, in the opinion of the best judges, to that of any other country in the world. TOBACCO. Mexican tobacco is chiefly important as an article of reve- nue. The plant is a government monopoly, and the growth of it confined to a small district in the vicinity of Orizava and Cordova. It is, therefore, not likely to become an ar- ticle of exportation, and is only interesting to European commerce, from the quantity of paper used in the segar manufactories : of these, as well as of the mode in which the Tobacco monopoly is conducted, I shall have occasion to speak elsewhere. The quality of the plant in New Spain is thought to be inferior to that of the Havanna. INDIGO. Anil. The use of this plant was general among the Aztecs before the conquest : they called it Xiuhquilipitzahuac, (the pro- nunciation of which would be an admirable coup d'essai for any one who may desire to cultivate the Aztec tongue.) During the last century it has been almost entirely neglect- ed, from the preference given in Europe to the indigo of Guatemala, or Central America, and the failure of the na- tive cotton manufactures, in which it was principally used. A little indigo is now grown on the Western coasts, and