Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/104

78 indigo plantations of Săn Sālvădōr, (in Guatemala,) which produce annually 12,000 tercios, or 1,800,000 lbs. of indigo, valued at (3,000,000 of dollars,) there is reason to suppose that the plant might be cultivated there with great success; but for this, as for every thing else in Mexico, time is requisite. The resources of the country cannot be developed in a day; and whatever the future capabilities of Tabasco may be, it is now one of the poorest states of the Federation.

It is from Mexico that both the use, and the name of chocolate, (Aztec chocolatl,) were borrowed, and introduced into Europe; but the cacao of Sŏcŏnūscŏ, (in Central America,) from its superiority to all others, has entirely supplanted, in Mexico, the use of the cacao of Mexican growth, and but little attention is, consequently, paid to its cultivation. The plant appears to succeed better nearer the Equator, in the low hot grounds of Cărāccăs, Guătĕmālă, and Gūāyăquīl, where it is now grown to a great extent. From all of these Mexico draws an annual supply: but there are still some plantations of cacao near Cōlĭmă (on the Western coast,) in the Isthmus of Tĕhuatĕpēc, and in the State of Tabasco, where it appears, by the statistical report of 1826, to form an article of considerable importance. Like indigo, it is supposed