Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/105

Rh to have been originally an indigenous plant, but the principal plantations are now found on the banks of rivers, or in districts liable to be annually overflowed, (tierras anegadizas,) in which the cacao tree thrives best. The number of trees now under cultivation is not known, but the average annual produce is stated not to be less than 15,000 cargas, of 60lbs. each.

Cotton was found amongst the indigenous productions of Mexico, at the time of the conquest, and furnished almost the only clothing used by the natives. The cultivation has been since much neglected, and the art of imparting to it the brilliant colours so common amongst the Aztecs, entirely lost. Up to the close of the last century, however, the annual value of the cotton manufactures of the country was estimated at five millions of dollars. They are now gradually disappearing, as the supply of European manufactures becomes more abundant, and will probably cease to exist in the course of a few years; but the raw material, by which they were supplied, may become of the greatest importance, if the Cotton plantations be kept up as an article, not of home consumption, but of exportation for the foreign market. The Mexicans are not yet aware of all the advantages which they might derive from this change, or of the facility with which it might be effected.