Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/621

Rh It may be asked, how a territory, possessing such vast natural resources, can have been reduced to the state of comparative poverty in which it now lies? The cause is simple. The precious metals do not in themselves constitute wealth, and as long as all communication between Sonora and the rest of the world was prohibited, except through the medium of the Capital, (Mexico,) and the port of Veracruz, they could not even be employed as a means of obtaining the produce of European industry, which they now command. The inhabitants, forbidden to avail themselves of the harbours upon their own shores, without quicksilver, (so essential in mining processes,) and without a mint, (the nearest was that of the Capital, 600 leagues from Arispe,) thought little of the mineral treasures by which they were surrounded, and devoted their whole attention to the cultivation of those, upon which their subsistence and comforts depended.

Their Haciendas, their flocks and herds, horses and mules, constituted their only care; and no portion of Mexico is richer than Sonora in these: but even at the present day, in many of the larger towns, money is unknown: and sales are effected by barter, the produce of the Interior, (as silver bars, gold dust, hides, or flour,) being exchanged for the imports of Guaymas, and Măzătlān at Pĕtīc, or Rŏsārĭŏ, Ălămŏs, and Cŏsălā. There is no mint, as yet, nearer than Durango or Guadalajara, and until an establishment of this nature be formed, the