Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/579

 TRADE AND INDUSTRY.

543

Exports from Mexico

Imports of

Years

to

British Home Produce

Great Britain

into Mexico

£

£

1864

3,129,334

1,809,743

1865

3,216,924

1,898,056

1866

313,478

1,283,213

1867

315,168

812,948

1868

350,664

848,588

1869

350,570

631,724

The extraordinary value, far above the average, of the exports from Mexico to the United Kingdom, in the years 1864 and 1865, was due solely to the production of raw cotton, of which, previously to 1863, nothing was exported, and which all but ceased again in 1866. The value of raw cotton exported to Great Britain in the year 1863 was 2,067,939/., and rose to 2,954,127/. in 1864. In 1865 it was 2,834,187/., and then sank suddenly to 28,591/. in 1866, and to 121/. in 1867. In 1868, the exports of raw cotton had ceased entirely. The other Mexican exports to Great Britain are of a miscellaneous nature, the most notable being mahogany, of the value of 169,687/. in 1869. Cotton manufactures, of the value of 392,890/., and linens, of the value of 85,787/. in 1869, form the staple import of the United Kingdom into Mexico.

The formerly valuable silver mines of Mexico, neglected for a long time, were partly reopened in 1864. The richest of all the mines now worked are those of Real del Monte and Pachuca, situated about sixty miles from the city of Mexico, and belonging to an Anglo-Mexican company, which carries on its operations upon a large scale, with the most perfect machinery, and employing the services of experienced miners, chiefly from Cornwall. The existence of the silver mines of Pachuca was known to the ancient Mexicans long before the Spanish occupation of their country ; and they were ac- quainted with the process of smelting the ores extracted therefrom. It was here also that a Spaniard named Medina discovered the process of amalgamation, by means of mercury, in the year 1557. The original English company spent nearly 1,000,000/. upon the mines of the Real del Monte district, without being able to declare any dividend ; and they were subsequently sold for about 27,000/. to some Mexican speculators, who had to spend about 80,000/. more upon them before declaring any dividend. But the total value of the produce during the ten years 1856-65 amounted to 32,045,285 dollars, or about 6,409,057/., while the divided profits of the com- pany were on an average about 500,000 dollars, or 100,000/. per annum.