Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/618

598 new rich mines, gave a fresh impulse to the mining industry, so much so that the increase in production after 1778 amounted to more than twenty-five per cent. The total annual yield of Mexico in gold and silver has been estimated at $1,500,000 for the epoch 1521-48, at $2,000,000 from 1548 till 1600, and at $3,000,000 for the following nine decades, aggregating $414,500,000. Since that time the statistics of the mint of Mexico show a considerable increase of the amount yearly coined; from $5,285,581 produced in 1690, it advanced with slight fluctuation till in 1805 it reached the maximum of $27,165,888. In the following years it declined to $21,886,500 for 1808, the total amount till then, from 1690, being $1,496,832,112. To this must be added the value of all metal wrought into jewelry, and of that which was illegally exported without being coined or taxed. The amount, frequently overrated, in all probability did not exceed one million pesos yearly; and adding this, the average

The statistics given by Zamora, ''Bib. Leg. Ult.,'' i. 25-8, which have served as a base, contain evidently information from official sources, some of which have not been seen by Humboldt.