Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/630

610 natural state the leaves served for roofing, while tho fibres were manufactured into cloth, cords, slings, sandals, and paper.

Other products, unknown to the Spaniards on their arrival, were the cacao and the vanilla, the first of of them being made into a favorite beverage of the Aztecs under the name of chocolatl, the modern chocolate. It was chiefly grown in the regions south and south-east of Mexico, but its cultivation decreased gradually, and the want was mainly supplied, as at present, by importation from other countries. The vanilla, however, was for a number of years almost exclusively obtained from New Spain, where its cultivation was confined to the intendencias of Vera Cruz and Oajaca.

It was only natural that the Spaniards after establishing their dominion in New Spain should make efforts to raise also those plants to which they had been accustomed in the old world and in the Ántilles. Among such new introductions was the sugar-cane, of which Cortés himself established two plantations at Izcalpan. Others arose simultaneously or in quick succession, and in 1553 sugar formed an article of exportation to Spain and Peru. The cultivation centred in the intendencias of Guanajuato, Guadalajara, Valladolid, Puebla, Mexico, and Vera Cruz, but on the coast this industry was of little importance. Encouraged by the crown on different occasions, and especially by a reduction of the tithes to four per cent, a more effectual impulse was given toward the close of the eighteenth century by the failure of the crops in other countries, and the uprising of the negroes at Santo Domingo. Nevertheless the production increased less than might have been expected, and after