Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/632

612 threatened Mexico, Viceroy Galve revoked it in 1692, and after that time it was again cultivated. It is impossible to form reliable estimates of the total amount of wheat or flour produced and consumed, both on account of the lack of statistics and the mixed character of the population, a great part of which lived exclusively upon maize.

During the first half of the sixteenth century one of the chief articles of food was the plantain, though there is no evidence in suppprt of Humboldt's conjecture that certain species of the Musa Paradisaica are indigenous to America. After its introduction from the East Indies, its rapid growth and the variety of purposes for which it could be used brought it into general favor throughout New Spain, To this day it forms a staple article of food throughout tropical America, while its juice, when fermented, affords a palatable drink. The dried and powdered fruit resembles the arrow root; the leaves of young plants were used for medicinal purposes, while the fibres were made into textile fabrics, those of the outer stem in certain varieties being strong enough for the manufacture of cordage, while from the inner fibres a garment can be made light enough to be contained in the hollow of the hand.

In addition to these products early experiments were made in the cultivation of silk, olives, and the grape, all of which were encouraged by Cortés, who had himself plantations of mulberry-trees at Yauhtepec, Tetecla, and other places. At first sericulture made fair progress, but subsequently the competition arising from the Manila trade, and the partiality in favor of the product of Spanish looms, caused the plantations and factories, which were chiefly in Puebla