Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/637

Rh number of persons were engaed in it. The principal factories were in Querétaro, Puebla, and Valladolid, and in the beginning of this century the annual consumption of raw wool was estimated at about 16,000 quintals. The result was somewhat remarkable considering that the native artisan generally used only the most primitive machinery. He could, however, produce articles which, though inferior to European fabrics, would nearly always successfully compete with them.

Of an earlier date was the manufacture of cotton, a process long known to the Aztecs, who had formed plantations, chiefly in the regions bordering on the South Sea. Imperfect as was their machinery, they produced a variety of fabrics, the greater part of which were used for the dresses of the wealthier classes. After the conquest the production of cotton goods decreased in consequence of the competition with European commodities, although the latter could never entirely supplant those of the natives. There were few large factories in later years, but looms were distributed over Cholula, Puebla, Tlascala, Querétaro, and Guadalajara. The total produced was considerable; in the intendencia of Puebla the product amounted to $1,500,000 a year. In 1792, Revilla Gigedo supplied a long-felt want by founding the weaving-school of Tixtla. Whenever Spain was at war with a European power, and the importation of fabrics interrupted, the native industry flourished, but