others resemble Chinese paper. These fragments are so much the more interesting as the only hieroglyphics which exist at Vienna, Rome, and Veletri, are on Mexican stag skins. The thread which is obtained from the maguey is known in Europe by the name of pite thread, and it is preferred by naturalists to every other, because it is less subject to twist. It does not, however, resist so well as that prepared from the fibres of the phormium. The juice (rugo de cocuyza) which the agave yields when it is still far from the period of efflorescence is very acrid, and is successfully employed as a caustic in the cleaning of wounds. The prickles which terminate the leaves served formerly, like those of the cactus, for pins and nails to the Indians. The Mexican priests pierced their arms and breast with them in their acts of expiation analogous to those of the buddists of Hindostan. We may conclude from all that we have related respecting the use of the different parts of the maguey, that next to the maize and potatoe, this plant is the most useful of all the productions with which nature has supplied the mountaineers of equinoxial America. When the fetters which the government has hitherto put on several branches of the national industry shall be removed, when the Mexican agriculture shall be no longer restrained by a system of administration which, while it impo verishes the colonies, does not enrich the mother country, the maguey plantations will be gradually succeeded by vineyards. The cultivation of the vine will augment with the number of the whites, who consume a great quantity of the wines of Spain, France, Madeira, and the Canary Islands. But in the present state of things, the vine can hardly be included in the territorial riches of Mexico, the harvest of it being so inconsiderable. The grape of the best quality is that of Zapotitlan, in the intendancy of Oaxaca. There are also vineyards near Dolores and San Luis de la Paz to the north of Guanaxuato, and in the provincias internas near Parras, and the Passo del Norte. The wine of the Passo is in great estimation, especially that of the estate of the Marquis de San Miguel, which keeps for a great number of years, although very little care is bestowed on the making of it. They complain in the country that the must of the tableland ferments with difficulty; and they add arope to the juice of the grape, that is to say a small quantity of wine in which sugar has been infused, and which by means of dressing has been reduced into a syrup. This process gives to the Mexican wines a flavour of must, which they would lose if the making of wine was more studied among them. When in the course of ages the new continent, jealous of its independence, shall wish to dispense with the productions of the |