38

DISTRIBUTION OF PROPERTY.

own expense, of acajou and cedar (cedrella) wood,
two vessels of the line of the largest size, which he
presented to his sovereign. It was the vein of la
Biscaina, near Pachuca, which laid the foundation
of the fortune of the house of Regla. The family
of Fagoaga, well known for its beneficence, in-
telligence, and zeal for the public good, exhibits
the example of the greatest wealth which was ever
A single vein which the
derived from a mine.
family of the Marquis of Fagoaga possesses in the
district of Sombrerete, left, in five or six months,
all charges deducted, a net profit of upwards of
800,0007.

From these data one would suppose there existed
capitals in the Mexican families infinitely greater
than what are really observed. The deceased Count
de la Valenciana, the first of the title, sometimes
drew from his mine alone, in one year, a net
revenue of no less than 250,000l. This annual
income, during the last twenty-five years of his life,
was never below from 80,000l. to 125,000l.; and
yet this extraordinary man, who came without any
fortune to America, and who continued to live
with great simplicity, left behind him at his death,
besides his mine, which is the richest in the world,
in property and capital, only about 400,000/. This
fact, which may be relied on, will not surprise
those who are acquainted with the internal manage-
ment of the great Mexican houses. Money rapidly
gained is as rapidly spent. The working of mines

becomes a game, in which they embark with unbounded passion. The rich proprietors of mines lavish immense sums on quacks, who engage them in new undertakings in the most remote provinces. In a country where the works are conducted on such an extravagant scale, that the shaft of a mine frequently requires 80,000l. to pierce, the bad success of a rash project may, in a few years, absorb all that was gained in working the richest veins. We must add, that from the internal disorder which prevails in most of the great houses of both Old and New Spain, the head of a family is not unfrequently straitened with a revenue of 20,000!., though he display no other luxury than that of numerous yokes of mules.

The mines have undoubtedly been the principal sources of the great fortunes of Mexico. Many miners have laid out their wealth in purchasing land, and have devoted themselves with great zeal to agriculture. But there is also a considerable number of powerful families who have never had the working of any very lucrative mines. Such are the rich descendants of Cortez, or the Marquis del Valle. The Duke of Monteleone, a Neapolitan nobleman, who is now the head of the house of Cortez, possesses magnificent estates in the province of Oaxaca, near Toluca, and at Cuernavaca. The net produce of his rents is now no more than 23,000%., the king having deprived the duke of the collection of the alcavalus and the duties on tobacco.

40 WEALTH OF PROPRIETORS OF MINES.

The ordinary expenses of the management of his property amount to more than 50007. per annum. Several governors of the marquesado have however become extremely wealthy. If the descendants of the great conquistador would only live in Mexico, their revenue would immediately rise to more than 60,000Z.

As a further proof of the immense wealth centred in the hands of a few individuals in New Spain, which may compete with any thing in Great Britain, or the European possessions in Hindostan, I must mention the pecuniary sacrifices annually made by the body of Miners (Cuerpo de mineria) for the improvement of mining. This body, formed by a union of the proprietors of mines, and represented by deputies who sit in the Tribunal de Mineria, advanced in three years, between 1784 and 1787, more than 160,000l. to individuals who were in want of the necessary funds to carry on great works. It is believed in the country that this money has not been very usefully employed (para habilitar); but its distribution proves the generosity and opulence of those who are able to make such donations. A European reader will be still more astonished when I inform him of the extraordinary fact, that the respectable family of Fagoagas lent, a few years ago, without interest, nearly 150,000%. to a friend, whose fortune they believed would be permanently secured by it. This sum was irrevocably lost in an unsuccessful new mining undertaking. The archi

tectural works which are carried on in the capital of Mexico for the embellishment of the city are so expensive, that, notwithstanding the low rate of wages, the superb edifice constructed by order of the Tribunal de Mineria for the School of Mines will cost at least 125,000l., of which 80,0007. were in readiness before the foundation was laid. To hasten the construction, and particularly to furnish the students immediately with a proper laboratory for metallic experiments on the amalgamation of great masses of minerals (beneficio de patio), the body of Mexican Miners contributed monthly, in the year 1803 alone, the sum of 2000%. Such is the facility with which vast projects are executed in a country where wealth is divided among a small number of individuals.

G

42

CHAPTER III.

Climate-variety under the same latitude-rains-general salubrity—fertility of the soil-corn, fruits—cattle -general improvement in agriculture-influence of mines on agriculture-habits of Indian cultivators.

Details of na

HAVING traced the physical outline of the country, and described the inequalities of its surface, we shall proceed to point out the effect of these inequalities upon its climate, and to give some account of the state of cultivation. We shall confine ourselves to a few general and important facts. tural history do not fall within the compass or the purpose of this work; but it is impossible to form an exact idea of the territorial riches of a country without knowing the form of the mountains, the height of the great plains of the interior, and the temperature of the regions in which there are (if we may so express ourselves) successive strata of climate.

If we take a general view of the whole surface of the kingdom of Mexico, we shall see that two-thirds are situated under the temperate, and one under the torrid zone. The former part contains 738,000 square miles, and includes the Provincias Internas de la Commendancia-general, a district thinly