the top of the Andes, but the hope of amassing wealth. But in Mexico, the richest seams of silver, those of Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, Tasco, and Real del Monte, are at moderate elevations of from 5,500 to 6,500 feet. The mines are surrounded by cultivated fields, towns, and villages; the neighboring summits are crowned with forests; and every thing facilitates the acquisition of this subterraneous wealth.

We

The population of Mexico is placed in a very favorable point of view, by M. de Humboldt, and one much at variance with the commonly received notions on the subject. believe it to be the common opinion, that this and the other Spanish conquests in America, were almost wholly depopulated, as far as the native race is concerned, and that an arbitrary government, colonial oppression, and the unfavorable influence on the general condition of a people of an abundance of the precious metals have prevented the increase of a new population. Far otherwise. The native tribes have been replaced under the protection of the Spanish government, and at the present day, near three millions of the natives are found in New Spain, which M. de Humboldt is inclined to think equal, or not much inferior to the amount of this population, on the discovery of Mexico, and instead of diminishing, this race is found to be on the increase. The cruel policy of the Mita, whereby it has been so much wasted in Peru, does not here prevail, and the labor of the natives in the mines is perfectly voluntary. The cause of the remarkable contrast between the increase of the Mexican aboriginal population and the rapid decline of the same species of population in the United States, is to be sought in the agricultural habits of the former, and the abundance of the banana, whose spontaneous growth supplies the greater part of their food; while the subsistence of our North American Indians, by hunting, naturally causes them to disappear, as the forests yield to the inroads of agriculture. In addition to this, a marked contrast exists between the warlike temper and habits of our native tribes, and the peaceable disposition of most of the Mexicans.

No attempt at an enumeration of the inhabitants of Mexico was made before the year 1794. It was attempted in that year, by the viceroy Revillagigedo, but it was not entirely completed, and the population of some of the intendencies is given only by conjecture. M. de Humboldt has given a table of the population of Mexico, from the result of this enumera

tion, preserved in the viceregal archives. In the corner of Mr Robinson's map, is given another table, representing the population of 1816. On what documents it is founded, we are not informed; it agrees, however, in the main with M. de Humboldt's. There are some great differences between these two tables; in particular, that which exists in regard to the population of Yucatan, we must ascribe to typographical error. The population of this province is stated by Humboldt at 358,261, while Mr Robinson gives it at 23,100. The error is in Mr Robinson's map. The population of Yucatan has been estimated as high as 465,800. The population of Puebla is given by Humboldt at 566,443, and by Mr Robinson, at 913,000. This last, we presume, includes Tlascala, which does not appear as a separate name in Mr Robinson's table, and is given by M. de Humboldt at 59,177. Mr Bonny castle gives the population of Puebla at 813,500. San Luis Potosi, according to M. de Humboldt, has a population of 242,280, and according to Mr Robinson, one of 400,000; Mr Bonnycastle gives it at 334,900; and that of the two Californias is given by Humboldt at 12,666, and by Mr Robinson at 36,200. From the addition of the whole (some of the provinces being given only by estimation,) M. de Humboldt supposes, that in 1793, the population of new Spain was at least 4,483,529. But as authentic data, to which he had access in Mexico, convinced him that the population was rapidly advancing, he has placed it at 5,800,000 for 1803; and in 1806, he states it to exceed 6,500,000.* Soon after the last named period, the troubles in the Spanish American possessions began, by which the progress of population may have been arrested. Whether it it is likely to have been so much diminished, that we ought to fix it with Mr Robinson at 5,660,000 for 1816, is matter of doubt.

Assuming the population to be somewhere between five and six millions, which we are inclined to think a very liberal allowance, the great proportion of one half or nearly one half is supposed to be native Mexican Indians. The remainder consists of Europeans, of creoles, or persons of European extraction born in America; of mestizos, those born of Spaniards and Indians; mulattoes, those born of whites and negroes; zambos, the mixture of negroes and Indians, and negroes. On the eastern coast are a few Chinese and Malays, who have Bonnycastle's Spanish America, i. 21.

found their way to Acapulco, in consequence of the intercourse between that port and Manilla. The European Spaniards amount to about 80,000, and the creoles to about 60,000, The former hold the chief offices, civil, military, and ecclesiastical; and are in general the only well educated portion of the community. This leads to a great jealously between them and the creoles. There are very few slaves in Mexico; he whole number being given by M. de Humboldt at 10,000, of whom 6,000 are negroes, and 4,000 indians from hostile tribes on the northern frontiers, taken prisoners in war. The mass of the native Mexican population is free, being subject to no service or burden, but the capitation tax of about two dollars a head. They labor, however, under great civil disabilities, and intermarriage is forbidden between them and the whites. Some of them, according to M. de Humboldt, are in possession of great fortunes; although they retain the exterior appearance of poverty. By the plan of a constitution, promulgated by Gen. Iturbide at Yguala, Feb. 24, 1821, 'all the inhabitants of New Spain, without distinction of Africans, Europeans, or Indians, are citizens of the new monarchy, with eligibility to all employments, according to their virtues and merits.'

In his chapter on the checks of population, M. de Humboldt gives an interesting account of the diseases of New Spain, particularly small pox, yellow fever, a destructive sort of plague, to which the Indians alone are subject, called matlazahuatl, and the diseases resulting from famine. We have not, however, time to engage in this subject. The progress of the small pox has been much diminished, by vaccination, and the very curious circumstance is mentioned, that the effect of the cow pox as an antidote to small pox was, before the discovery of Dr Jenner, familiarly known to the peasantry among the Peruvian Andes, who had observed that those employed in milking cows in the Cordilleras, caught from these animals a mild cutaneous disease, which prevented their taking small pox. It is well known that the belief in this fact among the peasantry in Gloucestershire led Dr Jenner to his discovery.

The religion of New Spain is declared in the above named instrument to be exclusively the Roman catholic. It is somewhat ominous to the cause of freedom in the new state that the first article in this constitution is, that no religion but the Roman catholic is tolerated.' We presume this sacrifice was

found necessary to engage the clergy in the cause, whose power, if it equal their revenues, must be of great moment in the state. The ecclesiastical establishment consists of the archbishop of Mexico, and eight bishops; viz. those of Puebla, Guadalaxara, of Valladolid, Durango, Monterey, Oaxaca, Sonora, and Yucatan or Merida.

Their revenue is raised by tithes, and is given by M. de Humboldt as follows.*

The hierarchy of Mexico is accordingly one of the richest in the world, and will, we apprehend, in the progress of things be one of the first of the old institutions to undergo a reform. The bishop of Puebla is at present at the head of the provisional government.

The riches of the Mexican soil, exclusive of the precious metals, are well known to be unsurpassed by those of any other region. Among the agricultural products are those, which might doubtless become the source of greater wealth, than all the mines of silver and gold. Mexico produces wheat, maize, cotton, indigo, pimento, sugar, tobacco, the agave, cocoa, and the cochineal plant. It has the banana, the principal article of food for the poor peasantry, and the manioc, which yields the cassava bread, and possesses the valuable property

*This table is copied into the corner of Mr Robinson's map, as a part of that information, which, having had from respectable sources, and being confirmed by his own observations, he thinks entitled to much confidence.' Among others, to which Mr R. applies this remark, are the following very instructive statements 'The Europeans in New Spain are to the natives as is to 85. The proportion of births to the population is as to 5. The proportion of deaths to the population is as to 34. The following valuable table is also found in the corner of Mr Robinson's map, published in

1819.

of resisting the attacks of insects. It produces the potato, tomatas, rice, and the ordinary esculents of Europe; and on the table land the European fruit trees, such as plumbs, apricots, figs, cherries, peaches, melons, pears, and apples, are successfully cultivated. The olive and the vine are checked by nothing, but the illiberal policy of the mother country, which thinks it necessary to discourage their growth in the colonies, for the sake of protecting the wine and oil of Spain. Besides these, the tropical productions, as guavas, ananas, sapotes, mameis, oranges, and lemons; vanilla, sasaparilla, and jalap, (which takes the name from the town of Xalapa, where it is found,) odoriferous gums, medicinal plants, and drugs, the dying woods, such as logwood, the fine woods for furniture, the silk-worm, honey and wax, and the pearl fishery of the coast of California, contribute their respective shares to the natural wealth of this favored region.

But the most celebrated source of wealth in this region is the gold and silver mines. The eleventh chapter of M. de Humboldt's political essay is devoted to this subject, and is one of the most elaborate and interesting in his work. Mr Bonnycastle has condensed into a few pages the most prominent general statements. The Mexican mines are, it is well known, the richest in the world; and have long approved themselves as such, notwithstanding the imperfect and wasteful manner in which they have been wrought. Much improvement, however, has taken place in this respect during the last generation. The directors of the mines have, in some instances, been sent to the school of Freiberg, near Dresden, for education, and the school of the mines in the city of Mexico itself is now on a footing to compare advantageously with any similar institution in the world. The amalgamation and other processes introduced with such success by Werner, at Freiberg, as to prevent the mines in that district from being deserted, are fully adopted in Mexico; and should it be possible effectually to introduce the steam engine, which the comparative want of fuel makes questionable, there is little doubt that, with the return of a settled order of things, the value of the mines will vastly increase.

The mining stations for gold and silver in New Spain amount to five hundred, and Humboldt supposes the number of mines, in all these stations, to be three thousand. The best and most productive of the silver mines are found at a height