pers which burn on the altars, can only be made of bee-wax. At Lima, however, they have begun to deceive the vigilance of the bishops, by mixing a little spermaceti with the wax. The merchants purchasing English prizes, had it in great quantities, and the adipocire employed in church festivals is become a new branch of very lucrative com

merce.

It is not the want of hands which prevents the inhabitants of Mexico from applying to the cachalot fishery. Two hundred men are sufficient to man ten fishing vessels, and to procure annually more than a thousand tons of spermaceti; and this substance might in time become as important an article of exportation, as the cocoa of Guayaquil, and the copper of Coquimbo. In the present state of the Spanish colonies, the sloth of the inhabitants is inimical to the execution of similar projects; and it would be impossible to procure sailors, willing to embrace so rude a business and so miserable a life, as that of a cachalot fisher. How could they be found in a country, where, according to the ideas of the common people, all that is necessary to happiness, is bananas, salted flesh, a hammock, and a guitar? The hope of gain is too weak a stimulus, under a zone, where

beneficent nature provides to man a thousand means of procuring an easy and peaceful existence without quitting his country, and without struggling with the monsters of the

ocean.

For a long time, the Spanish government has looked with an evil eye on the cachalot fishery, which draws the English and AngloAmericans to the coast of Peru and Mexico. Before the establishment of that fishery, the inhabitants of the western coast of America had never seen any other flag in those seas than the Spanish. Political reasons might have engaged the mother country to spare nothing for the encouragement of the national fisheries; not so much, perhaps, with a view of a direct profit, as for the sake of excluding strangers, and preventing their connections with the natives. The privileges which they granted to a company residing in Europe, and which has merely existed by name, could not give the first impulse to the Mexicans and Peruvians.

According to official information, which I owe to M. Gallatin, Treasurer to the United States, there were in the South Sea, in 1800, 1801, and 1802, from 18 to 20 whalers (from 2800 to 3200 tons) of the United States. A third of these vessels are fitted out annually from the port of Nantucket. In 1805, the importation of spermaceti into that' port, amounted to 1146 barrels.

the great injunctions. If Deany to man "out of the Sweat, thy brow shalt thot earthy brt yearn thy bre

CHAP. X.]

KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN.

95

The fishing vessels ought to be fitted out in
America itself, at Guayaquil, Panama, and San
Blas. There is constantly on that coast a
certain number of English sailors, who have
abandoned the fishing vessels, either through
discontent, or for the purpose of pushing their
fortunes in the Spanish colonies. The first ex-
pedition might be made, by mixing those sail-
ors, who have had long experience in the
cachalot fishery, with the zambos of Ame-
rica, who are not afraid of singly attacking a
crocodile.

We have thus examined, in this chapter,
the true national wealth of Mexico; for
the produce of the earth is, in fact, the
sole basis of permanent opulence. It is.
consolatory to see that the labour of man
for half a century, has been more directed
towards this, fertile and inexhaustible source,
than fowards the working of mines, of
which the wealth has not so direct an in-
fluence on the public prosperity, and mere

Just
ly changes the nominal value of the annual Defenition

produce of the earth. The territorial im-
post levied by the clergy, under the name
of tenth, or tithe, measures the quantity of
that produce, and indicates with precision
the progress of agricultural industry; if we
compare the periods, in the intervals of

Meollim

which the price of commodities has undergone no sensible variation. The following is a view of the value of these tithes * ; taking for example two series of years, from 1771 to 1780, and from 1780 to 1789:

The result of this view is, that the tithes. of New Spain have amounted in these six dioceses.

From 1771 to 1779 to 13,357,157+ Double Piastres, 1779 1789 18,353,821 Sor pezzos fuertes,

* I have extracted this view from a manuscript memoir of M. Maniao, drawn up from official papers, and bearing the title of Estado de la Renta de Real Hacienda de Nueva España, en un año commun del quinquenio de 1784 hasta 1789. The numbers, in this view, differ a little from those published by M. Pinkerton, (vol. iii. p. 234.) from the work of Estalla, which I have never yet been able to procure.

+ 2,880,1417. sterling. Trans.

34,015,21914. sterling. Trans. orech (sheats+)

L

Consequently the total augmentation has been, in the last ten years, five millions of piastres, or two-fifths of the total produce. The same data also indicate the rapidity of the progress of agriculture, in the intendancies of Mexico, Guadalaxara, Puebla, and Valladolid, compared with the provinces of Oaxaca and New Biscay. The tithes, have been nearly doubled in the archbishoprick of Mexico; for those which were levied during the ten years anterior to 1780, were to those levied ten years afterwards, in the proportion of 10 to 17. In the intendancy of Durango or New Biscay, this augmentation has been only in the propor tion of 10 to 11.

The celebrated author of the Wealth of Nations*, estimates the territorial produce of. Great Britain, from the produce of the landtax. In the political view of New Spain, which I presented to the court of Madrid in 1803, I had hazarded a similar valuation, from the value of the tithes payable to the clergy. The result of this operation was, that the annual produce of the land amounted at least, to 24 millions of piastres. The results, which I came to in drawing up my first view, have been discussed with much sagacity,

a

* Adam Smith, Traduction de M. Garnier, t. iv. p 264, Original vol. iiij. p. 250.