The Book Of Wealth Vol.7 [7]

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Achievements of Civilization

THE

BOOK OF WEALTH Wealth

in

Relation

to

Material

AND

Intellectual Progress and Achievement BEING

An Inquiry into the Nature and Distribution of the World s Resources and Riches, and a History of

the Origin and Influence of Property, its Possession, Accumulation, and Disposition in all Agesand among all Nations,as a Factor in Human Accomplishment,an Agency

of Human Refinement, and in the

Evolution of Civilization

from the Earliest to the Present Era

BY

HUBERT HOWE BANCROET ? SECTION TEN

NEW YORK

THE BANCROFT COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1900

Copyright, 1896, by HUBERT H. BANCROFT Typesand Prell of Thi Bla kilt Printing Company, Chicago

O^a. V0o\

CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH SOUTH AMERICA Why lose we life in anxious cares, To lay in hoards for future year»? Can those, when tortur'd by disease, Cheer our sick hearts, or purchase ease? Can those prolong one gasp of breath. Or calm the troubled hour of death?—(¡ay. 499 Mainland of America reached by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci. 1500 Charles I of Spain. 5th of Germany, born 15C0 Brazil discovered by Vicente Yañez Pinzón. 1501 Columbus taken to Spain in chains. 1502 Columbus' fourth voyage to America. 15°4 Queen Isabella, the catholic, dies. 1506 Columbus’death. May 20th. >5°9 Juan Ponce is governor of Porto Rico. 1510 Cuba conquered by the Spaniards. >5>> Diego Velasquez made first governor of Cuba 1512 I .a Plata river discovered by Juan Diaz de Solis. >5>3 Pacific ocean seen by Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, who takes possession of it He is lieheaded by Pedrarias Davila at Ada. 1517. >5>4 Reino de Castilla del Oro (Panamá isthmus, and Venezuela)constituted, Pedrarias Davila, governor. ’5>5'«5«7 t*ov- Davila's expeditions

1474

Habana (San Christóbal de la) founded where Batabano now is; transferred later to its present site. 1516 Ferdinand the catholic dies January 23d Charles V succeeds, reigning jointly with his mother Juana; later reigning alone 1517 Yucatan discovered. 1518 Juan de Grijalva's voyage; discovers Tabasco, and the coast of Vera Cruz. 1519 Tenochtitlan-Mexico taken by Hernán Cortes in November. >5>9'23 Gil Gonzalez in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. 1520 Magellan straits crossed by Magalhaes. No­ vember 28th. >520 Cortés leaves Mexico in July. 1521 Mexico besieged, bombarded, and captured by Cortes; May to August. 1515

1522-1821 Spanish domination. Mexico under gov­ ernors Cortés, and others. 1522-27; under the first audiencia. President Ñuño de Guzman, 1527-31; under the second audiencia. Presi­ dent Sebastian Ramirez de Fuenleal. 1531-35; under viceroys, 1535-1821.

1522 Magellan's first voyage around the world. 1522-24 Guatemala and Salvador conquered by Pedro Alvarado. 1524-25 Honduras colonized. 1525 Buccaneers begin their piratical practices in the West Indies about this time 1526 Perú. Pizarro and Almagro arrange for the conquest anti partition of the country. 1527 The Bermudas discovered by Juan Bermudez. «527 La Plata river. Sebastian Cabot's journey on it. ,53>*33 Peru taken possession of by Pizarro and Al­ magro. Atahualpa put to death in 1533. *53« Brazil. Settlements by the Portuguese '535 Buenos Ayers founded by Pedro de Mendoza; subsequently abandoned; refounded in 1542 by Cabeza de Vaca; altandoned a second time in 1543; founded a third time in 1580. «535 Guayaquil founded

1535-36 Chili First invasion of by Almagro «537 Queen Juana's death. 1538 Habana destroyed by a French pirate; destroyed a second time in 1554 by buccaneers. 1541 Peru. Francisco Pizarro murdered in June. 1544 Peru. Gonzalo Pizarro's revolt; he is defeated and beheaded in 1547 1550 Nicaragua. Revolt of Hernando and Pedro de Contreras. Murder of the bishop 1550 Panamá. The Contreras invade Panamá; they are defeated and perish. 1559 Chili. Valdivia falls into the hands of the Araucanians. and is put to death 1568 Hawkins invades Vera Cruz; is defeated; but he and Drake escape; September 14-24. 1585 Drake's expedition against the West Indies. 1586 Callao destroyed by an earthquake. «595 Porto Rico. San Juan attacked by Drake 1598 Porto Rico. San Juan captured by the Eng­ lish. who carried off much artillery. 160S Paragua. The Jesuits enter the country. 1616 Cape Horn. Van Schotten goes around it. 1629 United States The Massachusetts Bay com­ pany chartered. 1629 Brazil. The Dutch occupy the Brazilian coast 1630 Curayoa wrested from the Spaniards by the Dutch (Settled in the sixteenth century.) 1643-44 Brazil abandoned by the Dutch. The Por­ tuguese retain full possession. 1655 Jamaica taken from the Spaniards by English. May 3d. 1657 St Thomas colonized by the Dutch. (Discov­ ered by Columbus. 1493 ) 1668 Puerto Principe (Cuba) sacked and burnt by pirates. 1680 Mexico Tampico sacked by corsairs. 1683 Mexico Vera Cruz sacked by the buccaneers in May. 1692 Jamaica Earthquake sinks Port Royal, the capital, in less than three minutes, under the sea, June 7th.

THE TOOK OF HE.//, TH 1697

Santo Domingo, western portion, ceded to Erance by Spain. 1710 Quito, presidency, annexed to Nueva (¡ranada. 17:1 Kio Janeiro attacked by the French, captured, ransomed. 1723 Nueva Granada, viceroyalty; reduced to pres­ idency, 1724; viceroyalty again in 1740. 1731 Venezuela detached from Nueva Granada; made a captain-gcncralcy. >73« Washington born February 22(1; »lied Decern« bcr, 1799. >733 Santa Cruz island ceded to Denmark 1744 Cotopaxi volcano, eruption 1746 Lima earthquake. October 28th. Callao de­ stroyed. 1752 Franklin (Benjamin) proves that lightning and electricity are identical >755 United States, then British colonies, great earthquake November 18th. 1762 Habana (Cuba) taken from the Spaniards by the English; returned next year, the con­ querors receiving Florida in exchange J762 Louisiana ceded to Spain by France; possession taken in 1766; restored to France. 1800. 1767 Jesuits expelled from all Spanish America. >775 United States; Boston besieged by Washington; the English abandon the city March 17. 1776. 1776 Buenos Ayres, government of. formed. 1776 United States; Declaration of Independence. July 4th; in 1777 the national flag adopted, June 14th. 1781 Florida retaken by the Spaniards from the English. 1783 United States: independence recognized by Great Britain. 1783 Bolivar, Simon, liberator of South America, born; his death on December 17, 1830. 1789 United States; organized as a federal republic. 1789 Revolution of Santo Domingo. 1789 Washington, first president of the U. S., April 30th. 1803 United States, Louisiana sold to, by Napoleon 1806 Buenos Ayres captured by the English. June 27th; the invaders surrendered August 12th. 1807 Montevideo taken by the English in February. 1808 Buenos Ayres attacked by the English, who are defeated, capitulate, and are allowed to leave. 1808-18 South America, movements which led to the independence. 1810 Mexico Venezuela and Nueva Granada, revo­ lution which led to the independence 1811 Hidalgo executed in Mexico. July 31st 1811 Paraguay organized as a republic. 1812-15 War between the United States and Great Britain, peace concluded December 24. 1814; battle of New Orleans. January 8. 1815; the English utterly defeated. 1814 Bolivar, chief of Venezuela. January1815 Morelos, of Mexico, executed December 22d. 1817 Paraguay; Dr Francia becomes dictator for life, he died September 20. 1840. 1818 Spaniards defeated at Maipo. , 1818 Brazil erected into a kingdom. 1819 Colombia, republic created December 17th. 1821 Liberia, republic in Africa, founded. 1821 Mexico; independent. Augustin Iturbidc crowned emperor May. 1822. abdicated March 20. 1823; banished to Italy; returned, and was executed July 19. 1824. 1821 Colombia; independence secured. Panamá threw oil the Spanish rule, anil joined Co­ lombia 1821 Brazil; revolutionary movements Pedro L emperor. October 12. 1822. 1821 24 Central America seceded from Spain Sep­ tember 15, 1821; is attached to the Mexican empire; recovered independence in 1824 1821 Florida ceded by Spain to the United States. 1821 Perú; independence of, proclaimed in July. 1822 South America; Great Britain sends consuls to the South American states October 30th 1822 Chili; great earthquake 1823 Brazil occupies Uruguay; war with Buenos Ayres 1826-28; Uruguay abandoned by Bra­ zil in 1828. 1823 24 Mexico ruleri by a triumvirate 1824 Mexico constitutes herself as a republic.

Peni, Bolivar dictator of. February 10. 1824; he defeated the Spaniards at Junin August 6th of that year; they are again defeated by Sucre December 24th. end of Spanish domin­ ation in South America; Calina surrendered by the Spaniards January 22. 1826. 1825 Great Britain entered into treaties with La Plata. Colombia, and Mexico. 1825 Brazil's independence recognized by Portugal 1825 Argentine republic constituted January 23d 1S25 Central American republic constituted 1826 Brazil ami Buenos Ayres at war. peace re­ stored August 29, 1828. 1826 Treaty between Great Britain and Brazil for the abolition of the slave trade 1829 Buenos Ayres. Juan Manuel Rosas became dictator. 1829 Spaniards under Barradas defeated on the Panuco river, September nth. 1830 Colombia republic disrupted; Venezuela con­ stituted herself a republic September 14th; Jose Antonio Paez, first president. Paez born in 1790; diet! May 6. 1873. 1831 Brazil in revolution; Pedro 1 abdicated April 7th; his infant son proclaimed emperor as Pedro II; deposed and republic proclaimed. 1889. 1831 Nueva Granada constituted herself as an inde­ pendent republic; Francisco Santander first president; he had been vice-president of Colombia 1831 Ecuador organized as a republic 1831 Vicente Gurrero shot at Cuilapa, February 14. 1835 Nicaragua; eruption of the Cosegüina. January 2 2d. 1835 Texas rebelled against Mexico in July; pro­ claimed independence December 22«!. 1835 Concepción destroyed the fourth time by an earthquake 1836 Perú; General Salavcrry executed. 1840 Central American republic disrupted; they re­ mained as separate states for some time, and finally constituted themselves as independent republics. 1842 Ex-president Francisco Morazan of Central America executed in San Jose. Costa Rica 1844 Dominican republic constituted. 1846-48 War between Mexico and the United States, on account of fraudulent claims and Texas' annexation; the Mexican capital taken; treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo restored peace; the United States retained Texas and NewMexico; also California, by paying a sum of money for a clear title. The treaty was ratified May 19. 1848. 1849 Hayti became an empire under Soulouque. as Faustin 1, August 26th; he was some years after deposed, and went into exile. 1850 Argentine Republic. The author of her inde­ pendence. José de San Martin, died Au­ gust 17th (born February 25th. 1778). 1851-52 Uruguay Capitulation of Oribe at Monte­ video, October 7th. 1851; Urquiz entered the city the next day, defeated Dictator Rosas of Buenos Ayres, February 3efenceless Valparaiso bombarded, with great de­ struction of property, March 31st. Callao bombarded later, without the Spanish force accomplishing anything 1867 French forces, recalled to France, cease opera­ tions and gradually leave Mexico Maximil­ ian in Queretaro February 19th; the city soon after investe«! by the republicans; Puebla taken by Diaz's republicans, April 2d. Que­ retaro captured by the republicans under Escobedo, May 14th; Maximilian a prisoner, Marquez, imperialist, routed by Diaz April 10th; Diaz invests the capital; Maximilian. Miramón, and Mejia shot on the Cerro de las Campanas June 19th 1868 Asunción. Paraguay, occupied by the enemy's forces February 21st; destruction of the Paraguayan army at Villeta December nth. 1868 Cuba's revolt for independence, October. Un­ successful en«l in 1878. 1868 Ecuador. Destructive earthquakes; the whole southern half of the eastern coast of South America devastated August 13-16. 1870 Paraguay. President Lopez defeated and put to death at Aquidaban March 1st. 1871-2 Brazil. Slave emancipation bill passed by the Senate September 27th. United States; Alabama arbitration commission meets at Geneva December 18th, 1871. its award. Sep­ tember 14th, 1872 1871 Central America Overthrow of the clericooligarchy. 1872 Mexico. President Juarez died July 18th (born in 1809). 1872 Perú. President José Balta assassinated, his death avenged by the people of Lima 1872 California. Earthquake March 26th; «-fleets of highly exaggerated abroad. 1873 San Salvador destroyed by earthquakes March 19th. 1875 Ecuador President Garcia Moreno murdered August 14th. 1879 81 Chili against Perú and" Bolivia Limaoccupied by the Chilians January. 1881 Peace concluded soon after; the Chilians leave the country. Perú loses territory; Bolivia loses all her sea-coast. 1880 Panamá canal works commenced i88t United States President Garfield assassinated. 1881 Patagonia Dispute between Argentine Repub­ lic and Chili settled. 1882 Panamá Isthmus. Earthquakes September 71b. 1885 Colón or Aspinwall burnt by Prestan March 31st. Prestan hanged at Colón August 16th 1885 Central America. President Barrio* of Guate­ mala attempts restoring the union by force; he is defeated an«l killed in battle April 2d. 1886 Colombia. Federal system ceases; centralized regime established, new constitution August 7th. 1886 Jesuits of Perú forbidden to live in community. 1886 New York Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty Un­ veiled October 28th. 1888 Brazil Slavery abolished in May. 1860-65

Vicente Yaftez Pinzon in 1499 coasted between the mouths of the Amazon and the Orinoco, claiming the country for Spain, and carrying away brazilwood drugs and gems. 1 he following year, Pedro Alvarez Cabral was blown thither from the coast of Africa, where he had been following the track of Vasco da Gama. He discovered the mouth of the Amazon, and claimed the country for Portugal. Neither Pinzon nor Cabral planted a settlement; but Amerigo Vespucci, an Italian in the service of Portugal, built a foil «it All Saints, and

606

THE HOOK 07' IIEIT777

so secured to the Portuguese the vast area which became known as Brazil; Amerigo also traded in parrots and monkeys, and permitted his name to be given to not quite half the world. The appearance of Alonzo de Ojeda with three ships on the coast of Venezuela in 1499. and the entrance of the rio de la Plata by Pinzon in 1508, set bounds on either side to the pretensions of Portugal, Spanish occupation being further extended by the discovery, and ostentatious claims to ownership, of the Pacific ocean by Vasco Nufiez de Balboa in 1513. and the later conquest of Peru by Pizarro and Almagro. By such trifles of accident and caprice were determined the so-called proprietorship of large parts of the earth, and the mastery SALDANHA DE GAMA BOTELHO OE MAGALHAES over the bodies and souls of millions of their fellow-beings by the temporal and spiritual powers of Europe! After spending thirty years in driving from the coast the Spaniards and b ranchmen who attempted to settle there, the king of Portugal divided the country into captaincies, each with a frontage of fifty leagues upon the ocean, and gave them to such approved subjects as were able to defend and develop their resources, with full powers of civil and criminal jurisdiction. Io Martin Alfonso de Sousa was given a captaincy; and in his survey of the coast he came to the mouth of a river on the first of January, 1531, which he thereupon called Rio de Janeiro, thence continuing his way southward, naming places along the coast from the days on which he discovered them, and choosing the domain of his captaincy some distance south of his January river. In like manner captaincies were given to Pero Lopes de Sousa, Pedro de Campo Tourinho, Jorge de Figueiredo, and others. And so the land was seized and settled, and natives who opposed the invaders were killed. As the savages here made no display of gold to tempt the cupidity of the foreigners, the settlers devoted themselves to agriculture. Citics, forts, and factories were established along the coast and at the mouths of rivers; planta­ tions were laid out and European fruits, grain, and live stock were introduced. In due time it became necessary to centralize Portuguese power in Brazil, in order to provide adequate defence from foes without and

RO OE JANE RO

within; hence the executive privileges given to the proprietors of the several captaincies were revoked, and the country placed under the rule of a governor-general, Thome de Sosa being the first to fill that office. With 1,020 men, 400 of whom were convicts, he built the city of Bahia, and established his capital there. From this time the coast of Brazil was the prey alternately of various European powers. Philip Ill of Spain took with Portugal all of it that Portugal possessed, but presently gave it up. as did also the Dutch, who in 1624 captured Bahia, and Olinda in 1630. Yet the Portuguese managed in the end to hold possession: and when the French revolution came, and after it Napoleon, the prince regent of Portugal. Dom Joao VI. who afterward became king, created a regency at Lisbon, and with a large retinue took refuge in Brazil, in 1808, establishing his capital at Rio de Janeiro. Thus the colony became* mistress of its mother monarchy, and monarchy was planted in the New World, in due time to be uprooted, once and forever. 1'he ports of Brazil were at once opened to foreign commerce; all exports were free of duty except brazil­ wood and diamonds, which were royal monopolies. Courts of justice, high and low, were established at Rio de Janeiro, as well as a royal mint, the bank of Brazil, and royal printing office and powder mills. On the whole

THE BOOK OE WEALTH

607

the change was for the better, but a mistake was made in altering the money standard, thus bringing on financial confusion.* While the other American states were throwing off allegiance to the mother country, the spirit of repub­ licanism became strong in Brazil, so that in 1821 King Dom Joao was obliged to send to Portugal for troops to quell insurrection. But the prince Dom Pedro, heir to the crown, who now began to take part in public affairs, through his popularity and intercession prevented revolution at that time. Independence was closely treading on the heels of imperialism, when in 1825 Dom Joao VI. king of Portugal, was made emperor of Brazil, and at once abdicated in favor of his son Dom Pedro I, at the same time declaring Brazil independent of Portu­ gal. Though acknowledged king of Portugal on the death of his father, Dom Pedro transferred that crown to his daughter, Donna Maria, and becoming dangerously involved with the liberals, in 1831 he abdicated the crown of Brazil in favor of his son Dom Pedro II, then five years of age, and sailed for Portugal. The second Dom Pedro was a good and intelligent man, having the interests of the country at heart, and for the most part he was so regarded by the people; yet they held imperialism to be out of place, and after half a century and more of happy rule Dom Pedro II was quietly dismissed to the land of his ancestors, Brazil lapsing into republicanism. With the exit of Dom Pedro II came to an end the only American monarchy, and let us hope the day is far distant when there will be another. In the older communities the infliction is bad enough, and is rapidly disappearing; when kingdoms and colonies are all wiped from the surface of the earth, then men will be free and intelligence reputable. Sentimentalists may exclaim “Poor Dom Pedro! Poor Maximilian!" But the sprouts of European royalty must learn the lesson that it is better for them to remain at home and let their own people feed and tip them. The yellow fever appearing in Brazil for the first time in 1849, and the cause being attributed to the importation of slaves, laws were passed prohibiting the traffic, and in 1871 it was enacted that every child there­ after born of slave parents should be free, state slaves and those which had been imported for the imperial

PLAZA, RiO DE JANE.RO

household being declared free at once. Thus independence and the abolition of slavery were accomplished without the long wars and social eruptions which some nations were not so fortunate as to escape. Brazil is a country of high and low plateaus, with here and there mountains not of the highest, the whole formation being mostly of gneiss. In Minas Geracs are clay slates with auriferous veins; south of the tropic are strata of coal, and carboniferous formations are found on the Guapore. Along the northern seaboard are coral reefs; there are hot wells and warm sulphurous springs but no volcanoes. 1 he coast is lined with man­ groves, back of which are palms; each river has a vegetation and foliage peculiar to itself. I here are cocoa and

6o8

THE TOOK OF HEALTH

cinnamon trees, pepper and vanilla. Brazilwood, which originally fringed the coast, is hard and heavy, takes a high polish, and yields a fine red dye. There are besides, the soap-tree, the tapia, or garlic pear tree, the trumpet tree, and laurel and rosewood. The leaves of Carnauba palm yield a gum which has commercial value, while the export of the caoutchouc tree, which may be tapped every day during the season and its gum poured into moulds, amounts to more than $5,000,000 a year. Agricultural products embrace every variety common to temperate and tropic zones; and so with regard to animal life, nowhere in the world is the variety greater, though there are similar species of larger growth in Africa. In 1786 diamonds were discovered in the serra do Espinha^o, 300 miles north of Rio de Janeiro. The stones are found in the sands of disintegrated quartzite, in the vicinity of sandstones shales and conglomerates. The sands arc washed out at some stream with the help of sieve and wooden pan. Less conspicuous and pro­ ducing stones of smaller size and less value, are the diamond fields of Goyaz, Matto (¡rosso, Parana, Sao Pedro do Rio Grande do Sul, and Sao Paulo. There are in greater or less profusion a score of gems, some of great beauty. Besides coal, sulphur, and salt deposits, several extensive auriferous districts attract attention, the largest being in Minas Geracs, and covering the greater part of that province. Then there are the Morro Velho, Gongo Soco, and other gold mines, mostly in and around Rio das Velhas valley. In the basin of the Parana-Paraguay river system lies the republic of Paraguay, with Asuncion for its capital city. Between the marshes draining into Ypoa lagoon and the Asuncion plateau is some good agricultural land, and dense forests, containing 70 kinds of trees, cover the Parana lowlands, while beyond the Paraguay arc the vast rolling plains common to this part of South America. The mean temperature is 750, the warmer part of the year being from October to March, and the colder from April to September; the rainfall at Asuncion is 58 inches. Mining is not conspicuous, though iron and gold, copper and manganese, besides building stone and salt are found in abundance. There are eight fibrous plants of economic value and fifteen dye plants; Paraguayan tea is a commercial product, though mainly used for home consumption, the cocoa palm, orange, and banana tree grow so large and are such prolific bearers that their fruit can be had almost for nothing. The men women

CARIOCA SQUARE ANO FOUNTAIN ANO MONASTERY OF SAN ANTON 0. RlO DE JANEIRO

and children of the whole Plata country smoke Paraguayan tobacco, though little of it is exported; and so with coflec, of excellent berry but slightly bitter in flavor. Paraguayan sugar is good for making rum and syrup; refined sugar for domestic use is brought from Brazil. All the people wear white cotton cloth, made in England, and subject to a duty of 40 per cent, and this notwithstanding the fact that cotton grows there almost spon­ taneously. Bread is made, now as for centuries past, of mandioca and maize, which have long been staple products;

THE TOOK OE WEALTH

609

wheat oats and rice arc also grown in places. Nature in South America, mountains plains and rivers, plants and animals, are all on a vast and magnificent scale. The Oriental Republic of the Uruguay, or Banda Oriental, that is to say the land on the eastern side of the river, is divided for administrative purposes into eighteen departments, the smallest of which. Montevideo, contains a fourth of the population. The great rivers that here converge, the Plata, the Uruguay, the Negro and its tributary the Yi, draining the vast pastoral plains between the Andes and the Atlantic, offer possibilities of limitless wealth. The tawny mountains of Uruguay, contrast­ ing with the verdant rolling open country, are picturesque though not lofty. In the north are hills containing many metals and valuable stones; silver gold copper and lead; agate alabaster and amethyst; marble gran­ ite and Jimestone. The climate is good; rainfall 40 inches. Montevideo, with a lighthouse and old Spanish fort, stands on a small peninsula, less than 100 feet above the sea, the suburbs extending well into the country. The low Hat-roofed houses with a profusion of Italian BAHiA marble and the high towers from which far-distant ships can be seen, present the appearance of an oriental city rather than a South American seaport. Patriotic names abound. There is the plaza de la Constitución, which is honored by the presence of the cabildo and the cathedral; the plaza de la Independencia, and the calle del 18 Julio. A market covering two acres cost $430,000. The city lives mainly by its slaughter houses, its chief exports being besides live-stock, preserved meats, hides, tallow, horns, hair, wool, and bones. By 1,000 vessels $3.500.000 worth of such products is carried away every year. Total value of real property $100.000.000. The special mission of Juan Diaz de Solis at the rio de la Plata in 1516 was to find a way by water to the other side of the continent, which indeed was Magellan s purpose when he was there in 1519. It is said that Solis and some of his men on landing were killed and eaten by the Charrúas, but with what degree of truth I know not. Magellan, proceeding southward, passed through the strait to which his name was given and, continuing his course toward the Spice-islands, was killed by the natives of Zebu the year following. Sebastian Cabot was likewise here in 1527. and anchored off the spot where now stands Buenos Ayres, founding the settlement of San Espiritu on the Parana. Rio de la Plata received its name by reason of the profusion of silver ornaments worn by the natives. Other attempts were made to find a waterway through the continent at this point, leading to explorations which stopped only on reaching the Andean mountains. Meanwhile the settlements of Asuncion and Buenos Ayres were made, and upon the destruction of the latter by the savages, it was reestablished by Cabesa de Vaca. After many wars with the natives, who were among the fiercest of native warriors, DOM PEDRO II prosperity came to the settlements. Horses and cattle were brought from Europe, and such was the increase that in time innumerable herds spread over the pampas; wild but a source of wealth. Buenos Avres was raised to a viceroyalty in 1776. with jurisdiction over a wide area, including besides what is now the Argentine Republic, Uruguay. Paraguay, and Bolivia, and with power to curb the encroachments of the Portuguese of Brazil. Wars between England and Spain, which here made themselves felt, were followed by the wars for independence, and these again by revolutions, internal discords, and quarrels with the Portuguese which cannot here be given, and which indeed are scarcely worth the recital. Finally, a republican constitution was adopted, based on that of the United States. Becoming involved in a war between Paraguay and Brazil in 1865, the resources of all participating were severely taxed, bringing to the front, either as patriots or victims, all the rich men of the country. Of these none were more wealthy than General Urquiza, who had vast estates at Entre Rios, and who was assassinated in his own house, in 1870. by an officer of his army. Thereupon further insurrection and civil war ensued. With an area of over 1,600,000 square miles, the Argentine Republic has a population of some 2.400,000. being one and a half to the square mile, including Indians—a heavy decrease from the number of .inhabitants prior to the coming of the Europeans. In the larger cities, as Buenos Ayres, more than half the people are Europeans, or of foreign birth; throughout the country are endless negro Indian and European intermixtures, not conducive to high culture. The importation of Africans ceased with the abolition of slavery during the war of independence. The yellow fever, which decimated the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres in 1S71 and arrested immi­ gration. is said to have been brought from Brazil, though the Argentine town was prepared with open arms to receive it. being in a filthy condition and almost without drainage. A good system of sewers has since been constructed.

6 io

THE HOOK OF WEALTH

Argentina is a pastoral country, though there arc mines in the northwestern part, and several agricultural sections destined to develop vast wealth. From the hides, wool, and increase of 20.000.cxx) cattle and 100,000,000 sheep come for the most part the means for the payment of imported articles, as cloth and iron from England; wine, textile' fabrics, and fancy goods from France; and lumber from the United States. Io Belgium goes annually wool to the value of si2,000.000: to England, tallow $3,000,000. sheepskins S2,cxx>,ooo. hides $3,000,000; to the United States $2,000,000 worth of hides. In wealth and importance Buenos Ayres is far in advance of any other Argentine city, possessing most of the advantages and adornments of civilization. Standing upon the great plain that stretches out far away toward the Andes, on the right bank of the rio de la Plata, the city of Buenos Ayres, with its quarter-million of population, presents a pleasing pic­ ture. It is well laid out in scpiares, with broad paved streets, and the old Spanish one and two story houses MONTEViDIO of mixed adobe and cobble-stone, with little furniture and no chimney, are rapidly giving place to modern structures of European style and finish and furnishings. There arc sixteen Catholic churches, two hospitals, five theatres, and five markets. I pon the principal square, the plaza de la Victoria, front the government buildings, where resides the president of the republic; the cathedral, with Corinthian pillars and portico, and surmounted by a large dome; and the cabildo, or city hall. In the centre of the square stands a monument in memory of the war of independence. Patagonia was first sighted in 1520, by Magellan, who named it Tierra de Patagones from the large foot­ prints in the sand, Tierra del Fuego being so called from the fires seen along the coast. By the sovereigns of Spain the territory was given first to Alcazava Sotomayor and then to Pedro de Mendoza. I nder the auspices of these, and later of other interested persons, the coasts and interior were explored. In 1881 the country was divided between Chili and the Argentine Republic. Patagonia is a great plain, with the southern extremity of the Andes on the western side. The western or Chilian part, sometimes called the Magellan territory, shows the action of glaciers, which with the help of the sea have cut Cape Horn into islands, with peninsulas and fiords indenting the tierra firme. In the Chonos archipelago alone are more than 1,000 islands. The climate is equable; perpetual snow lies on the higher peaks and stunted vegetation covers the lower levels. The potato grows wild, and other vegetables are cultivated. Sea-elephants were once here, and the smallest deer known, the pudu, is found on the Taytas peninsula. The eastern Andean foothills support a luxuriant vegetation, the mountains precipitating the moisture brought in from the Atlantic, and here the soil is better, plant life richer, and animals more abundant. Under the large trees and in the thick undergrowth are found wild cattle and wild horses, from the strayed European stock of north­ ern latitudes, with multitudes of deer and birds. On the broad open steppes, though the soil is thinner, it still supports many guanacos and ostriches, which arc hunted on horseback, and constitute the chief food of the natives. Europe still retains its tenacious hold on parts of the New World, among others Guiana in South America, the French Dutch and English each owning a strip of territory. It came about in this way. Spain had the first claim to the country, as Columbus, Pinzon, Vasco Nufiez, and Diego de Ordas were all there prior to 1.830. The Dutch planted a settlement near the Pomeroon in 1580. Then in 1595 came Walter Raleigh and ascended the Orinoco in search of the fabled El Dorado. The French attempted colonization on the river Surinam. Then, following the usual methods in such matters, for two or three centuries they all fought each other, the governments meanwhile making grants and the settlers killing off the natives. The boundaries of French Guiana were defined by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. The seaboard is cov­ ered with mangrove marshes, back of which are fertile lands for agriculture, and in the more distant interior grassy highlands. The rainy season is from November to June, during which time the fall is 120 inches. All the grains and vegetables are raised, manioc being the principal food. Placer gold is plentiful. The Dutchmen have not explored more than one-quarter of their American colony, which is in area four times the size of their own country. Surinam has gold, and the river bottoms yield abundantly of almost all useful and commercial products. British Guiana has some good soil well covered with vegetation, fine rivers, and a little gold. Venezuela, or little Venice, as Alonzo de Ojeda called it when he was there in 1499. and saw at the gulf of Maracaibo a native village the houses of which rested on piles above the water, was the first of tierra firme seen by Columbus. When in 1811 the people threw off the Spanish yoke, civil wars followed the wars of independence, in which Simon Bolivar, the Washington of South America, played a conspicuous part; and it was not until 1845 that Spain formally recognized the independence of the republic. Bolivar, a native of Caracas, born 1783, was the leader of the revolution, and the hero of South American independence. After obtaining an education in Europe he returned home in 1809 by way of the United States, whose free institutions he carefully studied. On his arrival at Caracas, he at once identified himself with the revolutionary movement and was given a command. After ten years of fighting, with many successes and

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reverses, during which time he became first general and then dictator, he not only made his own country free, but joining forces with the patriots of Colombia, delivered that land from Spaniards, who thereupon tk refuge in Ecuador and Peru. Thither went the indefatigable dictator with his army, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing the whole country independent and at peace. In 1819 the republics of Venezuela and New Granada were united and named Colombia, and after the adoption of a constitution. Bolivar was elected president and Santander vice-president. In 1825 upper Peru separated from the Buenos Ayres government, and formed an independent state, named Bolivia in honor of the liberator, who was made perpetual protector, with almost unlimited power over Peru. Chili, and all Spanish South America. I Ie continued to exercise supremacy in Colom­ bia to the time of his death, in 1830. He asserted the dignity of justice, purified politics, and encouraged arts and industries. Nine-tenths of a large fortune was spent in the service of his country, and he died a compara­ tively poor man. fhe flora and fauna of Venezuela arc not unlike those of the neighboring states. Maize and manioc are the two chief food products, the former being ground coarse and made into cakes like the tortillas of Mexico. Coal near Barcelona and on the banks of the river Utarc, copper at Aroa, and gold on the Yuruari river are the principal minerals. Nine states are confederated under the name United States of Colombia, whose domain includes the isthmus of Panama, a mountainous district in the western part, belonging to the Andean chain, and a coast line of about 1,000 miles on cither ocean. Its eastern portion is but an extension of the llanos of the Amazon and Oronico. In a spur of the cordillera, almost under the equator, perpetual snow rests at a height of 23.779 feet above the ocean. The cordilleras here consist of gneiss granite basalt and porphyry, the formations throughout the territory of the confederation being igneous and metamorphic. Volcanic action continues, and subterranean heat still affects the climate in places. On the heights are glaciers; on the slopes are vast basins of gravel, and rich alluvial deposits in the valleys. There arc many rivers, the Atrato forming, with the streams flowing in the opposite direction, an almost continuous water line across the continent. The Isthmus measures 48 miles across at its narrowest part, where is the line of the Panama railway, and where De Lcsseps undertook to dig a canal. The Panama canal was one of the most stupendous failures the world has ever witnessed. 1 he projectors of the scheme had no conception of the difficulties before them, of the malignant influences that nature could bring forth to defeat their project. The Panama railway, the first to traverse the continent from sea to sea, cost much money and many lives, Asiatic lives alone enough to form an unbroken line of dead Chinamen from ocean to ocean. Hired for the work by bosses, under whose misrepresentations they had been induced to leave their homes, their condition was worse than that of any African slave, their masters having no property in them, or interest in keeping them alive; so that many of the poor wretches, sooner than endure the hardships that befel them, straightway went and hanged themselves. It was intended that the ship canal should follow the line of the railway, the length being 54 miles, depth below the ocean 28 feet, and width 72 feet at the bottom and 160 feet at the top. Workshops and boarding houses were erected; huge machinery put in place, and 10.000 to 20,000 men were set to work, but did not long remain. Then after S 100,000,000 or so had been sunk in the enter­ prise. and Frenchmen in their own peculiar fashion began to rave over their losses, they seized and imprisoned the aged De Lcsseps and his conspirators in the swindle, as they called it. and the isthmus of Panama remains there to this day; but the big ditch, where is it? It was an early problem, the attempt to cross the continent in ships, and one that still remains to be solved. No sooner did Columbus find the course obstructed to his Cathay by a continuous coast line, than he attempted to pierce it. So did a hundred who came after him. from Magellan in the south to John Franklin in the north. Saavedra pre­ sented a plan to cut through the Isthmus in 1520. which had it been accepted would probably have been successful, the Spanish adventurers of that day being far superior to modern engineers for work to be accomplished in a tropic clime, whether military or mechanical. Cortes surveyed the isthmus of Tehuantepec for a canal, and Eads projected a ship railroad. Several lines for canals were proposed by Antonio Galvao and others in the sixteenth century, at the Chagres and Atrato rivers, in Nicaragua. Tehuantepec, and elsewhere. The rivers Amazon. Orinoco, Plata, Mississippi, Hudson, and St Lawrence were all examined for this purpose; and from the Pacific side, the Columbia river, and the straits of San Juan de Fuca, about which the most extravagant stories were told, more than one of the early navigators claiming to have sailed through the continent at these points and beyond.

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THE TOOK OF WEAL TH

Colombia is full of mineral wealth, and but for its climate, deadly to Europeans, would ere this have been made to yield largely. Gold silver and copper, iron lead and platinum, mercury and antimony, coal salt and asphalt, potash soda and magnesia, limestone and alum, amethysts emeralds and amber, are all here in profusion. As the Isthmus is approached from the south, gold is found in all alluvial deposits and along all the streams. The natives

PLANTATION SUGAR FACTORY

used to pick it up, string some of it on their person, and throw the rest away; so little was thought of the stuff before the coming of the gold-hungry Europeans’ Large silver mines have been worked there, mostly by Englishmen; there are extensive emerald mines, and out from Panama lie the famous Pearl islands, of which more hereafter. I do not say that there are no healthy places for Europeans in Colombia; it is in the low swampy lands, covered with an ever-living, ever-dying and redundant tropical vegetation that the air is laden with malaria. In the uplands there is a dry and a wet season, but on the Isthmus it rains at any and all times, the sun drawing the moisture upward only to let it drop again from the surcharged clouds. The lower regions are covered with a tangled mass of vegetation, while in the mountains and upland plains are great forests of logwood, brazilwood, the fustic and the india-rubber tree. Cotton grows wild, indigo is indigenous, and of fruits there arc no end. It is unnecessary to enumerate the products of agriculture, which is the leading industry, notwithstanding the mineral resources, for there is scarcely anything which cannot here be easily raised. Manufacturing is of small amount, though weaving, tanning and dyeing are common, and in Bogotá arc factories for making glass, cigars, sulphuric acid, and alcoholic liquors. Panamá hats arc fashioned for foreign as well as home use; but most of the national wealth here so abundant is exported in the shape of raw material. Ecuador, under the equator, the land of burning mountains and trembling valleys, is yet inhabited by man. it is not everywhere hot, the eastern cordillera carrying perpetual snow at a height amid the clouds of 18.000 feet, while of the Quito plain, surrounded by twenty volcanic peaks and 9.500 feet above the ocean, it has been remarked that there is never either spring, summer, or autumn, but each day a combination of all the three. The river and lake systems arc of great extent, and cocoa, coffee, cinchona bark, and india-rubber arc the chief agricultural and vegetable products. Minerals, though widely distributed, arc rarely found in sufficient quantity to be of economic value.

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Bolivia contains the famous high-mountain silver mines of Potosí, which with others in this vicinity have given to the world since 1545 more than $3,000,000,000, the cerro de Potosí alone having been perforated by 5.000 openings of mines. Then there arc the silver mines of Portugaletc Chichas, and Laurani, of Arque Lipez Oruro and Caracoles, besides many placer and quartz gold mines, the copper lead quicksilver and tin mines of Ingavi Potosi and other places, with coal and iron and precious stones, hyacinths and opals in Santa Cruz, and diamonds in Beni. Chili claims for her seaboard all the region west of the Andes and southward from Peru to Cape Horn. The line is dotted with volcanoes, and earthquakes are frequent. There are numerous lakes and rivers here assisting interior communication, and several passes over the mountains lead into the Argentine country. They are open eight months in the year and traversed only by mules, the highest and most frequented being those of Doña Ana. 14,770 feet above the ocean; Colguen. 14,700 feet; Patos, 13,965 feet, and Uspallata, 13.125 feet. Saline and sulphurous mineral waters abound, containing carbonate of lime, bicarbonate of soda, and chloride of sodium. During the early gold-digging era, Chili sent to California hundreds of ship-loads of fluur in 25 and 50 pound sacks. In the cities of South America, the dwellings built by the Spaniards of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries after the Moorish style, adobe and of a single story surrounding a court containing fragrant plants and fountain are giving place to taller houses with projecting upper stories, though throughout the country, and on the haciendas and plantations, the low rambling style of architecture still obtains. Ruins of churches and convents are plentiful, and many of these edifices still remain in good condition. Every capital city has its principal plaza, with diverging streets laid out according to the laws of Charles V and Phillip II, a cathedral on one side and ruler's residence and government buildings on the other. 1'hc Panama cathedral, erected in 1760, is one of the largest. The site of old Panama, two leagues distant, being regarded as unhealthy, upon the destruction of that town by the buccaneers it was rebuilt where now it stands. Asuncion, capital of Paraguay, originally a small fort, became a town of low houses above which towered the ecclesiastical buildings that arose after it was erected into a bishopric in 1547. Caracas, capital of Venezuela, is to some extent governed in style of architecture by its earthquakes; besides the usual public buildings is a national library and three hospitals, one exclusively for lepers. Santa Fé de Bogotá, capital of Colombia, stands high in air on a fertile plain, is well built, and has regular paved streets, though the houses are of whitewashed adobe, and mostly of one story, owing to the severe earthquakes. The cathedral, while its exterior is not imposing, contains some attractions within, especially an image of the virgin adorned with a profusion of precious stones. 'Diere are in the city thirty churches, a congres­ sional capítol, university, three endowed colleges, school of mines, mint, and other public buildings. Sao Sebastiao do Rio de Janeiro, capital of Brazil, is sit­ uated on one of the finest and most picturesque harbors in the world, 16 miles long, two to seven in width, and with 50 square miles of anchorage. The city has 50 churches and monastic buildings, conspicuous among which arc La Candcllaria, built in the seventeenth century, and La Gloria, beautifully situated on an eminence overlooking the bay. The Sao Bento monastery has large possessions in lands and mines, being the wealthiest in the republic. The famous hospital SUGAR FACTORY MACHINERY of Dorn Pedro II. La Misericordia, was built in 1841, as was also a large lunatic asylum. From the gate of what was during the dynasty of the doms the royal palace, runs the principal street, the rua Direita. now officially named the rua Primeiro de Mar?o, on which fronts, besides the convent of Sao Bento, the exchange, custom-house, and post-office. There is an abundant supply of water through several aqueducts, first among which is the one from Tijuca, twelve miles distant, constructed in 1750, and supported in places by a double tier of arches. I here is a national library of 120,000 volumes founded by Joao VI, with several literary and scientific institutions. La Paz de Ayacucho, capital of Bolivia, has still standing many remembrances of the aboriginal Peruvians, not

61.1

THE TOOK OE WEALTH

least among which are the roads. The cathedral here is built of stone. The mining town of Potosí, standing at the foot of the cerro de Potosí, is one of the highest spots on the earth when* man hath built his dwelling, being 13.280 feet above the sea, and the cerro 16.150 feet. There is a mint, and besides the miners' houses the usual church and government buildings. More conspicuous among these surroundings are the churches, con­ vents. and cathedral at Sucré, where is the seat of the archbishopric of La Plata, and the university of Chuquisaca. the name of the place before it was changed in honor of General Sucré. Santiago, the capital of Chili, is on a wide plain, with a rocky hill rising in its centre, the two fortresses that crowned it in former days having now given place to a pleasure-ground, with theatre restaurant and monu­ ments. It has its plaza de la Independcncia, and an .Augustine nunnery founded by Bishop Medellin in 1576; also a Carmelite nunnery, a mint, congressional buildings, the universities of San Felipe and of Santiago, school of arts, musical conservatorio, national museum, military school, school of agriculture, and a national library. For other recreation grounds there arc the Alameda, and a beautiful avenue planted with trees and adorned with statues, among which are those of generals () Higgins, Freire, San Martin, and Carrera. 1 he city was founded in 1541 by Pedro de Valdivia, one of Pizarro's captains. Valparaiso has two floating docks, a chain of forts, naval academy, custom-house, and other political, com­ mercial. educational, and ecclesiastical edifices. There are also here wheelwright works, machine and coach-building and government railway shops; also a refinery for the raw sugar brought from Peru. Valparaiso was founded by Juan de Saavedra in 1536. What was left of the place by Drake and Hawkins, and the Dutch corsair Van Noort, who captured it in 1578, 1596, and 1600 respectively, was well shaken by earthquakes in 1730, 1822, 1839, and 1873; and if that were not enough it was burned in 1858 and bombarded by the Spanish admiral Nuftcz in 1866. when a large part of the city was destroyed. Quito, the capital of Ecuador, is 9.520 feet above sea level, and within five miles of the Pichincha crater. The houses are of adobe or sun-dried bricks, low and squat, while in all the town there is hardly a chimney to be seen, even the public buildings being seemingly fearful of raising their fronts too high in this region of trembling and unstable earth. On the central plaza are Government house with its spacious colonnade, the palace of the Nuncio, and the cathedral with marble porch; but a finer structure than any is the Jesuit college, now occupied in part as a university. Caxamalca is laid out in regular streets, but the houses arc chiefly of mud. The remains of Atahualpa's palace are still to be seen, showing how much better the ancient Peruvians built than the later occupants of the place. The empire of the ancient Peruvians extended, as we have seen, over a much wider area than the pres­ ent republic of Peru. Cuzco was the capital of the incas, and Lima is the modern capital. The former is 11.380 feet above sea level, and on the hill Sacsahuaman, overlooking the city, is the old Peruvian fortress where the incas used to intrench themselves. The streets are well laid out in squares; the houses which border them partake in architec­ ture of the old and the new, the lower portion being of stone, of the massive masonry of the olden time, with a light Spanish superstructure roofed with red tile. In the cathedral, with its lofty towers, is much of interest, and the convent of Santo Domingo occu­ pies in part the site of the aboriginal temple of the sun. Near by is the cabildo, or government house; the university, founded in 1598; the col­ lege of science and arts; and the library and mu­ seum of Peruvian antiq­ uities. '1'he principal plaza of Lima, in which is a beautiful bronze founSTONE-quarry, mazaruni tain, covers nine acres, and fronting on its several sides, arc the cathedral, the archiépiscopal palace, and other imposing structures. The largest of five parochial and 62 other churches and chapels is that of San Pedro, built in 159S, and with 17 altars. 1 he Franciscans have the largest edifice and the Dominicans the finest. Here is the oldest university in America, founded in 1576. There arc also some 80 schools, a public library, many religious and charitable

THE TOOK OF WEAL TH

615

institutions, an amphitheatre for hull fights which will seat 9.000 persons, and statues of Bolivar, who won independence for Peru at Ayacucho and other battle-fields. A thousand purchasers daily attend the market, which is supplied with fish from Callao, and fruits and other foods from various quarters. The chief exports are guano, cotton, sugar, gold, silver, hides, and saltpetre. Francisco Pizarro founded the city in 1535, since which time it has suffered much from wars, pirates, and earthquakes. The houses of Callao, the seaport of Lima, and with the best harbor on the coast of Peru, on account of earthquakes are for the most part built of wicker-work plastered with mud. A walled fortress covering fifteen acres is used for a custom-house, and there are other forts mounted with guns. Here arc the machine­ shops and headquarters in South America of the French German and English steamship lines to Panama, Valparaiso, and Europe. Five docks have been constructed; a large steam sugar refinery and a flour-mill are in operation. Besides guano, which stands first on the list, Callao exports wool cotton sugar hides silver and gold, and imports cattle wheat and lumber. Francisco Pizarro belonged to the basest type of the Spanish adventurer. Of low origin, born in bastardy and suckled by a sow. possessed of unflinching courage and obstinate determin­ ation, he had also the instincts common to a beast of prey. Escaping from his master, a Georgetown, brush guian* swineherd, he fled to Seville, took ship to Santo Domingo, drifted thence to Darien, and finally crossed the Isthmus to Panama. 1 Ie was more than fifty years of age when he started out on his famous expedition to Peru. Through the influence of a priest, Fernando de Luque, and a comrade Diego de Almagro, he obtained money, and the consent of the governor which he first of all required. In a small caravel, with 100 men and four horses, he set sail for Panama on the 14th of November, 1524. Almagro was to follow as soon as he could equip another vessel. For some years past rumors had been current at Panama, gaining in volume as time passed by, of a people toward the south, more opulent and of higher culture than any hitherto found in the Indies, and great were the expectations built upon the issue of this adventure. Bartolome Ruiz had reported the appearance of a balsa, or raft, navigated by lateen cotton sails, and carrying raw wool; he saw also scales for weighing gold. The voyage was attended with unusual difficulties. Provisions gave out; the men mutinied, and some returned to Panama; but with the remainder Pizarro continued on his way. Coasting southward they saw evidences of a superior race. On the shore were verdant fields and populous villages; on the sea floated trading balsas with fish, game, pineapples, cocoanuts, bananas, plantains, and maize; there was also a liberal display of emeralds, gold, and silver. At Tumbez was the first beast of burden seen in America, the llama. A native nobleman, or orejo, so called from the large golden pendants in his ears, came on board with a retinue of attendants. Further advance convinced the strangers that they had indeed discovered the pirates paradise. But how to enter it and take possession? Here was a handful of Castilians, cavaliers and vagabonds, whose chief object was plunder. Yonder was a powerful and wealthy people, with organized government and well drilled armies. Yet the demon of dissension had there been let loose, and this fair land was to be given over to the spoiler. Atahualpa, the reigning monarch, was opposed by Huascar the rightful heir, and while Pizzaro landed and began his march. Atahualpa with 140.000 men was advancing on Cuzco to meet the forces of Huascar numbering 130.000. At Caxamalca. Pizarro requested an interview, which with some hesitation was granted by Atahualpa. After much maneeuvering on the part of the Spaniards to get him into their hands. Atahualpa was seized during a panic caused by the massacre of his attendants. Pizarro was now master of the situation; for among the Peruvians the person of the inca was sacred, and notwithstanding the vast army at hand, none dared to move in his behalf lest, as the captor threatened, the king should die. An exploit so brilliant, and yet so infamous, could scarcely have emanated from the swineherds brain, had not Cortés first put it there. Now for the harvest. “I will fill this room as high as you can reach with gold if you will let me go ’ said Atahualpa. Pizarro stood silent, awaiting a higher bid. “I will also fill yonder room twice with silver” continued the monarch. No further bid being made, the Spaniard concluded that this would suffice for a beginning, and so closed with the offer. Two months were allowed the royal captive in which to collect the metal for his ransom It was understood that hollow vessels were not to be melted down, and all utensils weie to be con­ tributed in manufactured form. Valuable jewels were to enrich the collection, and friendship on the part of both spoiler and victim was to crown the promised ransom. Commissioners were sent forth in every direction to get together the treasure. 'Die royal palaces at Cuzco and Quito, and the temples of the sun throughout the empire

6i6

THE BOOK Ol- WEAL TH

were stripped of their costly garnishings. W hile awaiting this ingathering of wealth, the Spanish soldiers lived like lords; the meanest of them had his male and female attendants, they drank from vessels of gold and had their horses shod with silver; lo the swineherd posing as king of kings’ Yet time dragged; the harvest was so rich and tempting: they might surely help themselves while the inca was helping them. So under the king’s protection, Hernando Pizarro, brother of the chief, with twenty horsemen raided the country round, while three soldiers were sent to Cuzco, where after desecrating the temple and violating the sacred virgins they returned to Caxamalca with 200 cargoes of gold and 25 of silver, the transportation of which required no less than 900 Peruvians. These proceedings delayed the inca’s work, and made it more difficult than he had anticipated; nevertheless the precious piles grew apace and would soon attain the required height. Before meeting the Spaniards Atahualpa had made Huascar prisoner, and the latter now besought Pizarro to release him, promising to give more than his rival had offered for his liberty. Although kept in close confinement Atahualpa heard of it. and had Huascar secretly put to death; thus Pizarro had the mortification LIMA of finding himself outwitted by a manacled barbarian. The promised measure being nearly complete, the Spaniards concluded to melt and divide the treasure. The native artisans to whom the task was allotted were occupied more than a month in running into bars the immense mass of gold and silver collected.—in value 1.326,539 castellanos, equal in purchasing power to $20,000,000 at the present day. “It is the most solemn responsibility of my life" sighed Pizarro, as he seated himself in the golden chair of the inca to preside over the division of the spoils. “May God help me to deal justly by every man, prayed he; after which invocation the pirate’s proceedings might well be watched. First he gave himself the golden chair in which he sat, valued at 20,000 castellanos; then gold bars worth 57,222 castellanos, and 2,350 marks of silver. To his brother, Hernando, was given 31,080 gold castellanos and 2.350 marks of silver, nearly twice as much as was apportioned to Hernando de Soto, who had accompanied the expedition, and who in rank and ability was equal or superior to Hernando Pizarro. Horsemen received each 8,880 castellanos in gold and 362 marks of silver; some of the infantry received half as much, others less. To the church of San Francisco was presented 2.220 castellanos in gold. Fancying that he saw this great empire about to fall in pieces, and that he could better master the situation with the inca out of the way. Pizarro determined to give Atahualpa a fair trial and then to put him to death. This was quickly done, especially the killing, the unhappy monarch accepting baptism as the price of kindly strangulation in place of being burned alive. It is said that the gold and silver obtained by the conquerors at Cuzco after the death of the inca was nearly equal to all that they had previously secured from Atahualpa. being 580,000 Castellanos of gold and 21,500 marks of silver. So much for this piece of trickery treachery and murder called conquest, the progress of civilization, con­ version of the heathen, and the like; let us turn to other things. The ancient Peruvians used to worship, besides the sun, a golden wedge. The incas were not only rulers, but high priests, thus being clothed in both temporal and spiritual power. The walls of their temples were covered with great plates of gold and their public works were not inconsiderable. In constructing the highway. 1.500 miles or more in length and 20 feet wide, through the wild mountainous country from Quito through Cuzco to Chili, heavy Hags of freestone were laid; tunnels leagues in length were cut through the solid rock; bridges were built of plaited osiers and hung swinging in the air; up the precipices stairs were cut. and swamps were filled with solid masonry. Stations were established five miles apart and relays of runners carried government and other despatches with incredible swiftness. They would bring from the ocean shore to Cuzco, a distance of 300 miles, fish that was served for dinner the day after it was caught. Population prior to the coming of the Spaniards was thirty millions, ten times greater than now it is. There was a new apportionment of the land every year, regulated according to the number of persons in the family. This was made in three divisions, one each to the inca. the sun. and the householder, the first two parts being worked by all the people. Mining and manufacturing were conducted

THE TOOK OF WEAL TH

in somewhat similar fashion. Metallic money was not used by the Peruvians, notwithstand­ 'infill ing the abundance of the pre­ cious metals. Placing under review the topics treated in this chapter, we find the climates of South Amer­ Ji ica almost as great in their * " j M variety as the climates of the world. There are the hot seahoards of Colombia, on both oceans, the Darien coast on one side and that of Panama on the other, breathing of miasmatic fevers fatal to foreigners. Venezuela has its three divisions of tierras calientes, or callaidas, tierras templadas, and tierras frias. It is not that the hot region ' is so very hot, ranging only from 8o° to 110o, but rather on account of the decaying vegetation which makes the atmosphere so deadly. The temperate region consists of plateaus standing from 2.000 to 7.000 feet above the sea. with a temperature from 65o to 75o. Here reigns perpetual spring, the air being ever pure and healthy, even the highlands of Quito, Bogotá, Cuzco, and Oruro possess delightful climates. Venezuela has but two seasons, summer, or the dry season, extending from November to April, and winter, or the rainy season, from May to October. The average annual rainfall at Caracas is 330 inches east of the cordilleras. In Ecuador are wooded and marshy regions, and in the west lowlands humid and hot. The great northern lowland of Brazil is very hot, the central and southern highlands are more healthful. In the southern part are the four seasons, though in a less marked degree than in central Europe. In the Amazon valley it is generally hot. The valleys of the Paraná and the Uruguay are cooler, and colder still the highlands, air of Argentina as a whole is good, yet of various temperature. In southern Patagonia the climate is not so bad as in the same latitude of Labrador, and while Chilian Patagonia is deluged, Argentine Patagonia is mostly dry. Uruguay has on the whole a mild and salubrious climate, the temperature of which ranges from 320 to 88°,

ma

LMA CATHEDRAL

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THE HOOK OE WEAL TH

6¡ condition of the country. But after 1845—guano having become a great source of wealth—the people awoke to a sense of the importance of develI oping their resources; improved machinery and methods were employed in the works, and the silver mines began to yield a larger quantity of metal 9 than they had produced in many years. Many new mines have m ,7^ been opened since. The most important silver mines are in Palmaderas, Montes Claros, Carabaya. Jauli. CastroHuayllura, * vireina, Salpo,i, Ancastis, Chilete, and the famous Cerro de Pasco. This last named district produced from 1630 to 1849, §475.000,000. It has been estimated that by means of a tunnel, 100,000 square yards could be opened in the hill, and §500,000.000 more would be obtained. The value of silver mined from 1630 to 1803 has been set down at §1,232,000.000. of which §849,445,500 came from the three lodes

POTOS* S'LVER M NES

THE TOOK OF ITE. IT TH

621

of Pasco, llualgayoc, and Huantaya. It has been said that as late as 1661 silver was so plentiful in Peru that the streets through which one of the viceroys entered Lima was paved with silver bars to the value of $75,000,000. In 1878 the number of registered mines of all kinds was about 15,000, but only about 600 were actually worked. l'he gold and silver mines at present exploited produce about $6,000.000 yearly, but a very small proportion of which is gold. A large part of this yield is used at home. I'he chief quicksilver mines are those of I luancavelita and Chota. Lead. iron, aluminum, sulphur, lime, and magnesia occur in various places. Cobalt and nickel are found in Huanta; marble and alabaster deposits arc extensive in Puno and Ayacucho; the petroleum springs are in Piura; coal exists in several places, and working the beds promotes activity in other indus­ trial pursuits. A great source of Peruvian wealth, since 1836, has been the guano islands. Mining guano on a large scale began in 1840. The deposits yielded to the Peruvian government from $20,000,000 to $25,000,000 a year. As late as 1873 they were reported to still contain guano to the value of $275,000,000 to $300,000,000. Phe fact, however, is that the famous Chinchas are exhausted, and the guano of the Lobos, Macabi, Guafiape, Punta Alta, SANTIAGO Puerto Ingles, Pabellon de Pica, etc., along the southern coast, is inferior in quality. The total amount has been estimated at 1.800,000 tons. Commencing in 1869 with 574,790 tons, the sales declined to 378,663 tons in 1876, 310,042 in 1877, 338,000 in 1878, as appears in private reports. Chili possesses a variety of minerals, many of which are found in large quantities, as gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, iron, zinc, nickel, antimony, arsenic, alum, bismuth, manganese, sulphur, iodine and borate of soda, nitre, coal, cobalt, etc. Copper, silver, nitre, and coal arc the only ones which to some extent pay to work. The mines are not. generally speaking, worked by the most improved methods. While in California and Australia the mining industry has been declining, greater attention being devoted in these countries to agriculture, the reverse has occurred in Chili. In 1877 the mining exports exceeded those of 1876 by S3.407,000. whereas in the agricultural exports there was a decrease of $1,356,000. In 1875 there were upwards of 30.000 men engaged in mining; the products of which industry in 1878 were valued at nearly s18.000.000. An American company in 1877 put extensive works at Catapilco, some 40 miles north of Valparaiso, with the expectation of getting gold from placer deposits to the amount of s 1.000,000 a year during fifty years. 1 he annual mineral yield of Chili is about 160.000 kilograms of silver. 500 kilograms of gold, 40,000 tons of copper, 800,000 tons of coal, 550,000 tons of nitrate. The coal mines of southern Chili have been for sev­ eral years past acquiring a great importance. They extend along the coast from the prov­ ince of Concepcion to the straits of Magellan, including some of the Chiloe islands. I he oldest as well as richest coal beds are south of the river Biobio at Coronel, Lota, and Lebu; they are worked bv the same system employed in English coal mines. Steamers coal at the mouth of the pit, and a great deal of the copper ore that used to be shipped to England for smelting has been for several years past sent to Coronel and Lota for that purpose. The coal production has been growing very rapidly, and may soon average from 2,000,000 to 3.000.000 VALPARAISO tons. There are large works for amalgamat­ ing silver and smelting ores in Copiapo, Chanarcillo, Carrizal. and Guayacan. Of the metal exports of the republic, copper counts for 70 per cent, and silver for 25. Copper mining has lately suffered a setback. Owing to the low price of the metal in Europe, miners were already in 1885 and 1886 turning their attention to gold and silver mining, and a considerable revival in these lines immediately took place. The copper deposits arc almost inexhaustible, it is true, but for various reasons defective mining laws, cost of mining, smelting, transportation to the sea-coast, and freight charges to consuming markets the republic cannot compete with other copper-producing

62 2

177E HOOK OE II E. 17, 7 7/

countries. The chief difficulty is that the mining belt lies in the northern section, as distinguished from the central and southern of the republic, an arid region to which food must be taken from the other two sections; the mines, as a rule, are at considerable altitudes, and the mining methods are exceedingly primitive; then again, there arc no roads lit for the transportation of minerals; and where there are railways the freight rates are too high to be of any benefit to mines of low yield. The country needs cheap railways, and the employment of labor-saving machin­ ery to develop its resources. There are thousands of tons of valuable ore lying on the surface in the old mining fields between Coquimbo and Huasco. awaiting capital and improved methods to yield up its gold, silver, and copper. Miscellany.—“A new world'.” Europeans said; yet America is new and Asia and the others old only in imagination; it was called new by the discoverers just as any old thing is new to those for the first time beholding it. As a matter of fact the so-called western hemisphere isoIder than the eastern in its geological strata, as well as in the works and remains of man. North America has an area of 8,000,000 square miles, and South America 7.000,000. There is but one-seventh of the two Americas not available for cultivation, the six-sevenths of good land being sufficient to sustain a population of 6.000,000,000, which is four times the population of the earth. The present number of inhabit ants does not greatly exceed 125.000,000. Ustariz, Moncada and Navarrete, who give the most moderate estimates of any of the Spanish writers, fix the sum received from America by Spain during the 248 years preceding 1740.it $9,000,000,000. Adding the 70 years of output to the time of the revolu­ tion would bring the total up to about Si 1.500.000,000. Some writers estimated the amount required by Pizarro for Atahualpa’s ransom at 1,500,000 piastres, or dollars, and the pro­ ceeds of the Cuzco plunder at Si0.000,000. Agriculture in ancient times was brought to a high degree of development, the result of centuries of intelligent labor. Inarti­ ficial irrigation the Peruvians had not their equal in the world. From the mountains, where the water was gathered into lakes, aqueducts were constructed of large slabs of freestone, canals cut. and subterranean passages made through the rock, some of these artificial water channels being 500 miles in length. The water car­ ried thus to the parched plains below made fertile the soil, which gave great returns and vast wealth to the nation. High above them, on the most elevated plateaus of the cordillera, wheat ami corn were raised, and vast bands of sheep and llamas grazed. Ascent was made to these rocky heights by steep paths cut often into the side of a perpendicular precipice, while all the way up were terraces of hanging gardens. The wool thus grown, and the cotton raised in the valleys, were woven into fabrics of finest texture and brilliant colors. The palaces of the incas were of granite ami porphyry; smaller houses sometimes of adobe, and usually of one story. The exterior of all buildings was plain, but within, the walls of the larger edifices were rich in plates of precious metals, and in other embellishments. Then- were beautiful gold and silver statues, and plants exquisitely fashioned of the same metals, with metallic birds and lizards, highly jeweled and colored, moving through the metallic foliage. The finest edifice in the empire was the temple of the sun at Cuzco, before mentioned. Coricancha, it was called, meaning the Place of (Sold. Golden is the sun, and here on the western wall hung a golden disk, with rays emanating from a human face; and as the first rays of the morning sun struck the burnished metal, a mirror on the opposite wall carried them in every direc­ tion. until the whole vaulted arch, roof cornice and the innumerable plates and images of gold were bathed in this glowing golden sunshim-. It is said that this golden image of the sun was gambled away in a single night by the soldier to whose lot it hail fallen. As of old, the wealth of Peru at the present time is found in its mineral, animal, and vegetable resources rather than manufac­ tures. In the cordillera are extensive mines of gold, silver, copper, lead, and bismuth, and along the streams placer diggings. The sale of guano from the islands adjacent constitutes the chief source of public revenue. In the province of Tarapacaare great quantities of nitrate of soda, a powerful fertilizer and a source of great national wealth, as also is borax, which, like guano, is a government monop­ oly. Among the many railways constructed and in course of con­ struction is one across the cordillera, which is said to have pre­ sented in the building greater engineering difficulties than did the

Mount Cenis tunnel. Nearly all the European cereals and vege­ tables are successfully grown in Peru, together with many tropical and semi-tropical fruits and plants. Colombia presents a less diversified surface than any other part of South America. Near Ecuador the cordillera divides, enclosing the Magdalena valley, and on tin-western side is the Choco mineral region. Upon the eastern branch are table-lands from 8,000 to 14,000 feet above the sea; at 5 north is perpetual snow, the highest peak here being Tolinia, 18,020 feet. The valleys of the Panama isthmus spread out in plains to the Orinoco. Venezu­ ela is mountainous. One-fourth of Ecuador is but little above the sea. but this is more than equalized in other parts where are valleys from 8,000 to 13.000 feet high, and volcanic peaks from 15,000 to 19.813 feet. As in Mexico, there had been in Peru, when first seen by the Europeans, a civilized people then no longer existing. The children of the sun, that is to say, the people of the incas, took the country from the Aymaras, who had their great temples, palaces, and statues, but who disclaimed being the authors of all this magnificence. The Callahuas, they said, their forefathers, were the true people of the indigenous civilization, and they came from the north, even as had come the Nahuas ami the Mayas, to whom, indeed, they may have been related. The incas built Cuzco, and became great; their people multiplied; so powerful ami numerous they became, that when they wished to fight, all the people around being subdued, it became necessary to divide and fight each other under the leadership of two brothers, for so the gods willed it. By Manco Capac, who founded the dynasty of the incas, were laid the foundations of Cuzco in the middle of the eleventh century. The story is told that a band of the inca's soldiers, heavily laden with treasure which they were carrying to Pizarro, when they heard that Atahualpa had been strangled, buried their loads so that the Spaniards were unable to find them. To this day the natives of the mountains mourn for their beloved inca, who to them was god as well as man. The descendants of the old Peruvians hold strictly to ancient customs; they will not sell their stock in a lump, but only by the usual measure, and on the exact spot in the market-place where their forefathers sold. A Peruvian will steal from the Spaniards, who stole from him all he had: but he will not steal from a Peru­ vian. In the days of the incas, Quito had a population of half a mil­ lion: now it has 50,000. Factories are numerous, including several flourmills; wages of operatives 12 to 25 cents per diem; woolen blankets, average wage 12 cents; sugar refinery, wages 12 to 25 cents; brick, adobe, tile, pottery. 12 cents; silk hats. 25 cents; felt hats, 12 cents. Peru used to employ 4.000,000 llamas as beasts of burden. Under the incas was constructed an aqueduct 360 miles long. The first cat in South America was given by Montenegro to Almagro, who sold it for 600 pesos. Next came a pair of cats which brought a pound weight of gold at Cuyaba. Thrice has the native wealth of Peru brought misfortune upon her; first, when Pizarro overturned the incas ami their people for the gold which they possessed; second, when the revenue from the guano islands, which after 1846 amounted to from $20,000,000 to $30,000,000 a year, brought on reckless extravagance, which, with the war, and the loss of this revenue, left the country $250,000,000 in debt that may never be paid; third, the nitrate of soda bed, four or five feet thick, ami extending along the shore from lati­ tudes 23 to 25 , millions of tons of it, having a present commercial value of from S40 to S60 a ton, and Atacuma alone exporting annually 350,000 tons. This brought on the war w ith Chili, result-

THE TOOK OF W EAL TH ¡ng in defeat and loss of all. It is wonderful, this bed of soft, moist, cheese-like stuff, good for fifty things, and enough to supply the world for ten centuries. What unknown wealth may nature yet have in store, under our feet or over our heads, in the water we drink, or in the atmosphere we breathe! The loss of property in Peru during the war with Chili was very great, among other places the winter resorts of Chorillos and Milleflorcs were destroyed. Houses, public and private, were plundered ; “ The burial of Atahualpa," Marini s great painting, was taken from the walls of the National library, but was returned. The war filled the pawn-shops of Peru with rich and beautiful things in silver, gold, and costly fabrics, many old and wealthy families being deprived of income by the destruction of their property. As an example of personal wealth in South America, the Señora de Cousino. of Chili, may be mentioned. She is estimated as worth $200,000,000, her property consisting of copper mines in various places, potteries at Lota, stock-farms ami vineyards at Macul, and estates of various kinds in various places. The high protective tariff imposed of late years has greatly stimulated manufactures in Chili, where now are made glass, paper, cardboard, earthen pipes, enamelled iron-ware, nails, bottles, ice, cement, chemicals, blasting-powder, locomotives, and steam-pumps, besides too soap factories, several tobacco factories, sugar refiner­ ies, breweries, machine shops, ami saw and flouring mills. Galera, a railway station in Peru, is 15.635 feet above sea­ level, a little less than about one-third of the highest ascent made by a balloon. Mosquitoes are troublesome in South America, so much so that in some places savages torture their prisoners by binding them naked toa tree, where they meet death in horrible agony. The river Volador fairly glitters with gold but no man can gather it but the scaly-skinned lepers. On the Magdalena river boats horsesand cattle sometimes die from mosquito bites. The alligators hereabout are plentiful. In the early fifties •• Honest Harry Meiggs'' slipped out of San Francisco bay in his own schooner, having on board his family, all of his belongings, and more,—some said $250,000 more ami that in coin—but leaving a large amount of unpaid debts. When next heard from he was on the west coast of South America performing marvellous feats in railroad building. He became very wealthy; was highly thought of in Peru ; built himself a magnificent palace in Lima, which was afterward occupied by the presidents, and made overtures to buy forgiveness from the legislature of California, which were not successful. The completion of the Oroya railroad over the Andes to the Cerro del Pasco mines, left unfinished for lack of funds upon the death of Henry Meiggs, was undertaken by Michael P. Grace, of New York, who for finishing the road at a cost of $10,000.000, ob­ tains what has already been built at a cost of $27,600,000 on a 99 years lease at the nominal rate of $25,000 a year. He has besides possession of the Cerro del Pasco mines, which from their discov­ ery in 1630 to the year 1824 yielded 27,000 tons of silver. Total length of road 186 miles, the grading and tunnelling of 50 miles of which were as costly as on any road in the world. Another of Meiggs* roads was the one built for the Peruvian government in 1876 from Moliendo, the first important port south of Callao, to Bolivia, 325 miles in length, at a cost of $135,000 a mile— that is to say, the cost to the government. Western terminus, 14.500 feet or more above the sea. The virtue of the bark of the cinchona tree, commonly termed Peruvian bark, from which quinine is made, as a remedy for fevers, was discovered at an early »lay in Bolivia, then a part of Peru, by a Franciscan friar. The tree was named in honor of the wife of the viceroy of Pern, the countess of Com bona. Indigenous here is also the cocoa plant from which cocaine is made. It is the opium of the Andes, and besides the creative comfort it gives has a sacred character, mingling in many superstitions. The dried leaves aro­ used by the natives of Peru and Bolivia, ami also chewed, w ith a slight mixture of unslacked lime. He who uses the stuff in excess is called bianco coquero, or cocaine fiend. The finest Panamá hats, made on the Peruvian coast from the fibre of the toquilla, or arborescent cactus, and braided under water

623

to retain pliability, occupy six months in the making, and sell for $250 each. The carved ceiling of the inquisition building at Lima, now oc­ cupied by th»- senate, was brought from Spain in 1560. The San Franciscan church ami convent cover several acres, being the larg­ est buildings of the kind in America, ami costing more than the capitol at Washington. The only American saint, patroness of both continents, was a pious woman of Lima, canonized by Pope Clement X in 1671, as Santa Rosa. The cathedral in Lima where lie the bones of Pizarro, cost $9,000,000. During Pizarro's time, besides the $11,500,000 collected at the time of Atahualpa's death, there was further secured nearly $80,000,000. The viceroy, La Palata, in 1661, it is said, on one occasion set forth from his palace on a horse shod w ith gold, and having the hair of mane and tail strung with pearls, the street on which he rod»' to the cathedral being paved with silver ingots. In monetary matters ('hili employs English reckoning; in Brazil the reis is the standard. 4,o»x> of them being equivalent to $1. In Valparaiso, vale of paradise, is great wealth, rich men, ele­ gant residences, and fine shops, as is also the case in Santiago. Vessels can lie safely in the harbor ten months in the year ; for the other two they must remain at sea if they would escape being pounded upon the rocks. Indeed, there is not a good harbor on the west coast of South America, and but two on the west coast of North America south of Puget Sound, namely, those of San Fran­ cisco ami San Diego. rhe city owns the opera house in Santiago, the finest in South America ; ami it is so said of the hotel there, ami also of the hotel at Montevideo. At the beginning of the 19th century the pampas of La Plata were swarming w ith ostriches ami w iki horses, the former being the fleeter runner. Their height was that of a cow, ami their eggs the size of an infant's head. There was a square fortification at La Guarda, with two mounted guns for keeping the savages in check. The undulating heights of Saladillo arc covered with saltpetre which looks like hoar frost. Cordova, the seat of a bishop ami having trade relations with Buenos Ayres and Potosí, had in 1800 a population of 1,500 Span­ iards ami creoles, ami 4,000 negro slaves. The streets were paved, and the cathedral ami market place attracted attention. The plain in which stands the town of Santiago de Estero is white with an incrustation of salt. Nestling amid citron, fig, orange, ami pomegranate trees, on the road from Cordova to Potosí, is the town of Tucuman, where dwell many rich men, who might be richer were they not so lazy ami ignorant. At the shafts of the splendid gold ami silver mines there, not a windlass is used, all the orc being brought to the sur­ face on backs of human pack animals. Potosí churches are rich in silver utensils. Pure native silver is sometimes found in its mines. During viceregal times the king of Spain derived a revenue of $5,000 a year from these mines alone. The mountains around Cuzco arc filled w ith valuable metals. Goki in quartz was so plentiful in Ahnara that the natives by their rude processes used to send gold enough to Lima to get in return 5,000 piastres a month. The swinging suspension rope bridges in Bolivia, sometimes 500 feet long ami spanning chasms a quarter of a mile deep, did not always seem to afford tin- safest transit, particularly after th»- ropes had begun to decay. The quicksilver mines of Guancavelica, in the 18th century, were worked for the king ; there were then 75 furnaces; the prod­ uct r»maining. after waste and robbery, was sold to miners at 73 piastres for too lbs. It was neither difficult nor disreputable, unless caught at it, for tlw adventurers in America to rob the king of Spain of a gotxl share of his revenues, ami it was expected, » ven by the king himself. But as their majesties had robbed the natives, not only of their lands, but of their bodies and souls and all that the land contained, royalty should not complain. At Jauricocha was a mass of silver ore half a mile square ami 15 fathoms deep.

Ó24

THE TOOK OF WEALTH

It) 1789 were coined at the royal mint, Lima, 3,570,000 pias­ tres in silver, and 766.768 piastres in gold. The several viceroys in Spanish America maintained each a splendid court in imitation of royalty at home ; it was deemed fit ting that thus the king should be honored, though In- was often exceedingly jealous of his representative. In early times Spanish galleons alone were permitted to bring European merchandise ami carry awa_\ th«- gold and silver from the mines. The people of Spain becoming apathetic, indolent, and in­ different. instead of manufacturing for the American market bought from other nations, ami so enriched their neighbors to their own impoverishment. New Granada, or as the region round has been officially called since 1861, the United States of Colombia, is, as 1 have said, a country rich in resources but deadly in climate. Every tie used in the construction of the Panamá railway may be said to represent the loss of a human life, ami thousands of Frenchmen died in at­ tempting the digging of the De Lesseps canal. 1 here are many healthy places however in the mountains, but everywhere it is wet and hot. The sun acts as a perpetual pump, lifting up the water from two oceans perpendicularly a short distance ami letting it drop. Bogotá, the capital, is nearly 9,000 feet above the sea, and while perpetual snow covers the high peaks of the cordilleras, along the ocean shores, and in the sections level with the sea, is a vegetation too rank for man to battle with. Cattle and horses artraised there, likewise maize, tobacco, coffee, wheat, plantins, cot­ ton, cocoa, oranges, lemons, and sugar: while cedar, mahogany, cinchona and ipecacuanha are found in the forests; and in the hills silver, gold, copper, iron, lead, anti coal: besides elsewhere emeralds, pearls, and rock-salt. Famous among the towns early established along the shore of the Caribbean sea from the Magdalena river to the rio San'Juan de Nicaragua was Cartagena, rich in the spoils of the natives, the prod­ ucts of the mines, and South Sea commerce. Notwithstanding its walls, 16 feet in thickness, the pirate Morgan found no great difficulty in capturing it. With a sort of poetic justice, though there was little cither of poetry or justice in the nature of the bold villain, he measured out to the unfortunate Spaniards who fell into his hands somewhat of those diabolical cruelties which the Span­ iards had inflicted on the Indians while robbing them of the gold of which they were now robbed by the buccaneers. The old inquisition building at Cartagena is now used as a tobacco factory. The fortifications here, once the finest in Amer­ ica, are still imposing. The old ship canal which used to connect the city with the river is filled with tropical undergrowth. Good land is everywhere in America, but with much bad land intermingled. Somewhat the same may be said of metals, though in more varied «legrec. While on the eastern side the precious metals are scarce, all along the volcanic line of western seaboard, from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska, arc rich deposits of mineral wealth; gold scattered by the streams and massed in the veined sierras, silver in big bonanzas and less conspicuous intermixtures; iron, coal, anil the rest, though in these last thecastern is the richer section. Brazil is an exception to this mineral law regarding the west and the east, its mines of gold ami diamonds being as famous as are those of the western cordilleras for silver. Iron and salt likewise abound, while among the products of the soil, besides the vast areas of grazing lands, are all th«- plants useful to man, the exports being different from different localities; from the north­ ern part hides, horses, and tallow ; from the middle part rosewood, rice, tapioca, manioc, spirits, dyes, drugs, gold-dust, anil diamonds; from the northern part, coffee, cotton, sugar, tobacco, and cocoa. In vegetable products America gave to the world maize, or Indian corn, the yam, tobacco, the potato, ami other edible roots, ami many medicinal plants. Native to tropical America an- cocoa, tap ioca, vanilla, the pineapple, arrow-root, pimenta, and cayenne pepper. Forests of vast extent and inestimable value arc scattered over the continents, pine ami cedar in the north, w ith oak, ash, black-walnut ami hickory, ami in the south mahogany, rosewood, brazilwood, ami various dye-woods. Animals indigeneous lu re are the buffalo, elk, antelope, deer, bear, and a hundred others. Like­ wise there are many varieties of fish, birds, ami insects, some of no small commercial value.

The Dorado, gilded or golden country, which Orellana, lieu­ tenant of Bizarro, pretended to have discovered between th«- Amazon ami Orinoco. Walter Raleigh declared that he saw from Guiana,— so strong were his eyes—ami many pages of rose-colored descrip­ tion were written; but Raleigh's head seemed somewhat astray; in fact he lost it altogether on his return to England. Others place El Dorad«) on the west side of Lak«- Parime, with a great river flowing by, and a capital city called Manoa. An account of the early expeditions to the golden temple of Dabaiba is given in the next chapter. Th«- Panamá railway was the first to cross th«- continent; then followed th«- Central ami Union Pacific, the Southern Pacific, the Northern Pacific, the South American, the Guatemalan, the Tehuantepec, the Mexican, ami the Canadian. Says a French writer, ••!.«- ('anal «1«- Suez «-st l'œuvre de Dieu et «le la France," achieve«! by M. de Lesseps under th«- benign in­ fluence of Napoleon HL On coming to America, France and M. de Lesseps it appears wire left more to themselves, and were obligt-d in dm- time to retir«- before the forces of nature in that poisonous clime. Before De Lesseps’ faillir«- $250,000,000 was expended on the Panama canal. The traffic of the Suez canal is now ten times what it was at first, ami there is talk of enlarging it, or of digging another paral­ lel to it. Between the Tara and Sardinarte rivers, in Venezuela, are oil geysers, where petroleum and boiling water spout up from cylindri­ cal craters. Then there are the Colombia oil fields. A large bed of asphaltum covers the plain of Ceniza. In the ancient city oí Bocatá, the present Bogata, capital of the Chibchans, was a famous temple to the go«! of agriculture, whither twice a year came votaries from near and far with gifts and petitions. There is here among other monuments a fini- statue of Bolivar. La Guayra, seaport of Caracas, was a noted rendezvous for pirates. It was while his ships were lying there that Drake crossed the mountain, burned the capital, and returned with $1,000,000 booty without the loss of a man. There are telephones, electric lights, and street cars in most of the larger cities of South America, besides statues and monuments of patriots ami learned men in great number. When very rich gold mines were found in Venezuela, Great Britain claimed them as belonging to British Guiana. Caracas the capital of the republic was founded by Diego de Losada in 1567. The cuirent coin of Venezuela and its neighborhood is the bol­ ivar, in value a little less than a franc. Guayaquil, the seaport of Ecuador, ships annually $6,000,000 in coffee, cinchona, hides, nuts, am! other articles, ami receives from abroad merchandise to the amount of $19,000,000. The cathedral of Guayaquil is built of bamboo. The catholic church is supreme in Ecuador, owns one quarter of the property, rules the ruler, has 272 feast or fast days a year, ami a church building for every 150 persons. The country is rich in natural resources, but has few improvements; laborers’ wages $2 to Sio a month; men carry 100 pounds of merchandise 285 miles for $2.25. Many of the more mountainous and out of the way places arc visited by peddlers, who carry a pack, trade, doctor men and cattle, and tinker household articles; and so extensive are their travels that they are sometimes four years in making their circuit, during which from time to time they visit the larger tow ns to replenish their pack ami then dive again into the mountains or wilderness. Infamous ingratitude attended the expatriation ot Simon Boii var, the founder of five republics, although his bones ar«- now en­ tombed in marble ami his name not only revered but worshipped. “ He arado en el mar! ’’ “ I have plowed th«- sea,” he exclaimed, as he was left by his countrymen, after delivering them from the three-fold despotism of Spain, themselves, and their neighbors, to «lie in exile anti poverty. On the Pampas back of Montevideo ami Buenos Ayres a cen­ tury ago were wilt! cattle and wiki «logs, the former so numerous that 100,000 were annually killed for their hides, the latter, the Eu­ ropean domestic canine gone astray, living in holes and slaying the wild cattle for food.

CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIA ISLANDS Cleon hath a million acres. Ne’er a «>»«• have 1: Cleon dwelleth in a ]>alace. In a cottage. 1: Cleon hath a dozen fortunes. Not a penny. I: Yet the poorer of the twain is Cleon, and not I. Cleon, true, possessed» acres But the landsc»|M', I: Half the charms to me it yieldeth.

Money cannot buy; Cleon harbors sloth ami dullness. Freshening vigor, 1: He in velvet. I in fustian. Richer man am 1.

Death may come, he’ll find me ready. Happier man am I.

Cleon sees n«» charm in nature. In a daisy, I: Cleon hears no anthems ringing in the s«*a and sky: Cleon is a slave to grandeur. Natur«- sings to me forever. Free as thought am I: Earnest listener. 1: Cleon fees a score of doctors. State for state, with all attendants. Need of none have I: Wealth-surrounded, care-environed. Who would change?- Not I. -CAfo/f.s Mackay. Cleon fears t«» die:

Deux choses sont pernicieuses dans l'aristocratie: la pauvreté extréme «les nobles, et leurs richesses exor­ bitantes. Pour prévenir leur pauvreté, il faut surtout les obliger de bonne heure à payer leurs dettes. Pour modérer leurs richesses, il faut des dispositions sages et insensibles: non pas des confiscations, des lois agraires, des abolition* de dettes, «pii font des maux infinis.- Montesquieu.

Nur klugthfltige Menschen, die ihre Kräfte ken­ nen und sic mit Maas/, und Gescheidtigkeit benutzen, werden es im Weltwesen weit bringen.—(¡oellu. Aurum otnnes victii jam pietate colunt: Auro pulsa fides: auro venalia jura: Aurum lex sequitur. inox sine lege pudor. —Propertius.

NE or more thousand years ago there lived in the mountains and on the table-land of Central America, where the peninsula of Yucatan juts out from the long narrow strip which unites the two ; were it to cost $200,000,000 it would be but a trifle as compared with the benefits which would accrue therefrom to the country. Punta Arenas, on the gulf of Nicoya, stands upon a sandy point, as the name BONI. LA indicates, with a background of dense tropical foliage and grassland. '1 he onestory dwellings with tiled roofs and enclosed in cactus fences, are almost smothered in trees and flowers, magnolia cocoanut palms and papayas, the almond orange and lime, bananas mangoes and tamarinds. Living and the cares of life arc here reduced to a minimum; people may live comfortably in bamboo huts, dressed in cotton, and eating the spontaneous fruits which scarcely require plucking; hence one sees everywhere contented happy faces, happiness and contentment, according to the old saw, depending less on what one has than on what one does not want. Conspicuous here are great coffee warehouses, well filled during the marketing season. I he chief cities of Costa Rica are in the interior; Alajuela, 3,000 feet high; Heredia, San Jose, and Cartago, the last named 5,000 feet high. Coming hither from Punta Arenas, one crosses on a stone bridge the rio Grande, on whose tributaries are mines of coal copper and gold, and near Atenas the gold mines of Aguacate. Alajuela has a beautiful bronze fountain, and San Jose, a marble monument of President Fernandez, and a government university. All around is one vast coffee plantation, conspicuous among which are the lands of Señor Troyo, between Aguas Calientes and Cartago. At the hot springs of Agua Calientes is a large brick hotel with every accommodation for bathers. The larger plantations have mills and factories for shelling, cleaning, and drying the coffee, the machinery being usually run by water power. San Jose is a tropical garden city, embowered in flowers and foliage, the villas of the wealthy being separated by cactus hedges and fences of wild pineapple. Calle del Commercio is the business street, and in or near the grand plaza, here called Central park, are the inevitable cathedral, cuartel, government, pres­ ident’s and other palaces. In the centre of the park is a garden of orchids, a fountain, and paroquets with clipped wings in black gray blue and yellow. The cathedral has a doric façade, dome, and two towers. Within all is white and gold, with a Hr of light colored tile, a band stand, and special worshipping-ground for the soldiers. The hall of congress is in the government palace; crystal chandeliers overhang the chairs and desks, and on the walls are portraits of notable men, as Morazan, Guardia, Carillo, and Soto. There are here, likewise, the buildings of the palace of Justice, and the International club, and, not to be forgotten, MORAZAN the National Liquor factory, where from the juice of the sugar cane arc made aguardiente, or rum; guarapo, a fermentation, the aguardiente being a distillation, and all under government monopoly. The works, enclosed in fortress-like walls, stand on a hill near the railway station, and with engine, fermentation and storage houses, cover two acres. Besides the i,500,000 bottles of the stuff here annually made, and which is but twenty-two per cent alcohol and hence not so strong as common whiskey, imported beer and wine are extensively drunk, and yet the hard-working hard-drinking people carry it all off without any great display of intoxication. For it is only the working men who have money with which to buy drink; the poor fellows who will not work shall by no means taste the sweets of drunkenness. Between 1804 and 1868 the yield of precious metals of the five republics of Central America was estimated at $2 1,200,000, of which $13,800,000 was in gold, and $7,400,000 in silver. Since the latter date the average yearly supply has been roughly computed at $300,000 in gold, and $200,000 in silver. Guatemala is not a mining country, though in the latter part of the eighteenth century the district in the Alotepec mountains yielded large quantities of silver, and between 1858 and 1865, 621,000 ounces were obtained from it. The river sands in the department of Chiquimula are auriferous, and are washed by the Indians. Gold placers in the department of Izabal were also being worked, and there area few very promising silver mines. There are also deposits of lead, cinnabar, coal, kaoline, and marble. In i860 and for some years previously, about $400,000 in bullion was exported annually from Honduras, most of it being gold gathered by the Indians from shallow washings. Silver ores are abundant, being found principally in the Pacific group of mountains, while the gold washings are the most numerous on the Atlantic side. I'he mineral districts in Tegucigalpa, Choluteca, and Gracias are very rich in silver, the chief supplies of gold being from the washings of Olancho; for though gold mines abound in Honduras, only a few have been worked. The Guayape, a tributary of the Patuca, and the Jahan rivers, and the streams running into them are the richest in auriferous sands. In Salvador, the only deposits of precious metals arc found in the portion of the state which is geograph­ ically connected with the mountain system of Honduras. There are rich mines of iron near Santa Ana, and of coal in the valley of the river Lem pa and some of its tributaries, covering a region ioo miles long by 20 in breadth.

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Nicaragua possesses an enormous wealth of minerals which, except on a small scale, have not as yet been developed. Gold, silver, zinc, iron, copper, lead, tin, and antimony are found in abundance, and there arc also deposits of gypsum, marble, alabaster, lime, and saltpetre. The entire northern frontier abounds in silver. Gold veins are found in the cor­ dillera, extending to the San Juan river, the* principal one crossing the Machuca river. The metal is almost pure when washed from the river beds, but when dug out of the earth is more or less mixed with silver. Manufactures are in their infancy in Central America. Since ¡871 the governments of several republics have; endeavored to promote their devel­ opment; but the results, thus far. have not answered expectations. However, they are by no means un­ PLACER GOLD MihiiNG known in the country. In Guatemala good factories have been established for spinning and weaving textiles at Quczaltenango. In Chiquiinula palm-leaf hats, mats, and baskets from the maguey fibre are made. In Vera Paz the Indians make hammocks, bags, rope, etc. But the fact stands officially acknowledged that domestic products cannot compete even in the Guatemalan market with the better and cheaper ones brought from abroad. In Honduras manufactures arc at a very low ebb. Salvador possesses factories for making cotton and silk rebozos, which find a ready market throughout Central America. Hammocks, earthenware, straw hats, cigarettes, sweetmeats, etc., are manufactured. Rum is made, as in Guatemala, from sugar-cane. In Nicaragua there is a total lack of skilled mechanics. The manufacturing industry is as yet restricted to a few articles of home consumption which arc made by Indians, such as pottery, mats, baskets, palm-leaf and maguey hats, cordage and hammocks. The hammocks of Masaya and Sultiaba are good. Some coarse cotton goods arc made, in good repute for their strength and permanent colors. In late years some improved machinery has been imported for refining sugar, ginning cotton, distilling liquors, cleaning coffee, sawing lumber, and extracting fibres. In Costa Rica domestic manufactures mainly consist of furniture, arms, hammocks, nets, cotton goods, and pottery, all on a primitive scale and in small quantity. The government offered subsidies in 1885 for silk culture, and for the manufacture of paper, rcbozos, cotton goods, and sacks. In the succeeding year the following establishments were in operation: Two iron foundries, 58 forges, 7 armories, 72 saw-mills, 2 cotton mills. 252 coffee-mills, 9 sugar, 2 ice, 5 soap, one vermicelli, one oil, one Remington caps factory. 2 breweries, one distillery, 438 iron, and 612 wooden mills, two sculpture workshops, 117 ovens for making tile and brick, 31 lime kilns, besides a number of artisans' shops. The central republics are well provided with roads and bridges, but they are not kept in the best condition. The national highways of Costa Rica, owing to the destructive action of the winter rains, are often in a dilapidated condition. It is due to the government, however, to say that it endeavors to improve them. In Nicaragua, the public roads arc fit only for mule travel, except at short distances from the chief towns, which wagons can traverse. In the rainy season they are almost impassable. 1 he same is to be said in regard to those of Honduras. Much has been done, however, in recent years toward improving the roads, and constructing bridges. Salvador has been for some years past macadamizing her highways. Guatemala is well provided with roads and bridges, and derives a revenue from tolls, which is expended in repairs, and in constructing new roads and bridges. The first line of railway built in Guatemala, that from San Jose to the capital, via Escuintla, 69 miles, went into operation in September 1884. Another line, from Champerico to Rctalhuleu, 30 miles, was opened in December 1883. A newline, from the port of Santo Tomas to Gualhos, was begun in September 1SS4. During the administration of President J. Rufino Barrios, measures were adopted to connect by railway the capital with the Caribbean sea, intending at the same time to build a line from Coban to the Polochic river. Barrios untimely death put a stop to such projects for a time. Telegraph lines intersect the republics, and are the property of the several governments. I he construction of telegraphic lines began about 1870. A submarine cable, extended from the port of La Libertad to Panama, furnishes rapid telegraphic communication between Central America and the outer world. I nder the treaty of amity, commerce and navigation existing between the United States and Guatemala, the vessels of either nation are admitted into the ports of the other on the same footing as national vessels. I he coasting trade is reserved to the national flag. Honduran vessels arc placed at the ports of the United States on the same footing as those of the latter, with respect to duties, imposts, and charges. Upon the arrival of a vessel at a port of Honduras she is visited by an officer of the customs, who demands her clearance from the port of departure, and information on the nature of her cargo. The master must produce within twenty-four hours a manifest in triplicate of the cargo to the chief officer of the custom house. The treaty existing between Salvador and the United States stipulates that the vessels of either nation, no matter where they come from or how laden, shall be treated at the ports of the other, as regards tonnage.

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THE HOOK OE I IE. IL TH

light dues, or any other charges whatsoever, as national vessels. Any favors granted to any other foreign nation by either of the contracting parties, will apply equally to the other. With respect to import duties, imports into Salvador on vessels of the United States, no matter whence the merchandise came, or what its origin is, must be subjected to the same duties, charges, and fees, as similar imports in vessels of Salvador; and if these imports consist of articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, they cannot be made to pay higher or other duties than other similar imports, the growth, produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country. The same rules apply in ports of the United States to imports on Salvadoran vessels. Nicaragua is entitled by treaty with the United States to have her vessels and their cargoes treated at the ports of the latter on the footing of the most favored nation. This stipulation is equally applied to American vessels in Nicaraguan ports. Costa Rica and the United States have a treaty which places the vessels and cargoes of either country on the footing of the most favored nation at the ports RIVAS of the other. But in Costa Rica, rum, fire-arms, and munitions of war cannot be imported without a permit from the Costa Rican government, previously obtained. Tobacco, gunpowder, and saltpetre can be introduced only on government account. During the last quarter of the last century and the first quarter of the present one, Europe was forced to release from her clutches no inconsiderable part of the foreign domains taken from others. England lost the United States; Spain lost all her American possessions save Cuba and Porto Rico; Holland lost the Cape of Good Hope; Erance lost her best colonics, but the hungry’ and fast-breeding hordes of Great Britain and other avaricious and not too Christian nations of Europe, lighted like birds of prey on certain parts of Africa and Asia, and fastened with their talons perpetual slavery’ upon the defenceless inhabitants. War was everywhere; men so like to butcher men. A continental blockade paralyzed commerce, and compelled most nations to import their colonial products, and also their cotton by’ way of Russia and I urkey. On the restoration of peace in 1815 trade revived, notwithstanding the obstacles thrown in its way’ by a line of internal custom houses, and the commercial policy’ adopted bv the several nations. 1 he most important measure for developing German commerce was the zollverein, or customs union, initiated by Prussia in 1833. One of the most potent elements of prosperity in trade is rapidity of communications, and of transportation. This desideratum has been attained bv the construction of railways and telegraphs, while other fac­ tors are the improved machinery and methods applied to the development of agriculture and manufactures. Commerce has likewise been benefited by the removal of many pernicious obstructions. Great Britain, for instance, put an end to the monopoly of the East India company, abolished the duty’ on foreign cereals, and reduced her tariff rates, thus securing for her trade an enormous development. The United States followed her closely in some GOLD MINES. CHONTALES points with similar results. The Hispano-American republics, after encountering almost insurmountable difficulties in consolidating their institutions, at last inaugurated an era of peace, which promises to be lasting, and their commerce has been keeping pace with the rapid development of their agricultural and other industries. Brazil has also made vast strides in supplying the markets of the world with her staples, especially with coflee. Great Britain, chiefly, France in the second rank, and Germany’ in late years, have had almost the entire control of the Mexican, and Central and South American demand for manufactured goods. The United States have not made such progress in this direction as their position and other circumstances permitted. On the 15th of April, 1887, the treaty concluded at Guatemala, between the five republics of Central America was officially published. The aim of the diet there assembled was “ to establish an intimate relationship between them, and by making the continuance of peace certain, to provide for their future final fusion into one country.” The treaty contains 32 articles: The first article declares that there shall be perpetual peace between the republics; all differences shall be arranged, and when not possible by mutual agreement, then referred to arbitration. In the case of armed disputes between two or more, the rest arc to maintain the strictest neutrality. All the republics bind themselves to respect the independence of the others, and to forbid the preparation in any one of expeditions to assail any of the others. Article six gives to the citizens of the different states similar

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THE TOOK OE ITE. IT T//

privileges and rights throughout all of them. Constitutions must be amended to this effect. Article seven stipulates that the citizens of any Spanish-American republic may become naturalized after one years residence, and natives of other countries after three years’ residence. Article eight exempts the citizens of one republic from military or naval service in another, anti from forced loans or military con­ tributions, and in no case are they to be obliged to pay ordinary or extraordinary taxes other than those paid by the natives of the state. Articles thirteen to seven­ teen are intended to establish a recip­ rocal freedom of navigation between the five countries; equality in port priv­ ileges; civil, commercial, and criminal suits are placed on the same footing in the several republics. Article twenty-seven provides that the contracting parties will endeavor peacefully so to frame matters GOLO M N NG. HONDURAS as to render possible the ultimate con­ federation of the five republics. Article thirty calls upon the governments of the different states to respect the democratic principles of the several constitutions, and always refuse to support second presidential terms. The population of the five republics of Central America may be estimated at about 3,070,000; like that of Mexico, it is made up of many mixtures, with these differences, that in Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador, and Nicaragua, the pure Indian element largely predominates, and in Costa Rica the white. Under a decree of President Barrios of Guatemala, dated in December, 1879, an excellent system of public instruction was established, compulsory as well as gratuitous, and embracing the following branches: Reading, practical rudiments of the country’s language, the knowledge of objects, writing, linear drawing, geography and history, ethics, and good mnnners. Facilities are also afforded for gratuitous instruction in Spanish grammar, book keeping, elements of natural history, geography and history of Central America, together with other complementary branches. There are institutes held for teachers at three places each year, which teachers arc expected to attend, in order to profit by the new information which will be laid before them connected with their especial calling. It is understood that the teachers are ambitious to acquire the utmost efficiency. Miscellany.- Summing up the resources ami wealth of Cen­ tral America we find in abundance gold, silver, tobacco, sarsa­ parilla, sugar, cocoa, indigo, and dye-woods. Costa Rica is conspicuous in her exports of coffee, hides, and cedar, of the first of which there are twenty-five or thirty million pounds annually. Nicaragua has mines of the precious metals, ami has also copper iron and lead. The fruits of the tropics here abound, exports of sarsaparilla, aloes, ipecacuanha, ginger, copal, gumarabic, and caoutchouc being prominent. The minerals of Honduras arc gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, platinum, antimony, zinc, and cinnabar ; there are likewise coal, marble, opals, amethysts, lime-stone, chalk, and asbestos. The timber is very valuable; then to all the usual tropical productions may be added beans potatoes ami wheat. Guatemala exports coffee, sugar, wheat, tobacco, india-rubber, cinchona, indigo, and mahogany. The soil of Salvador is ex­ tremely fertile, and sends forth balsam, indigo, sugar, cotton, cocoa, spices, and turpentine, as well as some silver and iron, al­ though the mineral wealth is not great. In the early part of the present century cattle were the mainstay of the large estates in Central America, but the great staple was indigo. Sugar ami raspadura were also important crops, but a yet more valuable one was corn. Some tobacco was also grown. The cocoa plantations had ceased to exist. The cultivation of jiquilite, cochineal, ami vanilla had also declined. Seeing this, the Guatemalan government passed laws for the protection and development of agriculture, and soon a change became visible. Coffee and sugar came to the front, and are now the chief source of wealth in the country. Other staples likewise assumed importance. There is a sugar-cane indigenous to Honduras; the soil on both coasts is adapted to cotton; there is also much good coffee and tobacco land. So it is in all these repub­ lics; the possibilities in every direction are great, and development is progressing. Mount Merendon, in Honduras, was long cele­ brated for its gold and silver mines. Up to the middle of the present century, mining was the chief industry; then, owing largely to political disturbances, many mines were abandoned, the owners

becoming proprietors of great grazing estates. Between 1850 and i860 the natives collected annually from shallow washings gold to the value of $400,000. There is this peculiarity in regard to met alliferous deposits; while silver orcs are most abundant on the Pa­ cific side, placer gold, if not deep diggings are mostly on the At­ lantic side. The mineral districts in Gracias, Tegucigalpa, and Choluteca are rich in silver, and in some places there are opals and amethysts. One mine yielded 58 per cent of copper and 80 ounces of silver to the ton. The placer mines of Olancho are prominent in Honduras. Guayape and Talan rivers and tributary

HACIENDA COFFEE WORKS

streams are rich in auriferous sands. The southern districts bor­ dering on Nicaragua have rich placers. The laws of New Spain are here in force; foreigners are allowed to work mines. At Izabal, in Guatemala, gold placers are extensively worked, and there are in­ dications of large silver deposits. In Quczaltenango is quicksilver. Nicaragua has great mineral wealth, as yet but slightly developed, although the laws favor mining by natives and for« igners. Nearly

648

THE HOOK OE H'E.I/.T//

all the metals here abound. There are deposits of copper lead and iron pronounced inexhaustible. There is some little quick­ silver here. The mon- famous mines of this republic are the Ticaro, Santa Rosa, Achuapa, San Francisco, Potosí, and Corpus. There are others as good or better which have not yet come into notice. Salvador has large iron deposits near Santa Ana, and the silver mines ( Tabanco, Encuentros, Sociedad, Lomo Larga, Divisaderos. Capetilla, and the minas de Tabanco groiq». Although Costa Rica is called the rich coast, it has less mineral wealth than any other of the five republics. There are gold mines near Pan­ amá, in the Agínate Sierra, and at cuesta del Tosote. There are unquestionably mineral deposits on the Isthmus; there is gold in Darien, and elsewhere, from ocean to ocean, but it is guarded by jungle, morass, and deadly malaria. The Santa Cruz de Cana be­ gan to lx? worked during the latter part of the 17th century. All these countries have mints for coinage. During the century Cen­ tral America has probably given to the world $25,000,000 in gold and $15,000,000 in silver. From first to last the output of pre­ cious metals by the United States of Colombia has been about $750,000,000. While at work on their great interoceanic canal, the French had commercial possession of the Isthmus; they gave impetus to trade, increased population, and brought into use their decimal system as applied to weights measures and money. In some of the early books on America are pictures of the natives pouring molten gold down the throats of the Spanish con­ querors, ami saying “Eat, Christian, eat: take thy fill of gold!" The question arises, Did these savages of Central America ever hear of Marcus Licinius Crassus, surnamed the Rich, one of the Roman triumvirate who sought to make himself master of Parthia. but failed, ami being brought before Orodes, had molten gold poured down his throat, his captor saying, “Sate thy greed with this, thou hungry hound:’’ or of Manlius Nepos Aquilius, who was put to death by Mithridates by pouring melted gold down his throat—did the savages of Central America ever hear of this, or were they of as original bent of mind as the o!ur its rays! Th«* cataract, t hrough rocky cleft t hat roar», I view, with growing rapture ami amaze. Astrologer The sun himself is purest gold: for pay Ami favor serves the herald, Mercury: Dame Venus hath bewitched you from above, Early ami late, she looks on you with love: Chaste Luna’s humor varies hour by hour: Mars, though he strike not. threats you with his (tower: And .Jupiter is still the fairest star: Saturn is great, small to the eye ami far: As metal him we slightly venerate, Little in worth, though |M>nderous in weight. Now when with Sol fair Luna doth unite, Silver with gold, cheerful the world and bright! Then easy 'tis to gain whate’er «»ne seeks; Parks, gardens, palaces, ami rosy cheeks. MEI’IIISTOPHELES can I not enough declare,

What wealth unowned lies waiting everywhere: The countryman. who ploughs the land, Gold-crocks uplurncth with the mould; Nitre he seeks in lime-walls old. And flndeth, in his meagre hand. Scared, yet rejoiced, rouleaus of gold. How many a vault upblown must be, Into what clefts, what shafts, must he Who doth of hidden treasure know. Descend, to reach the world below! In cellars vast, impervious mad«*, Goblets of gold he sees displayed, Dishes and plates, row after row; There beakers, rich with rubies stand. Plutus Now is the time the treasure to set five' The lock I strike, thus with th«* herald’s rod; 'Tis ojicned now! In blazing caldrons, see. It bubbles up. ami shows like golden blood: Next cniwns. ami chains, and rings a precious dower: It swells and fusing threats the jewels to devour.

HATEVER if any intercourse there had been between Asia and America in ages gone by. it l is certain that the occupants of the Mexican and Central American table-lands had made no inconsiderable strides toward wealth and civilization before the coming of the Spaniards. Nor was the culture of the Aztecs, that is to say of the people inhabiting the valley ol Anahuac with the city of Mexico as their capital, by any means the highest or the oldest, In the mountains which separate Guatemala from Tabasco and Chiapas, and on the lowlands toward the east and west, a people lived, their superior in culture if we may judge by their architectural remains, of whom they knew nothing. The Toltecs it is said. 500 or 1.000 years before the downfall of Montezuma, came in from the north, paused for a time in the valley of Anahuac, then proceeded to the southeast, finally passing out of sight. Montezuma II was emperor of the Aztecs. His rule was absolute from sea to sea, extending southward to the Mayan boundary and northward indefinitely. He was god as well as man, priest as well as king. There was none greater than he in heaven or earth, the emperor being ever the most potential of men. while the gods themselves were but dead emperors. His capital city was called Mexico Tenochtitlan, and stood in the marshes of the valley of Anahuac, where in 1325, hard pressed by the Culhuas, the Aztecs had taken refuge. Behold* ing there the divine symbol, on a nopal an eagle holding in his beak a serpent, they knew that their wanderings were over. Gathering stones and driving in piles they prepared a foundation, first for a temple, then for houses of stone and adobe, with tile or thatched roofs; likewise palaces and gardens, and finally causeways from their island home to the firm land, with floating gardens on the surrounding waters. 649

650

THE HOOK OF H E. IF ///

So the citv grew, each succeeding ruler adding to its comforts and beauties, until 60,000 houses with 300,000 people covered a circumference of twelve miles of this marsh-land. I'10m the great temple-court, cast, west, north, and south ran a broad avenue, covered with cement, three of them connecting with the causeways. len horsemen might ride abreast on these causeways, which were made with piles filled in with dirt and stone, having drawbridges 1 he fourth causeway led to and breastworks, and paved with stones laid in mortar. Chapultepcc, and supported the aqueduct which supplied the city with water. 1 he tom parts into which the city was thus divided was traversed by canals, bordered by quays, and provided with basins, locks, customs offices, and drawbridges, on which was conducted the traffic of city and country. A levee encircled the southern part of the city, which was a montezum* 11 place of resort for the people, as well as a great business mart, merchants bustling about o\ei cargoes of merchandise during the day, and promcnaders enjoying the fresh evening breezes from the lake. There were many markets, the largest being twice the size of the square of Salamanca, and surrounded by porticos in which 60.000 persons found joom to sell and buy. And larger than this was the market place at 1 latelulco, in the middle of which was a square stone terraced structure, thirty feet long and fifteen feet high, which served as a theatre. Many fountains in various parts of the city were fed by the Chapultepcc aqueduct, which consisted of two pipes of masonry, resting on a solid support five feet high and five feet broad, and each carrying a volume of water equal in bulk to a man’s body. I wo stone statues with lances and shields, representing Montezuma and his father, guarded the spring on mount Chapultepcc whence the water for the aqueduct was obtained. Along the city border were lighthouses to guide the canoes which brought supplies to the metropolis; the city streets were lighted cortes by burning braziers and from turret and tower flamed beacons equal in strength and brilliancy to any electric light of modern times. The temples and public edifices were cleansed at intervals, and i.ooo men kept the canals in order and swept and sprinkled the streets all the day. In the valley of Anahuac were fifty other towns and cities, scattered about the borders of the lakes, while beyond this sacred centre were a thousand other places and peoples who bowed the head to the Aztec monarch and paid him tribute. Next in fame and rank to Mexico Tenochtitlan was lezcuco, which, if the pious Torquemada may be believed, contained 140,000 houses within an area of four leagues round. bine straight streets lined with elegant buildings intersected the six divisions, while on the border of the lake, on a triple terrace, stood the old palace as it had stood for a century guarding the city, the new palace, a magnificent building containing 300 rooms, and which had employed 200,000 men in the construction, occupied the ground about the northern end of the lake. The little republic of Tlascala, where dwelt the only people who for hundreds of leagues around dared defy the great Montezuma, had thrown a wall of stone and mortar along their boundary from mountain to mountain, the other side of their small domain being defended by breastworks and ditches. In one of their several temples, 400 Spaniards with their attendants found ample room. I might mention many other Nahua cities of repute, but must pass on with general description only. There was little variety in the style of architecture, one story adobe being the rule, or perhaps of the more pretentious two stories all or part of stone; exteriors all plain, adornment for the display of the wealth and taste of the owner being lavished on the interior alone. The dwellings of the nobility frequently stood on terraced heights in spacious grounds, two great halls and several reception rooms being in front, with house­ hold and sleeping rooms in the rear. The courts, of which there were several, were surrounded by porticos with porphyry, jasper, and alabaster decorations. The temple which the emperor Ahuitzotl erected to the god Huitzilopochtli over the stone whereon grew the sacred nochtli which had been pointed out by the oracle, and from whose summit Cortes looked down upon the scenes of his conquest, stood in the great central square of the city. In form it was an oblong parallelogramic pyramid 375 by 300 feet at the base, and 250 by 25 feet at the top, rising in five superimposed perpendicular terraces to the height of 86 feet. A square thick wall eight feet high and 4,800 feet in circumference, of stone and lime RUINS ABORIGINAL C VlLlZAT ON plastered and polished, crowned with battlements in form of snails and turreted and adorned with stone serpents, enclosed the temple yard, flagged with large flat stones plastered and polished. The lower part was of masonry, the upper part of wood, with windows to which access was had by means of moving ladders. In the lower part were sanctuaries, dedicated, one to Huitzilopochtli and one to Tezcatlipoca. Shielded from vulgar gaze by rich curtains hung with tassels having golden pellets which rang like bells with every movement, the gigantic images of the gods stood on large stone altars in all

THE FOOK OF HEALTH

651

their monstrous grandeur. Walls and ceilings were painted and stuccoed, while the carved wood-work and gold and jewel decorations of the interior, if the bishop Las Casas speaks truly, exceeded Thebes’ famed temple in beauty and grandeur. Ascent was made by stone steps, and at the eastern end of the summit were two threestory towers 56 feet in height, while a painted wooden cupola adorned the roof. In the upper rooms were stored the ashes of departed kings and nobles; here also were idols, and instruments used in the service of the temple, including the great snake-skin drum whose sombre note was heard two miles away as it struck the death-knell of some victim of war or religion. Here also were chapels on whose stone hearths the perpetual fires were tended by virgins and priests. Within the temple's enclosures were some seventy small edifices, for various religious services, having 600 stone receptacles for the everlasting fires which Hared before gods day and night. There Tlaloc had his temple, and the good Quetzalcoatl, and many others. Outside of these sacred precincts were many more temples and chapels devoted to the worship of the gods, Torquemada says 360, while Clavigero is willing to testify to 2,000. And all over the land they were scattered, as later were those of the Spaniards which took their place. Some were larger even than the great temple of Mexico Tenochtitlan, as those of Cholula and Tezcuco, the latter being three steps higher. Among the great palaces of Anahuac were the royal palace in Mexico, the palace of Chapul tepee, the palaces of Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, and the Tol­ tec palaces. Montezuma’s palace was an extensive pile of low irregular buildings, enclosing three plazas, and made of huge blocks of tetzontli cemented with mortar. Fountains played incessantly in the squares, on which opened twenty doors, each having above it sculptured in stone the arms of the Mexican kings, an eagle hold­ ing in his talons a jaguar. Besides the great hall where 3,000 men might comfortably meet, and on whose terrace-roof thirty horsemen might go through the spear exercise, were 100 other halls and apartments, with gardens, fountains, baths, ponds, and basins; a harem of 3,000 women, armory, granaries, storehouses, menageries, and aviaries, the walls and floors of the rooms many of them faced with polished slabs of marble, porphyry, jasper, obsidian, and white tecali. lofty columns of the same fine stones supporting marble balconies and porticos covered with fine carvings and holding a grotesque head. The beams and casings were of carved cedar and cypress put together without nails. The roofs were a series of terraces; mats of fine workmanship covered the marble floors, while the tapestry and curtains were of delicate texture, elegant design, and brilliant colors. In 1,000 golden censers which hung in halls and corridors burned spices and perfumes. In some respects the palace of the Tezcucan king surpassed that of Montezuma. The buildings of the royal residence, law courts, and public offices covered an area of 3.700 by 2,900 feet, and around all was thrown a strongly cemented adobe wall, from twenty to thirty feet high, standing on a concrete foundation six feet wide. In the palace yard was a tennis court, and without the wall a large market; leading from the royal apartments were pleasure gardens with labyrinthian walks, and filled with birds of every hue and species throughout the land, ponds of fishes and cages of animals. The favorite coun­ try residence of King Nezahualcovotl was at Tezcozinco. ancient palace of m.tla on a conical hili, ascent being by a winding road between high hedges, and also by 520 steps cut in the natural rock But all this magnificence had been before surpassed by the Toltec monarchs who preceded the Aztecs in their occupation of Anahuac, as witness the sacred palace of that mysterious personage, the Toltec priest-king, Quetzalcoatl, which had four great halls, facing the four cardinal points,—the hall of gold, the hall of emeralds and turquoises, the hall of silver and sea-shells, and the hall of red jasper—so they were called because the several apartments comprising these main divisions were lined with plates of gold, or of silver, or their rich carvings adorned with the jewels and precious stones whose names they bore. Even yet another palace had the great god Quetzalcoatl, feather-work tapestry taking the place of gold and jewels in the respective divisions, one being yellow, one white, one red, and one. rarest of all. blue, the feathers being taken from the bird xiuhtototl. And now woe to this people because of their deity! Well had he wrought out for them civilization and the blessings of peace, and well had they repaid him in faith and good works, in the adoration of the heart and the labor of the hands. Long, long ago Quetzalcoatl, the Christ of the Aztecs, had said to his people,

652

THE BOOK OB ITIHU/TH

“I go away, but I shall come again; and he came not. Many weary cycles they had waited, and still they believed on him, confident of his coming. And when they saw approaching their shore while sails upon the water, har­ binger of their hopes, winged messengers from the cast, in hushed breath they said “Behold, he comes! he comes! Then opened they their hearts and doors to him, and received alas! not their own good god, but the demons of Christian civilization. 1 hey were led by Hernan ( ortes, an adventurer from Estremadura, Spain, who had tricked the governor of Cuba into giving him command of the expedition, and then tricked him out of the profits aris­ ing from it; tricking the monarch of Mexico by the vilest perfidy out of his kingdom, and all the while tricking himself in the belief that he was serving the God of heaven, in the name and through the intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was before Pizarro had ever thought of Peru; indeed the conquest of the inca was but a vulgar imitation of the conquest of Mexico. 1 he latter may have been as great an infamy, and indeed was so. but it was not planned and consummated in MEXICAN P.CTURE WRITING quite so beastly a manner. It had, moreover, the merit of originality; Cortes was in every way a better man than Pizarro the swineherd, and that is not saying much for him. With twelve ships and 617 men, besides 200 Indians and sixteen horses, Cortes sailed from C uba on the 1 Sth of November, 1518, escaping the now suspicious governor. Velazquez, who had advanced a portion of the 20,000 ducats necessary to fitting out the expedition, and who too late began to distrust the commander whom he had appointed. Crossing to Yucatan, Cortes sailed northward along the coast of Mexico, as Juan de Grijalva had done shortly before, and came to Vera Cruz, where after he had looked about him somewhat, he sunk his ships, that none of his followers might turn back, and plunged into the interior. Meanwhile Montezuma from his capital had seen through the eyes of his messengers the strange sight upon his seas, and doubted not that it betokened the return of the long-absent Quetzalcoatl, come to claim his own. Through this superstition the ingress of Cortes to the heart of the empire was made easy. For Montezuma was a mighty monarch, and could as easily have crushed this handful of interlopers as he could have killed a fly, had not the gods willed it otherwise. Behold him as he sits at table! He is alone, reclining on a leathern cushion covered with furs, in the large dining-hall of the palace. If the weather is cool, behind a screen of carved gold burns a charcoal of bark emitting a pleasant perfume. I he dinner-service is of the fine ware of Cholula, with goblets of gold and silver and certain dishes of shells. Nothing can twice be used by the king: therefore the solid gold service is not brought out on all occasions. From everv kind of food that land and water can sup­ ply the monarch may choose; fish fresh from the ocean, 200 miles distant, are brought every day by relays of runners, and there are cunning cooks among the Aztecs. Three hundred dishes are brought in at every meal by pages of noble birth, and placed in silence on the floor beside the sovereign, who thereupon indicates of which he will partake, and the others arc removed. MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES Women likewise attend,

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653

and aged lords, wise coun­ sellors, and jugglers, and jesters, and all the folly and paraphernalia of roy­ alty elsewhere. After dinnet smoke and siesta. And so the story of gran­ deur continues until one tires of it. Passing for our present purpose the gov­ ernment, aristocracy, laws, land tenure, priesthood, science, art. literature, in­ dustries, social relations, and the rest, let us pause and sec how taxes and tribute are paid, for here we can best learn their ideas of wealth. Twentynine cities were appointed to provide the household C TY OF MEX CO of the king of Tezcuco with every requisite of food and furniture, and hence were exempt from other taxes. Manufacturers paid tax with what they made; merchants with what they dealt in; tillers of the soil paid taxes in labor or in kind. The towns contributed cotton garments, bundles of fine colored feathers, sacks of cocoa, tiger-skins, birds of certain kind, gold, cochineal, emeralds, liquid amber, loads of india-rubber, lime, reeds, honey, yellow ochre, turquoises, leaves of paper, gourds, mats, stools, fire-wood, building-stone, copal-gum, live eagles, in fact whatever was of value which the person or state possessed. “The people of Tlateluco,” says Purchas, “were charged for tribute alwaycs to repair to the Church called Huiznahuca. Item, fortie great Baskets (of the bignesse of half a Bushel) of coccoas ground, with the Meale of Maiz (which they call Chianpinoli) and euery Basket had sixteenc hundred Almonds of Chianpinoli. Item, eight hundred burdens of great Mantels. Item, cightie pieces of Armour, of slight Feathers, and as many Targets of the same Feathers, of the deuices and colours as they arc pictured. All the which tribute, except the said armes and targets, they gauc eucry 24 dayes.” Among the Mayas, the civilized aborigines of Central America, the system and the articles paid in were much the same. Montezuma had no desire to see Cortes, even though he were the true Quetzalcoatl, of which the Aztec king persuaded himself he was in doubt, hoping against hope, hating to receive, fearing to deny; and if indeed this were not the fair god himself but some interloping alien, peradventure he might be bought off with gifts; so he sent him word, and begged him to be gone, and laid presents at his feet, thirty bales of cotton fabrics, from gauzy cur­ tains to heavy robes, white colored plain and figured, interwoven with feathers or embroidered with gold and silver thread; feathers and plumes of all colors, embroidered sandals and marasite mirrors. All these however, were trifles beside the gold, the beautiful glittering gold which was disclosed, and likewise the silver. First there was a disk of the yellow metal, representing the sun with its rays as large as a car­ riage wheel, ten spans in diameter, ornamented in DRAINAGE CANAL, VALLEY OF MEX.CO demi-rclief and valued at J

654

THE TOOK OF WEALTH

3,800 pesos de oro. A companion disk of silver, of the same size and equally ornamented, represented the moon. Then there were thirty golden ducks, golden dogs lions monkeys and other animals; ten collars, a necklace with over a hundred pendant rubies and emeralds, twelve arrows, a bow with cord stretched, two staves each five palms in length; fans, bracelets, and other pieces, all these of fine gold besides others of silver. To a previous mes­ senger from Montezuma. Cortés had said when he handed him a soldiers helmet, “Take it and bring it back filled with gold-dust, that we may show our emperor what kind of metal you have; and now behold it here! the crown­ ing gift of all, the gilt helmet returned full of virgin gold, fine dust and coarse, with a plentiful mixture of nuggets of various sizes and shapes, all fresh from the placers; 3,000 pesos the value, not so very much, but as 1 orquemada remarked “it was the gift which cost Montezuma his head.’ As Cortes approached the capital, a personage rep­ resenting himself as the emperor came forward with a present of 3.000 pesos, and a promise of four loads of gold, and for each of his officers and men one load, if the strangers would depart. It was a pathetic struggle on the part of Montezuma between self-love and duty, absolu­ jrjraw.ar. tism and religion, but it was impossible for him to shift the archbishop of Mexico responsibility upon another. Cortes soon learned that this was not the true emperor, and for obvious reasons he was determined on a meeting with Montezuma. On the morning of the 9th of November, 1519, the Spaniards mustered for the entry into Mexico. Not far from Iztapalapan they came upon the longest causeway, two leagues in extent. About half a league from the city the causeway formed a junction with the road from Xochimilco, where a stout battlemcntcd wall, ten feet in height and surmounted by two towers, guarded the two gates for entry and exit. Entering here the Spaniards were met by a procession of over ¡,000 representative per­ sonages from the city, richly arrayed in embroidered robes ornamented with precious stones and gold, who passed before the visitors, touching with their hand the ground and then the lips in token of reverence. This ceremony occupied an hour, after which the procession moved for­ ward. At the junction of the causeway with the main avenue of the city was a wooden bridge ten paces wide, easily removable, passing which Cortes halted to await the emperor, then approaching. The street was clear of all obstruction, the emperor occupying it alone, save that on either side, close against the houses, was a procession of nobles, headed by lords and court dignitaries, all marching with bare feet and bowed heads. The emperor was borne in a luxurious and richly ornamented litter on the shoulders of his favorite courtiers, and followed by a few princes and leading officials. Three princes preceded him, one of whom bore aloft three wands, significant of the presence of the imperial head of the tripartite alliance. On nearing the Spaniards the litter was lowered, and the monarch stepped forth, supported on either side by King Cacama and Cuitlahuatzin, his nephew and brother, and followed by the king of Tlacopan and others. Four prominent caciques held over the royal head a canopy covered with green feathers set with gold silver and gems, both fixed and pendent. Before them attendants swept the road and spread carpets. The king and his supporters were dressed much alike, in blue til maths which, embroid­ ered with gold and jewels, hung in loose folds from the neck, where they were secured by a knot. On their heads were mitred crowns of gold with quetzal plumes, and on ARCHB SHOP OF PERU

THE HOOK OF WEALTH

655

their feet sandals with golden soles and fastenings embossed with precious stones. With a step full of dignity the king advanced toward Cortes, who had dismounted to meet him. As they saluted, Montezuma tendered a bouquet in token of welcome, while the Spaniard took from his own person and placed round the neck of the emperor a necklace of glass beads. After interchange of friendly assurances between the captains of Cortes and the nobles of Montezuma, all entered the city in stately procession. At the plaza, where stood the great pyramidal temple surrounded by palatial edifices, they turned to the right, and Cortes was led up the steps of an extensive range of buildings, known as the Axayacatl palace, which faced the eastern side of the temple enclosure. Here Montezuma, who had withdrawn himself for a time, again appeared, and through a courtyard shaded by colored awnings and cooled by a playing fountain, he conducted Cortes by the hand into a large hall. An attendant came forward with a basket of Howers, wherein lay “two necklaces made of the shells of a species of red crawfish, much esteemed by the natives, from each of which hung eight crawfish of gold, wrought with great perfection, and nearly as large as the span of a hand.' These the emperor placed round the neck of the adventurer, and at the same time presented wreaths to his officers. Then, seating him on a gilt and jewelled dais, he announced that everything there was at the disposal of the guest, and every want would be supplied. The monarch retired with graceful courtesy, and the Spaniards were left to refresh themselves and arrange their quarters. Everything about the place was neat and of dazzling whiteness, relieved by green branches and festoons. The finer rooms were furnished with cotton tapestry, and adorned with figures in stucco and colors, and with feather and other ornaments set with gold and silver fastenings. In the afternoon the king appeared with a large following. Seating himself beside Cortes he expressed his delight at meeting with such valiant men, related to him the myth of Quetzalcoatl, ex­ pressed the belief that his visitors were the people whose coming had been pre­ dicted, and whom he and all his people were ready to serve. Cortes made suit­ able reply, and at a sign from Montezuma attendants came forward with a rich collection of gold silver and CATHEDRAL, CITY OF MEX CO feather ornaments, and some 5,000 pieces of cloth of fine texture and embroidered. Later, while on a visit to his palace, Montezuma said “As for your great king, 1 hold myself as his lieutenant, and will give him of what I possess." Wherefore he again distributed presents, twenty packs of fine robes and some gold ware. The conquest of Mexico, while full of romance, was so attended by base treachery and fierce fanaticism as to make the recital not altogether pleasing. But here we have to do only with what illustrates the riches of the country and the power and magnificence of its monarch. Believing, yet half doubting, that the lair-featured strangers were akin to that supernatural being who was the rightful possessor of the land, if indeed their leader was not the very same, the poor deluded monarch fell an easy prey to the wily invaders, who from the beginning, as a matter of course, were determined on having the life of the king and possession of his country with all the wealth it contained. To this end they spoke the monarch fair at first, then on the vilest pretext seized and held him prisoner, until they forced from him what gold they could, then basely slew him. Once during the manipulation of his vile project Cortes caught such a glimpse of the wealth at hand as to urge him on with all the more unscrupulous determination. A room of the temple, while undergoing some changes to make it a fit place for Christian worship, was accidentally opened through the wall, and Aladdin on entering the cave was not more surprised than were these Spaniards on beholding the contents. The interior fairly blazed with treasures; bars of gold were there, nuggets large and small, figures, implements, and ornaments; stacks of silver; jewelled and embroidered fabrics; the prized chaichinite and other precious stones not omitted. Cortes allowed the favored beholders to revel in the ecstasy created by the sight, then, the time not having yet come, he gave orders to restore the wall.

656

77/7? /¡OOE OF WEAL TH

When the capture of the king was consum­ mated, and the whole empire was at his feet. fearful lest harm should happen to the sacred per­ son of the monarch. Cor­ tes spake, “Give us gold and we will go. leaving you at liberty. Send forth your vassals and gather it in from every quarter, that you may the more quickly see the end." In answer to this appeal. Montezuma with alacrity emptied his palace and his treasure-house to the invaders, so that gold poured in upon them, and GOVERNMENT PALACE, CITY OF MEX CO silver, in dust and quoits, Again and and leaves, besides great piles of manufactured articles. “More!' the vultures demanded, “More! again the collectors were sent out. and treasure brought in and piled up before the conquerors. “When you transmit it to your king.”said the captive monarch with touching pathos, “tell him that it comes from his good vassal. Montezuma.” He requested that certain fine chaichinite stones, each valued at two loads of gold, and some finely chased and inlaid blow-pipes, should be given to the king of Spain. The treasure brought in by the collectors was stored in a hall and two smaller chambers of the aviary building, and consisted of gold silver and precious stones, with feathers robes and other articles. Smiths were called in to separate from the jewels the gold and silver settings, which were melted into bars, three fingers in breadth, and stamped with the royal arms, fhe melted gold amounted to something over 162,000 pesos de oro; silver, 500 marcos; unbroken jewels and other effects, 500,000 ducats. Fashioned chiefly in animal forms, “so perfect as to appear natural, were gold and silver set with precious stones and pearls and feathers. Designs were furnished to native artisans by the Spaniards of images, crucifixes, bracelets, and chains, which were executed with wonderful fidelity to the pattern. Silver was made into plates, spoons, and goblets. The feather work presented a brilliant variety of colors and forms; the cotton, some of delicate texture and color, both plain and embroidered, was made into robes, tapestry, and covers. Trinkets of turquoise and pearl were also among the treasures. Compare this barbaric splendor with the resources and products of Mexico to-day. Thirty states and territories, with a population of 12.000.000. produce besides the many indigenous plants, all that are valuable brought from abroad. Large areas are under cultivation, and other large areas are devoted to stock-raising. Mines and manufactures have been developed until they are numbered by the thousand; towns and cities built, the larger ones having beautiful cathedrals; schools and colleges are in every part, and the whole country is intersected by railways. At the opening of the nineteenth century, the mines of Guanajuato alone numbered 1.816, employing 116 mills, 1,898 arrastras, and had 366 establishments for the reduction of the metal. There were crushed daily 11,500 quintals of ore, and 9.000 operatives were employed. Population of the city 66.000. The agricultural interests of the province were likewise flourishing, 1.750 square leagues being covered with grain and rich pastures. But at the outbreak of the revolutionary war the flail of destruction struck here its first heavy blow in the capture of the Albóndiga de granaditas, or government granary, as famous in the history of Mexico as is the Bastille in that of France. The building, a massive two-story structure, So by 54 varas, was a fortress as well as a storehouse, and thither on the approach of the insurgents under Hi­ dalgo in 1810 was conveyed the royal and municipal treasure, amounting to $620.000 in silver bars and gold ounces, besides the money and valuables of private persons amounting to 3,000.000 ALAMEDA, C'TY OF MEXICO pesos, all of which, together with the

THE BOOK Oe WEALTH city, fell into the hands of the revolu­ tionary rabble midst horrible butchery and drunken riot. During half a century, of revolution, many cities and haciendas were taken, churches sacked, and so-called loans enforced, and treasure trains cap­ tured aggregating hundreds of millions of dollars. Scarcely was the conquest com­ pleted when the work of ecclesiastical establishment began, and the clergy soon became rich and powerful in the New World. Indeed at one time two-thirds of the property of the country was in the hands of the church. Throughout South and North America, in the larger cities and centres of European population, cathedrals and churches were erected, while to the benighted natives of more distant parts missionaries were sent, and mission establishments set up. some of which became wealthy. In Central Amer­ ica and southern Mexico there were fewer missions than in the unexplored regions northward, from Lower California to Texas, and along the seaboard of Upper California from San Diego to San Fran­ cisco. These mission establishments erected churches and other buildings, con­ trolled vast tracts of land, raised live­ stock, grew grain, and made cloth, leather, and wine, the labor being performed mostly by the natives. CHAPULTEPEC As representatives of the king of Spain the viceroys of Mexico and Peru, from the time of Cortes and Pizarro to the revolution, lived in state; their householdsand dependencies in imitation of royalty, many of them acquiring wealth; some of them honestly. There were a hundred or more of these imitation kings in each of the two Americas during the period of viccregal rule, some two centuries, frequent change being necessary—so thought the sovereigns of Spain—lest the servant should become greater than the master. A vast amount of treasure wrung from the people was forwarded by the viceroys to Spain, but however much was sent the Spanish monarch was ever cry­ ing for more. One viceroy, Marquina, in 1802, sent six millions to Havana and eighteen millions to Spain. Another viceroy, Garibay, CHAPULTEPEC CASTLE sent eleven millions at one time. During the period from 1690 to 1807, $1,052,579,000 of coined gold and silver were shipped from Mexico, $767.000,000 of which found its way into the royal treasury of Spain. In Peru financial matters and treasure shipments were much the same. A great work was the construction of a canal to drain the valley of Mexico of its superfluous waters; it was participated in by several of the vice­ roys, but was brought forward more particularly by President Diaz. Since 1564. when Manila was founded by Miguel Gomez de Legazpi. a profitable trade had sprung up with New Spain, and from that time forward merchants trembled for the safety of the richly laden galleons plying between the Philippine islands and Acapulco. Cavendish, in 1587, with three ships on a voyage of circumnav­ igation and plunder, ravaged the Pacific coast off the two Americas. Among other exploits he captured near Acapulco the Santa Ana, 700 tons, with 122,000 pesos in gold and a rich cargo of silks and other Asiatic goods. W ith rare humanity he spared the lives BOSQUE DE CHAPULTEPEC

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THE TOOK OF II 7^1 L TH

of those on board, ¡90 in number, allowing them to go ashore while he set fire to the ship, having still on board 500 tons of mer­ chandise which the pirate could not carry away. Both on sea and land convoys were required for the most part to guard goods and treasure in transit, and even with the utmost pre­ caution robberies to the extent of millions were perpetrated in Peru and Mexico. They had a way in Mexico in years gone by of execut­ ing inexpensive justice on the highway, which as the English say was not half bad. A noted robber is captured; but he who takes him would do well to go slowly before presenting him before the authorities lest he be asked, “You captured a robber? Yes; that is well; very well; did he attempt to escape, and did you kill him? If not, why not? In conveying bullion from the mines and coin back, often there were i.ooo loaded mules in a train. In times of revolution and at other times forced loans were often made by the military or political power from merchants and ecclesiastics. T his practice was common in the time of Iturbide, and before and since, when a forced loan of from two to five millions was frequently ordered. In 1823, when revenue was required immediately, all government cigars and tobacco were ordered sold. Sixteen millions of dollars CARLOS IV were once borrowed of an English house, while negotiations were pending for a government loan. Often a treasure-fleet was wrecked or captured; one was wrecked on the Florida reef in 1553 when 700 lives were lost, and one in 1628 with over $12,000,000 on board was sunk by the Dutch admiral Pieter Heyne. On one occasion while the vice-admiral of the treasure-fleet was at dinner in his cabin, his ship was boarded by a boat’s crew of twenty-eight men under command of the pirate Pierre, surnamed le (¡rand. So sudden and daring was the attack that the vice-admiral and a number of officials who sat at table with him found themselves prisoners before they were able to gain the deck. The captives were put on shore at Cape Tiburon, and a few weeks later Pierre entered the port of Dieppe with his prize, which contained a rich freight of treasure and merchandise. The sack of Vera Cruz in 1683 by the famous sea-rovers Lorencillo and Van Horn was a brilliant feat of piracy. Toward sunset on the 17th of May two large ships flying Spanish colors were seen to the leeward of Vera Cruz crowding all sail to make port and escape what seemed to be pursuit by a strong squadron a league or two further out at sea. At nightfall the Spaniards on shore made fires to guide into the harbor the ships, supposed to be two vessels laden with cocoa which were expected from Caracas. But alas! the ships were filled with pirates, 800 of whom landed at midnight; and the morning sun rose on the great commercial city only to behold it wholly in the power of robbers. The doors of the houses were battered in, and the inmates dragged forth and lodged in the churches, where were soon confined 6,000 persons. 1 here they were kept for three days and nights while their captors plundered the city. Besides the property of the inhabitants the altars and sacred images of the churches were stripped, and a large amount of specie, bullion, and merchandise secured, which had arrived at Vera Cruz in transit for Spain. Among the plunder were quantities of jew­ elry and three tons of cochineal. Then the wealthy citizens were put to torture to make them disclose hidden treasure, and ransoms were in order, which yielded further large returns, the governor paying for him­ self 70,000 pesos. This game being finished, all the chief people, ran­ somed or unransomed, were driven aside, and $150,000 demanded for the IN THE PASEO, CITY OF MEX CO lot. which was finally paid. Passing

THE BOOK OE HEAL TH

A SPAN SH-AMER CAN HACIENDA

the usual chapter of horrors, I will only add that the pirates then withdrew, having quite enjoyed their picnic at Vera Cruz. Their plunder amounted to $960,000. Later Lorencillo captured Campeche after a five days’ siege, and thence marched on Merida, but was driven back with heavy loss. At the opening of the eighteenth century the oceans were scoured by cruisers ever on the alert to pounce on Spain's treasure ships, and no vessel carrying treasure was dispatched without the escort of several men of war. At Vera Cruz at one time, a vast amount of gold and silver was stored, awaiting convoy, and on the arrival of a French squadron under Count de Chateau Renaud, was placed on board the fleet. Eluding an English squadron that lay in wait in Tortuguilla sound, the flotilla arrived in safety off Cádiz; but finding that harbor closely blockaded by the enemy, sailed for the port of Vigo. There the Spaniards were attacked by a powerful squadron; several vessels were captured; the remainder were sunk, and treasure amounting to $17,000.000 lies buried to this day at that point on the coast of Galicia. Woodes Rogers, another English free-rover appeared on the western seaboard in 1709, in another of those voyages of circumnavigation and robbery. Picking up Alexander Selkirk, the primogenitor of Robinson Crusoe, at the island of Juan Fernandez, he sailed for Peru, taking several prizes, and capturing the town of Guayaquil, for which a moderate ransom was received; thence creeping along the coast to Panama, and on to Lower California, and turning west and southward from Cape St Lucas, after cruising for a few weeks he met and captured a large and well-manned twenty-gun ship bound from Manila to Acapulco. An encounter with another Spanish ship shortly afterward, the I'igonia, 450 men and mounting sixty guns, proved less fortunate. After a seven hours’ fight the English were driven off with heavy loss; and with numbers greatly reduced the expedition sailed homeward. The cost of this voyage did not exceed $75.000 and the returns were $850,000. IJius did the merchants of Bristol grow rich by licensed piracy, and learn to despise the slow gains of legitimate commerce. Again in 1712 the buccaneers mustered for a raid on Vera Cruz. Entering the city at night, the alarmed fortress of San Juan de I’lua began firing on them. Cutting off the heads of some of the? friars, the pirates sent them to the commander of the fortress, saying they would cut off the heads of all the priests if he did not stop his guns. The firing continued with redoubled fury. W hat mattered it to the priests if their heads were on or off. the next world being better for them than this! Such logic was beyond the buccaneers; so they took ransom for captured citizens, and went their way. There was a buccaneer settlement in Yucatan, and the honest freebooters when not engaged in raids on Spanish settlers or in cruising for Spanish ships, occupied themselves with cutting dye-woods and mahogany. In 1708 the newly appointed governor, Saravia, was taken captive with his wife and children, in the bay of Campeche by the pirate Barbillas, who demanded and received $14.000 ransom. Robberies and revolutions, pronunciamentos and plans followed independence. Forced loans were frequent and informal. Mining fell off and many of the most important industries declined, for the worst of governments is better than anarchy. But there were always at hand in an emergency patriots enough to save the country, even from those pretenders to patriotism, like Iturbide and Santa Anna, whose ambition and selfishness brought

66o

77/Æ /¡OOE OF WEALTH

upon their country greater disaster than any acts of open foes. It was to such of her own people, and to certain political demagogues in the United States in no wise better, that Mexico is indebted to war with her northern neighbor, and large loss of territory, first Texas, and later California and the vast region thence to the Rocky mountains. It is safe to say that as a rule the occasion brings out the men. When the time was ripe for independence, a crop of patriots was gathered, Hidalgo, Morelos, and others giving their lives to their country. The next of note to truly serve their country were Lerdo de Tejada, Juarez, and Diaz, under whose influence and rule intellectual emancipation and material progress were achieved to a degree never before surpassed in the annals of nations. When Benito Juarez, an American Indian of pure blood, came out of the wilderness at the age of twelve years, into the city of Oajaca, being then unable GATHER!NG pulque to Spea|< t|le Spanish language, or to read or write any language, the country was bowed into the dust under the heavy loads of political anarchy and ecclesiastical domination. After living to see his country in a great measure free from both of these inflictions, largely through his influence, he died president of the republic; and yet. not until he had rendered his country other signal service in maintaining the integrity of the republic through a most trying ordeal, and teaching the scions of royalty in Europe a lesson which they will not soon forget. Thus three centuries after the coming of Cortes we find the Spaniards deposed, and to a certain extent driven out, and one of the race of the much abused Montezuma occupying the place of chief ruler over the land. Maximilian cost Erance as well as Mexico many millions, but great good and great wealth unfolded under the benignant rules of Juarez and Diaz which followed. The Mexican plateau derives its characteristics from the configuration of the country, which rises on cither side from the heated and malarious coast at a distance of 50 or 100 miles from the sea into cool healthful airs 3.000 to 8.000 feet above the ocean, the altitude being higher in the south dropping down somewhat and broadening toward the north. From the plateau rise ranges of mountains and volcanic peaks, the cordillera of Anahuac enclosing the valleys of Mexico and Puebla being among the former, and among the latter Popocatepetl, 17.798 feet above the sea, Ixtaccihuatl 16,076 feet, Orizaba 17.176 feet, and Colima 12,800 feet. In northern Mexico, comprising the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila. Nuevo Leon, and most of Tamaulipas, the soil is valuable chiefly for grazing purposes. There are millions of acres which at present are only fit for cattle, horses, sheep, or goats. The states above named, together with Lower California, have an area of 355,000 square miles, about one-half of the estimated area of the whole nation; one-third of that area is mountainous and barren; portions of the rest would be extremely productive had they an adequate supply of water. There are large tracts where water-holes are so few that in a dry season all grass will disappear, and stock must perish. The portion of land now used for cultivation is small; the largest body being in the valley of the lower Rio Grande from near Camargo to Bagdad, about 1,000 square miles. Properly cultivated and irrigated it would yield abundant crops. Maize, wheat, tobacco, grapes, and coflee, as well as palms, evergreens, mango, olive, orange, lemon, yucca, and an unlimited variety of the cactus family, are found in abundance. In the highest zone, or tierras frias, the maguey, common also to the temperate region, has its home; its fruit is edible, and its fermented juice supplies the famous pulque and mezcal. The heniquen, an allied species, is likewise produced here. The silk industry in the Mexican republic has been gaining ground. The silk­ worm is raised in Oajaca, Puebla, and Hidalgo. The culture has also been introduced in Vera Cruz, Tlaxcala, Michoacan. Queretaro, Jalisco, and Chihuahua. 1'he value of farms and other agricultural property, including cacao and palm gardens, has been set down for 1887 at §600.000,000. There are probably 54,000 square miles of mountain land, and about 15.000 square miles of uncultivated soil. MAGUEY Field

THE TOOK OF WEAL TH

66 ¡

Agricultural implements are still exceedingly crude, in many places but little better than the original article: a wooden plough, with the point occasionally armed with iron; a wooden harrow, or large rake, the points of which were sometimes of iron; and a kind of hoe, of various sizes, similar to the rake-harrow, but with a narrow iron knife-edge in lieu of prongs. Reaping is often done with the sickle. Among the Nahuas and Mayas, from the earliest times of their history, only three farming implements were known—at least the early Spanish records do not mention any more: the coati, serpent-shaped, a copper implement with a wooden handle, used as a hoe to break the surface of the soil; another copper tool, like a sickle, with a wooden handle, used for pruning fruit-trees. But the instrument in most common use was a sharp stick with iturb.oe the point hardened in the fire, or occasionally tipped with copper. Irrigation and fertilizers were well known and applied. Vegetable life is regulated by latitude and altitude. From the base of Popocatepetl down to the tropical lowlands is a dense growth of exuberant verdure, while a beautiful picture of Mexican flora is found in the tierra fria, where as ascent is made the weeds and pines give place to the mosses which mingle with the perpetual snow. Below upon the mountain sides are found the white cedar and the ahuehucte, specimens of which may be seen at Chapultepec. Evergreen and dwarf oaks overspread vast areas, mingled with tcrcote and cacti, 'flic pitahays in Oaxaca grows fifty feet high. The home of the maguey is on the moun­ tain sides and valleys of 1 lidalgo, Puebla, and Tlax­ cala, where the plant is largely cultivated for pulque, in the manufacture of which many thousand people are employed and much capital invested. Speaking generally, all the fruits and grains are easily raised, each in its own climatic zone, corn barley wheat beans and kindred GUAD*LUPi plants in the temperate belt, oranges bananas pineapples and the like in the tropics. Going from Vera Cruz to Mexico, the hot dusty plain is passed and the ascent to the table-land is begun. Vegetation changes and becomes luxuriant, all kinds of tropical fruits and flowering vim s are abundant, the orange lemon and lime, the olive pineapple and banana, and orchids and roses without end. Cordova is soon reached, and then Orizaba, the king volcano of these lowlands, keeping its feet warm and its head cool in a nightcap of snow. The ascent is steep and the scenery grand, the rise to over 8.000 feet being most of it made within a distance of 40 miles. After the rich verdure of the mesa-side, the table-land, with its fields of wheat and rye seem almost barren. The maguey plantations, however, relieve the landscape with their broad patches of brilliant green. On the plains of A pan), which spread over 10.000 square miles of the dryest part of the republic, and extend into the three states of Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, and Puebla, where the altitude is 6.000 to 8.000 feet, and it may be in places i i,ooo; where the atmospheric pressure is light and evaporation constant and rapid; where the temperature is mild ami ozonificaron strong,- there thrives the pulque plant, reaching a height of from six to twelve feet throwing broadly out its heavy prickly leaves, giving to the most populous part of Mexico larger and surer wealth than any mines of metals or fields of grain. In several districts the agave grows wild; elsewhere it is extensively cultivated. Every part of the plant is utilized. I he fibre is valuable for many purposes; the begass in most varieties is fed to stock; from the sap which rises to sustain the stalk is fermented pulque; from the juice of the stalk and roots of another variety are dis­ tilled mezcal and tequila, and the roots are often used as GUADALUPE CHURCH AND SHBNE soap. Another fibre plant, the lechuguilla, is found almost

662

THE BOOK OF HEALTH

everywhere; tobacco and many fruits grow wild in many places; limitless are the weeds from which paper can be made; pita is plentiful in Oajaca; all along the gulf side the conditions arc good for cotton, in the southwest likewise, the product of the republic being 45.000.000 tons annually. Jute, ramie, and hemp grow well. 1 he best tobacco is raised in Vera Cruz and Tabasco, but the plant grows spontaneously in Yucatan, Tamaulipas, and in most of the seaboard states. In San Luis Potosí, Morelos, Sonora and elsewhere the mango and plantain grow side by side with the peach apple plum and apricot. Cacao flourishes among many other places in Oajaca and Soconusco, and fine woods are plentiful in the tropical and temperate belts—mahogany fir . n ebony oak rosewood brazilwood and a LERDO DE TEJADA score of other kinds. Textile plants arc abundant almost everywhere; Morelos has many sugar plantations; in the south and west are scores of medicinal plants, and flowers flourish everywhere. Insects of commcrcial value arc the cochineal and the bee; native here also were the bison and elk, the wolf bear and coyote, the l*oer armadillo and puma; domestic animals and fowls arc of course raised everywhere; nor is it necessary to mention B fish crocodiles turtles serpents and the rest. The cochineal insect, in size 70,000 to the pound, M. MBB which for its coloring properties has been a staple article VERA CRUZ of agriculture commerce and manufacture since the conquest by Cortes, lives on the leaves of the nopal plant, clinging to it so thickly as from its whiteness at that time to give the plant the appearance of having been stricken with hoar-frost. At the proper time the plant is cut and hung up in a shed with all the bugs upon it, which however are soon scraped into a hot oven or boiling water, the method of death being determined by the color desired, the former causing the insect to turn black, so that it can be used for blue and purple dyes, the latter brown for crimson or scarlet dye. Dried cochineal sell for certain dol­ lars a pound; when put into their little casks for shipment they look like coarse gunj>owder. The cochineal is indigenous to both pachuc* Mexico and Peru. The natives utilized an insect which the Mayas called Ni-in, a harmless insignificant creature, which likes the plum-tree for a home. A shining shell of varying shades of yellow covers its little body, which is filled with a kind of grease, so durable when used as a varnish as to be affected neither by heat nor moisture. Nearly all the surface of Mexico is capable of production with or without cultivation. While some sections have been made barren by the destruction of forests, yet larger areas have been reclaimed by irrigation. In the

SOME NOTABLE MEN OF MEX CO

THE TOOK OE WEALTH

Puebla museum arc over 100 specimens of woods susceptible of a high polish. Hidalgo and San Luis Potosí produce odorous cedar and mahogany; Nuevo Leon, pine oak sabine poplar mulberry and walnut; Tabasco, ebony rosewood sandalwood and twenty other fine varieties. Quinquina, or Peruvian bark, is conspicuous in Vera Cruz. The rubber-tree grows spontaneously in twelve states, giving forth 2.500,000 pounds annually. The vanilla flourishes in the extreme southern states; palms grow wild in many places. The vanilla orchid may be planted in a field or in a forest; if in the latter cuttings are set out at the foot of saplings, which afford shade and support to the climbing stem, old trees and underbrush being cleared away. The dark brown pods of the vanilla planifolia, six or eight inches long, arc filled with a dark oily and fragrant pulp. The pods arc picked in December, not all at one time but as they mature, and when not too ripe. We hear of the wealth of woods, but in none of earth's forests is there such wealth as in the woods of Campeadle and Tabasco. And little wonder it is that the king of Spain sometimes felt that he could afford to be generous with what he had come by so easily and so villainously. To one man, one lazy ignorant bigoted and most egotistic Spaniard was given some 1 70 square leagues, on the Usumasinta river, of fine logwood and mahogany forests, groves of various

IXTACC HUATL

precious woods and medicinal plants, and vast stretches of savannahs interspersed with lakes rivers and lagoons,—all this we arc to understand, from the acts of the king of Spain, that God had made for the special benefit of this one good-for-nothing gentleman of his majesty's service, together with some 10.000 natives, which by a system of peonage under the laws of the coun­ try he could hold in a bondage as firm as ever West India planter held an African negro. It is thus that civilization proves the truth of its max­ im. that the lands of savages must be put to better use than a game Popocatepetl preserve. Thus we see that with soils and climates suitable for the growth, each in its proper sphere, of all the plants useful to man; with an average rainfall of 59 inches and irrigation by no means difficult; with rivers lakes and canals intersecting forests and open plains, it is impossible to tell what man can here accomplish for man. A cursory glance shows that the 130,000.000 bushels of corn and 17,000.000 bushels of beans raised every year in the republic may be divided among about one half of the states, among which are Jalisco. Guanajuato, Puebla, and Hidalgo. In all the temperate zone wheat and other grains flourish; heniquen to the value of $9.000.000 is raised, one of the largest plantations being part of an estate of 120 square miles near Merida, and yielding 4.500.000 pounds of fibre a year. In a school adapted to the purpose children are brought up to the business; irrigating canals intersect the entire plantation; a plant of modern machinery run by powerful steam engines separate the fibre from the leaf, in all of which work 350 men are employed. While Mexico can scarcely compete with South America in cattle, it will always be a stock raising country, owing to its many districts which are fit for nothing else. Pastures in the main arc good, grass being always green in places, and elsewhere uncut hay curing on the ground during the dry season. Here are all the domestic animals raised in temperate climes; ostriches and camels have been tried and failed, but the silk-worm and the bee arc propagated. There arc in all 1,250.000 horses, most of which are bred in the northern part of the republic. That common drudge, the ass. is everywhere attendant, and everywhere overworked and underfed. Of these

664

THE BOOK OB WEAL TH

unfortunates there arc 600,000, and of mules, 900.000. There are of sheep and cattle, each 9.000,000. of swine 5,000.cxx), and of goats 4,000.000, one third of the whole being in Coahuila, Chi­ huahua, and Sonora. Of live stock s 1,000,000 worth are annually exported, and of skins $2,000,000, and this on a capital of $700,000,000. Horse hair to the value of $60,000 or more is annually exported. It is safe to affirm that the mineral wealth of Mexico is greater than that of any other country, without excepting Peru or Bolivia, and that there is good reason for the belief that there are richer undis­ covered deposits remaining AQUEDUCT, QUERETARO than any which have thus far been brought to light. The mountains in the extreme south-east contain extensive veins of silver, copper, and lead. Oajaca possesses a wealth of precious metals in her central table-land. The Cerro del Mercado is one vast mass of iron. The Nahuas or Aztecs were acquainted with gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead. The latter is merely mentioned, nothing being known as to where they procured it. or to what uses it was put. Our information on the manner they obtained any of the metals is very meagre. It is known that gold was brought to the valley of Anahuac from the southern provinces; that silver and tin were obtained in the mines of Taxco and Tzompanco; that copper came from the mountains of Zacatollan, the province of the Cohuixcas, and from Michoacan. In certain regions were found on the sur­ face of the ground gold nuggets and masses of native copper. Gold was mainly taken, however, by divers from the beds of rivers. It was kept either in the form of dust, in small tubes or quills, or cast into small bars after being melted in small pots with the aid of hollow bamboo blow-pipes, made to answer for bellows. These metals were also obtained from the solid rock, to which end extensive galleries were opened. In their time silver was more scarce than gold. Quicksilver, AQUEOUCT AND RUINS, QUERETARO sulphur, alum, ochre, and other min­ erals were collected to some extent, and applied to various purposes, one of them being the preparation of colors. It is a well established fact that, previous to the Spanish conquest, the Aztecs were ignorant of the uses of iron, though the metal was abundant. The Spaniards opened mines in Mexico as early as 1526, and worked them till 1700 to some extent. The discovery of the famous lodes of San Luis Potosí and Zacatecas, and later of Pachuca, Guanajuato, and others, wrought a complete change. The government, while desirous of developing this industry, hindered it by means of restrictive ordinances, with the object of securing the crown's share. Miners were obliged to barter their metal for money coined in the city of Mexico; restrictions were placed on the exploitation of the scanty deposits of cinnabar, while the crown assumed the exclusive right of selling quicksilver. In silver, Mexico has until recently produced more than any other country in the north. She eclipsed her South American rival by giving to the world the grand process of amalgamating with quicksilver, which was discovered by a miner of Pachuca about the middle of the sixteenth century. The largest development in mining took place in the second half of the eighteenth century. The result of the creation of the Junta de

THE TOOK OE HE/1LTH

665

Minería was an increase of 25 per cent in the production; at the commencement of the present century the average yield was of $23..ooo a year, against less than $10.000.000 in the years preceding 1750, somewhat less than s5.000.cxx) a year prior to 1700. and $2.000.000 in the latter part of the sixteenth century; while the whole yield before 1548 had only reached $1,500,000. most of which consisted of presents and tributes. Some­ thing should also be added for metal used in manufactures; also smuggled out. There are metals on lands of Sonora Chihuahua Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, and thence all the way to Tehuantepec Oajaca and Chiapas. The two cordilleras enclosing the great plateau are mostly of granite, the bed of the table-lands being of metaliferous JUAREZ porphyry basalt and lava, the formations being mostly metamorphic, raised and sometimes penetrated by igneous rocks of all the geological periods, with diorites clay silicious schists and calcareous nonfossiliferous formations, all rich in gold and silver ores and argentiferous galena copper and iron. Feldspars and micous schist predominate in Oajaca, while in the high cordilleras metaliferous trachytic rocks porphyry basalt obsidian pumice-stone and sulphur are plentiful. In Hidalgo are obsidian and opals; there is quite a traffic in opals in Queretaro; in Durango and lower California are found rubies; emeralds in Hidalgo and Queretaro; the red garnet in Chihuahua and Jalisco; and agates in the same region. Popocatepetl yields from its crater pure sulphur which may be profitably gathered. Coal and coal oil obtain in Puebla, Hidalgo. Coahuila, and many other parts of the repub­ lic. Except magnetic iron, silver is the most abundant metal in the country, and has been mined extensively from the time of the conquest. At Pachuca, in Hidalgo, arc famous mines, and large returns have come from Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and other northern states; there are extensive reduction works at INTER OR CHURCH OF SANTA CLARA Pachuca Real del Monte and El Chico in Hidalgo, and also in Guanajuato. Gold frequently occurs in argentiferous ores, but seldom pays for the reduction. In nearly all the upland states are good gold mines, placers being conspicuous in Sonora Lower California and Guerrero. Among the famous deposits special mention may be made of Real del Monte, one of the twenty leading mines of Pachuca, which gave net returns of sio.ooo.ooo in thirteen years. El Chico has a main shaft 2,500 feet deep, and most of the mines here have steam pumping and hoisting machinery. Guanajato has yielded largely for centuries, and will yield for centuries more; the Veta Madre is eight miles long. I*or sixty years the average annual yield of the Valenciana was $4.000,000; the San Juan orcs average 140 ounces to the ton, which returned $130,000,000. The Guanajuato and Zacatecas mines have each given to the world nearly s 1,000.000,000. The Catorce. Peñón Blanco, Ramos, and Guadalcazar are among the rich districts of San Luis Potosí; 100 mines in Chihuahua put out about $5,000.000 annually; Batopilas district, where have been found masses of silver weighing over 400 pounds, has yielded $300,000,000. 1 wo silver mines in Sinaloa, the Rosario and the Guadalupe, have each put out nearly $100,000,000. in Durango the Candelaria mine has given forth from ores assaying from $70 to $140 a ton. $100,000,000. There are hundreds of districts and thousands of mines in Mexico of which the history and description would be interesting. Gold is likewise everywhere, but not in paying quantities, the richest districts being in the states of Sonora. Sinaloa. Michoacan, Aguascalientes, besides in all the silver regions, where also is a plentiful supply of quicksilver. The methods of reduction of argentiferous ores in Mexico arc patio amalgamation by the cold process, or by the de cazo*or heating process, or by the Freyberg system; also by smelting and lixiviation, the last mentioned one, sometimes called the hyposulphate or leaching process, being usually preferred. Oajaca has forty reduction works, handling annually 7.000 tons of silver ore, 1,000 tons of gold ore, and 1.200 tons of iron orc, with an aggregate value of $2,000.000. Chihuahua has fifty mills, half of them employ­ ing the smelting process, and half reducing by amalgamation and lixiviation. I he several reduction works of Michoacan give preference to the patio system. 1 he fourteen mills in the state of Mexico use amalgamation; twice that number of mills in Queretaro prefer MAX MILIAN

666

THE HOOK OF I IE. ITT//

leaching: the several mills of Coahuila and Sonora incline to smelting, while in Monterey. San Luis Potosí. Jalisco, and Lower California all the various methods arc employed. In Durango is the iron mountain, cerro del Mercado, discovered by Gines \ asquez in 1562, 4.Soo by 1,100 feet and 640 feet high, averaging 70 per cent of metal, and in which there are 300,000,000 tons of metal above the surface of the ground. Two mills have been set up in the vicinity, but both inadequate for purposes of reduction. In Oajaca, where coal and iron come together, mines are worked at Cahuacua, Peras, Elotepec, and Zaniza. There are vast beds of iron in Jalisco. Hidalgo, Tehuantepec. Guerrero, and Nuevo Leon, at some of which are foundries. From the San Felipe coal fields in Coahuila, purchased by C. P. Huntington, some 300,000 or 400.000 tons are taken annually. There is an oblong basin filled with coal and rimmed with mountains, 100 miles from the Yaqui river, in Sonora, and 7.000 square miles in extent. Carboniferous fields arc plentiful in Michoacan, Oajaca, Puebla, and Vera Cruz. There are large quantities of asphaltum and petroleum in Tabasco and Vera Cruz, as well as in nearly a dozen states of the high plateau. The principal sulphur beds are in Michoacan, San Luis Potosi, Puebla, and Vera Cruz. Mexico has large quarries of limestone; Nuevo Leon, marble and alabaster; Puebla, onyx; Guanajuato, topaz and sapphire; Durango, rubies; Chihuahua, garnets; Hidalgo, emeralds. The Nahuas and Mayas of Mexico and Central America had attained a high degree of perfection in certain branches of manufactures. They excelled in the ornamental working of the precious metals and stones, and also of shells and carved woods. Their pottery was excellent. They made cups and bowls from the hollow shells of gourds, and also fine baskets. They man­ ufactured very fine cloth of cotton, rabbit-hair, of the two mixed, or of cotton mixed with feathers. The rabbit-hair fabrics were equal in finish and texture to silk. The palm and maguey fibres PATIO PALACIO FEDERAL were prepared in the same man­ was mostly made of maguey ner as flax in other countries. fibre, although some of the other From the same material were fibres used in the manufacture made cords, ropes, and mats. All of cloths were occasionally mixed the work of spinning and weaving with those of the maguey. The was done by women. The spindle skins of animals were tanned used in spinning was like a top both with and without the hair; which was set whirling in a shal­ the old authorities praise the low vessel, the fibre being applied results of the process employed to its pointed or upper extremity without explaining what it was. until the impetus gave out. Paper COLEGIO CIVIL In preparing dyes and paints, mineral, animal, and vegetable colors were used, the latter being extracted from woods, barks, leaves, flowers, and fruits. The Aztecs probably knew more of the art of dyeing than the Europeans, and many of their dyes were, after the conquest, introduced throughout the world; among them were those of cochineal, indigo, and ochre. The skill displayed by the natives in the branches of man­ ufactures above referred to, created no little astonishment, even among their conquerors; nor was less surprise caused among the conquered by the first examples of European skill in manufactures. The natives were not slow to discern the advantages they could HOSPCIO POBRES derive in this line from their Spanish masters, and seized every opportunity to learn. They not only succeeded in imitating the Spanish artisans, but exhibited some ingenuity as inventors. I have spoken of the knowledge the Nahuas possessed in working the precious metals. 1 hey could, indeed, work them in certain forms which were absolutely unknown in Europe; this art was lost, owing to the selfishness of the Spaniards, who issued regulations forbidding, under severe penalties, that native jewelers should be employed in making ornaments either of gold or silver. After the conquest the production of cotton goods decreased in consequence of the competition with European commodities, though the latter never could supplant the fabrics of the natives. There were a few large factories in later years, but looms were to be found all over Cholula, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Queretaro, and Guadalajara. In 1792 the viceroy founded a weaving school at Tixtla. Whenever Spain was at war with a European power, and the importation of fabrics became interrupted, the native industry had its opportunity to flourish for awhile, but only to relapse into its former dormant state as soon as peace was restored. The day arrived at last when Spain's foreign wars and the struggle for national sovereignty threw the people of Mexico upon their own resources, and the selfish policy of the mother country became inoperative. Under the republican government the Mexican people have been encouraged, through protective tariffs, vigorous laws, and industrial schools, to develop manufactures. The first efforts made toward this end early in the thirties, did not meet with the desired results, but they were by no means fruitless, several

THE TOOK OF ITE. ILT1I

667

companies having been organized which laid the foundation of manufacturing industries of Mexico. Cotton manufactures, though subject to occasional checks, owing to political disturb­ ances, and repeated changes of administrative policy, continued to assume a healthful tone, and in 1843, were considered as permanently established. But the efforts to develop the industry had a set-back in 1848 through the discontinuance of the protective, or rather prohibitive system under which it had been gaining strength, and foreign fabrics were admitted into the country by paying duties. After the fall of Santa Anna's dictatorship, the new rulers showed a disposition to restore protection to this industry, but their measures did not satisfy the manufacturers, who clamored for a re­ turn to the pro­ hibitive system, stating that man­ ufactures had not been flourishing since 1856. The opponents of that system claimed that the industry had reached the point where profit was secured. The man­ ufacturers denied that assertion, and we find the same denial still being made in 1879. The cotton manufacturing industry has been growing since, but the fabrics made are, on the whole, calcu­ lated for the consumption of the poorer classes, the Indians in particular. Amer­ ican and English goods have, therefore, a good field, notwithstanding the high import duty they are subjected to. The states of Michoacan and Queretaro were, during the viceregal period, noted for their woollen fabrics. The capital of Michoacan had at the beginning of the present century about 300 factories, producing $600,000 a year. Woollen mills were established in Michoacan in 1844. and their number had greatly increased in 1845-6, the texture was improving, and the demand growing larger. Early in the next decade the production had increased so much that the price of wool was greatly enhanced, and that of foreign ALAMEDA QUERETARO woollen goods declined in proportion. Mexico has all the requisites for manufacturing, which is the true foundation of wealth everywhere,—raw material cheap fuel and labor, water power and transportation facilities. If anything is lacking it is stability of government or intelligence or enterprise on the part of capitalists. This industry is sure to grow. There are cotton factories in Puebla, Jalisco, Vera Cruz, Tlaxcala. Coahuila, and elsewhere, employing 25,000 operatives, and making annually 4,000.000 pieces of cotton goods worth $15.000.000. There are also factories for making cloths and carpets, silk paper and hats, and many mills for making flour, sugar, liquors, leather, cigars, pottery, furniture, brick, glass, and jewelry. The growing and manufacture of cotton are constantly increasing, the coasts of Spanish America being now supplied largely from Mexico. Woollen goods of superior quality are likewise made, and there arc large shoe, hat. and other factories. Salamanca makes scrapes, rebozos, and mantas; Celaya, articles in leather, particularly saddles and harness. After the discovery of America, the Canary islands were for a long time of greater value to Spain, commercially, than the new continent, except as regarded the precious metals. But the time came when the Spaniards gave their exclusive attention to the gold and silver mines of America. The necessaries of life rose in price, first in Spain, and

668

THE HOOK OE II 7:71 T 77/

after wards throughout Europe. America was loss a trading than a mining possession of Spain. It is not the province of this book to give a history of that nation; but as a point connected with American interests during her dom­ ination. it will not be out of place to say here that her peculiar policy brought about her deca­ dence. Scarcely had a century elapsed since the establishment of Spains empire in America, when in spite of her fine coasts and harbors, her rich soil, and splendid climate, she sank into poverty, igno­ rance, and helplessness. GUANAJUATO Early in the seventeenth century, her population was reduced one half, her live-stock to a third of her previous quantity. Finally she lost the greater part of her American colonies. The policy of the Spanish crown, at this period, has no parallel in the history of mankind. To drain the American colonies of their wealth, and draw it to Spain was the whole aim of its legislation; and a prohibitive system of trade was practised which clearly showed its indifference to colonial prosperity. Articles of necessity or luxury called for by the Americans had to be brought exclusively from Spain, and trading with foreigners was made a heinous offense. One only port of Spain—Seville first, and Cadiz afterward—was permitted to trade with America. The immense influx into the peninsula of precious metals, by making labor almost unnecessary, caused a general decline in all kinds of industries; and Spain, which had formerly been a great industrial nation, had to resort to foreign markets, not only to supply home consumption, but also the needs of the colonies. This naturally increased the drainage of wealth from America. The foreign merchandise reached the colonies at greater cost because of additional duties and traders' profits. Such a system developed smuggling as a regular industry, with the usual accompaniment of corruption of officials. The contraband trade flourished, especially when the mother country was at war with one or more foreign powers, and her commerce was reduced to the lowest ebb. Indeed, smuggling became so firm­ ly grafted that it could not be suppressed. It is true that there were occa­ sional intervals of anima­ tion perceptible in Span­ ish commerce during the seventeenth and eight­ eenth centuries, but they were merely spasmodic. Ihc regulations governing intercolonial traffic were no better de­ PLAZA, ZACA’ECAS vised. The same spirit was at the bottom, producing similar evils to those regarding trade with foreign nations. A direct trade was allowed, however, between New Spain and the Philippines, through Acapulco, subject to many restrictions. Under a new franchise with increased privileges granted in 1734. the Philippine trade flourished till near the end of the century, the imports into New Spain consisting chiefly of raw silk, colored cotton fabrics, and Chinese earthen­ ware. By 1794 the trade, however, had so much decreased that no fairs were held in Acapulco for lack of attendance. In 1792 and 1793. and in the following year no fleet came. The trade afterward revived somewhat;

THE TOOK OF WEAL TH

66g

according to Humboldt the amount of bullion annually shipped averaged $ i. ooo. ooo. and sometimes reached $ i, 300. ooo. Besides the Philippines trade at Aca­ pulco, there was some trad­ ing carried on between New Spain and Peru at the same port, but under such restric­ tions as to reduce it to a very limited scale. Two vessels of 200 tons burden each were permitted an­ nually to visit Acapulco, and the goods they took paid an export duty of two and a half per cent. Later only one vessel was per­ mitted under still greater restrictions, and in 1634 even this petty concession was withdrawn. The clamps were thus tightened for the benefit of the Seville monop­ GUADALAJARA olist. During the eighteenth century the trade was somewhatrevived, but it was only in 1794 that Spain understood how wrong had been the policy till then pursued, and free trade between the colonics was decreed. The wise and true-hearted Carlos HI had begun since 1765 somewhat to relax the prohibitions, opening a number of ports of Spain to trade with certain colonies, and in 1778 the privilege was extended to all the Indies. These liberal measures gave much impulse to commerce. Finally, the system of fleets under convoy was abolished, and in 1799, owing to war between England and Spain, neutral vessels were permitted to trade directly between the peninsula and the colonies. That permission was followed by a still more liberal law, which remained in force from 1805 to the middle of 1809. After this, occasional permits were given to parties residing in the colonics to bring cargoes from foreign ports. About the same time, and later on, other measures were adopted to remove all impediments to trade. The latest one, of 1820. opening several ports on the two seas to commerce, was not carried out. Illicit trade continued, how­ ever, at Vera Cruz and Acapulco. '1‘he routes of inter­ communication and travel to Spanish America arc as follows: To the ports of Mex­ ico on the gulf of Mexico, the islands of St Domingo, Cuba, and Porto Rico, and the ports of Central and South America on the Atlantic coast, by sailing vessels or steamers from the United States or Europe; the ports of Mexico and Central America on the Pacific arc usually reached by steam or sailing vessels from Panama, or from the ports of the United States situated on the same ocean. Sailing vessels from Atlantic ports, visiting those in the Pacific, go and come round Cape Horn. The ports of South America, on the west or Pacific coast, are reached by steamships sailing from Panama, or by steamers crossing the straits of Magellan. The facility of communi­ cation across the isthmus of Panama by railway has existed since 1855. from which time several steamship lines under various flags, have conveyed mails, merchandise, and passengers on the Atlantic sea to and from Colon, and on the Pacific, to and from Panama. Most of the steamers on the Atlantic side touch at the ports of the

670

77/Æ BOOK O/' WEALTH

West Indies in going and coining. Communication by steamship between the island of Cuba and Europe, and between Cuba and the United States is quite frequent. The other Antilles are also regularly visited by mail steamers. Accounts an* kept in Mexico in dollars and cents. rhe republic has mints at Alamos, Culiacán, Chihuahua, Durango, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Hermosillo, Mexico, Oajaca, San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas; and coins at present gold pieces of §20, $10, $5, $2.50, and $ 1; silver pieces of Si, 50 cents, 25 cents. 10 cents, and 5 cents; and 1 cent pieces of copper. Gold coins are rarely seen, but they are mentioned to denominate value. The metric system of coinage was adopted several years ago; a few 5 and 10 cent pieces arc found sometimes, but in general transactions of buying and selling in shops, and everywhere among the people the old system is still in vogue. The quarter and half dollars in common use are respectively called dos reales, and cuatro reales, and occasionally peseta and tostón. In small dealings the real is the unit of value; thus it is that a commodity is worth un real, dos reales, cuatro reales, etc. In bartering with small dealers the word centavo may at times be heard, but such transactions are usually made for tlacos, which is the smallest coin of the old system, and worth 1 / cents. The nickel pieces of 1, 2. 3, and 5 centavos, coined in ¡883, having caused popular riots, were withdrawn from circulation. Though the blood intermixtures are many and varied, there arc three well-defined classes, the aboriginal, the European, and the mcztizo, or cross between the two. Of the first there are left in round numbers some 4,000,000, of the second there arc about 3,000,000, and of the third 5,000,000. The Indians and mestizoes arc physically strong, and prefer agriculture and stock-raising to any other kind of work. Commerce and manufactures arc largely in the hands of foreigners. The country is capable of supporting a population of 100.000,000 without the slightest difficulty. In society class dis­ tinctions are definitely drawn, and may be called the upper, middle, and lower; the first comprising the wealthy and educated, or those who affect wealth and intelligence, and will not work; the third, the poor, who are very poor, and ignorant, and hard-worked, who are often hungry and cold, and who have no hope for anything better; the second, or middle class, who are comfortable and happy, not above work, and strive earnestly to educate and improve their children. Of such as these last are republics made; but it will be long before any great intelligent and progressive middle class will be found in Spanish America, or before the govern­ ments there will be republics save in name. The present constitution of Mexico, or MAXiMlLiAN $ MONUMENT under its full name Estados Unidos de Mcxico, was adopted on the 5th of February, 1857, and afterward received several amendments until October, 1887, when the clause was repealed which forbade the reelection of the president for the next immediate term. By the provisions of that fundamental law Mexico is a federative republic, composed of twenty-seven states, besides the federal district and two territories. Each of the states is self-governing as regards its own local affairs, while together they form one body politic. The federal district and the territories are under the immediate control of the general government. The functions of government are divided, as elsewhere, into three departments, namely, the legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative power is vested in a congress composed of two chambers, the senate with 56 members, and the house of deputies, with 227 members. The executive authority rests with a president elected for a term of four years, and who may be reelected. The judicial power is centred in a supreme court of eleven proprietary members, named ministros, four supernumeraries, one fiscal, and one solicitor-general. There arc, besides, eight circuit courts and thirty-seven district courts. Though a complete census of the Mexican population has never been taken, I adoptan estimate for 1882, which makes the number of males 5,072,054, and of females 5,375.930; total 10,447,984. 'These figures do not differ much from Correa, Geografía de Mexico, who gives 10,500,000, nor from Garcia Cubas, who in his Cuadro Geográfico, etc., has it 10,451,974. The government of the republic has adopted liberal measures to invite foreign immigration, which proved measurably successful, a number of foreigners, especially Italians and Spaniards, having come to settle. But it has been asserted that owing to difficulties in the way of successful colonizations, many of the immigrants have in recent years abandoned the country. The hopes of America, both Anglo-Saxon and Spanish, rest on the education of the masses, as well as on their material progress. The development of intelligence, and of true independence, will necessarily be slow; but governments do not lose sight of the fact that an ignorant people is at all times a dangerous element. In the United States there are more than six millions of persons, of the age of ten and upward, who can neither read nor write. Many of that number are, it is true, of foreign birth; but in some sections, especially in the southern

TJIE BOOK OE WEAL TH

671

states, this ignorant class amounts to about 40 per cent of the inhabitants. In the republic of Mexico the proportion of illiteracy is unfortunately much larger. The case in other Spanish-American countries is by no means better. However, it must be conceded that all men of prominence, both in and out ol government circles, are alive to the importance of the subject, and use their best endeavors to promote the increase ol schools both for primary and superior instruction. The female sex also take a deep interest in the subject. The study of the English language is generally promoted in the Spanish-American countries. On the other hand, the people of the northern republic already understand the advantages of possessing the Spanish language. For the rapid develop­ ment of the two Amer­ icas it is of vital impor­ tance that every intelli­ gent and progressive person should be con­ versant with these two languages. Mexico has from the earliest times pro­ duced men entitled to distinction for their scien­ REAL DEL MONTE tific and literary attain­ ments, made apparent in their writings. The early chronicles have preserved a few of the lofty, really poetic sentiments of Netzahuacoyotl, king of Texcoco, which go to prove that the poet-monarch was the product of a high order of civilization. The Mexican race certainly possesses literary qualities, which manifest themselves on every favorable opportunity. 1 his became evident in the works of native Mexicans soon after the conquest, such as those of the two Jxtlilxochitls. the Tovars, Tezozomoc, Xiza, Camargo, Zapata, Mendoza, Pomar, Aguero, and the brothers Ortega, to whom is due most of the knowledge we now have of Mexican primitive history. They all lacked embellishment, however, resulting from poverty of language. 1 his defect disappeared as soon

SCHOOL CHLOREN. LOWER CALTORN A

as the Mexican Indian mastered the Spanish language, when he used it with as much fluency and ease as his European fellow-subject. After the first short period following the conquest, when Spanish jealousy discouraged literature of any kind, there was an absolute prostration, the only efforts made to record passing events being those of the religious chroniclers, whose productions were valuable, but verbose, involved, and far from entertaining, with only an exception here and there. Bishop Zumárraga's fanatical vandalism in destroying the Aztec writings, was in a measure redeemed by the labors of Father Sahagun. This man’s work was mutilated by narrow­ mindedness, but Father Juan de Torquemada, in his Monarquía, saved much of it. .Among the religious orders the Franciscans may first be mentioned. I pon the grounds formerly occupied as Montezuma’s zoological garden, with funds furnished by Cortes, was built at an early day a monastery for the Franciscan friars, the stones from the steps of the great Aztec temple being used in the construction. Thence to the north and west, and thence to the northeast were sent forth missionaries to instruct the heathen in the wily wavs of Christian civilization, to seize their lands and by their aid to cultivate them, raise stock, and build churches' Wealth flowed in on this and other orders, whose vow of poverty was set aside as unbefitting the occasion. As the Franciscans increased in numbers wealth and power, their buildings were enlarged and new ones added, until, three centuries after their beginning in the .Aztec capital of I enochtitlan, their city property covered a wide area and enclosed within a substantial wall magnificent monastic and ecclesiastical structures, garden.

672

77//:' BOOK O/' ITKI/./7/

cemetery, cloisters, sacristy, sala de profundis, chapels, and a refectory where 500 might sit at table at one time. Even after the great accounting, wherein they had been forced to give up the larger part of their gains, they had left to them the church which they had built in 1716, 230 feet in length, with dome and lantern 1 14 feet high, the interior adorned with lavish splendor. The chapel of Purisima Concepcion, built in 1629. still exists, these two with five others constituting in the days of their glory the seven churches of San Francisco famous throughout christendom. RECEPTION HALL, GOVERNORS PALACE The church of Santo Domingo, belonging to the order of Dominicans, is an imposing structure, with rich interior adornments, and a chapel on the west side of Santo Domingo plaza as a dependency. Porta Coeli is a small church formerly part of the Dominican college which no longer exists. The Jesuit church of Loreto cost over half a million dollars. 1 he Inquisition at first occupied a small Dominican church, but later reared a formidable structure, which upon the abolition of the holy office became the property of the school of medicine. For every religious house now standing in the city of Mexico, ten have been built and torn down. Education, at first in the hands of the clergy but later secularized, has been making rapid strides during the latter part of the century, Since the viceroy Mendoza inaugurated the first college, many institutions of conservatories, and professional learning, universities, colleges, established, thousands of which and common schools have been under the viceroys were mainly arc now in operation. Schools pendence public education was for the aristocracy; after indo state governments, and by no looked after by the national and than President Diaz. At Puebla, one more earnestly and efficiently schools of mechanic arts and Guanajuato, and Guadalajara are atory school, and in Zacatecas trades; at Oajaca is a reform schools; there are commercial, and some other states are asylum at nearly all the capitals, and normal, law, and medical schools blind, the deaf and dumb, for in various places schools for the mining and many branches of engineering and agriculture, for a national military school, with manufacture. At Chapultepec is Campeache and Mazatlan have observatory and laboratories; medical institute, school of jurisnaval schools. In Mexico are a servatory of music; also many prudence, art academy and con of art and antiquities, and libraries, museums, and treasures learning. various institutes of technical the National Museum are many Among the treasures of stone, of many tons weight and Aztec remains, the sacrificial covered with carvings, the hollow TULE TREE in the centre to which a canal conveys the blood of the victim. Behind this stands the old war god, as if regarding with contempt this method of making away with good soldiers. And, indeed, if blood-letting be as good for a nation as it was once thought to be for the individual, perhaps wars and sacrifices both might be praiseworthy institutions in certain quarters. It is safe to say that the Spaniards sacrificed to their religion during the seventeenth century the lives of more Indians than ever the Aztecs did to theirs in any century previous. Here are likewise specimens of the mineral and agricultural wealth of the country, Alvarado’s armor. Aztec idols, long rows of rulers, viceroys, and presidents, Maximilian's gilded coach and some of his silver plate, and many fine paintings and engravings. The massive structure now used for the national library was formerly the church of San Augustin. rhe grounds on the north and west sides are enclosed by a high iron fence, on the posts of which are busts of Ramirez, Alaman, Veytia, Clavijero, Ixtlilxochitl, Tezozomoc, Navarrete, and other historical and scientific celebrities. There are about 160,000 volumes in the collection, which runs largely to religious books. rhe Cinco de Mayo, a free library in the old Betlemitas church, has 10,000 volumes; there is a law library of 14.000 volumes, and other collec­ PALACiO DE LOS PODERES tions of various degrees of importance. The national school of fine arts occupies what was formerly the Amor de Dios hospital. The conservatory of music is in the building once occupied by the university of Mexico. Many of the scientific and other institutions, as the schools of mines,

THE TOOK OF II7:. ITT// agriculture, medicine, commerce, and law are housed in what were once convents, monasteries, or churches. Railways and telegraphs have done a great work for Mex­ ico, and the postal system has of late become very efficient. Sev­ eral lines of roads, completed or in course of construction, traverse the continent from (Kean to ocean, and cut the country into longi­ tudinal sections, while communi­ cation is had by steamships with various parts of the world. Inland waters are not so available for transportation purposes as are those in South America and the United States. Chief among them are the rio Bravo, the rio de las VELASCO GARDIN, LA PAZ Conchas, the Soto de la Marina, Grijalva, Usumacinta, Tabasco, Verde, Panuco. Tamesf, and others on the east and west coasts. Canals have been cut or projected in several places, as from Tampico to Tuxpan, in the valley of Mexico, and elsewhere. One of the greatest works of man is the drainage of the valley of Mexico, begun early in the viceregal period, if not indeed in Aztec times, but brought to a successful termination only by President Diaz, who has expended on it §30,000.000, not to mention the millions laid out to little or no advantage by his predecessors. The famous Mochistongo cutting was attempted by Enrico Martinez in 1607. During the present century the engineers Simon Mendez and Miguel Iglesias, the latter under the auspices of Maximilian, have given the subject some study, but the engineers who bring forward the present achievement are Luis Espinosa and I. Diaz Lombardo. The commission direct­ ing the work is composed of Pedro Rincon L. Gallardo. José Ives Li­ mantour, Francisco Rivas Gongora, and others. The works consist of three parts, and include a main canal extending from San Lazaro gate along the eastern side of the Gua­ dalupe sierra through or near the several lakes to the Tequixquiac tunnel, thirty-five miles in length. Another portion of the works is a tun­ nel over sixty-three miles, with four arches and twenty-five perpendic­ ular shafts. More miles of cutting have here been done, though not everywhere so wide or deep, as would dig the Nicaragua canal, over which SUGAR C*NE "EL0 *N0 FACTOBY our railway and politics manipulators in Washington so successfully manage to defeat wise and honest legislation. Other public works are a breakwater at Vera Cruz; wharf and breakwater at Coatzacoalcos, the terminus of the Tehuantepec railway; a breakwater also at Salinas Cruz, on the Pacific side, at a cost of $5,000.000; and improvements in the ports of Frontera, Laguna de Terminos. There arc about a dozen mints, before mentioned, which coin §25,000,000 a year. The national bank is capitalized at s20.000.000. and issues notes, as do also several smaller institutions. Doubly impre gnable San Juan de Ulua was once regarded, with its dripping dungeons within and guard of sharks without. Vera Cruz was then encircled by a strong wall, and the expense of it all caused Philip II to groan. “What is your majesty gazing at?” asked the archbishop of the king as one day on the seashore he stood peering across the ocean to the westward. “I am looking for San Juan de Ulua," replied the king. “It has cost me so many millions that I thought it surely large enough to be seen from here. Aside from historic interest and internal beauties, the situation and environment of the city of Mexico make it different from any other capital in the world. In and beyond the suburbs are many charming spots and points of interest, while in the distant borders of the valley with their rolling hills and higher snowy peaks.

6z-4

77ÍE BOOK OF WEALTH

awe-compelling Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, there is a solemn majesty which makes itself felt upon the least sensitive observer. The three causeways which connected Tcnochtitlan, the island capital of Anahuac, with the mainland, were widened by the Spaniards, and are now used for street cars and general traffic. The two open aqueducts, which for the most part follow the lines of the ancient Aztec structures, help to supply the city with water, one four and the other two miles in length. The streets of the modern city arc well laid out in regular lines and angles, and for the most part well paved and sewered. The trouble about drainage, arising from the level of one of the lakes which is higher than that of the city, is being obvi­ ated as rapidly as possible; it cer­ tainly is not to the sanitary advantage of the city that water is anywhere reached by digging two or three feet. Along the better streets the houses arc substantially built of stone, three or four stories in height, with paved patios and corridors, and tile or tin roofs. The altitude is so high as not to be pleasant to all, but on the whole the climate is agreeable and healthy; temperature 65° to 85°; always warm at noon where the sun shines and SUGAR MANIPULAT.ON cool at night. Puebla is a cleaner and healthier city than Mexico, the air being fresh and pure, and the ground not so saturated with moisture or overlaid with dead Aztecs. The primary object of interest in the present city of Mexico is the Palacio Nacional, on the east side of the Plaza Mayor, where once stood Montezuma's palace, which Cortes reconstructed with additional inner courts and towers. It is now a large and mainly two story series of edifices, fronting 675 feet on the plaza, and containing the offices of the federal government, the army, post office, national archives, and astronomical bureau. In the hall of the ambassadors are portraits of Hidalgo, Morelos, Guerrero, Iturbide, Juarez, and others. On the south side of the plaza is the Palacio del Ayuntamiento, or city hall, where are the offices of the municipal and state governments. Though the first story has massive arcades, the architecture is not as imposing as that upon the cast side. In one of the halls are hung portraits of ail the rulers of Mexico, viceregal and presidential, from Cortes to Diaz. 1'he arch ¡episcopal palace at the corner of Arzobispado and Seminario streets was begun by Zumárraga in 1530, rebuilt in part in 1730, and com­ pleted in 1800. The edifice was secu­ larized in 1861, and is now occupied by the internal revenue and other fed­ eral offices. When that part of the palace which was occupied by the cham­ ber of deputies, was burned in 1872, the lower house of congress moved into the old Iturbide theatre; the ancient Enseñada convent is occupied by the federal court; while the church of San­ tiago Tlaltelolco, adjoining the custom house, is used as a bonded warehouse. SUGAR FACTORY VACUUM PAN In the calle del Apartado is the Casa de Moneda, or mint, completed in 1782 at a cost of half a million dollars; it was one of the three mints established in America by cedula of the king in 1535, the other two being at Santa Ee, and Potosí, South America. These institutions were at first little more than assay offices, the bars and ingots stamped therein passing as money. In the mint of Mexico city has been coined $2.500.000,000, of which §85,000,000 was gold. On or near the spot where stood the Aztec temple is the cathedral. The small church erected there by Cortes in 1523 was removed to make room for a larger one later, which in turn was torn down to give space to the present building, which is about 400 by 180 feet, and 185 feet high. It was begun under arrangement between Philip II and Clement VII in 1573. and completed in 1791 at a cost of some §2.000.000, the principal

THE BOOK OF WEALTH

75

architect being Alonzo Peres Castefteda. The bell in the western tower, named Santa Maria de Guadalupe, is 19 feet high; the Doña Maria bell in the eastern tower is smaller. The façade is of gray stone and marked off by buttresses into three divisions, which are separated into two parts by cornices, one doric and the other ionic. The bases, friezes, capitals, basso-relievos, and statues are of white marble. Stone statues of colossal size representing actual ecclesiastics and abstract piety, occupy the cornices beneath the domes and under the clockserving as pedestals. The interior is mixed doric and gothic; twenty fluted columns support the roof and separate the nave from the aisles. Over the central arches, which form a cross, rises the dome, and on every side are

SUGAR FACTORY INTERIOR

chapels, altars, statues, and paintings. Conspicuous among the fifty other churches in this city are the Sagrario M( tropolitano, adjoining the cathedral on the east, with highly ornate exterior decorations; the structure standing between the two above named, and called the Capilla de la Soledad; and the churches of San Cosme, San José, San Miguel, Santa Ana. Santa Catarina, Santo Tomás, San Pablo, and San Sebastian. Thus we see that few places in the old world or the new are more alive with historic interest than this plaza mayor of the city of Mexico. It was here that the Montezumas lived and reigned, masters alike of the lives and souls of men. Here stood the palaces of the aboriginal nobility, allied to the long line of kings and emperors, and here rose the great pyramid on whose summit the high priest of a bloody religion slaughtered the thousands of victims, which every faith at some period of its history seems to demand. Then came the conquerors, strange men with strange weapons and a new religion, which said peace and good will, but which practised robbery, treachery, and assassination. For three hundred years thereafter the viceroys of Spain, puppets of old-world monarchy, came and departed, strutting around this square and parading their masters power and glorv for a brief period, master and man soon to be swept from the stage by time’s relentless hand and lie forever forgotten. Iturbide and Maximilian, widely separated as they were in their attempts, Haunted here their brief spasms of imperialism. Three hundred years of this royal Spanish mummery the people of Mexico thought to be enough; and so they rose up and put a stop to it, and a long line of presidents succeeded to the viceregal epoch, and the voice of liberty was heard in the zocalo, but for a time not unaccompanied by the voice of war. The church would not part with its wealth and power without a struggle, and Juarez was determined that the minds of his countrymen should be free as well as their bodies. All past efforts for good seem consummated under the firm and benignant rule of Diaz, when for the first time since independence from Spain peace and progress have been allowed to prevail. In place of the palace of the Montezumas and the viceroys, we have the palace of the presidents and officials of free institutions, and in place of the great sacrificial pyramid of the

THE BOOK OE ITE. IL //f

Aztecs there is the cathedral of the Christians with its imposing exterior and twenty-five chapels within, Forty priests can officiate here at one time. Tons of thousands of people crowd the place on the great feast days, when indeed the whole square is gay with Howers, and mer­ chandise. and men women and children in bright apparel. The cathedral was erected largely by volunteer or semi­ enforced labor, and during the palmy days of the priests, when the church owned the greater part of the country, the wealth contained within its walls was immense, «'olden candlesticks crosses and censers, bediamonded chalices, images with rare and costly adornments, paint­ ings. and gold and silver statues studded with gems. Though much has been carried away there is still left many valuable paintings, frescoes, and statues. The zocalo in the centre of the square is a garden of Howers and trees, where from a grand stand a good band dis­ courses music to the throng of promenaders. PLAZ* DE ZAR*G0Z* By the strange irony of late Mexico’s great castle, Chapultcpec, likewise is handed down through the long line of Spain’s viceroys from the Montezumas to their own people, chief among whom was Benito Juarez, the liberator and ruler, the statesman and patriot equal in purity of heart and enlightenment of mind to any who ever lived, the native American, his blood uncontaminated by any European intermixture. Not that tin; many changes made in the castle of Chapultepec from first to last have left much of the aboriginal structure, but the great forested rock is there, arrayed in rich foliage and with the aboriginal work performed upon it still plainly visible. I he broad boulevard, Pasco de la Reforma, bordered by trees and fine residences, runs straight from the palace in the plaza mayor to the palace of Chapultepec, now adorned with frescoes paintings and statuary, and used as well for the purposes of federal schools as an occasional residence for the president. The little that is left of the floating gardens of the Aztecs and their surroundings may be now found on the Viga canal, and its banks, the great highway for fruits and Howers from the lakes of Chalco and Xochimilco. When all around the city was water, and city land was scarce, the lovers of Howers and fruits sought to make more land by binding reeds and bushes into rafts, on which lake sediment and soil were laid, which would grow vegetables as well as fruit-trees and Howers. Several of these rafts could be united, and the floating island made as large as desired. They could be moved from place to place, tied up at a bank, or anchored out in the water by means of poles driven into the bottom. Excursions are made on the canal to Xochimilco lake and town, and intermediate places. Mexicalcinco, Santa Anita, and the chinampas. as the floating gardens were aboriginally called, and Ixtacalco. The houses in this vicinity are mostly thatched adobe, and the land teems with fruits and Howers; pulque is plentiful, and a happier people than those who here swarm in dirt and rags would be hard to find. Yet this paseo de la Viga was at one time the fash­ ionable promenade, and even now so used during lent. The statue of Guatimotzin. last of the Aztec sovereigns, is seen; it was erected in 1869. The paseo de Bucareli, called the new paseo though now likewise old. is in the southwestern quarter of the city, a statue of victory in honor of Guerrero having been erected, in 1829, in the glorieta, or central circular space of that street. But the most beau­ tiful and fashionable promenade and drive at present are the AlaALAMEDA OE LEON moda and paseo de la Reforma. as before mentioned, on a direct line from the palace to Chapultepec, the former a small park shaded by trees and adorned with Howers fountains and statues, the latter a wide drive two miles in length, surpassed by lew in Europe or America, having six glorietas, of 400 feet in diameter, with stone benches and statues of Carlos IV, Juarez, and others. Among the still existing buildings of historic interest may be mentioned the Iturbide palace, on San Francisco street, since 1855 a hotel, built on land where formerly stood the convent of Santa Brigida, by the

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wealthy marquera de San Mateo Valparaiso a century and more ago,—a large edifice having several courts and occupied for a brief period by the so-called emperor Iturbide. Near the Hospital de Jesus is a house of three stories with carved doors, stone waterspouts, and ornate patio, once the property of the condes de Santiago. On the Tacuba causeway, near San Cosme, is a build­ ing with grotesque stone masks, on which José de Men­ doza spent $100.000 and then abandoned it. Then there arc the Escandon residence, on the plazuela de Guardiola, the national bank building, and others of HERMOSILLO greater or less distinction. The Monte de Piedad, or government pawn shop, occupies the old palace of Cortes, which stands on the ground where once stood one of the palaces of Montezuma, on the plaza mayor. It was intended by its founder, the conde de Regia, a rich mine owner who endowed it with $300.000. as a benevolent institution, where the poor and distressed might obtain money on their pledges at a small rate of interest, and not be ever at the mercy of rapacious money­ lenders. Doubtless the intention was good; but a savings bank, and some one to instruct the people how to use it. would have been better. Since its beginning in 1775 it has loaned $33.000.000 to 2.250.000 persons, and has given $150.000 in charity; the amount outstanding in loans is usually about s 1,000.000. There arc many hospitals and charitable institutions in Mexico, as the hospitals de Jesus Nazareno, de San Hipólito, Morelos, Salvador. Juarez, casa de Maternidad, and La Cuna. The Colegio de la Paz is a charity school, founded in 1732 by three wealthy merchants, and on which has been expended $2.000,000. Just outside of the city of Mexico is the shrine of Guadalupe, where shortly after the con­ quest the virgin appeared in a vision to the Indian Juan Diego. The religious pulse of the natives was faint in those days, and often the poor priest became discouraged in his work of proselytizing. Difficult of eradication from the ignorant mind were the old superstitions, to which with great INDIAN CARRETA tenacity the native clung. And furthermore, “What cares the blessed virgin for the poor Indian?” they said. “The Spaniards have their saints and intercessors, their feast days and fast days, but not one have we.” Then said the religious men among themselves, if the virgin would only speak to the Indian, what a revival there would be among them. And she did appeal, there was a great revival; never after that lacked the Indian a saint and intercessor. 1 hricc she appeared to Juan Diego on the hill of Guadalupe, and told him to build her a church there, miraculously stamping her image on his blanket as a token. This he showed to the bishop, and the church was built, and a chapel on the hill, the church costing $800.000, and in it an altar rail of silver. Indeed several churches and chapels were built here, and the place became a great resort for pilgrims and gamblers. I he Guadalupe church proper is 122 by 184 feet in size, with vaulted roof resting on Corinthian columns, and supporting a dome the top of which is 125 feet high, the towers rising from the façade being 110 feet in height. I he interior is gorgeous in white and gold, onyx tables, altars and rich carvings, the cost of the whole being nearly si.200,000. not to mention $2.000.000 worth of plate and jewels taken away by the government. From this and the chapel of the well, and the chapel on the hill, no small revenue is derived from worshippers and tourists. Tacubaya, near the capital, contains many charming villas and country houses of wealthy Mexicans. It was not so very long ago when it was not deemed safe for a rich man to wander about alone, even so short a distance from the city, lest robbers should seize and bear him awav. and hold him for a ransom. Here such men as Barron. Bardet. Miery Celis, and Escandon spend the whole or part of their time, amid the most lovely surround­ ings. elegant and ornate residences standing in small well-shaded parks filled with Howers. TAMP CO

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77//f FOOL' OF WEALTH

Cuernavaca, where stands the ancient palace of Cortes and the famous garden of La Borda, on which over s 1,000,000 were spent by José de la Borda, who had made S40.000.000 in the mines of Zacatecas, Tlalpujahua. and Tasco, has an ideal climate, a dry delicious air of uniform temperature, with an altitude less than that of Mexico, being but 4.900 feet. From the plains of Ajusco, 9.000 feet high, a land of pines and potatoes, is a fine panoramic view of the valley of Mexico, 7,000 square miles in extent, cities lakes and snow­ capped volcanoes mingling in the perspective. Cuernavaca was a favorite resort of Maximilian, as indeed it has been of many before and after him. Twenty-five miles from the city of Mexico is Tezcuco, with its ancient fame and interesting historic church. Here lived the learned men of the Nahua nation; hither came their spoiler, and here he afterward dwelt while resting under the cloud of disfavor of his too jealous royal master. Tetxcotzinco has its aqueduct, and still shows the remains of Netzahualcóyotles terraced hill. Molino de Florez is the country place of the Cervantez family. Tlalnepantla with its quaint Miseri­ cordia chapel is a famous place for bull-fights. Puebla is one of the most beautiful cities in the PASEO NETZAHUALCOYOTL world where the Spanish while the country round is language is spoken. Its one great garden of aro­ architecture is more than matic foliage watered by ordinarily pretentious, intersecting streams. Hun­ being at once to some dreds of clanging bells con­ extent original and stantly call men to the chaste. The streets are worship of their maker, wide and regular, with a whose awful presence may water channel in the cen­ be felt by the devout in tre, and are kept clean. the two great fire-moun­ It is a city of churches, tains. Popocatepetl and hundreds of spires domes Ixtaccihuatl. standing forth and towers rising high as emblems of divine wrath. into the transparent air, A LAMAS and brought near by reason of the thin moistureless air. The Puebla cathedral is considered in some respects superior even to that of Mexico city. Zumarraga laid the corner stone of the first Puebla cathedral in 1536; the present edifice was built a century later. It stands on the south side of the principal plaza, upon a slightly elevated stone sub-structure. Statues of the twelve apostles are worked into the iron fence, a memorial to Pius IX, with effigies of church dignitaries, arms of the repub­ lic, angels, and basso-relievios on the gate emblem­ atical of the city’s beginning. The building is of dark stone, of imposing proportions; in one of the two great towers is a bell weighing nine tons. The interior, particularly, surpasses all other houses of GALLERY OF THE PANTHEON. OAJACA worship in beauty and grandeur, a variety of Mexican marbles and onyx being used in the finish, with figures in bronze and elaborately carved wood, besides large wall spaces covered with valuable paintings, not to mention the highly ornamented altars and chapels. Other important churches are those of the Franciscans and Jesuits. A house in Mcrcaderes has a mosaic tile front; the church of la Luz and the insane asylum, once the convent of Santa Rosa, are similarly conspicuous. 1 he principal plaza blooms as a garden, while the market is brilliant in manufactures of colored straw and other Indian work. In the botanical garden is a distributing reservoir of city water. The country round Puebla, as well as the city, swarms with churches. The town of Cholula is little else than a group of religious houses, and on the summit of the pyramid stands one as sentinel over the others. Not far distant from Puebla is I laxcala, with its one-story adobe houses, and its town hall of two stories with an imposing antique statue at the entrance. Vera Cruz, as the chief seaport of Mexico, is an important place, though laboring under disadvantages with regard to harbor and climate. The alameda pants under a covering of verdure, while the market-place blossoms in tropical beauty. Besides the churches there are the penal presidio, the fortifications, town hall, and the historic island fort of San Juan de Ulua, before mentioned. Jalapa has a government building of which it

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may be proud; also a cartographical institute. Orizaba as well as Jalapa dates its beginning long before the conquest, and in the former city the Spaniards had a flouring mill as early as 1550. There are here the usual churches, theatre, market, alameda, and educational institutions, not to mention the picturesque surroundings, sparkling streams, glistening verdure, and snow-capped volcano. I he famous mining town of Pachuca stands high above the sea, while two or three hundred gangs of men are tearing up the country round for metal. So with regard to other mining places, notably Zacatecas, some 8,000 - feet above the level of the ocean. From the long line of ravine which it fills, the well punctured moun­ tains rise abruptly on cither side, preventing that free circulation of air so necessary to health. Besides reduction works there is here an extensive pottery, and by way of religious edification several houses for penitential pilgrims. Aguascalientes has a beau­ tiful plaza and garden, govern­ ment and municipal houses, annual fair buildings and scientific insti­ tute. Leon is a manufacturing city, tanning and working in leath­ er, working in cotton and woollen cloths, and making hats, soap, and JARDIN JUAREZ. OAJACA cutlery. Guanajuato, with narrow winding streets, lies in a ravine inviting floods and breeding pestilence while giving to the world new millions of money. Here is the famous Albóndiga, seized by Hidalgo at the outbreak of the revolution, and where later were displayed the heads of the patriots. The building is now occupied as an industrial prison, and before it is a bronze statue of Hidalgo. The Jesuits have here the best church, nearly half of its cost being expended in blasting a site out of the mountain side. In the plaza yor of Queretaro, where Maximilian used to walk and ponder amid the palm and banana trees while under­ going the siege which resulted in his death, is a fountain and a statue of Aguila. In the legislative building, which has a fine garden, are portraits of governors, and belong­ ing to the city is a valuable stone aqueduct. Cotton cloth and leather are made here. It was indeed a beautiful city before the revolution, having had for nearly a century its aqueduct two leagues in length, the arches supported on 72 pillars of hewn stone 18 varas apart and 27 varas high. In 1793 the cloth and tobacco factories each employed 3,000 workmen, the latter making yearly cigars and cigarettes to the value of §2.200.000. Guadalajara is a fine city, 5,200 feet above the templo de la soleoad ocean, with a sapphire sky and altogether delightful climate. The cathedral, painted in blue and gold, attracts the attention of beholders, as do also the bull-fight amphitheatre and opera house. Then there is Colima, as is the case with many Mexican towns, a sprout of civilization grafted on to aboriginal stock. It sits well up among the hills with a show volcano rising high in the air and sending forth destructive fires, if not often yet with a certainty of recurrence. Lower California is a poor country, though possessing some minerals, gold silver copper and lead, and some grazing lands of a rather dry and thin variety. The silver mines near La Baz help that town to develop its points of merit, which may be seen in the broad straight shaded streets, bordered by white-washed stone and adobe houses of one story with green Venetian blinds. Far away to the southeast is Merida, the capital of Yucatan, standing upon the site of an Indian village, where used to dwell Simon Peon, owner of Uxmal, once greater than Merida, or even Yucatan. But the aboriginal town where Merida is must have been something, for there are in it even now remains of Indian buildings which were there before the conquest; this upon the authority of John L. Stephens and others. Fifty years ago the bishop was the greatest and richest man in Merida; but it is not so to-day. Once the church was over all and above all, but it will never wield such power again. Like the pope of Rome, the bishop of Merida had his palace adjoining the cathedral, all imparting the air of a new world Vatican. Here lived luxuriously Christ's vicegerent, in stately halls with elegant furnishings; at his table he and brethren fared sumptuously every day, and slept the sleep of the just. Simon Peon had a fine hacienda between Merida and

THE TOOK OF II EALTH

6So

Uxmal. The main building was of stone, a high arcade running along the whole of the 150 feet of front, under which was a long stone trough in which the cattle found water. There was also a large reservoir of water in the hacienda yards. Among other factories was a rope walk for the working of hemp raised on the place. To the place, by a kind of peonage, were bound 1.500 Indian retainers. Haciendas are the farm-houses of Spanish America. They arc farms only on a large scale, with thousands of acres and thousands of live stock, and of retainers; every hacienda is in charge of a major domo, who manages the estate, and is master absolute in the absence of the owner. Miscf.ii.anv. In India the ruined cities of Cambodia, with temples and palaces as grand as any, remained until recently undis­ covered, since the relapse of that country into barbarism. Beside a lake bordered with lotus stands a long row of columned galleries, behind which rising out of groves of palms are three great pagodas.

CATHEDRAL, OAJACA

And as nearly as we can judge it was during about the same period of ancient Nahua rule in Mexico, from the second to the fourteenth centuries, that Cambodia ruled the Indo-Chinese peninsula, having an army of 600,000 foot soldiers, 70,000 elephants, 200,000 horse, twenty kings being tributary. The tierras templadas, which overspread the table lands, are more valuable for grazing purposes than for cultivation, but the tierras calientes of the hot border are extremely prolific. Vast areas on the plateaus and slopes grow all the grains and fruits with irrigation. Agricultural implements are crude, the native plough being of wood with iron point. Before the conquest, the Aztecs were well advanced in mining and agriculture. They had large cities, and skilled artisans, and welltilled fields, so that when the raid of Cortis was achieved they were, as compared with other aboriginals, a wealthy people. They had plantations of maize and cocoa which the Spaniards were only too glad to take from them, but not unless they could enslave the native lal>orers under their encomienda system. So with the mines, and the slavery there practised in the name of peonage. It was an old and simple trick; pass a law that no laborer in debt can leave the mine, then open a store and give him rum, tobacco, and whatever else he wants on credit, and you have him bound to you forever, for he will never pay his debt as long as he is at liberty to increase it. Maize and maguey were the two great crops of the central plateau in times past as in times present, which supplied the food and drink of Mexican gods and Mexican men. A failure of the corn meant famine; 17,000,000 fanegas was the total crop at the beginning of the present century. Both of these plants were utilized wholly. Corn supported animals as well as men; the liquor chica was made from it; sugar was made from the stalks, and cigarette and tamale wrappers, and beds, and other things,

from the leaves. To the Indian the maguey plant gave not only food ami drink, but shelter and clothes, and all that he required; its leaves covered his hut; from the fibres he wove cloth and of the pulp made paper; the pulque from the plant was his beer and the fermented juice of the root his brandy; if sick there was med­ icine and sugar in it, if well, much comfort. Nothing that Europe could give him, wheat, barley, horses, cattle, Chris­ tianity, ami small-pox, could make up for the maguey, had he to give it in exchange. Back in the middle of the last century the government derived an annual profit of a million of dollars from pulque. Native imitation and ingenuity in manufacturing has ever forced the admiration of Europeans. In feather-work the Aztecs at the time of the conquest were superior to any people in the world, and in cotton fabrics they were but little if any behind the foremost. In gold and silver work, in the manipulation of precious stones and pearls, and in the man­ ufacture of fine jewelry they were not surpassed by any Euro­ pean artisan. And when they were called upon to do the leather, stone, iron, and wood work of the European, they were not found wanting. The Nahuas brought to Anahuac gold from the south, silver and tin from the mines of Taxco and Tzompanco, and copper from Zacatollan, Cohuixcas, and Michoacan. Gold was found in larger or smaller pieces on the ground, in the crevices of rocks, and in the beds of streams; the fine dust was kept in tubes or quills, the nuggets were melted into bars or wedges. The Aztecs knew not iron, but quicksilver, sulphur, alum, and ochre they applied to various purposes. In the states of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Tobasco, Campe­ che, Yucatan, Vera Cruz, and Tamaulipas, which cover nearly twothirds of the republic, the products of both temperate and tropical regions can be raised; as of the former, cereals, fruits, and woods, and of the latter coffee, cocoa, vanilla, dye-woods, rice, and cotton. On the table land maguey and maize are still the staples. The wealth of raw material for manufacturing purposes is incalculable, much of it growing wild. Cortis was the first to make sugar; there are now over thirty plantations in Morelos alone. Of textile plants there are over twenty kinds of agave, several species of palm, and many varieties of others. Endless are the minerals abounding all over the great central plateau; coal and coal oil, salt, sulphur, lime,

XOCH M LCO

THE TOOK OF H E. 17,77/

681

gypsum; precious and base metals; and metals from all the states, say anil precious stones.—opals, agates, $28,000,000, and the mining production emeralds, diamonds, and the rest. of Mexico is brought up to $70,000,000 In 1800 the mining region of Newper annum. Spain covered over 12,000 square I find the following estimates of leagues. One single mine, the Valentotal outputs: Guanajuato, $1,000,ciana. in five years yielded St4.000.000. 000,000; Zacatecas, $800,000,000; Chi­ as much as all Peru put out in silver huahua. $650,000,000; Durango, $200,during that period. Midalgo is a rich 000.000; Sonora, $200,000,000: Hidal­ mining state, and the mines of Pachuca go, $300,000,000. are now for the most part provided Before the Spaniards came Gua­ with good hoisting works. One mine, najuato was famous for its mines, and WOOLEN FACTORY the Viscaina, on which was spent in 1760 before the Valenciena, 2,000 feet deep, $2,000,000, has yielded in 300 years $200,000,000. Chihuahua was flooded, the total annual output of all the mines was $8,000,000. has some rich mining districts, one, the Eulalia, producing in 37 I he city, under Spanish régime, dates its beginning 1554. and years $344,000,000. In Mexico, as in the Taquil mines of Chile, as building ground was scarce, the houses were made three and four and m arly every where in Spanish America, the ore was in early stories high. times brought up from hundreds of feet under ground by natives Hidalgo has large deposits of galena; there are valuable lead who climbed notched poles with 200 pounds on their back. The mines in Quéretaro, Oajaca, and several other states. So it is with Coquimbo mines used formerly to yield 2,000 pounds of silver regard to copper, zinc, platinum, tin, and other metals, to the elu­ cidation of which subject I devoted a volume, in 1892, entitled yearly. The feather-work art of the Nahuas is still extensively practised Resources of Mexico. There is a large body of good iron ore on the seaboard of Lower by their descendants, \ ery beautiful are the pictures California, upon the use of the feathers of very verge of the the bird they wish to ocean; the Tepustete portray, gluing them Iron company for­ on a card in their prop­ feited their charter er place to make the for failing to build a representation natural pier at Ensenada. and perfect. Losses by ship­ His position as­ wrecks and pirates sured, Cortés was for the ten years pre­ broad-minded in lay­ ceding 1640 were es­ ing the foundations of timated by Palafox government, and lib­ at $30,000,000. eral to the church, as Under the rule he could well afford to of Viceroy Alva. 1,be. He was very 000,000 pesos belong­ pious, though with ing to private persons little thought of apply­ were seized by order ing the ideal to the of the king and sent incidents of life, a to Spain in 1649. missing link in reli­ The great cathegion which neither drals and other Christianity nor mochurches and relig­ hammedism has yet LA FLOR DA ious buildings of supplied. Ungrateful Spanish America were erected for the most part during the three and contemptible were the sovereigns of Spain, who treated so outrageously their discoverers and conquerors. “ W ho are you?” centuries of viceregal rule, and might safely be estimated as cost­ cried Charles V to Cortés on one occasion. “One who has given ing not less than $4,000,000,000. Some few of the king's representatives were men of probity, your majesty more countries than he had cities before," was the and commanded the confide nee of the people. Bucareli, for ex­ reply. Cacao beans and measures of maize were used as currency by ample, 46th viceroy, being in need of funds for mint purposes, the the natives. In 1526 the cabildo of the city of Mexico permitted merchants lent him $2.500,000 without interest or security. Smuggling under the viceroys assumed gigantic proportions, the converting of tepuzque gold, at the smelting works, into pieces of one, two, and four tontines, and of one, two, and four pesos de the operations of the South Sea company, slavers, and private adventurers fora period of 28 years, in the early part of the 18th oro. In 1535 a mint was established. Mexico has yielded since the conquest $5,000,000,000 of gold century, amounting to no less than 100,000,000 pesos. In the palmy days of Spanish rule when the richly laden gal­ and silver, of which the larger part has been coined. leons arrived from the Philippines, The aggregate capital invested in an annual fair was held at Acapulco mining in Mexico approaches $1,000,in February, when traders flocked in 000,000, with a yearly production from every part of New Spain, and averaging $10,000,000 for a period of even merchants coming from Peru 370 years, but which has risen during with two or three millions of pesos the latter part of the century to an with which to purchase Chinese goods. annual production of gold and silver The customs duties on a single ship of $42,000,000. Copper to the value sometimes amounted to $100.000, not of $2,500,000 is annually produced in to speak of smuggled goods or bribery. Lower California, Chiapas, Michoa­ José de hurrigaray, 56th viceroy can, and Jalisco. Coahuila exports of Mexico, upon the occasion of a state500,000 tons of coal, worth $4,000,000. visit to the mines of Guanajuato was GUADALAJARA WARE Add to these amounts other minerals

682

THE TOOK OE II ’Ey IL TH

presented with 1,000 ounces of gold. Though the expenses of this imitation of royalty far exceeded his salary of $60,000 a year, he managed to make himself rich while in office. The crown rentals which drew money from the people of New Spain into the royal coffers numbered more than sixty, and yielded from 1522 to 1804 $1,940,000,000 or $6,830,986 a year. Viceroy Revilla Gigedo the Younger, who came hither in 1789, did much to purify and improve the capital, both morally and materially. The viceroy Galvez, in 1790, spent a large amount in building for himself a palace on the heights of Chapultepec, to which expenditure the crown too late interposed objections. At the close of the 18th century 5,000 persons were employed in the tobacco factory of the city of Mexico. Branciforte was a name rendered infamous by a viceroy who in 1797 carried back with him $5,000,000 which he wrung illegally from the people, and which even his sovereign failed to get away from him. When Iturbide had himself crowned as emperor, the country was too poor to bejewel him as he desired, and the national pawn­ shop refused to lend him diamondsand pearls for that purpose; hence he was obliged to put up with regalia glittering w ith fictitious splen­ dor. Once safely seated on his throne, as he fancied, he ordered a forced loan of $2,800,000, and at the same time seized $1,300,000 in transit for Vera Cruz, which arbitrary proceed­ ings hastened his downfall. The old inquisition build­ ing in the city of Mexico is now used for a medical col­ lege, the covered way through which victims were conducted being in ruins. Mexico’s first great rail­ way, from the capital to Vera Cruz, 263 miles main line and 30 miles branch to Puebla, cost a little over $36,300,000, not far from $125,000 a mile; average net income $1,500,000 per annum. The largest market in Mexico city is the Volador, in the plaza de la Universidad, south of the federal buildings, ground rent for the same being paid to the heirs of Cortés for two centuries. There is a flower market west of the cathedral.

Por an actual indebtedness of less than $3,000,000, persons in the United States put in claims against Mexico for $12,000,000, while demagogues desirous of more slave territory set on foot the war which made Zachary Taylor president. The Mexican war cost the United States 25.000 lives and $166.500,000. Add to this $15,000,000 as the nominal price of territory, ami $3,500,000 for claims, and we have the cost of the California country. Eor their brief play at imperialism in Mexico, Napoleon HI and Maximilian 1 must account for the loss on both sides of 20,000 lives and $100,000,000 in money, aside from $200,000,000 liabilities of the empire at the end of 1866. On assuming the purple in America, Maximilian was assigned a civil list of $1,500,000, as in the case of his imperial predecessor Augustin 1. Ever since Eads set rolling his project of a ship railway across Tehuantepec nearly half a century ago, there have not been lacking men who professed to believe in it. Meanwhile Diaz has made the freight and passenger railway a reality, which is better than many visionary schemes. Not long ago Mexico, city and country, had a coin surplus of $100,000,000,w hich was something unusual. The 3.000,000 beautiful dollars coined in the mint of Mexico by Max­ imilian were for the most part after­ ward recoined by the republic. The bull-fight obtains only in cer­ tain places in Mexico; theatres are every where. In the larger cities are some fine opera-houses. There is no lack of newspapers in the more settled parts. In common with progress in other matters, penal establishments have undergone many needed reforms.

The Spanish American countries possess libraries which are greatly valued. In Mexico there are public libraries in only six­ teen states of the republic; and but a small proportion of the con­ tents consist of modern literature. A large number of the books and papers in the collections contain important matter for the historian and bibliographer, having come out of the suppressed convents, etc. The aggregate of books existing in all the public libraries probably exceeds 250,000 volumes. There are between seventy and eighty scientific societies in the republic—the chief of which is the Sociedad de Geografía y Estadística—each one having a collection. The above named society possesses an excellent library. After the liberal régime became triumphant the government undertook to form a national library with the collections existing in the cathedral, university, and convents. This project was carried out in 1867. Two copies printed in Mexico must be presented to the library. The only other library existing in the city of Mexico is that belonging to the Lancastrian society, known as the Cinco de Mayo.

CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND CANADA Comus. O foolishness of men! that lend their ears To those budge doctors of the Stoic fur. And fetch their precepts from the Cynic tub. Praising the lean and sallow Abstinence! Wherefore did nature pour her bounties forth With such a full and unwithdrawing hand. Covering the earth with odors, fruits, and Hoeks, Thronging the seas with spawn innumerable, But all to ¡»lease and sate the curious taste? And set to work millions of spinning worms. That in their green shops weave the smooth*haired silk. To deck her sons; and. that no corner might Be vacant of her plenty, in her own loins She hutched the all-worshipped ore and precious gems, To store her children with. If all the world Should, in a pet of temjM-rance, feed on pulse.

Drink the clear stream, and nothing wear but frieze. The All-giver would be unthanked, would Im- unpraised. Not half his riches known, and yet despised: And we should serve him as a grudging master. As a ¡M*nurious niggard of his wealth, Ami live like Nature's bastards, not her sons. Who would be quite surcharged with her own weight. And strangled with her waste fertility: The earth cumbered, and the wingod air darked with plumes. The herds would over-multitude their lords: The sea o’erfraught would swell, and the unsought diamonds Would so emblaze the forehead of the deep, And so bestud with stars, that they below Would grow inured to light, and come at last To gaze upon the sun with shameless brows.

■Milton.

EFORE the new world was known to the old, or the old to the new, there lived, and ruled, and fought, and died, in various parts, men and women of various kinds and colors, all enough alike to be regarded as beings of the same species, but with origin and destination alike unknown. Hence it is that at no time or place in the history of humanity is a better opportunity afforded for the study of men’s actions under various conditions than in the seizure and occupation of the several parts of America by the different European powers. Given human nature as a whole, with considerations of the varied temperaments characteristic of the Spaniard, the Frenchman, the Englishman, and the aboriginal American, and the climate and other conditions in which they are severally placed, and their actions can be as completely analyzed and as readily explained as any reaction in chemistry. And the chief conclusion is this, that the more we look into the nature and attributes of the animal man, the less inherent differences we find, artificial or actual differences arising almost altogether from differences of environment and training. Nationality and sect have less to do with the making of the man than association and the leachings and training of parents and preachers. It is no question of individual intelligence or will; out of the same clay is moulded a vessel for good or evil; of the same steel may be made ploughshare or sword; of the same sect angels and devils. The ambitious Spaniard, priest or adventurer, permeated with a thousand-years’ effect of the example and teachings of Christ, turned loose among the naked adherents of another religion straightway became fiends; the puritans of old England fleeing from persecution, in New England in the prosecution of their own persecutions, in like manner became fiends, just as the aboriginal American manifests his native and instinctive fiendishness when he catches and tortures Spanish priest or English puritan. Little there is to choose between them, whether in regard to religion or superstition, cruelty or revenge. The boundless wealth of the two Americas rapidly multiplies by European occupation and civilization. Though there is scarcely room here, and work, for all the world, as was once maintained, yet these first three or four centuries are only the beginning of what is to be. It was the mistake of Spain and her adventurers to strip 683

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the country of its surface wealth with so little regard to its future welfare. Agricultural and grazing lands in their vast extent and productiveness were not of primary importance in the eyes of the conquerors. They wanted gold, which signified immediate opulence and a speedy home return. The English colonists took a different view. 1 hey came to stay, bringing home with them, and planting it in virgin soils where the increase would be without end. Therefore they valued land, liberty, and social and intellectual advancement, and were satisfied with a slower accumulation of material comforts and luxuries. In the north and west furs were the attraction, and so Canada came in for a share of attention. The treatment of the aboriginal inhabitants in these various parts was in accordance with the several views of the incomers. Thus the French, English, and Scotch companies, desirous HUDSON of keeping their domains as a game preserve, with the; men found there for hunters and trappers, made oxeitures of friendship, and were in the main friendlily received by the children of the forest. 1 he English colonists wanted cultivated fields, with broad acres quickly cleared of forests and forest inhabitants; and so the wild beasts and wild men were killed or driven back to make room for the stronger race. Proselyting, as a business or profession, was more pronounced in Spanish than in either French or English occupation. These last had their missionaries, it is true, and their fierce fanaticisms, and other foolishness, but the sacred and secular were less united than in the first instance. The French and English seemed to believe less in their religion, to make faith and works not so much one. the affairs of this world and the next not the same as did the Spanish friar and soldier. Nearest to the priest when he offered salvation to the savage was the conqueror; nearest to the conqueror, upholding him in his treacheries and cheering him on in his butcheries of the savages who would not receive the sacraments of a strange savior, was the priest. I o those who would accept their plans of making the best of both worlds, both priest and soldier were kind and considerate, far kinder than ever were the English colonists of Great Britain. \\ ith the Spaniard the love of gold, accompanied by the love of God, and all intermingled with CHAMPLA N the love of glory, brought in the savage for special dispensation. First of all he must be theologically classified as something with a soul; not brute merely, but human, and heathen, thus affording good work and offering good spoils to Christian endeavor. 1 he Spanish cavalier did not want the Indian injured; he might be put to better use than butchery after yielding up his possessions and accepting the imported faith. Unlike the English emigrant, the gentleman from Spain did not like work; he did not like the labor even of gathering the gold he so ardently desired. And when it came to broad plantations of maize, sugar-cane, rice, and tobacco, the labor of the native was essential. 'Prue, slave-catching cruisers might help out, but civilized sentiment soon began to frown on human slavery, and to abolish it in Spain long before the Anglo-Americans set free their human chattels. WOLF It is worthy of note how fate threw people from the several parts of Europe upon those several parts of America best suited to their habits and traditions. Had Columbus bent his course a little more northerly, and struck the coast of New England, and had Cabot sailed a little more southerly, along through the islands and to the mainland of I londuras, the history of America would read quite differently. The Englishman fighting redundant nature in the tropics, under a burning sun, midst malaria and morass, poisonous reptiles and poisoned arrows, would cut no more graceful figure than the Spanish cavalier with belted sword and plumed helmet clearing the northern wilderness. And in the farther north, who so well as the mercurial Frenchman could have paved the way for the thrifty Scotchman in the forests of the fickle savages? With almost supernatural instinct the Spaniards scented from afar the treasures of Monte­ zuma and Atahualpa, even as the pilgrims scented empire on the iron-bound shore of Massachusetts. Again, the class of adventurers from Spain to the new world was quite different, socially, from that which came from England. The Spanish cavalier was of the species gentleman; the English colonist was not. Among the ironies of industry and wealth there is none greater than the maxim which makes labor less honorable than loafing; which makes the honest creation or accumulation of the wealth on which fatten the lazy aristocracy, nobility, and royalty, as they are severally called less respectable or praise­ worthy than to cat the bread of idleness and to live upon the labor thus despised. The nobility of Europe do not earn money, they only inherit; the nobility of America do not inherit, they create. On one side of the Atlantic a man is prized in this regard MARTELLO TOWER, NOVA SCOT A

THE TOOK OE WEAL TH

685

according to his worthlessness; on the other side, he who falls heir to great wealth is but a receptacle for certain millions, round which, if he does not squander them, he is permitted to wrap his name. Such a man, among people of sense, is but the measure of money; his name in America signifies nothing noble, nothing useful; he and his millions are but a machine for the making of more millions. He is not permitted even the silly satisfaction of wearing a title. No one calls him count or don; no place is kept open for him in social or political circles by reason of his heirship. He is neither useful nor ornamental, a thing out of place, a man turned into a money-bag. It is in imitation of the gods that men achieve distinction. There are gods who inherit; but these are not greatest. The creators stand at the head of the universe, inferior deities bowing before them. The nobility of Europe are descendants of the gods, but they are not gods. In all that is worth living for they arc as worthless as the windy title to which they attach superlative importance. This title is not only superior to the man, but it is all there is of the man, all there is to stand in the place of a man. It is a relic of the idiotic and barbaric, significant of brute force and imposition now worn as children and savages wear a worthless bauble, not being a true jewel or anything real or genuine. It is in no sense a mark of merit, or a thing to lift a man above his fellows, as is intended, except in societies as effete and mind* enslavcd as itself.

And as among men, so in the moun­ tains. Gold in the soil, like wealth inherited by the son, too often breeds poverty. Look at the metalliferous dis­ tricts throughout the world, the places where gold has most abounded; compare them with agricultural and manufacturing countries, and see which are the most prosperous and wealthy to-day. Then among men; those who have inherited wealth, what arc they? As a rule the dudes and dummies of society, the imitation and sham of progress and not the substance. W hereas those who have had to carve their own fortune QUEBEC out of earth or air or water, or other elemental substance; who have had to work out their own destiny, perhaps under great tribulation, these are the men of which civilization is made. Before the coming of the Europeans the metals were comparatively little used by the natives as money. Such of them as were known were easily obtainable, and of no great value. Very sensibly the savages when they saw iron were ready to exchange an equal weight of gold for a knife or an ax. Nor aside from the civilized nations of Mexico and Peru, did the American aboriginals possess much of what the European calls wealth. There were first of al) the skins of fur-bearing animals, which the fine ladies of christendom do not to this day disdain wearing; gold in places they could gather, but the mere possession of it they valued little, and the use of it as money they scarcely seemed to think of, as I have said, burs were a valuable consideration in their exchanges; shells were largely used as money, and later the glass beads of Europe. Blankets were prized, likewise horses, guns, and whiskey, but these were of later development. The antiquities of Mexico, Central America, and Peru show signs of grandeur somewhat greater perhaps than that existing at the time of the conquest, but not necessarily evidence of greater wealth. Little of value was found left by the mound builders of the northeast, though there have been found vases of earthenware and copper, personal ornaments of shell and mica, and weapons of stone, copper, and obsidian. The Pueblos, or town builders, of Arizona and New Mexico show in their manufactures of cloth and earthen and willow ware, in their domesticated animals and their agricultural productions, further advancement than had been attained by the American Indian of the north. It is among the cunninger but not more noble Nahuas. Mayas, and Quiches of Mexico and Central Ameiica, and

686

77/Æ 7/OO/S OF 117:. 1/. 77/

the Peruvians of South America that we must look for the highest aboriginal development. The Casas grandes of Chihuahua, the edilicios of Zacatecas, the pyramid of Jalisco, the hieroglyphic sculptures of Mexico and Tula, the mounds and monoliths of Teotihuacan, the bridge at Huejutla, the mytho­ logical carvings and the calendar and sacrificial stones, the pyramids of Xochicalco and Cholula, the relics at Cuernavaca and Nativadad, and the antiquities of Vera Cruz and Oajaca bear witness to an aboriginal culture second only to that in and around the hypothetical cradle of the human race —Assyria, Chaldea, and Egypt. As we proceed southward the monuments become yet more massive, as I have shown in the preceding chapters. There are the remains of four palaces at Mitla, with carved façades, stone columns, mosaic grecques, and roof structures which command the admiration alike of artist and antiquarian. Palenque displays among its numerous palaces and pyramids beautiful bas-reliefs in stucco, arched corridors, sculptured figures and groups, carved temples and tablets, and hieroglyphic writings on stone. In Yucatan are many ruined cities, as at Uxmal, with its magnificent casas del Gobernador, the Tortugas, Palomas, and Monjas. On the court façades of the last named building, the Nunnery, arc exquisite carvings in detail, with high vaulted rooms within. Guatemala can show aboriginal copper medals, fortifications, statues, and the relics and ruined palaces of Utatlan, Peten, I ikal, Patinamit, Pctapa, Rosario, Chapulco, Chinamita, and Quirigua. The ruins of Copan are famous, with its great temple, pyramids, sculptured obelisks, statues, idols, and sacrificial and temple altars, the last named bearing elaborate hieroglyphics. Passing the pottery and carved idols of the Isthmus, and coining to Peru, we find copper implements, golden and silver vases, fine pottery, not to mention the towns and temples, the cities of the incas, and the gardens and palaces with profuse manifestations of wealth on all sides. But the people who wrought these great works were no better in any respect than the forest-dwellers of the north. Indeed, as society regulates its admiration now, they were much worse. Citizens of the southern civilizations were largely laborers, food-producers, clothes-makers, house-builders, and wealth-creators. The lordly aboriginals of the north were all of the aristocracy and nobility; not one of them would work; labor was not for men, only for women. Like the European gentle­ men, the Indian scorned labor, and would follow no trade or occupation save that of butcher, butcher of beasts and men. Canada at present comprises the whole of British North America, an area of 3,500,000 square miles, with a population of 4,000,000, one-quarter of which is of French descent, and 85,000 Indians. Soil and climate here are not so varied as the vast extent of territory might lead one to suppose. I lyperborean in situation, in the main, and excepting the Laurcntian and Rocky ranges, the country is low and level, the temperature except on in summer and lower in winter than in corresponding transatlantic latitudes, the Pacific being higher level surface are spread alluvial deposits thirty or forty feet deep, good for Over a large part of the growing wheat; also good soil with substrata of limestone, trap, serpentine, and red sandstone; and again loam and covered with forests. Large areas consist of prairie lands interspersed gravel overlaid by rich with groves, belts of tim bcr marking the course of rivers, and forests interspersed with prairies. The whole thousands of lakes and streams, not to mention the bay of Hudson and the region is well watered by great lakes emptying into the ocean through the River St Lawrence. All the fruits vegetables and grains incident to northern climes grow well in Canada, and in places even rice and tobacco. Indigenous here are fruits berries and the vine in many ST varieties; then the forest and prairie has each its own wealth of Hora. White and red pine are plentiful, and in places ash elm beech walnut and birch, also the maple, which yields in sugar sometimes 20.000,000 pounds in one season. To the v p’i * dominion the forests are worth $30,000,000 a year, the total of all exports being some $80,000,000. Among the fauna arc almost all the fur-bearing animals, and in the waters are every kind of fish, the latter an inexhaustible source of wealth while the former are constantly diminishing in numbers. The annual fish product is $12.000.000, while furs yield less than $2,000.000. Silver is found at Lake Superior, gold in abundance west of the Rocky mountains, and coal in Manitoba and British Columbia. Sailing from Bristol in 1497 under patent of C Henry VII, John and Sebastian Cabot ran against land at or near the mouth of the St Lawrence, and the year following Sebastian the son made a second voyage, and WOLFE ANO MONTCALM MONUMENT. QUEBEC examined the coast between latitudes 67° 30' and 38°.

THE TOOK OE WEALTH

687

France also desiring a slice of the newly found lands authorized a voyage of discovery by a Florentine navigator, Verazzano, who in 1524 coasted Florida and along to Cape Breton, claiming what he saw for Francis I, and calling it La Nouvelle France. Then came Jacques Cartier and explored the coasts of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, and planted there the first European settlement in 1535. For two and a quarter centuries thereafter, Acadie and Canada were provinces of France, and when in 1759 the English took possession, 65,000 Frenchmen were forced to change their allegiance or leave the country. Many of the old colonial French of property and religious freedom were respected. laws and customs remained: rights each after its own way for possessions in America, only to fight it out in England and France worked should possess the whole. Thus while James I was establishing colonies the end, when he who could endure in Virginia and elsewhere, Champlain was planting French settlements at Quebec and Tadousac. And a little later, while the New England puritans were hanging quakers, burning witches, and preaching the Indians to death, the English and French in Canada were saving the savages to help white men in the butcheries which should end in the extermination of both wild men and beasts. In the war of 1628 between France and England Can­ ada suffered severely; Champlain was forced to surrender to Kirke and returned home to die. La Salle ascended the river above the falls of Niagara, crossed lakes Erie and St Clair and came to lakes Huron and Michigan, whence Hennepin pene­ trated to the sources of SAULT ST MARIE LOCKS the Mississippi,down which stream La Salle floated, securing vast pretensions to France. Meanwhile the work of crushing and converting continued, new camps were established and the old ones fortified, churches and prison-houses were built, and the horrible human manglings and massacres with hellish fire-water and imported diseases, all in the name of Christ and civilization, were continued. As the French and English fancied they had something to fight about at home, so the French and English in America felt it incumbent on them to kill one another as they were able. Frontenac, with such Indians and Frenchmen as he could command attacked the English colonists in New England and New York, who with their Indians fought back, both sides swinging sword and scalping-knife according to creed and custom. Frontenac wrought no great damage, while a Bos­ ton expedition against Canada in 1710 failed en­ tirely. Fighting in America continued—even after the peace of Utrecht in 1713, and when war was again declared in 1745, it was quite natural to continue the fight in the wilderness where they had left it off. Another peace was followed by more war, until at Que­ bec, in 1759, was fought the battle which made Canada forever after English. In the war of 1812 between the United States and England there was a little more fighting in Can­ ada. While the Americans were victorious on the lakes, Hull surrendered Detroit LUMBER COVES, QUEBEC

6SS

THE HOOK OF Il E, I/, 77/

to Brock, Van Rensselaer failed in his attack at Queenstown, Dearborn was obliged to retire his forces from Lower Canada, and Smith failed at Fort Erie. So the foolishness continued, Washington falling and 2,000 British soldiers meeting their death at New Orleans for nothing. England meanwhile being occupied with more momentous affairs at home, both sides were glad to quit, and for a long time the English and French in America had peace.

ST JOHN. NEWFOUNDLAND

New France, or the Canada of the French, was confined for the most part to a strip three or four hundred miles wide extending from the great lakes eastward to the gulf of St Lawrence, and was later known as Lower Canada, the region north of this strip being settled exclusively by the English and called Upper Canada. In 1791 a constitution with an elective legislature took the place of the governor and council provided by the crown, which up to this time had ruled the country, and two years afterward a protestant bishop of Quebec was named, and later a cathedral was erected. Under the name Dominion of Canada, all the provinces of British North America, in 1867-72, united into one legislative confederation, the provinces thus uniting being those of Upper and Lower Canada, now called respectively Ontario and Quebec, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and British Columbia, provision being made likewise for the admission of Newfoundland. With executive authority vested in the sovereign of England, represented in the colony by a governor­ general and privy council, the dominion constitution further provides for the exercise of legislative power a

HALIFAX

parliament, consisting of a senate or upper house and a house of commons, the former nominated for life, and the latter elected by the several provinces according to population. Had England made the conquest of Canada earlier than she did. say by half a century, she would have been treated by her benign mother as were the thirteen colonies, and would undoubtedly have joined them in their declaration of independence in 1776. But now the time has past when English colonies are governed in London, or exist solely for the advantage of the mother country. The crown, as a rule, merely supplies a chief executive officer, leaving them to elect their own parliament, which is usually done by universal suffrage. Neither are the colonies great burdens to the crown, but bear the expenses of government and defense themselves: nor yet specially advantageous to the parent state, imposing at pleasure protective duties on its products as upon those of any other nation. One advantage in the alliance is that the colony receives protection from a

THE TOOK OE WEALTH

689

great power without the expense of a large standing army. 1'he province of Quebec presents a surface of great variety and beauty. Hills and mountains, rich meadow lands and stately forests, all diversified by lakes and rivers, cascades and waterfalls, and bordered by verdant isles display a hundred charms peculiarly their own. Along the south side of the St Lawrence extend the Appalachian mountains, flattening at the gulf into a broad table-land. Vessels of 5,000 tons ascend the noble river to Montreal, above which ¡joint navigation is impeded by rapids, but continued through canals with suitable locks. Geologically, the Laurentian system obtains in the northern part of the province, giving way in the west to Potsdam sandstone overlaid by dolomitic limestone, and on this the fossiliferous limestones of the lower silurian. It is from these limestones and the Potsdam sandstone that the MONTREAL best stone for building purposes is obtained. The city of Quebec, once a walled town, stands on an elevated headland, on the left bank of the St Lawrence, the elevation crowned by a citadel covering forty acres, which besides picturesque effect gives the city a strong fortification. The harbor is spacious, and the docks and tidal basin complete. A steep winding street, with narrow steps and elevator, connect the upper and lower parts into which the city is divided, the latter being mostly devoted to business anil the former to residence, religion, and government. On the plains of Abraham is a column forty feet high erected to General Wolfe on the spot where he died victorious in 1759. Wolfe and Montcalm have a column 65 feet high in the governor's garden overlooking the river. Occupying prominent positions are four martello towers; in St Foye road is a bronze statue on an iron pillar given by Prince Napoleon. A fine promenade is the Dufferin terrace which includes the site of the old chateau St Louis, burned in 1834. On the Grand allée are the parliamentary and departmental buildings, custom-house, court-house and post-office, and the houses of many political, literary, religious, and charitable societies, besides churches, cathedral, and synagogue. The city is supplied with water from Lake St Charles, and has gas and electric lights. Samuel Champlain discovered the lake which bears his name in 1609; at the outlet now stands Fort Montgomery. Montreal, or Mount Royal, takes its name from a mass of trap rock which rises through a limestone stratum to a height of 700 feet behind the series of terraces on which the city is built. The city now covers eight square miles, the principal streets running parallel with the river. Conspicuous among the works of man is the Victoria bridge which here spans the river; it is of tubular iron resting on 24 stone piers, and made to withstand a severe pressure of ice. The descent of the rapids above the city may be safely made in boats, which must return however to Lake St Louis, nine miles above Montreal, by the Lachine canal, the fall of water in which supplies power to several wood, iron, and sugar mills. Owing to the many creeds of its mixed population, the city swarms with churches, convents, hos­ pitals, and colleges, each denomination seeking to outdo the rest in securing for itself the best in this world and the next. Here we have in the metropolitan cathe­ dral a St Peter, in imitation of the great structure in Rome. Ten thousand peo­ ple worship in the parish church of Notre Dame; the Jesuits have a large church with elaborate interior decorations, and near it is the college of St Mary. In Christchurch the protestants have a fine specimen of Gothic in limestone, lined within with Caen stone. branch and English asylums of every kind abound, and among the civic buildings the city hall and court house, standing between VICTORIA SQUARE the Champ de Mars and Jacques Cartier square, command attention. In St Paul street is Bonsecours market, the dome of which is seen from every quarter, and prominent among the educational institutions is the McGill college. For those who fancy winter sports, Canada offers an inviting field. There are ice yachting, tobogganing, curling, skating, sleighing, snowshoeing, and the ice palace and carnival gaieties at Montreal and elsewhere which tend to make this region the winter playground of America. It is then that the native appears in his characteristic

6ço

THE BOOK OF HEALTH

winter dress of blanket coat and deerskin moccasins, ready to defy the whistling north wind and meet with favor the Hashing sun and crisp inspiring snow, the latter covering the ice in Quebec live feet by Christmas, thus limiting the time for ice yachting in that locality. Al Montreal skating, coasting, sliding, curling, tobogganing, and snow-shoeing are entered into with hearty zest by the inhabit­ ants, while the winter carnivals attract visitors from every quarter. There is a heavy fall of snow and sharp winds, yet the air is usually dry and bracing; the summer is warm, though the temperature is seldom above 90°. Vege­ tation in the spring develops rapidly, and the agricultural lands are prolific. Extensive tracts MON'REAL MARKET arc covered by dense forests; lumbering is a great industry, large quantities of dressed lumber and square timber finding their way to Europe. Shipbuilding has fallen off, since iron has so largely taken the place of wood in the construction of vessels. The St Lawrence fisheries are of great importance, yielding cod mackerel halibut haddock shad herrings white-fish lobsters and seals, while in the lakes and other rivers, besides some of these, arc salmon trout and bass. At Tadousac is a government fish-breeding establishment yielding good results. On the banks of the Chaudière and elsewhere arc gold copper iron and lead. The wagon roads are good in the settled districts. Lumbering in the several localities where it is carried on gives rise to certain characteristics. In Canada the various prov­ inces grant licenses to cut timber in the more remote forests. Shan­ ties are set up for the men, and feed provided for the cattle to haul the logs to the streams. Small rafts are then constructed, and bound into one large raft, on which are several shanties, with earthen hearths on which fires are burning; then with banners Hying, with boat song and wild halloo, they Hoat down the great rivers to their place of destination. In the coves above Quebec are the booms of the great Canadian timber merchants. The province of Ontario, though somewhat distant from the GRAY NUNNERY ocean, is blest with a long enough water frontage, lakes Huron, St Clair, Erie, Ontario, and Nipissing, Georgian and Nottawasaga bays, and the rivers Niagara, St Lawrence, and Ottawa, all contributing thereto. The region is rich in agricultural lands and minerals, among the latter being iron near Lake Ontario and elsewhere, copper near Lake Huron, and silver gold and salt, marble and mica in various localities. Petroleum is plentiful in the western part of the prov­ ince. Apples and pears are extensively raised; after these as important products are the peach plum and grape. All the grains arc grown, like­ wise tobacco and sugar in places. Cattle raising and dairy farming are carried on extensively. Honey is an important article of commerce; the lumber trade is very large; among the manufactures arc woollen and cot­ ton goods, leather soap paper and hardware. Toronto, capital of Ontario, and second largest city in Canada, has the usual government, parliament, and provincial and religious and educational buildings, among which are the King’s college and observa­ tory, university, Osgoode hall where are the law courts, free library, and the insane asylum with its 700 occupants. Among the industries are furniture stove and shoe making, foundries tanneries Hour-mills and breweries. Toronto has a fine sheltered bay, on the shore of Ontario lake, and opposite the mouth of Niagara river, in the midst of a rich agricultural district, thus enjoying every requisite of commerce and general prosperity. One of the greatest and most beautiful pieces of engineering work in the world is the suspension bridge at Niagara Falls, the combined effort of Englishmen and Americans. The spot chosen was the narrowest between banks of any along the whole water-line from the lakes to the mouth of the St Lawrence; and the river here is about as deep as it is broad, and rushing forward in such fury that no boat could carry across the first of the innumerable threads of which the structure was to be

THE BOOK OE WEALTH

691

made. Resort was thereupon had to kites; in air the bridge must hang when finished, and in air should it be woven, the very fine thread the kite carried over was able to draw after it a stronger one, which in turn could pull over a larger wire, and then another, and another, until the rope thickened so that it would bear a man in a bas­ ket, and the roadway would sustain a loaded team, and finally trains of cars might safely cross; but care must be taken against vibration, against men marching in step, a child being thus able by repetition of regular motion to create more strain than the heaviest of traffic. Pho province of New Brunswick, at St Lawrence bay, has a flat marshy seaboard, a fertile interior, and forest-clad hills in the north­ west. Quantities of lumber are floated down the rivers, and the smelt, salmon, bass, lobster, and trout fisheries are specially valuable. There are in this region large coal and iron deposits, some gold, besides copper lead antimony zinc and nickel. Metamorphic slates and Silurian rocks obtain in the north, Laurentian, Huronian, and Cambrian rocks in the south; in the west the Carboniferous and Devonian systems prevail, and elsewhere grow sandstones, trap, porphyry granite, shales, gneiss, and conglomerates. At Fredricton. the capital, the mean temperature is 42o with variations from 35o to 100o. St John is the chief commercial city. Behind the rock-bound shores of New­ SACRED HEART CHAPEL foundland are rolling hills, with an undulating plateau in the interior, where feed herds of reindeer. Lakes and ponds occupy no small portion of the surface, which with rivers and bays make almost as much water as land. In the pine forests the trees attain a large growth. At Notre Dame bay copper mines are successfully worked. With the chilling influence of "the Arctic current comes an enormous wealth of fishes, while the gulf stream renders the climate salubrious; mean temperature at St Johns 410 ranging from 70 to 83°; rainfall 58 inches. Chief among the indigenous animals arc the cariboo and reindeer, with their regular annual migrations to browse in the northeast during winter and enjoy the mountain air and grass in the northwest during summer. There are also the native bear and wolf, the fox and the beaver; in fact the island abounds in beasts and birds, while for fish, the place is in some respects no where else equalled. The cod conies first, of which there are annually taken in North American waters 3.700,000 quintals or 150.000,000 fish, worth $15.000,000. The time for cod-fishing is from June till October. The coming of the cod from the deep sea to the warmer waters of the seaboard for spawning purposes is heralded by shoals of the little caplin, which are good bait, as is also later the squid. Hook and line, seine, and other contrivances are used in cod-fishing, which employs 5,000 men and 1.«Soo boats. Notwith­ standing the vast quantities taken during the past 380 years there appears to be no diminu­ tion in numbers. The seal-fishery, worth $1,000,000 a year, stands next to the cod in importance. Herring yield about $500.000 a year, and lobster $100.000. Agriculture on the island is subordinated to the fish interest. Cape Breton island, besides its fishery interests, has some metals, marble, and stone; coal and iron being abundant there arc here good manufac­ turing facilities: the soil readily grows grain, and there is some ship-building. St Johns, the capital of Newfoundland, occupies a little niche in the iron-bound coast ce PALACE

6Q2

THE TOOK OF HEALTH

1,640 miles from Ireland, and 1,000 miles nearer than New York to England. A lighthouse, a dry-dock which will admit the largest ships, government house, colonial building containing government offices and legislative halls, the atheneum with library museum and bank, iron foundries, machine-shops, tobacco furniture soap oil and other factories, fish-stores warehouses and wharves, with a little nest of shops, arc among the leading features of

KINGSTON

the place. The site is hilly and stony, and the streets of the city are narrow. To dig a trench for pipes there must be blasting. The absence of trees and lawns adds to the aspect of barren desolation. But the people are by no means gloomy, and their hearty and hospitable speech and manner make ample amends for the imper­ fections of soil and climate. Speech has three distinct accentuations, English, Scotch, and native Newfoundlander. Having no use for a yard, the houses are built on the street line. Good roads lead hence to the coves by which the irregular coast is broken. Prince Edward Island is a crescent of verdure in the gulf of St Lawrence—“tight little isle,” some call it, and again “garden of the gulf." The undulatory surface was once covered with a forest of fir cedar larch

TORONTO

hemlock spruce poplar maple birch and beech. Smallest of the provinces, being 150 miles long and from five to thirtv-five miles wide, it is nevertheless large enough to have in its capital of Charlottetown a government house and a governor. Its summer climate and scenery are those of southern England. The isle has had existence only since 1763, that is to say English existence; if anything was there before that date it was French or Indian, and does not count. It was a fine fishing station in early times, and is now just as fine a farming country, though the whole of it would not make more than one good sized farm in the eyes of some people. Charlotte­ town has a large market ground and market building; the beautiful Queen’s square gardens and adjacent elegant edifices; post office and provincial building; and the fine thoroughfare Victoria row. The industries of Nova Scotia, the Acadia of the French, are fisheries, which rank next in importance to

THE BOOK OE 11E. IL TH 4

KNOX COLLEGE. TORONTO

693

those of Newfoundland; manufac­ tures, which comprise cloth and sugar making, tanning and working in leather, and making furniture, agricultural implements, woodenware, and wagons. There are some 1,200 saw-mills, besides grist-mills and various factories, and there is some ship-building. Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, rests upon a hillside, above which is a strong citadel a mile in circumference. Among the buildings are the gov­ ernment house, sombre-looking but solid, and the official residence of the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia; the provincial building, in which are the post-office, museum, and city library; admiralty house, court-house, parliament, and ex­ change; the cathedral, asylums, Dalhousie and other colleges, houses of English bishop and catholic arch­ bishop, not to mention the good harbor defenses and the lighthouse. Pictou exports coal, and has a

marine railway capable of taking vessels of 1,500 tons. The peninsula of Labrador is a deso­ late table-land strewed with boulders covered with cariboo moss, stunted spruce, birch, and aspen filling the ravines. The forbidding interior, with its rivers, lakes, and marshes, has been but partially explored, but on the rugged seaboard are some fishing stations, as Battle Harbor, where all men do not refuse to live and gather fish and furs. I here are even politicians who will accept office in Labrador, preferring to rule Eskimos than serve Englishmen. Nowhere in the world can be found so magnificent a system of navigable inland waters as we have in the great lakes and their outlet the river St Lawrence. From the source of this system, the head waters of the St Louis river which flows into Fond du Lac at the head of Lake Superior, K NG STREET. TORONTO

McGiLL COLLEGE

to the mouth of the St Lawrence is 2,100 miles. What a wealth of commerce is here afforded to the two great nations which border on either side of this great opening into the very heart of the continent! Then the rapids and water-falls of this mighty flow, Saulte St Mary and Niagara, the verdure clad banks and the thousands of beautiful islands and islets! Into Lake Superior alone 200 rivers pour their waters, the other

694

THE TOOK OE HEALTH

lakes likewise having their feeders. Lake Superior has a mean depth of 900 feet; Eric of only 90 feet; Huron and Michigan 700 feet and more. Where rapids and water-falls occur in the connecting streams, as in St Mary and Niagara, canals arc dug through which ships may pass. All the accumulated waters above tumble over Niagara at the rate of 41,000.000 tons an hour, the fall meanwhile working its way up stream at the rate of one foot a year, which makes its journey from Queenstown to cover a period of 35,000 years. The capital, Ottawa, the scat of the dominion govern­ ment and residence of the governor-general is a city of hills skirted by water-ways. Here also is the supreme court, and the catholic and protestant bishops. The government buildlumber barges Ottawa jngS are on par|jament hill, by which passes the Rideau canal, separating the lower from the upper part of the town. Commerce centres in the district south of Parliament hill; cast of the canal is Major’s hill laid out as a park; beyond the Rideau river is the suburb of

CANAL LOCKS. OTTAWA

New Edinburgh, where is Rideau hall, the official residence of the governor-general. Another suburb of the capital is Hull, across the river, connection being by a suspension bridge. The parliament house is a fine specimen of Gothic architecture, of Potsdam sandstone, 470 feet long, with a middle tower 180 feet high, and cost §5,000,000. Ottawa has also a cathedral, nun­ nery. university, besides hospitals, convents, and the rest. The Canadian northwest is a granary of not less than 100.000.000 acres, specially adapted to wheat-growing, and with an outlet from north Saskatchewan, Edmon­ ton, and Prince Albert, through Hudson bay to Europe, ample elevator facilities being placed at the principal ports upon the bay, this region will prove an important source of the world s food supply. LUMBER BOOMS OTTAWA

THE BOOK OF WEALTH

1 he work of the Canadian Pacific railway company was to connect Winnipeg with Kamloop lake, a distance of 1,920 miles, for which it received from the government §25,000.000 in money and 25,000,000 acres of land. By the purchase of other roads the company obtained in time a continuous line from the Atlantic to the Pacific, which with feeders finally reached 6,000 miles of railway. Steamers to Japan and China carried the traffic of the company across the Pacific. Manitoba presents a somewhat monotonous surface of treeless plain, part of which is covered with a summer growth of exuberant vegetation. On the higher rolling lands and along the streams are some trees, aspen maple and willow being conspicuous. Cer­ tain fruits and berries are indig­ enous. The native prairie grasses grow luxuriantly and make good hay. Wheat is the principal crop; potatoes grow large. Winnipeg, the chief city, has quite a little commerce. A warm wind, called the chinook, is felt north of Mon­ tana and Idaho which so modifies the temperature as to make pro­ ductive the soil, which in its virgin fertility yields readily forty bushels of wheat to the acre, and grows grass seven feet high. In Ontario, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, British Columbia, and elsewhere are experimental farms, conducted under the auspices of the government, covering the departments of agriculture, horticulture, and arboriculture, which assist in the elevation and extension of these industries. Prince Edward Island has a government stockfarm. in which shorthorn cattle and southdown sheep play conspicuous parts. The first Pacific coast voyages north, like the first voyages along the Atlantic coast of America, were made in the hope of finding a water-way through or around the continent. And as this Anian or other strait could not be found, and navigators disliked admitting failure, they began to set down in their charts an imaginary strait, and to swear they had seen it, or had even sailed through it. Following the voyages made by Espinosa in 1519 with the ships of Balboa to Nicoya, and which Niño continued in 1522 to Fonseca, or perhaps to Tehuantepec, were the explorations of the mariners of Cortes in the gulf of California in 1532-6, the coastings of Cabrillo to Point Conception in 1542, the adventures of Drake, in 1579, who probably reached latitude 43o, the voyage of Vizcaino, who with more careful scrutiny gained the same point in 1602. and the appearance of the Philippine treasure-ships by the northern route which struck the California coast above San Francisco bay. Henry Hudson entered the inland sea that bears his name in 1610. The Russians came down from Alaska and joined their discoveries to those of the Spaniards; Yankee traders and whalers appeared in these seas; English circumnavigators put in an appearance, and the discovery of the coast was complete. In evidence of the imaginary geography of those days are the still existing maps of Munster, 1545. showing a large strait in the north and an open sea beyond; Homem, 1558, in which the whole northern part of America is broken into islands with the

MANITOBA FIELD WORK

open sea between; Ortelius, 1574, showing the land of Quivira, and near it the great strait of Anian; and even as late as 1768 Jefferys made a map which carries the broad strait of Fuca across the Rocky mountains to Hudson bay. Meanwhile land journeys were made, by Cabeza de Vaca from Texas to Sonora in 1536, by Niza Coronado and Onate to New Mexico and Quivira, in 1539-98, by Champlain to lakes Erie and Huron, by Nicolet in 1634 to Lake Michigan, by I Icnnepin and La Salle up and down the Mississippi in 1680-2 as before mentioned. The Verendryes and others planted forts round lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba, and ascended the Missouri and Yellowstone, penetrating as far as Montana. Hearne descended the Coppermine river in 1770; Mackenzie in

696

77/Æ BOOK OK WEALTH

1789 explored to die Arctic ocean the river which bears his name, and in 1793 crossed the mountains to the shore oí the Pacific. But before this last named memorable journey, the philosophic sav­ age, Moncacht Ape, dwelling in the interior of the continent, ascended the Missouri river in the spring of 1746, and crossing to the head-waters of the Columbia, Boated down that stream to the ocean. In 1766 Jonathan Carver made an excur­ sion from Fort Michilimackinac to the head-waters of the Mississippi, and the land of the Docatahs, who told him of the shining mountains, the river of the west, an interoceanic strait, the mountains of bright stones, and many other things WNNPEG which were and were not. In 1805 Lewis and Clarke crossed from the Missouri to the Columbia, and following the track of Moncacht .Ape to the ocean, returned the following year. In 1806 Pike came upon the peak in Colorado which bears his name, and Long made his camp at Council Bluffs in 1819. Meanwhile, during this same time, from 1797 to 1811, explorations by Scotch fur traders were being made in the far north and northwest, James Finlay on Peace river. McDougall at McLeod lake, Fraser and Stuart on the rivers which bear their names, Thompson and Harmon in New Caledonia, Williams on the Yellowstone; and for further ocean voyages there were the expeditions of Winship and of Astors men to the mouth of the Columbia, the ship Tonquin in Nootka Sound, and finally the establishing of Fort Vancouver, for the Northwest company, under the auspices of John McLoughlin. The great traffic in pelts of the fur-bear­ ing animals of northernmost America was quite different in different parts of the country, methods being regulated by time, place, and people. There were the fishermen and fur-takers of Newfoundland and the St Lawrence, forming one class; the voyageurs and coureurs des bois of New France another class; and yet others, C HALL ANO VOLUNTEER MONUMENT, WINNIPEG the great monopolists of the Hudson's Bay com­ pany and their fighting rivals of the Northwest company, the free trappers and traders of the United States, the seal-catchers of the northern seaboards, and the maritime fur-trade of the Pacific. In the commerce last mentioned the sea-otter was conspicuous, its home being in the waters of the Northwest Coast, Alaska, and the Siberian isles. Then there were the seal, the sea-lion, and the numerous land­ animals which contributed to the comfort of man by giving him their skins and making large contributions to the wealth of the world. The existence of this wealth was first revealed to the eastern states and Europe by navigators like Juan Perez, Cook, La Perouse, and Russian explorers and Amer­ ican whalers. Vessels trading to California for hides often extended their voyages up the coast for furs. From 1741 the Russians crossed over from Siberia in their crazy craft, and gathering the products of their voyages in Kamchatkan ports, thence trans­ ported a part by land to Russia, and sent part to Kiakhta, on the frontier, where the furs were exchanged for Chinese goods, which were carried overland to Europe. Notwithstanding the distance, the trade was profitable, for the Chinese were extrav­ agantly fond of furs, wealthy celestials paying cheerfully $500 or $1,000 for a suit PARLIAMENT HOUSE. W NN PEG ity

THE BOOK OF IFE.IETH

697

of the coveted clothing. Then in 1788 and subsequently came creeping up the coast Boston vessels, with a good supply of Yankee notions, glass beads, little looking-glasses, cheap knives, and other trinkets catching to the eye of the child-like savage, which they were willing to trade, giving what cost three cents for what would yield them three dollars. It was the old story of the Spanish dealings with the simple savage for gold repeated by the solid men of Boston in their dealings with the simple savage for furs. Men arc much alike in these matters, whether celt or anglo-saxon, auto-da-fe Jew-burning catholics, or witch-burning and quaker-hanging protestants. The current of trade in the last years of the eighteenth century, from the New England coast to the northwest coast of America and China was mainly as follows; a New Bedford, Salem, or Boston craft would put in a cargo of trinkets, glass beads, cheap hardware, brilliant colored calico, plenty of rum and tobacco, and with these and like valuables would sail away around Cape Horn, and on until they came to a people whose eye their worthless trash would catch, when they would begin to peddle it out. The señoritas of South and Central America, Mex­ ico and California, loved colors in their adorn­ ments; hence they were glad to buy bright scarfs, dress goods, imitation jewelry, and the like, and induce their husbands fathers and lovers to deal out liberally from their stores of hides and tallow in payment for the same. Or if this were too dirty a traffic, or too cir­ cumscribed for the advanced ideas, the ships might pass by these gross attractions, and YALE, BRITISH COLUMBA proceed to the gathering of the softer goods of the north. There they would play back and forth between the coasts of Oregon and Alaska and the Hawaiian islands, trafficking in the summer in the colder latitudes and resting in the winter in the balmy airs of the south; finally, when this happy state of things had been going for two or three years, well laden with a rich cargo, the honest spoils of civilization, away would go the vessel to China, where a half civilized people stood ready to give the solid Boston man a good profit on his savage goods in half savage merchandise for his very civilized market. 1 cannot do better here than to give a page out of my History of the Northwest Coast. “It is not possible from existing sources of information to form a statistical statement of the fur trade south of Alaska. It was carried on by individual adventurers or private companies; and only fragmentary reports of prices, profits, or quantities of furs obtained were incidentally made public in connection with special voyages. From 1785 to 1787, not including the operations of Meares, according to Dixon s statement 5,800 sea-otter skins were sold in China for $160,700, an average price of not quite $30 each." Mr Swan gives the total shipments of sea-otter skins from the Northwest Coast in 1799-1802 as 48,500. “More than once,” said Sturgis, “have I known an outlay of $40,000 return over $150,000." Sixteen ships were on the coast in 1801, when 18,000 sea-otter skins were obtained, one vessel in one instance securing 560 in half a day. The Columbia river region afforded a vast field for furs, but California was rather too far south, although the free trappers and traders of the Rocky mountains and the Sierra Nevada secured many packages of valuable pelts in those parts. The French, however, were the first great fur-hunters in America, and their history is the history of the fur-trade in New France. At thebe­ ginning of the last quarter of the sixteenth century French fishermen from Newfoundland ascended the St Lawrence with trinkets to exchange for furs. Letters patent con­ veying exclusive rights were granted at various times by the sovereigns of France, first to Cartier, then to his nephews Noel and Chaton, and afterward to La Roche, Chauvin, and others. NEW WESTMINSTER

698

THE TOOK OE II rEAL TH

After the colonization of Acadie early in the seventeenth century, missions were established by the Jesuits throughout the interior, forts built, and trading companies organized, each ever seeking to overthrow the others and maintain a monopoly. While Champlain was building a fort at Quebec, and making acquaintance with the Ottawas and Nipissings, Waymouth was trading with the natives of Maine, the Dutch were picking up skins

VICTOR*. BRITISH COLUMBIA

along the Hudson, and John Smith was making up a company to trade for furs in New England. La Salle had a fur-trading at Lachine, near Montreal, and made excursions to lakes Ontario and Erie previous to his notable vovages on the Mississippi. Among the companies in the field at this time, and later, were those of St Malo and Rouen, the Cent Associes, West India company, the Western company, and the attempted monopolies of Oudiette, Roddes, and others, whose voyageurs penetrated to the heart of the continent. In 1698 was formed the Santo Domingo association; the rich fur-dealer, Antoine Crozat, was French governor of Louisiana in 1712; and during the first half of the century, before the fall of Quebec, there were in the field the John Law •negal, Guinea, Chinese, and Canada companies. Mississippi company, with 100,000,000 livres capital. The Russians likewise had their fur merchants and monopolies in Alaska, and New York and St Louis controlled large areas, the Astor expeditions across the continent emanating from the former city; Laclede Maxan and company held sway at New Orleans, and from the fort of Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, standing where now stands St Louis, besides several large companies having operations beyond the Rocky mountains hundreds of free trappers scattered them­ selves out over the prairies and into the forests, dis­ puting with the red man over his prey. But the greatest of al) great fur companies was that chartered by Charles II in 1670 under the name of the Governor and Company of Adventurers of Eng­ land trading into Hudson Bay, and commonly called the Hudson’s Bay company. First governor of this company was Prince Rupert, and among its members were dukes earls knights and gentlemen, while the domain over which extended their jurisdiction was not less than 1,000 by 2,000 miles in extent, being bounded by Hudson Bay and the Arctic and Pacific oceans. The ¿10,500 original stock was increased finally to about ¿2,000.000. They had forty posts, frequented by 80,000 Indians, whom as a rule they treated fairly, such a course being necessary to their trade. 1 he 2,000 Scotch English and French officers and servants ESQUIMAULT DRY DOCK of the company comprised a governor, chief factors,

THE BOOK OE WEALTJI

chief traders, masters, and clerks of forts. For a long time this monster monopoly held sway over a territory as large as all Europe, until there arose a fierce opposition in the Northwest company of Montreal, composed also of Scotch, French, and English traders, many of its members having formerly been in the service of the Hudson’s Bay company. Inspired with the spirit of rivalry, the new associates pushed enterprise beyond the lake region to the Arctic and the Pacific oceans, engaging in frequent and fierce hand to hand fights with their brethren of the Hudson’s Bay company, and not resting from their efforts until they had possession of the whole Northwest Coast, with even Astor's men driven from the Columbia river. Their principal posts were Fort William in the cast and Vancouver in the west, Michilimackinac remaining the headquarters of the Hudson’s Bay company in the vicinity of the lakes. A picture of Fort William in its palmy days, representative of a hundred other less important posts, revives in memory a great traffic forever passed away. In the centre of some ten acres of ground enclosed in palisades stood the principal building of the fort, comprising caravansary and council-chamber, where were the spacious dining-hall and rooms of the officers. Surrounding the main building were store-houses and factories, where goods were sold and pelts bought and packed, besides many other smaller houses for the use of the servants of the company, clerks, mechanics, and boatmen. “Outside the stockade," and on either side of it, continuing the description from the History of the Northwest Coast, “during the summer fortnight of business festivity were two encampments of three or four hundred men each, the one on the east side of the fort being the mangeurs de lard, or pork-eaters, comers and goers between Montreal and Fort William, and those on the west side the hivernants, or winterers in the field." A banqueting scene is thus described. “It was the hour for din­ ing. when, the sober business of the day accom­ plished. like old feudal barons the wintering partners, each surrounded by his retainers, had entered the great banqueting hall, there to meet the still more august magnates from the city, that the glories of the fortress shone resplendent. Running parallel down the hall were two large tables loaded with the combined products of forest and field, prepared by skilled cooks and served by experienced stewards from London. At the head of each table a pro­ prietor-agent, the highest officer of the association, took his seat, and on either side partners, clerks, guides, and interpreters arranged themselves accord­ ing to their several pretensions. The Montreal partners were nabobs richly attired, and with the surroundings, whether at home, en voyage, or at the rendezvous, of luxury and wealth. In the city they kept open house and entertained like lords, and in the field, though they should sleep upon the ground, they slept soundly, and were attended like monarchs." In 1821, the two companies having laid down their arms, a union was effected, the name Hudson's Bay company being retained to cover both associations. By act of parliament exclusive privileges were granted, which continued in force with certain changes until in 1859, the country being invaded by gold-seekers and settlers, the license of exclusive trade was not renewed, British Columbia was erected into a crown colony, and the great fur-company became a private trading corporation. Gold was discovered on Fraser river in 1857, and history begins anew. The presence of the metal on Vancouver and Queen Charlotte islands, on the Keena and Thompson rivers, and elsewhere in British Columbia had long been known to the fur-traders, and the fact kept carefully concealed, lest their business should be ruined by inrushing adventurers. But prospectors from California and Oregon could not be prevented from quietly ascending the streams of the far northwest in pursuit of their particular game, nor when found could the inroads of diggers be checked. The only thing for government and the fur-company to do was to accept the situation and make the best of it, which after all was to prove a blessing to the country in hastening its settlement. About 300 ounces were obtained from the gold-fields in the latter part of 1857, and during the first three months of the year following 500 ounces more were brought in. As the news spread southward, and specimens were shown at Portland, San Francisco, the excitement ran high. Many thought the British Columbia mines would rival those of California and Australia, and a general rush, overland and by sea, set in for Fraser river. \ ictoria suddenly assumed metropolitan proportions, being filled with adventurers of every class, color, and nationality, fur-traders, gold-seekers, merchants, gamblers, preachers, and law-manipulators. Before the decline on Fraser river, important mines were discovered in the Cariboo country, and later in northern regions yet more remote. Gold deposits on the tributaries of the Columbia and Fraser rivers were found in the beds and on the banks of the streams, the latter often rising in terraces to a considerable distance above and away from the water. Naturally the metal most easily obtained was first gathered, such as was found in crevices or lodged in the sand-bars which frequently are formed at the bend of the river. After this came the dry diggings of the gravel-beds and banks, where the dirt must be brought to the water or the water carried on to the ground

700

77//f HOOK O/' II 7:. l/. Til

through ditches or otherwise. The terrace deposits covered an area several thousand square miles, but in many places the metal was not present in paying quantities. In the dry diggings, as a rule, the gold was found in rather small particles, while that of the river bars consisted of fine Hat scales. Yet in some districts this order of things was reversed, the coarse gold being found in the terraces, and the fine gold in the river-beds. The yield of the Fraser river mines the first year was about $2.000.000. falling off rapidly during the decade, and amounting in all to probably not more than $10.000,000. while the Cariboo country and contiguous districts gave out during a period of twenty years some s30.000.000. Valuable coal deposits were found at various places on or near the sea coast, the most important being at Nanaimo. At the mouth of Fraser river, where terminates the Canadian Pacific railway, is laid out on a vast scale the town of Vancouver, with suitable docks for the use of the trans-Pacific steamships. The custom house is at Victoria, the beautiful capital of British Columbia, while at Esquimalt are the government works, fortifications, naval station, dry-dock, and arsenal. Miscf.li.anv.—Cartier was thinking of gold and diamonds, rather than of a vast region of red men and wild animals, when he ascended the St Lawrence to Hochelaga. Newfoundland has a seacoast of 1,000 miles, and an area of 23,000.000 acres; New Brunswick 400 miles of seaboard and 22.000,000 acres; Nova Scotia 12.000,000 acres. The estimated value of farms in Upper Canada, in 1865, was ¿£60,000.000, live stock ¿£9,000,000. timber ¿£2,000,000, total exports forest and farm produce ¿£10,000,000. In the olden time a skin was the unit of value, not a real but a theoretical skin. Doubtless this standard of currency was fixed when the Indian knew' no difference between a beaver worth $3, ami a silver fox worth $300. At all events this imaginary settled itself down to a currency value of about half a dollar, so that an average beaver was worth ten skins, a musk ox thirty skins, and so on, small change being made in musk rats, one-tenth of a skin, mink two skins, lynx four skins, wolverine sixteen skins. Manitoba claims a yield of forty bushels to the acre in cereals of which the valley of the Mississippi will produce but fourteen bushels; indeed, it has been said that cultivated plants obtain their maximum of productiveness near the northern limit of their growth. So great has become the cattle trade of Manitoba, that the firm of Gordon and Ironside sometimes gives the railway an order at one time for 1,000 cars for shipment to Montreal. The $50,000,000 worth of Catholic church property in Canada is not taxed by the government. The St Mary canal, which connects lakes Superior and Huron, cost about $4,000.000, the lock measuring 900 by 60 feet, and 20 feet deep. It is said that more freight passes through this than through the Suez canal, reaching some­ times 15,000,000 tons a year, in ships carrying each from 50,000 to 100,000 bushels of w heat. The total mineral production of Canada is about $20,000,000 a year. The estimate for the Canadian Pacific cable from Vancouver island to Australia, and maintenance for three years, was $10,000,000. The Nova Scotia coal product is about 2,000,000 tons a year, of which Cape Breton contributes 1,225,000 tons, Cumberland 475,000 tons, and Picton the remainder. The freestone quays of Mon­ treal cost $15,000,000. Canada exports 100.000,000 pounds of cheese annually. Canadian asbestos is pro­ duced to the value of $1.000.000 a year. British Columbia has given out gold to the value of nearly . WOLFE MONL >5O,OOO,OOO. The Canadian Pacific railway is an important factor in Cana­ dian politics, as well as in the development of the country.

Late developments of placer gold on the upper Yukon and its tributaries point toward the possibilities of vast wealth in the New Northwest. We have here the confluence, or perhaps the point of departure, of the three great chains, the Rocky mountains, the Cascade-Nevada range, and the ('oast range, in all of whit h precious and base metals are profusely scattered; ami the theory has been advanced by some that here in this frozen land beside a frozen sea the furnace fires once burned which prepared and sent forth the metals on their course, all along the lines through North and South America to Tierra del Fuego. The gold product of the world for 1896 has been estimated at $205,000,000, and for 1897, $240,000,000. Of this Canada gave $3,000,000 to the former and $10,000,000 to the latter year, $6,000,000 being brought in from the newly discovered mines of the Klondyke country. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the gold product of the world may be fairly estimated at $4,000,000,000, while the probability for the output during the first quarter of the twentieth century is much greater. This enormous addition to the world’s standard currency must necessarily affect values in no small degree. Prior to the recent discoveries in the Yukon-Klondyke region the Canadian mines gave to the world in gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, coal, gypsum, manganese, mineral oil, salt, slate, and stone values to the amount of $4,000,000 or $5.000,000. Half the population of Canada are engaged in agriculture, who handle yearly 200,000,000 of bushels of products. Half the surface of Canada is covered with forests, from which $30,000,000 worth of timber is exported annually. Con­ spicuous among the forest trees are white ami red pine, ash, beech, elm, maple, walnut, cedar, birch, and tamarack. Revenue and expenditure of the dominion of Canada are about $40,000,000 annually. Canada exports annually products to the amount of $100,and imports $120,000,000. I'rom the fisheries come $20,000,000 a year, $8,000,000 of w hich are exported. To her magnificent natural water-ways, the finest facilities are added to the transportation sys­ tem of Canada in canals and railroads. Up from the ocean by the St Lawrence and its lakes, aided by the Cornwall, R idean, Welland, and other canals, the revenue from which reaches$400,000 annually, pen­ etrating the interior farther by way of the great lakes and the lakes and rivers above, and well nigh half of the vast con­ tinent may be traversed by ships and boats. The railroads connecting with and branching out from the water-system are fast cov­ ering the country, and leave little to be desired in the way I facilities for transportation in Canada.