MEXICO. 313 281,025 dollars per annum ; and Cochineal 1,100,327 dol- lars ; of Flour exported, I can find no traces ; so that, in these three articles alone, there was a diminution of 2,618,648 dollars, the estimate being . . 4,000,000 dollars the real exportation . . . 1,381,352 Difference 2,618,648 calculated on a term of seven years.* This reduces Humboldt's estimate from thirty-seven mil- lions, to 34,381,352 dollars ; and, as I have perhaps under- rated the value of the quicksilver and paper, which may have amounted to something more than one million and a half of dollars annually, the difference between the amount given by the Consulado Reports, and the calculations of the Essai Po- litique, although still considerable, is much reduced. During this same period, the consumption of woollens, and cottons, of home manufacture, in Mexico, is supposed to have amounted, at least, to ten millions of dollars annually ; or to two hundred and fifty millions on the whole term of twenty-five years; so that the home manufactures very nearly equalled in value the whole of the registered importa- tions from Europe and America, (259,105,940 dollars,) not- withstanding the taste for the finer articles of European in- dustry, (such as lace, rich silks, and fine cloths,) which Humboldt states to have become very prevalent about the beginning of this century. It is true that the registered importation of European ma- nufactures, does not give, by any means, the amount of the real consumption of the country ; for an average importation of 8,977?883 dollars, would only give, on a population of six
- I never venture to diiFer from Baron Humboldt without both diffi-
dence and regret ; but in the present instance, I am merely stating in 1827, what has actually occurred, in lieu of forming an estimate before- hand ; which, however v^arranted by appearances at the time, might be, and has been, contradicted by the course of events.
