Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/378

338 MEXICO. by which that produce is sought, that we must look for per- manent improvement. The sums now expended may increase the supply of neces- saries in the Interior, and give to the landed .proprietors, in the vicinity of the Mining Districts, the means of obtaining European manufactures, which they could not otherwise afford ; but they have no tendency to produce a surplus of those articles in which the most valuable Exports of Mexico are likely hereafter to consist, most of which, (as Sugar, In- digo, and Coffee,) require the employment of a small capital in their cultivation, before they can rise into importance. This capital the mines must supply ; for they alone can remedy the deficiency in the circulating medium of Mexico, which has checked so many useful projects, and retarded, hitherto, the progress, that might otherwise have been made. In a country where three per cent, per month has been obtained for money in the capital, (and that, too, on the most undeniable security,) there is but little inducement to capi- talists to invest their funds in agricultural speculations. It is not surprising, therefore, that, in the last three years, little should have been done towards turning to account those ad- vantages, which might be derived from the diversity of the climate, and the variety of the productions, on the Eastern slope of the Cordillera. Under any circumstances this must have been the work of time, for the maritime districts are not only thinly inhabited, but are remarkable for the listless and indolent character of the population, which seems to increase in proportion to the bounty of nature, and the consequent facility of obtaining a supply of the necessaries of life. Thus Veracruz, which, (after leaving the sea-coast,) in variety of productions, and fertility of soil, can be surpassed by no district of equal extent in the world, has a population not exceeding 250,000 individuals of every description, of whom it is supposed that not more than two-fifths are em-