Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/98

66 MEXICO. and a thousand other varieties of timber, of the most beau- tiful and variegated kinds. All these have been, hitherto, neglected, nor is there yet a single saw-mill in the Tierras calientes, where they are principally found ; but the States are endeavouring to bring this branch of national industry into activity, by fitting up with native woods the halls of Congress, and other public offices established under the New System. Pearls are found in abundance on the Western coast, and particularly in the Gulph of California, where, although the diving-bell has failed, the native divers are by no means un- successful. Few countries are richer than Mexico in domestic animals : the horned cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, and horses, introduced by the Spaniards, have flourished in every part of her ter- ritory, and multiplied to such a degree that their numbers are now incalculable. In Texas, California, and the Indian country, vast herds run wild in the forests, and even in the Interior the number both of horses and cattle kept on many of the large Haciendas is hardly known. BufFon's theory of the degeneration of European animals in America is totally unfounded. As Humboldt beautifully expresses it, " since the facts alleged have been carefully examined, naturalists have discovered proofs of harmony, where the eloquent writer announced only contrasts." The wool of the Mexican sheep is supposed to be of an inferior quality, but I am inclined to attribute its defects more to neglect, and to the too great abundance of the Cactus, and other thorny shrubs, in the plains where the great flocks of the Interior are fed, than to any peculiarity in the climate. Wherever due attention is paid to the subject, and care taken to preserve the fleece from injury, the quality seems