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MEXICO IN 1827.

dollars,) would be 2,002,387 dollars, which bears a fair proportion to the exportation, and at which I am consequently inclined to think that the cochineal annually raised in Mexico may fairly be estimated.

Many are disposed to rate it much higher, (two millions and a half of dollars,) but as I am not in possession of any data that warrant this supposition, I shall confine myself to the calculation given above, in which I am borne out by positive facts. The crop is divided into three classes,—Grana, Granilla, and Polvos de Grana, to which may be added, Zacatilla, the name given to the December crop in the Misteca, the quality of which is thought to be superior to that of the others.

WAX.

The great consumption of wax in the church ceremonies renders this an article of much importance. Some attention is paid to it in the Peninsula of Yŭcătān, where there are Colmenares, containing six and seven hundred hives.

But Mexico imports annually a large quantity, (from two to three thousand Arrobas,) which, now that the direct trade with the Havanna is closed, are introduced principally through New Orleans.

Mexico possesses, in addition to the productions which I have passed in review, Tabascan pepper, (Pimienta malagueta, o'llainada,) which grows wild throughout that State, and is collected in the months of July and August; Campeche log-wood, Mahog-