Forced labour in the mines--Silver and bloodshed--History of discovery--Guanajuato--the _veta Madre_--Spanish methods--Durango-- Zacatecas--Pachuca--The _patio_ process--Quicksilver from Peru--Cornish miners' graves--Aztec mining--Spanish advent--Old mining methods-- Romance of mining--The Cerro de Mercado--Guanajuato and Hidalgo--Real del Monte--Religion and mining--Silver and churches--Subterranean altars--Mining and the nobility--Spanish mining school--Modern conditions--The mineral-bearing zone--Distribution of minerals geographically--Silver--The _patio_ process--Gold-mining and production--El Oro and other districts--Copper--Other minerals--General mineral production--Mining claims and laws. CHAPTER XIV NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE, GENERAL CONDITIONS . . . . . . . . 282 Principal cultivated products--Timber--The three climatic zones-- General agricultural conditions--Waste of forests--Irrigation--Region of the river Nazas--Canal-making--Cotton and sugar-cane--Profitable agriculture--Mexican country-houses--Fruit gardens--Food products, cereals, and fibrous plants--_Pulque_ production--India-rubber and _guayule_--List of agricultural products and values--Fruit culture and values--Forestry and land--Colonisation--American land-sharks-- Conditions of labour--Asiatics--Geographical distribution of products-- The States of the Pacific slope--Sonora--Lower California--Sinaloa-- Tepic--Jalisco--Colima--Michoacan--Guerrero--Oaxaca--Chiapas. CHAPTER XV NATURAL RESOURCES, AGRICULTURE, GENERAL CONDITIONS (_continued_) . 308 Central and Atlantic States--Chihuahua and the Rio Grande--Mining, forests, railways--Coahuila and its resources--Nuevo Leon and its conditions--Iron, coal, railways, textile industries--Durango and its great plains and mountain peaks--Aguascalientes--Zacatecas and its mineral wealth--San Luis Potosi and its industries--Guanajuato, Queretaro and Hidalgo, and their diversified resources--Mexico and its mountains and plains--Tlaxcala--Morelos and its sugar-cane industry-- The rich State of Puebla--Tamaulipas, a littoral state--The historic State of Vera Cruz, its resources, towns, and harbour--Campeche and the peninsula of Yucatan. CHAPTER XVI MEXICAN FINANCE, INDUSTRIES, AND RAILWAYS . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 Financial rise of Mexico--Tendencies toward restriction against foreigners--National control of railways--Successful financial administration--Favourable budgets--Good trade conditions--Foreign liabilities--Character of exports and imports--Commerce with foreign nations--Banks and currency--Principal industries--Manufacturing conditions--Labour, water-power, and electric installations--Textile industry, tobacco, iron and steel, paper, breweries, etc.--Railways-- The Mexican Railway--The Mexican Central Railway--The National Railroad--The Interoceanic--Governmental consolidation--The Tehuantepec Railway--Port of Salina Cruz--Other railway systems.