Spanish America, Vol. 1 (of 2)Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir
History
Spanish America, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir
Latin America -- Description and travel; Latin America -- History
Vanilla, of the finest quality, is imported into Spain from
Mexico. Sarsaparilla and jalap, which takes its name from the
town of Xalapa, near which it is found, are celebrated articles
of its export trade. Of tobacco, it does not grow enough for
its own consumption, not owing to the soil, but to its culture
being discouraged. The indigo from the Spanish colonies is raised
chiefly in Guatimala. Odoriferous, gums, medicinal plants, and
drugs; the dying woods, particularly logwood; the valuable woods
used in making articles of furniture; are the produce of this
Viceroyalty; which is as rich in the productions of the vegetable
as of the mineral kingdom. Cochineal, and the plant on which the
insect feeds and comes to maturity, are amongst the most singular
of its products; they are principally managed by the Indians, who
are most skilful in the mode of collecting the harvests of this
extraordinary dye.
The animals wild and domestic, are chiefly the horse, mules, of
which thousands are employed in carrying goods over the crests of
the mountains separating the two oceans, and in drawing the metals
from the mines, &c., sheep, goats, and cattle; the cougar, or
American tiger; the puma, the tiger-cat, loupcervier, wild-boar,
swine, buffalo bison, tapir, marmadillo, and immense tribes of apes
and monkeys, with birds of every variety and beauty, amongst which
are wild and tame turkeys, ducks, domestic fowls, &c.
The insects are as numerous as singular, and the serpents and
reptiles thrive under the vertical sun, and amid the humid
exhalations of the low-lands. The alligator is found in its rivers
and swamps, and is nearly as formidable as the Egyptian crocodile.
In the northern part of New Spain, horses, cattle, sheep and
goats, are found in a state of nature, having multiplied to an
extraordinary degree in the wide spread plains and Savannahs.
The silk-worm is reared in some of the provinces; but as the
growing of silk would interfere with the commerce of the East
Indian possessions of Spain, this article is not much attended to.
Honey and wax are procured in the greatest plenty, as may
reasonably be imagined in a country abounding with aromatic herbs
and flowers; wax forms a great article of its home consumption,
which is the case in all Catholic countries, where such immense
quantities of it are burnt in processions and the churches.
The pearl fisheries of the Californian Gulf, are not at present
carried on with much activity, but pearls of great value have been
found on its coasts.
In the description of the different provinces of this kingdom, we
shall occasionally give more particular relations of the animal and
vegetable productions of New Spain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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