_Condition of the Natives._--The various accounts agree in describing the province as highly cultivated and thickly settled. Maize and cacao were the principal crops. Temples and edifices are repeatedly referred to. A few years afterwards (1524) Cortes traversed Tabasco some miles inland, and has left a description of its industries. The people were active merchants, and the list of their commodities which he gives includes cacao, maize, cotton, dye-stuffs, feathers, salt, wax, resins, paints, gum copal, pottery, beads, shells, precious stones, woven stuffs and gold of low alloy. The richer citizens had numerous wives and female slaves, which accounted for the rapid increase in population.[8-1] The chronicler Gomara furnished a long list of the native articles which Grijalva brought back in 1519 from Potonchan and the neighboring coast. They reveal a high degree of artistic culture, and leave no doubt but that the tribes of the vicinity were as developed in the arts as any in America. _Ruined Cities._--Writing about 1875, Mr. H. H. Bancroft says: "On the immediate coast (of Tabasco) some large towns and temples were seen by the early voyagers; but I have no information that relics of any kind have been discovered in modern times."[8-2] In fact, although it is doubtful if there are any ruins directly on the coast, there are many but a short distance inland. Those at Comalcacalco[TN-1] have been figured and described by M. Charnay, and his work is so well known that a reference to it is sufficient. At the locality called Pedrito, about fifteen miles from the mouth of the Tabasco, there are many mounds, embankments, piles of pottery and other signs of an ancient town. Among the relics is a large circular stone, "like a round table," with figures in relief engraved on its sides, and with holes drilled in its surface, in which pegs or wooden nails are said to have been fitted.[8-3] About ten miles north of this spot is another group of mounds on the left bank of the Rio de San Pablo y San Pedro. Doubtless many others exist unknown in the dense forests.