Mexico is another portion of South America. Its products are numerous, but the country suffers much for want of water, though the dew falls heavily every night. The soil is rich, and well cultivated, although not so carefully as with us. Indian corn is the principal food of the natives, and is cultivated so generally, that when the crop fails, there is a year of famine. A drink is also made from it, called chicha. Sweet potatoes, yams, and quantities of red pepper, together with vegetables, and fruits, and tobacco, are grown. A kind of plant, called a cacao, is so highly prized that the grains are used for money. For want of streams, of which the country is sadly deficient, the mills are mostly worked by animals, and are very inferior; and the machinery is so bad, that the cotton is separated from the seed by the hands of workpeople. The principal manufactures are cigars, cottons, soap, tanned leather, gunpowder, pottery, and hats. The rich people use a number of silver vessels, and a quantity of plate, on account of the want of manufactures of china and glass, so that the trade of a silversmith is rather good. Boots, saddles, and coaches, are well made: but the furniture, which is mostly of pine and cedar, is coarsely and clumsily put together. The streets of Mexico are rather wide and well paved; the houses are ornamental, and the churches and public buildings are magnificent.--The rich people pass the greater part of the day on their sofas, in darkened rooms; but in the evening, they appear arrayed in the most elegant costume, for they are particularly partial to parties and brilliant assemblies. [Illustration] There are numerous beggars, called Leperos, who are very drunken and dishonest; but lively, voluble, and extremely civil; though they will pick any body's pocket. There are also innumerable Indians, who make earthen pots very neatly, and use them instead of iron or copper vessels. You have heard of Canada, which is a part of North America, and all that now remains to England of her vast American colonies.--Well, we have an enormous canoe from Canada!--I wonder who can have sent that? A canoe, as you know, is a kind of boat, which uncivilized people, who live near rivers, use. The canoes of Canada are of a very thin material, and so light, that the boatmen, in passing overland from one river to another, generally carry them on their heads. The canoes are mostly covered with bark, the pieces of which are sewed together with a particular kind of grass; the bark being usually not more than a quarter of an inch in thickness. The people of Canada, who are called Canadians, are rather industrious; they make very fine fans, they hunt, fish, and collect sugar from a tree called the Sugar maple. Their houses are built of stone, and are plastered, but seldom are higher than one story, except in the towns, and are made very warm by means of stoves. The furniture is usually made by the Canadians themselves, and is exceedingly simple.