that a free trade may produce a similar effect in a country, even more favoured by nature than the Island of Cuba. The want of a market need not be apprehended, for the consumption of Europe appears to increase every year, and will, probably, continue to do so, as the supply augments, until the price falls to that point, at which the planter would cease to derive any advantage from his labours. What this point is, has not yet been ascertained. According to Humboldt, coffee has varied, at the Havanna, during the present century, from thirty, to four dollars the quintal, (of four Arrobas.) From 1815 to 1819 it was constantly between thirteen and seventeen dollars; now it is only twelve, and may be expected to fall still lower.
In the interior of Mexico, it was worth, in 1826, from five, to seven dollars the Arroba, (twenty and twenty-eight dollars the quintal,) but this value it will, of course, lose as the cultivation extends. On the coast, I have little doubt that the coffee of Cordova might be sold, already, at the same price as that of the Havanna. The quality, is in general, excellent, and equal, in the opinion of the best judges, to that of any other country in the world.
TOBACCO.
Mexican tobacco is chiefly important as an article of revenue. The plant is a government monopoly, and the growth of it is confined to a small district in the vicinity of Ŏrĭzāvă and Cōrdŏvă.
