me law accordingly; the Mexican _peso_ or
dollar being of a value of half an American dollar, or equal to
approximately 2s. of British currency.

_Principal Industries_.--These have already been spoken of in the
chapters dealing with mining and agriculture. There are throughout the
country more than 150 metallurgical establishments, native and foreign,
which treat the mineral ores from the mines, either by amalgamation,
lixiviation, or smelting. The principal smelting works are those of the
American Smelting and Refining Company, of New York, with a copper
smelter at Aguascalientes of 2,000 tons daily capacity, and others at
Monterrey, Chihuahua, and Durango, well-equipped modern establishments;
the Compania Metalurgica Mexicana, also of New York, with a large plant
at San Luis Potosi, and other enterprises in various parts of the
country engaged in the production of gold and silver bullion, copper
matte, lead, zinc, &c. A good deal of ore is still exported,
nevertheless, in a crude state, amounting in 1907 to a value of
1,700,000 pounds sterling. The Mexican Chamber of Mines, founded in
1906, is a useful institution in connection with the mining industry.

[Illustration: BRITISH ENGINEERING WORK IN MEXICO: BUILDING A
BREAKWATER.]

The cheap labour and abundant raw material are conducive to Mexico's
development in manufacturing; and a further element is that of the
abundant waterpower which exists in certain sections of the country.
Several important hydraulic and hydro-electric generating stations
exist, among them being the Santa Gertrude's Jute Mills of Orizaba,
developing some 5,000 horse power, operated by British capital; the
Vera Cruz Light, Power and Traction Company, Ltd., also British; the
Atoyac Irrigation Company, native capital; the Anglo-Mexican Electric
Company of Puebla; the Puebla Tramway, Light and Power Company, a
Canadian enterprise of great extent and promise; the Mexican Light and
Power Company, also Canadian, which absorbed several existing native
and foreign enterprises. Connected with some of these important and
generally prosperous hydro-electric installations the name of a
well-known British firm[42] figures prominently; the builders of the
great valley drainage work and the re-constructors of the Tehuantepec
Railway and harbour works, and the Vera Cruz harbour works, and other
matters of magnitude. So if, as has been stated elsewhere, British
trade in Mexico is declining, it is at least sa