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Show 3 f ot f a. 4 a3 Hy 4 iF $ t > :: be J = = * 3 ‘ as i eS , in t x 4 | ey 454 4 © *\ 3 | ; ie a Geet) oh i Fa oS 5 4 , ¢ & y ¥ i 4 oe 3 4 x ae yo be ae y as es 3 al : a % ;| , ss \ a , ie] 1 vi ® , : 8 Sfx (48; 4 S' ee ' fa4 € ; at ‘, ¥ eRAtHE te if + of 4 ¥ isie 4 y ; : w i y _ PE uy ¥ i 41 if ‘ \ i : f ~ it ; ae i j ‘ Ae se Oak i ae 4 5 * :. & P) ‘ | | o ‘ } in . In 1776 the governor delayed the publication of an important 1788 explains the impossibility . of obtaining reports from New Mexico until the people come down to the January fair.’’ ’ 482 Arch. Sta. Fé. In August, 1789, M. Louis Blanc, commander at Natebt- Pierre Vial who had recently made the trip. tyie oe z rf f provincial doches wrote to General Ugarte urging the opening of trade between New ae ico and Louisiana, by establishing a presidio among the Jumanos. He said pi this would prevent smuggling and tend to keep peace with the Indian tribes like the Osages; that the journey with freight was only forty days, through 4 a fertile country all of which was known to him by reports from a man _ i mit 4 . bando till the people had returned from their ‘ordinaria anual salida’; and the 4 a5 et 4 F 4 gether with Indian captives to trade for knives, horses, beads, all sorts of trinkets, and to a limited extent, blankets. After the fair at Taos had closed, the traders and merchants came south, and just before the beginning of each year, proceeded in great caravans to Chihuahua, THE TRADE WITH CHIHUAHUA where they exchanged the skins, hides, Indian servants, blankets, and other products of the province for cloths, groceries, and other articles needed in New Mexico for consumption or for trade with the Indians of the plains. The departure **! and return of the caravanas were the great events of the year. Up to this time there was no trade with the French of Louisiana **? or with the Spaniards of Texas. There was no coin or other money in New Mexico at this time, and the traders for their accounts invented a system of ‘‘imaginary”’ at $30,000. ‘ i € SPANISH HISTORY 481 Bancroft, H. H., History of Arizona and New Mewico, p. 277: ‘‘ The value of each year’s exports was estimated by the comandante general in 1788 : rr}ee ees ‘a MEXICAN currency, which included four kinds of dollars — pesos de plata, oA & a i 4 \¢ iPec {7 wa re ia . k @ 4 -¢ | { 1 } oe a " \ 2> ’ t Pom Pine & | a» hy t ~ } s . oe ae fo ae mt ; ae t = bi 4 t ~ 55) oe 2 Fe ya 2 A F worl Pe e 4 OF NEW RULE, 1700 TO 1822 455 oa ae i FACTS LEADING ti , This letter was sent to Governo Concha for his consideration and report. } Morfi, Desérdenes, Ms., contains the best general presentment of the country 8 commercial condition and needs, explaining the system of imaginary money 4? giving instances of enormous profits which were made. satan SA Revilla Gigedo, Carta de ’93, 444, paints a vivid picture of conditions | . existing. He says, comparing the settlers with the Indians: ‘‘No son spe respectivamente las costumbres de los vecinos espafioles y demas castas, phi poblaciones consisten en casas 6 ranchos dispersos, donde no tienes testigos hos descubran imitando 4 los 10 “a y comercio4 la Ai nae los vicios y la disolucion en que se prostituyen, en la vida ociosa, y reduciéndose todos sus afanes usuraria de semillas y frutos, y 4 la benta que hacen ellos en la villa Bi a y hua, adonde bajan en cordon cada aio y se proveen de los generos, etech utensilios para sus vestuarios, atenciones domesticas, y labores del campo- i. Arch. Sta. Fé. On October 25th, 1788, General Ugarte made a long rept Mexico, recommending the encouragement of the in ps the trade with New of the province of Chihuahua, now being abandoned on account of the deca aa in mining; also the sending eae of artisan instructors to New ; Mexico, : exemp alance from taxes, etc., so as to increase manufactures and give the province 4 " of money. worth eight reales; pesos de proyecto, six reales; pesos antiguous, four reales; and pesos de la tierra, two reales. ‘‘The beauty of this system,’’ says Mr. Bancroft, ‘‘was that the traders always bought for the cheap pesos and sold for the dearer kinds, all being ‘dollars’ to the Indians. Through this system, the natives, through debt, became practically slaves, besides losing their land, and the poor settlers were hardly less the victims of commercial oppression.’’ 488 At the close of the century the Spanish population of New Mexico had increased much more than POPULATION OF NEW MEXICO IN 1800 double in fifty years. Details of the population of the province from 1760 to 1799 are given by Mr. Bancroft in a table, which is here reproduced, as follows: Mr. Bancroft’s table of population in New Mexico — 1750-1800: 1760 SETTLEMENTS Alburquerque . aah Cl La Cafiada a ADO © 5, ae Taos rorima §, . San Juan. ..; Santa Clara . San Ildefonso Span.| 1814 1285 1915 617 160 208 575 {| 1788][ 1793 Ind. |/Total||Span.| 2146]! 1650 2244/| 2419 1076|| 1650 1181}| 1147 403 1310 2173 Ind. 1798. Span.| 1. Ind. 1gon ||Span.| 4020 Ind. . Pojoaque ambé . co Tesuque Pecos and Galisteo en Santo Domingo . San Felipe Jemez ; Cia Santa Ana Sandia .. (Alameda) Isleta, Tomé, Belen CRONE. ome. Zufii . vou. . ll El Paso District Grand Total The five eee . 9104 16156| 9275 1394 3622] 1900 4943 11254/10498||22080]|19778/11175 reports 488 Bancroft, 820 668 1935 664 © Oe TO 1052 600) we iin H. embodied H., History in the table of Arizona are as and New 23769|10369 follows: Tamaron, Mezxico, p. 278: Visita, ‘* While the settlers and Pueblo Indians were always in debt to the traders, the latter in |