EXPORTS.
The nature of the export-trade from Buenos Ayres may be generally gathered from the following summary, or comparative valuation of the exports from thence in 1822, 1825, 1829, and 1837; though, being taken from the Buenos Ayrean custom-house accounts, some allowance must be made for short manifests by the shippers, perhaps an addition of twenty per cent. to the amount officially accounted for in each year. The returns of specie and bullion exported are especially liable to this observation.
Comparative Return and Valuation of the principal Articles Exported from Buenos Ayres in the years 1822, 1825, 1829, and 1837.
| 1822. | 1825. | 1829. | 1837. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quantity. | Price. | Value. | Quantity. | Price. | Value. | Quantity. | Price. | Value. | Quantity. | Price. | Value. | |
| Dollars. | Dollars. | Dollars. | Dollars. | Dollars. | Dollars. | Dollars. | Dollars. | |||||
| Spanish Dollars | 474,633 | — | 474,633 | 1,272,745 | — | 1,272,745 | 189,581 | — | 189,581 | 258,748 | — | 258,743 |
| Marks of Silver | 84,690 | at 8 | 677,520 | 10,559 | at 8 | 89,751 | 12,699 | at 8 | 101,592 | 4,881 | at 8 | 39,048 |
| Gold (ounces) | 12,020 | 17 | 204,340 | 10,625 | 17 | 180,625 | 24,595 | 17 | 418,115 | 21,999 | 17 | 373,983 |
| Gold (uncoined) | — | — | — | — | — | 6,000 | — | — | 13,667 | 362 | — | 6,154 |
| Copper (quintals of 100 lbs.) | 145 | 16 | 2,321 | 175 | 16 | 2,800 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Ox-hides | 590,372 | 4 | 2,361,488 | 655,255 | 5 | 2,621,020 | 854,799 | 4 | 3,419,196 | 823,635 | 4 | 3,294,540 |
| Horse-hides | 421,566 | 1 | 421,566 | 339,703 | 1 | 339,703 | 64,563 | 1½ | 96,844 | 25,367 | 1½ | 38,046 |
| Jerk Beef (quintals) | 87,663 | 4 | 350,652 | 130,361 | 4 | 521,444 | 164,818 | 2 | 329,638 | 178,877 | 2½ | 446,192 |
| Horns | 673,000 | 70 per mil. | 47,110 | 1,553,880 | 60 per mil. | 93,228 | 1,500,905 | 60 per mil. | 90,000 | 434,456 | 60 | 26,070 |
| Horsehair (arobes of 25 lbs.) | 38,137 | 3 | 114,411 | 44,776 | 3 | 134,028 | 26,682 | 3 | 110,046 | 70,372 | 3 | 211,116 |
| Sheeps' wool (arobes) | 33,417 | 1 | 33,417 | — | — | — | 30,334 | 1 | 30,334 | 164,706 | 2 | 329,412 |
| Chinchilla skins (dozens) | 9,077 | 4 | 36,308} | 35,670 | 5 | 178,350 | 6,625 | 5 | 33,125 | 3,317 | 4 | 13,268 |
| Nutria skins (dozens) | 9,914 | 3 | 29,742 | 59,756 | 3 | 179,268 | 51,853 | 2½ | 129,632 | |||
| Tallow (arobes) | 69,400 | 2 | 124,800 | 12,167 | 1½ | 18,250 | 21,757 | 3 | 65,271 | 100,249 | 1½ | 150,373 |
| Bark (lbs.) | 5,824 | ½ | 2,912 | 5,879 | ½ | 2,939 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cotton (arobes) | — | — | — | 2,000 | 2½ | 5,000 | 968 | 2 | 1,936 | 160 | 3 | 480 |
| Sheep-skins (dozens) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 56,188 | 2½ | 140,470 |
| Flour (fanegas) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 14,069 | 4 | 56,268 |
| Corn (do.) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 4,150 | 3½ | 14,525 |
| Sundry Minor Articles | — | — | 118,780 | — | — | 84,117 | — | — | 121,387 | — | — | 108,818 |
| Totals | Value of Precious Metals | 1,358,814 | 5,000,000 | Precious Metals | 1,551,921 | 5,550,000 | Precious Metals | 722,955 | 5,200,000 | Precious Metals | 677,928 | 5,637,138 |
| " Native Produce | 3,641,156 | Native Produce | 3,998,079 | Native Produce | 4,477,045 | Native Produce | 4,959,210 | |||||
The annual account of the imports and exports, continuing to take the year 1822 as an example, may perhaps be generally stated as follows:
| Dollars. | ||
|---|---|---|
| The imports for that year, as stated at page [337] (less those re-exported), were valued at | 9,944,057 | |
| From the gross value of the imports about 30 per cent. must be deducted for duties, landing charges, commission, guarantee of debts, and warehouse rent, say | 2,983,217 | |
| 6,960,840 | ||
| The exports are estimated at | 5,000,000 | |
| Add for short manifests | 1,000,000 | |
| For charges, 10 per cent. | 600,000 | |
| 6,600,000 | ||
| 360,840 | ||
This difference, which upon the whole was of little importance, was at once accounted for by the investments of foreign capital in the purchase of every kind of property in the country previously to the war with Brazil.
Although foreigners, as has been already observed, were heavy sufferers by the events of that war, the country was benefited in a way which could hardly have been foreseen. In the impossibility of making returns to Europe during the continuance of the blockade, the greater part of the large amount of foreign property locked up in it was laid out in cattle-farms, agricultural establishments, saladeros (where the jerk beef is made), houses, and a variety of speculations, the general tendency of which was greatly to improve the real resources of the country. Thus, although upon the whole there was afterwards apparently a falling off in the foreign trade of the port of Buenos Ayres compared with what it was before the war, there was in reality an increase in the quantities of the staple commodities of the country brought to market.
This was encouraging, inasmuch as it is in proportion to the increase and multiplication of the native productions that we must look for the stability and improvement of this trade—the great difficulty being to collect returns for the importations from foreign countries. Hides and skins have been till lately the only articles of any importance obtainable, though it is manifest that the country is highly capable of producing a variety of other articles of great value in a commercial point of view.
Had the provincial governments been sufficiently settled, and the state of the laws in the interior been such as to have afforded any adequate security to foreigners, intelligent men would doubtless long ago have resorted to those parts, and would have given a stimulus to the industry of the native population; for it is to such persons the natives must look to teach them to what account the productions of the soil and climate of the interior of South America may be turned in other countries, as well as how they should be prepared for those markets. Foreigners would soon show them new sources of wealth, and give value to those which have hitherto been neglected or unknown. To them also the natives must look for the introduction of machinery, which may in some measure compensate for the want of hands, which at present makes labour dear, and deprives them of a hundred comforts and conveniences in the commonest use in the civilised countries of Europe. It would be folly to disguise that these new countries are in the very infancy of civilisation; studiously brought up by the mother-country in entire ignorance of all that could teach them their own value and importance, no wonder they now have all to learn.
When I state that in many of the towns of the interior a common wheelbarrow is as yet unheard of, that in the capital itself the first pump ever seen in a private house was put up a very few years ago by an Englishman, it will easily be understood how much the natives have yet to gain by the settlement amongst them of the intelligent mechanics and artificers of more civilised countries. Still greater will be the importance to the community if foreign capitalists should find sufficient encouragement and protection to fix themselves in the country.
The province of Buenos Ayres, as contrasted with the interior, has strikingly exhibited the fruits of a more liberal policy towards foreigners; and could the practical administration of the new laws keep pace with their spirit, and with the general desire amongst the people for improvement, the consequences would be still more apparent. As it is, Buenos Ayres is at least a century in advance of the provinces in general knowledge and civilisation, and her wealth and importance have increased in proportion. Amongst other improvements which she owes to foreigners, she is indebted to some enterprising Englishmen for the introduction of late years of a new source of wealth, which bids fair to rival in importance the most valuable of her old staple commodities.
It is but a few years ago that the wool of the Buenos Ayrean sheep was hardly worth the expense of cleaning it; and as to the meat, I doubt whether the wild dogs would have touched it. It is well known that their carcases, dried in the sun, were used for fuel in the brick-kilns. The great pains and persevering exertions, however, of some intelligent foreigners to introduce and cultivate a better breed has met with a success beyond all expectation, and now promises to be of the greatest importance to the future commercial prospects of the country. The rapid increase in the value of this article of production will be shown by the following comparative account of the quantities which have been imported into Great Britain alone in the last eight years:—
Imports of Wool from Buenos Ayres.
| lbs. | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1830 | 19,444 | 269,190 lbs. |
| 1831 | 12,244 | |
| 1832 | 30,359 | |
| 1833 | 207,143 | |
| 1834 | 1,099,052 | 5,343,319 lbs. |
| 1835[79] | 962,900 | |
| 1836 | 1,073,416 | |
| 1837 | 2,207,951 |
Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Harratt are the individuals to whom Buenos Ayres is principally indebted for this new source of wealth: the greater part of the wool sent to England in 1834 was of their production, and sold at Liverpool at very high prices compared with those obtained for the old native wools of the country, the quality of which comes perhaps nearest to the low Scotch wools, and is only suited for carpeting, and other strong descriptions of goods. In a country where any quantity of land applicable for the purpose may be had almost for nothing, it is impossible to calculate to what extent the breeding and improvement of sheep may be carried, now that the wool is known to fetch a remunerating price in foreign markets.
Nor is wool the only raw material for our manufactures which we may expect to derive from Buenos Ayres. In my notices of the interior I have stated that in Paraguay and some of the Upper Provinces, especially Corrientes, cotton of a quality equal to the average of that of Brazil is produced:—this has been often satisfactorily shown by samples sent to Liverpool. The natives cultivate it and make cloths of it for their own domestic purposes; and we shall probably obtain large quantities of it whenever foreigners shall enjoy such security as may induce them to carry into the interior the machinery necessary to clean and pack it for the markets of Europe.
From the same part of the Republic, as well as from several of the Upper Provinces, any quantity of indigo may be obtained, of an excellent quality. M. Bonpland, the celebrated naturalist, who has spent so many years in those parts, took the trouble years ago to draw attention to the peculiarity of the indigo found in the province of Corrientes. Speaking of those parts called the Missions, he says, "The whole of this country exceeds description; at every step one meets with things both new and useful in natural history. I have already collected 2000 plants, a large quantity of seeds, &c.
"Amongst the number of interesting plants to which my attention has been called, I am of opinion that this country may hereafter derive great advantages from the three new species of indigo which I have found in these fertile regions. They are very different from the plant from which the indigo is obtained in Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, and India; and I flatter myself that the South Americans will avail themselves of this discovery, and cultivate a plant which has hitherto been disregarded under the common name of yuyo. The superior quality of indigo that may be obtained from this newly-discovered plant, and the facility of its conveyance down to a port of shipment, render it an object of great importance to a country that has only a few exports, and its cultivation, if encouraged by the government, and undertaken by capitalists, will in a few years furnish an interesting and staple commodity for trade."
This account of the Corrientes indigo was copied from the Buenos Ayrean papers into the Annual Register for 1822, together with the following remarks on some other of the natural resources of the provinces of La Plata, which seem well deserving the notice of those interested in the trade with that part of the world:—"there are many other natural resources of the country to which the attention of the government of Buenos Ayres ought to be called. The seda silvestre, a sort of wild silk left in the woods by a certain caterpillar, is found abundantly on the banks of the Paranã, and would constitute a valuable export. Very good cochineal may be gathered in Tucuman, besides a great quantity of bees'-wax.
"The rubia tinctoria is found in many of the extensive forests, but the best is in Tarija, the Chaco, and the Sierra de Cordova; it yields a brilliant colour. It was not till within these few years that notice was taken of a new mode of dyeing a green colour from a production called by the Spaniards clavillo, from its resemblance to a little nail. Some persons consider it to be the excrement of a certain insect smaller than the cochineal; others believe it to be the insect itself. Hitherto it has only been gathered in Carquejia, and the point is found introduced into the bark of a shrub; it was first used by the poor people of the country, and it has since been proved by repeated experiments that the Vicuña and Alpaca wools, as well as cotton, after being prepared with astringents, such as alum, and previously boiled in a yellow dye, when thrown into a solution of clavillo, acquire a beautiful green colour; the shade of this simple is in itself greenish, and by keeping grows darker: abundance of it is found in the valley of Catamarca and province of Tucuman, but as yet no scientific experiments have been made with it."
A variety of valuable gums and medicinal balsams may be had from Paraguay, of the efficacy of which marvellous stories are related by those who have resided in those regions. The tree producing caoutchouc is found in abundance about the rivers in the upper part of that province, where the Indians have long known its value, and use it as a substitute for candles: the children make balls of it to play with. They obtain it by making an incision in the tree, from which the gum is run into a hide placed beneath to catch it, and when cold is wound upon large balls for use.
In addition to these, I may mention nitrate of soda, so much used now in our cotton manufactories, which may be procured in any quantity from the provinces of La Plata;—as yet, I believe, not a single bag of it has ever been brought from Buenos Ayres, although there is no reason why it should not be imported from thence at as low a cost as from Chile and Peru; from which countries alone, of late years, the annual importations have been from 50,000 to 100,000 cwt.
War in Europe will always create an increased demand for the produce of such a country as Buenos Ayres. In the last years of the general war, not only was there an enormous demand for the hides of Buenos Ayres, but considerable quantities of tallow also were shipped from thence; and, although those shipments ceased to answer when the Russian markets were reopened, they may always be calculated upon again should any stoppage take place of our ordinary supplies through the Baltic. At present, though Buenos Ayrean tallow is worth as much as Russian in the English markets, there is no great quantity of it produced, in consequence of the animals being killed for their hides as soon as they are marketable, which is before they yield tallow in any quantity worth collecting.
Corn also was an article of export from Buenos Ayres during the general war in Europe, and is again beginning to be exported to Brazil—as is shown by the account of the exports in 1837. It is of an excellent quality, and might be grown to any extent.
Mules, horses, and asses have at times been shipped in large numbers for the West Indies and for the Isle of France, and have been sold there at an enormous profit.
In the short notices given of the provinces of the interior, I have given such accounts of any other of their native productions as I could collect. The silver and gold mines of Cordova, La Rioja, Mendoza, San Juan, and Salta, may eventually become productive; and, when an intercourse is once more permitted with Bolivia through the interior, it may be expected that some portion of the precious metals produced there also will, as formerly, find their way to Buenos Ayres.
In old times, not only were the rich and populous provinces of Bolivia exclusively supplied through the Rio de la Plata with all such articles as they wanted from Europe, but they took from the lower provinces a variety of useful productions of their own, for all which they paid in gold and silver. Of mules alone upwards of 60,000 were annually sent to Potosi from the provinces of Tucuman and Santa Fé.
This internal trade, once of so much importance to the people of the intermediate provinces, was annihilated in the struggle for establishing the independency of the Republic; for, Bolivia remaining to the last in the hands of the Spaniards, of course all commercial intercourse was prohibited with the provinces of La Plata, which had thrown off the yoke of the mother-country. To this may be ascribed in great measure the extreme poverty and backwardness of many of those provinces at the present day. Salta, Tucuman, Cordova, Santa Fé, and Paraguay, lost the best markets for their native produce; whilst the people, dragged from their pastoral and agricultural pursuits in the first instance to fight against their old masters, and afterwards to destroy one another in support of the ephemeral authorities which succeeded them, naturally contracted such unsettled and disorderly habits as it will require many a year of domestic peace and better government to wean them from. To time, and a continuance of those blessings, as I have elsewhere said, we must, I believe, look for the remedy of these evils, and for any material improvement in the condition of the interior provinces of the republic.