The rest of the day was spent in sight-seeing about Saltillo, including visits to some of the cotton and other factories, for which the place is famed. The machinery in the cotton factories is of foreign make—some of it from England and some from the United States. The cloth made there is of ordinary quality, and sells for a price that ought to give a fine profit to the owners of the establishment. Frank asked about the wages of the laborers in the mills, and found that they received from thirty to fifty cents a day for twelve or fourteen hours' work, according to their skill and the amount of labor they performed.
It is estimated that about 30,000,000 pounds, or 60,000 bales, of cotton are annually converted into cloth in Mexico. Most of the raw cotton is grown in the country; and what with the cultivation of the product and its manufacture into textiles, it is thought that 50,000 families are supported by the cotton industry. Where the mills are carefully managed they are profitable, and make a liberal return for the investment of capital.
PICKING COTTON.
[CHAPTER V.]
FROM SALTILLO TO JARAL.—A JOURNEY BY DILIGENCE.—PECULIARITIES OF DILIGENCE TRAVEL.—BRIGANDAGE; HOW THE GOVERNMENT SUPPRESSED IT.—ROBBERS TURNED INTO SOLDIERS.—STORIES OF BRIGANDS AND THEIR WORK; THEIR TREATMENT OF PRISONERS.—A CASE OF POLITENESS.—DINNER AT A WAY-SIDE INN.—CHILE CON CARNE.—DESCRIPTION OF CHIHUAHUA.—THE SANTA EULALIA MINES; ROMANTIC STORY OF THEIR DISCOVERY.—TORREON AND LERDO.—COTTON IN TRANSIT.—STATISTICS OF COTTON IN MEXICO.—FRESNILLO.—CALERA.—A BAD BREAKFAST.—ARRIVAL AT ZACATECAS.—LODGED IN AN OLD CONVENT.
Bright and early the next morning our friends were ready for the journey to Jaral, where they were to connect with the train on the International Railway to carry them farther into Mexico. The distance is about forty miles, and was to be made by diligence, as the railway from Jaral to Saltillo was not then completed. They by no means regretted this, as a ride in one of these vehicles would be a novelty. The boys had read and heard a great deal about diligence travel in Mexico, and were more than willing to have an experience of it.