ion is in the
greatest consumption, being stouter and more valuable than the other
sort, and is mostly all bought up by the natives themselves, although
a small portion of it is also exported.

The bulk of all the _Medrinaque_ exported goes to the United States,
to the extent of about 30,000 pieces annually; and sometimes as much
as double that quantity is sent, although last year there were only
about 23,000 pieces purchased for that market, a large quantity having
gone to Europe, which is a novel feature of the trade in the article.

Although the silkworm is bred to some small extent in the country,
the silk manufacture is not extensively carried on, as the market can
so easily and quickly be supplied from China with any description of
goods in demand. Some articles of dress are, however, successfully
made by the Indians, to oppose the China silks in the market, such
as tapiz for the women, and panjamas for the men.

In various parts of the country, the manufacture of earthenware is
pursued to a small extent. It is generally of a very coarse description
for cooking purposes, water-jugs, &c., and does not interfere with
the sale of the finer China ware, with which the natives are supplied
for most of their household purposes by the Chinese dealers in the
article, that of China make being very much finer than any they have
as yet produced in the country.

In the colours and patterns of their dresses the natives are great
dandies; the women, as usual, being more particular in those affairs
than the men. Very seldom, indeed, does a native Indian or Mestiza
beauty sport the same saya for two gala days consecutively. And a
very large proportion of their earnings are spent in self-adornment,
their _tanpipes_, or wardrobes, being very well supplied with clothes,
all of them of different patterns. Blue and purple appear to be the
colours most admired, because, although the tastes and caprices of the
people may vary in an infinite degree as to the patterns or styles of
their dresses, they do not differ much in their choice of the colours
which compose them. A dark complexioned beauty is never improved
by a yellow dress; and any woman at all old or ugly looks hideous
indeed when dressed in that colour. Apparently the Government were
not ignorant of this when they imposed a heavy duty on blue, purple,
or white articles of dress, and allowed yellow and other colours
disliked by the natives to come into the country on the payme