Travelling here is very different from what it is in a country on which the shadow of Murray's Handbook has fallen.
Almost all the interest Europe takes in Mexico, politically and commercially, turns upon the exportation of silver.

The gold, cochineal, and vanilla are of small account.

It is the silver dollars that pay for the Manchester goods, woollens, hardware, and many other things--those ubiquitous boxes of sardines a l'huile, for instance.

The Mexicans send to Europe some five millions sterling in silver every year, that is, about twelve shillings apiece for all the population.

It is just about what their government spends annually in promoting the maladministration of the country (and, looking at the matter in that point of view, they don't do their work badly for the money).