source, from thence to the source of the Platte river, in 42° N. latitude, and thence almost due W., till it strike the coast of the Pacific at Cape Mendocino, in 40° 29′ N. lat. and 124° 24' 3" W., all S. of these points being included in Spanish America, agreeably to the treaty of 1821, which fixed the above boundary lines. For a long time the viceroys of Mexico affected to regard the whole N.W. coast of America as comprehended within their government, making New Spain border on Tartary and Greenland. On the W. the shores of Mexico are washed by the Pacific; and on the S., the boundaries are the Pacific, and a line drawn from the port of Tehuantepec to the Bay of Honduras. The breadth of this country is very irregular. It is contracted to 130 British miles, in the isthmus of Tehuantepec; but gradually expands to the breadth of 280 British miles, between Acapulco and Vera Cruz. From thence, the isthmus of New Spain gradually swells in width, till it joins the main land of North America, in N. lat. 29°, increasing from 300 miles to 600, in the parallel of 20° N. lat.,-to 725 miles in the parallel of 26°, between the mouth of the Rio del Norte and the eastern shore of the gulf of California, to upwards of 900 miles in the parallel of 28°,-and 1,200 miles in that of 300. The greatest inland breadth is in 33° N. lat., namely, from 94° E. long. to 118° W., or 1,400 British miles. From thence it gradually diminishes to 900 British miles, between the parallels of 37° and 41° N. lat., or from the hamlet of Taos, to Monterey; and from the Snowy mountains that divide the course of the Rio del Norte from the Arkansaw, to Cape Mendocino, on the Pacific ocean.

From the irregularity of its form, the sinuosity of its coast, and the deep indentings of its numerous gulfs and bays, it is impossible, without a very minute survey, to determine with precision the superficial contents of Mexico. Humboldt estimated the superficies as follows: Guatimala, including Nicaragua and Vera Paz, 26,152 square leagues,-the Viceroyalty of Mexico Proper, including the Californias, 51,289 square leagues,-the internal provinces, vulgarly denominated New Mexico, 67,189 square leages: total, 144,630 square leagues of 25 to the degree, or 1,108,998 B. square miles. It is to be observed, however, that Humboldt does not include in his statement the space occupied by the gulf of California, which embraces at least a space of 100,000 square miles, nor the vast tract of unexplored and unoccupied country to the N. of Sonora, and extending from the mouth of the Colorado, in the head of the Californian gulf, and from the mountains of New California, to the Snowy mountains. This tract is at least 630 B. miles from N. to S.; and from 600 to 840 from E. to W., for the greatest part of its extent northwards: so that the superficies cannot be much short of 300,000 B. square miles. Neither is the unexplored tract to the N.W. of the province of Texas, and extending S.W. from the upper valley of the Arkansaw to the range of Namhi and the Rio del Norte, containing at least 100,000 square miles, included in Humboldt's statement, which merely

vu. Nacca tho political divisions and settlements of this region
wxnoude korvitory denommatec Mexico, or New Spa
swd Qwatumala, under the following heads, namely:

1,608,998

This vast, rich, and fertile territory presenti sod divisions; namely, the commandancy of Gantian a vsuan,—the viceroyalty of Mexico, forming the nachoon or internal provinces, comprising New Mar se which, in 1807, were divided into two com Nem and Western internal provinces. The às dependent federal state. The civil div

oldt wrote, was as follows:

KAKLEY OF MEXICO PROPER.

CHAP. I.-HISTORY.

COLUMBUS discovered the coast of the continent, from Cape Gracias to Porto Bello, in 1502. In 1510, Vasco Nunez de Balboa founded the first Spanish settlement on the main-land, at Santa Maria, on the gulf of Darien. In 1516, Francisco Hernandez Cordova, an opulent planter in Cuba, sailed from that island with 120 men, and landed in the district of Yucatan. Here he intended to erect a fort, and settle a colony; but suffering himself to be surprised by the natives, he was slain by them, together with many of his men. Those that escaped returned to Cuba, and carrying with them tidings of the immense riches of the country, they excited the Spaniards to equip another expedition. Juan de Grijalva, having under his command three ships and a brigantine, sailed from Cuba in April, 1518, and arriving at Yucatan, avenged the defeat of Cordova. He then sailed westwards to the river Tabasco, where he landed, and took formal posses sion of the country in the name of Charles V., his master. The natives gazed with wonder at the ceremony; they accepted Grijalva's offer of peace, but treated the required submission with ridicule. Grijalva, however, instead of attacking them, traded peaceably with them for gold, which they had in plenty; and after having traversed the coast farther westward, returned to Cuba.

Cortez.] The success which had attended Grijalva's expedition prompted the Spaniards immediately to fit out a third and larger one of eleven vessels. The person chosen to command this expedition was Hernando, or Fernando Cortez. He was born in Spain, at Medellin in Estremadura; his father was Martin Cortez, and his mother Catallina Pizarro, a lady of noble extraction. Having been intended for one of the learned professions, he had passed two years a student in the university of Salamanca; but his active mind could not brook the confinement and monotony of a college, and, wishing particularly for some military employment, he embarked in the year 1504 for Hispaniola. He afterwards assisted in subduing the island of Cuba, and on this occasion acquired that reputation which procured for him the command of the expedition to Mexico. Cortez embarked at Cuba, in November 1518, and sailed to the Havannah; but the jealousy of Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, induced him to countermand the expedition, and send orders for his arrest. Cortez had the address to defeat his schemes, and, sailing from the Havannah, arrived at Cozumel, in the province of Yucatan. He here mustered his forces, and found them to consist of 508 soldiers, including 16 horsemen, with 10 small field pieces, and 109, seamen and mechanics, besides two ecclesiastics, John Diaz and Father Bartholomew de Olmedo, who acted as chaplains. From Cozumel, Cortez sailed on the 4th of March, 1519; and, soon after, landed at Tabasco. Here, according to Spanish writers, the natives collected an army to the number of 40,000, and attacked them with considerable vigour; but the superiority of the arms and discipline of the Spaniards, and the strange appearance of the horsemen, whom the natives imagined to he fierce monsters, half man and half beast, procured for the adventurers an victory. The cazique of Tabasco immediately sent an embassy to with presents; and ang other valuable articles, Cortez received laves, one of th ncommon beauty and accomplishments, baptized by t f Donna Maria, afterwards served in interpreter red of the greatest utility to her new