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duct, supported by more than 40 arches, 35 yards in height, which cost 114,000 dollars or £25,650 sterling. The aqueducts are in general the most beautiful objects of architecture in New Spain. The parochial church is magnificent.

MECHOACAN.] This state, which formed an independent Indian kingdom when the Spaniards first arrived under Cortez, was conquered in 1524 by Christoval de Olid. It then extended from the mouth of the river Zacatula to the port of Natividad, and from the mountains of Zala to the river Lerma. It is now bounded by the state of Guanaxuato on the N.; on the E. and S. by Mexico; on the S.W. by the Pacific; and on the N.W. by Xalisco. Its extent in square leagues is 3,460; and the present population is supposed to amount to 400,000 souls. A branch of the Anahuac cordilleras enters it on the N.E., and covers a large portion of the superficies with its numerous ramifications. The most remarkable point in these mountains is the volcano of Jorullo, or Xorullo, already mentioned. The Rio Grande, or Lerma, waters the N.E.; and the Colima, the S.W. portion of this country. The soil is in general fertile, producing wheat, maize, potatoes, melons, ananas, sugar-cane, citron, indigo, and lint. The whole commerce is with Mexico; and the only port which this state possesses is the mouth of the Colima, which is capable of receiving small vessels.-The principal town is Valladolid de Mechoacan, situated in 19° 42', which in 1803 contained a population of 18,000 souls.

GUANAXUATO.] This state, comprising the ancient intendancy of the same name, is bounded on the N. by the state of S. Luis Potosi; on the E. by that of Mexico; on the S. by that of Valladolid; and on the W. by those of Xalisco and Zacatecas. It lies wholly on the ridge of the Cordilleras, the most elevated point being, according to Humboldt, 1,539 toises above the level of the sea. The Rio Grande runs through its southern portion towards the lake of Chapalo, of which the eastern extremity belongs to that state. There are no other navigable streams. The climate is in general agreeable; but epidemics are frequent; and the country was ravaged by a disease of this species in 1823. The soil is fertile, particularly along the Rio Grande, and produces sugar, oil, wine, pepper, oranges, lemons, mulberries, and nopal. The mineral wealth of this state-already noticed-renders it one of the most important of the Mexican confederacy. Industry and the arts have made considerable progress in Guanaxuato within the last few years; but its commerce is yet chiefly with Mexico, and nearly limited to the exportation of the precious metals. This state, in 1803, contained a population of 517,300 souls, one-third of whom were Indians, on a surface of 911 square leagues. In 1825, the governor reported the population at only 382,829 souls. From October 1824 to October 1825, its revenue amounted to 247,810 piastres, and its disbursements to 264,010 piastres. It is divided into 33 parishes, and comprises the 3 cities of Guanaxuato, Celaya, and Salvatierra, besides the 5 towns of S. Miguel el Grande, Leon, S. Felipe, Salamanca, and Irrapuato.

City of Guanaruato.] The city of Santa Fe de Guanaxuato (or, as it is sometimes written and pronounced, Gonnajoato) is sin

21° 0′ 15′′, in a narrow valley of the Sierra de Sant

can be more ruinous and gloomy," says the authe "than the approach to the city; but, on leavingascended a steep projecting rock, and entered

supported by a lofty stone wall, having houses on only one side of it. We soon found ourselves in the heart of the town, winding along crooked, narrow streets, and across open spaces, which cannot be called squares, for they are irregular and of indescribable forms, most of them filled with market-stalls. The houses present a very singular appearance. They are spacious and well built, of hewn stone, but the fronts have been newly painted, and of the gayest colours: light green is the favourite; and some exhibit the colours of the Three Guarantees of the Plan of Iguala,-white, green, and red, which are now the national colours of Mexico. We were conducted to the custom-house, where we had only to make a declaration that we had not more than one thousand dollars with us, and were suffered to proceed to the mesón. A traveller is allowed to carry with him a sum not exceeding a thousand dollars, without paying duty. Our mesón is very comfortable. We have two rooms up stairs, that look on the street, with a table and a bench in each. Our matresses are on the floor, but then it is paved, and the white-washed walls are almost clean." The city of Guanaxuato was founded by the Spaniards in 1554. It was constituted a town in 1619, and invested with the privileges of a city in 1741. According to M. Humboldt, the population of Guanaxuato, in 1802, was, within the city, 41,000,-in the suburbs and adjacent mines, 29,600,total, 70,600; but from a census taken in May 1822, the inhabitants of the city appear to have been then only 15,379, and the total population only 35,733.

ZACATECAS.] "This singularly ill-peopled province," says Humboldt, " is a mountainous and arid tract, exposed to a continual inclemency of climate. It is bounded, on the N., by the intendancy of Durango; on the E., by San Luis Potosi; on the S., by Guanaxuato; and on the W., by Guadalaxara. Its greatest length is 85 leagues, and its extreme breadth, from Sombrerete to the Real de Ramos, 51 leagues; being nearly of the same extent with Switzerland, which it resembles in many geological points of view. The relative population is hardly equal to that of Sweden." The extent of surface is computed to be 2,355 square leagues; the population, in 1803, was 153,300, or 65 only to the square league. The table-land which forms the centre of the intendancy, and which rises to an elevation of upwards of 6,500 feet, is formed of syenite, on which repose strata of primitive schistus and schistous chlorites; the schistus forms the base of the mountains of trappish porphyry. Zacatecas, the provincial capital, is, next to Guanaxuato, the most celebrated miningplace in New Spain. Its population is stated by Humboldt to be at least 33,000. The mines of Zacatecas belong to the same groupe as those of Guanaxuato and Catorce. The intendancy is divided into four diputaciones de mineria, or mining districts: 1. Zacatecas; 2. Sombrerete; 3. Fresnilio; 4. Sierra de Pinos. The veta negra of Sombrerete has yielded the greatest wealth of any seam yet discovered in the two hemispheres. To the north of the town of Zacatecas, there are nine small lakes, abounding in muriate and carbonate of soda. The carbonate, which goes by the name of tequesquite (corrupted from the Mexican word tequixquilit), is of great use in the dissolving of the muriates and sulphurets of silver. "The central table-land of Asia," adds M. Humboldt, "is not richer in soda than Mexico."

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the S.W. by the Pacific; and on the W. by the gulf of California. forms the eastern portion of the vast Mexican plateau, and declines towards the W. The climate is very warm in summer, and particularly severe in the months of December and January. The soil is watered by several streams which take their rise in the mountains of Topia. The population is mostly of Indian origin, and estimated by Pike at 60,000. Sinaloa, the head-town, is situated to the E. of the port of Santa Maria d'Aome, and contains 9,500 inhabitants.

SONORA.] This state extends from the northern frontiers of Cinaloa. along the Californian gulf to an uncertain distance northwards. The chief place is Arispe, near the head of the Saqui, in 31° N. lat. and 110° W. long. with a population of 7,600; and Sonora, S. of Arispe, with a popalation of 6,400.

District of Pimeria.] The most northern part of this state bears the name of Pimeria, from a numerous tribe of Indians, called Pimas, whe inhabit it." Hitherto," says Humboldt, "there has been no permanent communication established between Sonora, New Mexico, and New C25fornia, although the court of Madrid has frequently given orders for the formation of presidios and missions between the Rio Gila and Ris Cola, rado. Two courageous and enterprising monks, fathers Garces and Fort, succeeded, however, in penetrating by land through the countries inhabited by independent Indians, from the missions of the Pimeria alta, to Monterey and the port of St Francisco, without crossing the peninsula of Old California. This bold enterprise, on which the college of the Propagando at Queretaro published an interesting notice, has also furnished new information relative to the ruins of la Casa grande, considered by the Mexican historians as the abode of the Aztecs on their arrival at the Rio Gila towards the end of the twelfth century. Father Francisco Garces, accompanied by father Font, who was entrusted with the observations of the latitude, set out from the presidio of Horcasitas on the 20th April, 1773. After a journey of 11 days, they arrived at a vast and beautiful plain one league's distance from the southern bank of the Rio Gila. They there discovered the ruins of an ancient Aztec city, in the midst of which is the edifice called la Casa grande. These ruins occupy more than a square league. The Casa grande is exactly laid down according to the four cardinal points, having from north to south 445 feet in length, and from east to west 276 feet in breadth. It is constructed of clay (or unburnt bricks) of unequal size, but symmetrically placed. The walls are nearly 4 feet thick. The edifice had three stories and a terrace; the stair, probзbly of wood, was on the outside. The same kind of construction is still to be found in all the villages of the independent Indians of the Moqui, west of New Mexico. We perceive in the Casa grande five apartments, each of which is about 27 feet in length, 10 in breadth, and 11 in height. A wall, interrupted by large towers, surrounds the principal edifice, and appears to have served to defend it. Father Garces discovered the vestiges of an artificial canal, which brought the water of the Rio Gila to the town. The whole surrounding plain is covered with broken earthen pitchers and pots, prettily painted in white, red, and blue. We also find among these fragments of Mexican earthenware, pieces of obsidian); a very curious phenomenon, because it proves that the Aztecs unknown northern country which contains this vole

it was not the abundance of obsidian in New Spain of razors and instruments of itzli. We

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ruins of this city of the Gila, the centre of an ancient civilization, with the casas grandes of New Biscay, situated between the presidio of Yanos and that of San Buenaventura. The latter are pointed out by the natives, on the very vague supposition, that the Aztec nation, in their migration from Aztlan to Tula and the valley of Tenochtitlan, made three stations: the first, near the lake Teguyo, to the south of the fabulous city of Quivira, the Mexican Dorado; the second at the Rio Gila; and the third in the environs of Yanos. The Indians who live in the plains adjoining the Casas grandes of the Rio Gila, and who have never had the smallest communication with the inhabitants of Sonora, deserve by no means the appellation of Indios bravos (savages). Their social civilization forms a singular contrast with the state of the savages who wander along the banks of the Missouri. Fathers Garces and Font found the Indians to the south of the Rio Gila clothed, and assembled together, to the number of two or three thousand, in villages, which they called Uturicut and Sutaquisan, where they peaceably cultivated the soil. They saw fields sown with maize, cotton, and gourds. The missionaries, in order to bring about the conversion of these Indians, showed them a picture painted on a large piece of cotton cloth, in which a sinner was represented burning in the flames of hell. The picture terrified them; and they entreated father Garces not to unroll it any more, nor speak to them of what would happen after death. These Indians are of a gentle and sincere character. Father Font explained to them, by an interpreter, the security which prevailed in the Christian missions, where an Indian alcalde administered justice. The chief of Uturicut replied: This order of things may be necessary for you: we do not steal, and we very seldom disagree; what use have we then for an alcalde among us?' The civilization to be found among the Indians when we approach the north-west of America, from the 33d to the 54th parallel, is a very striking phenomenon, which cannot but throw some light on the history of the first migrations of the Mexican nations. Still further north, in the country of the Moqui, watered by the Rio de Yaquesila, in lat. 36°, father Garces was astonished to find an Indian town with two great squares, houses of several stories, and streets well laid out in parallel directions. Every evening, the people assemble together on the terraces which form the roofs. The construction of the edifices is the same as that of the casas grandes on the banks of the Rio Gila. The Indians who inhabit the northern part of New Mexico, give also a considerable elevation to their houses, for the sake of discovering the approach of their enemies. Every thing in these countries," adds Humboldt, " appears to announce traces of the civilization of the ancient Mexicans. However, the language spoken by the Indians of the Moqui, the Yabipais, who wear long beards, and those who inhabit the plains in the vicinity of the Rio Colorado, is essentially different from the Mexican language. In the 17th century, several Franciscan missionaries established themselves among the Indians of the Moqui and Nabajoa, who were massacred in the great revolt of the Indians in 1680. I have seen, in manuscript maps drawn up before that period, the name of the provincia del Moqui."

CALIFORNIA.] The vast peninsula of Old California now forms with that district known by the name of New California a single state of the Mexican confederacy; b it will be necessary to describe the two countries apart from each o

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fornia extends from 22° 53' to 32° N. lat.: e gulf of California, and on the S.E. aud

duct, supported by more than 40 arches, 35 yards in height, which cost 114,000 dollars or £25,650 sterling. The aqueducts are in general the most beautiful objects of architecture in New Spain. The parochial church is magnificent.

MECHOACAN.] This state, which formed an independent Indian kingdom when the Spaniards first arrived under Cortez, was conquered in 1524 by Christoval de Olid. It then extended from the mouth of the river Zacatula to the port of Natividad, and from the mountains of Zala to the river Lerma. It is now bounded by the state of Guanaxuato on the N.; on the E. and S. by Mexico; on the S.W. by the Pacific; and on the N.W. by Xalisco. Its extent in square leagues is 3,460; and the present population is supposed to amount to 400,000 souls. A branch of the Anahuac cordilleras enters it on the N.E., and covers a large portion of the superficies with its numerous ramifications. The most remarkable point in these mountains is the volcano of Jorullo, or Xorullo, already mentioned. The Rio Grande, or Lerma, waters the N.E.; and the Colima, the S.W. portion of this country. The soil is in general fertile, producing wheat, maize, potatoes, melons, ananas, sugar-cane, citron, indigo, and lint. The whole commerce is with Mexico; and the only port which this state possesses is the mouth of the Colima, which is capable of receiving small vessels.-The principal town is Valladolid de Mechoacan, situated in 19° 42', which in 1803 contained a population of 18,000 souls.

GUANAXUATO.] This state, comprising the ancient intendancy of the same name, is bounded on the N. by the state of S. Luis Potosi; on the E. by that of Mexico; on the S. by that of Valladolid; and on the W. by those of Xalisco and Zacatecas. It lies wholly on the ridge of the Cordilleras, the most elevated point being, according to Humboldt, 1,539 toises above the level of the sea. The Rio Grande runs through its southern portion towards the lake of Chapalo, of which the eastern extremity belongs to that state. There are no other navigable streams. The climate is in general agreeable; but epidemics are frequent; and the country was ravaged by a disease of this species in 1823. The soil is fertile, particularly along the Rio Grande, and produces sugar, oil, wine, pepper, oranges, lemons, mulberries, and nopal. The mineral wealth of this state-already noticed-renders it one of the most important of the Mexican confederacy. Industry and the arts have made considerable progress in Guanaxuato within the last few years; but its commerce is yet chiefly with Mexico, and nearly limited to the exportation of the precious metals. This state, in 1803, contained a population of 517,300 souls, one-third of whom were Indians, on a surface of 911 square leagues. In 1825, the governor reported the population at only 382,829 souls. From October 1824 to October 1825, its revenue amounted to 247,810 piastres, and its disbursements to 264,010 piastres. It is divided into 33 parishes, and comprises the 3 cities of Guanaxuato, Celaya, and Salvatierra, besides the 5 towns of S. Miguel el Grande, Leon, S. Felipe, Salamanca, and Irrapuato.

City of Guanaxuato.] The city of Santa Fe de Guanaxuato (or, as it is sometimes written and pronounced, Gonnajoato) is situated in N. lat. 21° 0′ 15′′, in a narrow valley of the Sierra de Santa Rosa. "Nothing can be more ruinous and gloomy," says the author of Notes on Mexico, "than the approach to the city; but, on leaving the bed of the river, we ascended a steep projecting rock, and entered a street, skirting a ravine,

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