in This lot. contents to Page 350 are Vol. 1 st of Original. actually Exreigne NEW SPAIN comprehends A. Mexico Proper (el Reyno de Mexico). Population: 5,413,900 inhabitants, or 105 inhabitants per square league. B. Las provincias internas orientales y occidentales. Population: 357,200 inhabitants, or 6 inhabitants to the square league. THE whole of this intendancy is situated under the torrid zone. It extends from the 16° 34' to the 21° 57′ of north latitude. It is bounded on the north by the intendancy of San Luis Potosi, on the west by the intendancies of Guanaxuato and Valladolid, and on the east by those of Vera Cruz and La Puebla. It is washed towards the south by the South Sea, or Great Ocean, for a length of coast of 82 leagues from Acapulco to Zacatula. Its greatest length from Zacatula to the mines of the Doctor is 136 leagues; and its greatest * The extreme points are properly situated to the southeast of Acapulco, near the mouth of the Rio Nespa, and to the north of the Real del Doctor, near the city of Valles, which belongs to the intendancy of San Luis Potosi. Places of note being seldom situated on the very boundaries, we breadth from Zacatula to the mountains situated to the east of Chilpansingo is 92 leagues. In its northern part, towards the celebrated mines of Zimapan and the Doctor, it is separated by a narrow stripe from the Gulf of Mexico. Near Mextitlan, this stripe is only nine leagues in breadth. More than two-thirds of the intendancy of Mexico are mountainous, in which there are immense plains, elevated from 2000 to 2300† metres above the level of the ocean. From Chalco to Queretaro are almost uninterrupted plains of fifty leagues in length and eight or ten in breadth. In the neighbourhood of the western coast the climate is burning and very unhealthy. One summit only, the Nevado de Toluca, situated in a fertile plain of 2700+ metres in height, enters the region of perpetual snow. Yet the porphyritical summit of this old volcano, whose form bears a strong resemblance to that of Pichincha, near Quito, and which appears to have been formerly extremely elevated, is uncovered with snow in the rainy months of September and October. The elevation of the Pico del Fraile, or the high have preferred naming those which are nearest to them. A glance bestowed on my general map of New Spain will serve to justify this mode of indicating the boundaries of the intendancies. *6561 feet. Trans. 8857 feet. Trans. 7545 feet. Trans. 1 est summit of the Nevado de Toluca, is 4620 metres (2370 toises). No mountain in this intendancy equals the height of Mont Blanc. The valley of Mexico, or Tenochtitlan, of which I publish a very minute map, is situated in the centre of the Cordillera of Anahuac, on the ridge of the porphyritical and basaltic amygdaloid mountains, which run from the S.S.E. to the N.N.W. This valley is of an oval form. According to my observations, and those of a distinguished mineralogist, M. Don Luis Martin, it contains from the entry of the Rio Tenango into the lake of Chalco, to the foot of the Cerro de Sincoque, near the Desague Real of Huehuetoca, 18+ leagues in length, and from S. Gabriel, near the small town of Tezcuco, to the sources of the Rio de Escapusalco, near Guisquiluca, 12 leagues in breadth. † The territorial extent of the valley is 244 square leagues, of which only 22 square leagues are occupied by the lakes, which is less than a tenth of the whole surface. The circumference of the valley, reckoning + The maps of the valley of Mexico hitherto published are so false, that in that of M. Mascaro, annually repeated in the almanac of Mexico, the above distances are 25 and 17 instead of 18 and 12 leagues. It is from this map undoubtedly that the archbishop Lorenzana gives the whole valley a circumference of more than 90 leagues, while the amount is almost one-third less.. from the crest of the mountains which surround it like a circular wall, is 67 leagues. This crest is most elevated on the south, particularly on the south-east, where the great volcanoes of La Puebla, the Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, bound the valley. One of the roads which lead from the valley of Tenochtitlan to that of Cholula and La Puebla passes even between the two volcanoes, by Tlamanalco, Ameca, La Cumbre, and La Cruz del Coreo. The small army of Cortez passed by this road on his first invasion. Six great roads cross the Cordillera which incloses the valley, of which the medium height is 3000 metres above the level of the ocean. 1. The road from Acapulco to Guchilaque and Cuervaracca by the high summit called la Cruz del Marquest; 2. the road of Toluca by Tianguillo and Lerma, a magnificent causeway, which I could not sufficiently admire, constructed with great art, partly over arches; 3. the road of Queretaro, Guanaxuato and Durango el camino de tierra adentro, which passes by Guautitlan, Huehue *9842 feet. Trans. + It was a military position in the time of the conquest. When the inhabitants of New Spain pronounce the word el Marques, without adding a family name, the name of Hernan Cortes, Marques de el Valle de Oaxaca, is understood. In the same way, el Almirante designates, in Spanish America, Christopher Columbus. This native manner of expressing themselves proves the respect and admiration which they preserve for the memory of these great men. |