two millions of francs*. Towards the Population. end of his career, being reduced to great poverty, he obtained from the archbishop of Mexico permission to sell for his benefit to the metropolitan church of the capital the magnificent custodia set with diamonds, which, in better times, he had offered through devotion to the tabernacle of the parish church of Tasco. Elevation of the city, 783 metres †. Acapulco (Acapolco), at the back of a chain of granitical mountains, which, from the reverberation of the radiating caloric, increase the suffocating heat of the climate. The famous cut in the mountain (abra de San Nicolas), near the bay de la Langosta, for the admission of the sea winds, was recently finished. The population of this miserable town, inhabited almost exclusively by people of colour, amounts to 9000, at the time of the arrival of the Manilla galleon (Nao de China).-Its habitual population is only Zacatula, a small sea port of the South Sea, on the frontiers of the intendancy of Valladolid, between the ports of Siguantanejo and Colima. 4,000 83,340l. sterling. Trans. † 2567 feet. Trans. Lerma, at the entry of the valley of Toluca, in a marshy ground. Toluca (Tolocan) at the foot of the porphyry mountain of San Miguel de Tutucuitlal pilco, in a valley abounding with maize and maguey (agave).— Height 2687 metres *. Pachuca, with Tasco, the oldest mining-place in the kingdom, as the neighbouring village, Pachuquillo, is supposed to have been the first christian village founded by the Spaniards.Height 2482 metres †. Cadereita, with fine quarries of porphyry of a clay base (thonporphyr). San Juan del Rio, surrounded with gardens, adorned with vines and anona, Height 1978 metrest. Queretaro, celebrated for the beauty of its edifices, its aqueduct, and cloth manufactures. Height 1940 metres §. Habitual population, Population. 35,000 This city contains 11,600 Indians, 85 secular ecclesiastics, 181 monks, and 143 nuns. The consumption of Queretaro amounted in 1793 || to 13,618 cargas of wheaten flour, 69,445 fanegas Notitia del Doctor Don Juan Ignacio Briones (MS.) of maize, 656 cargas of chile (capsicum), 1770 barrels of brandy, 1682 beeves, 14,949 sheep, and 8869 hogs. The most important mines of this intendancy, considering them only in the relation of their present wealth, are, La Veta Biscaina de Real del Monte, near Pachuca; Zimapan, el Doctor, and Tehulilotepec, near Tasco. THIS intendancy, which has only a coast of 26 leagues towards the Great Ocean, extends from the 16 57' to the 20° 40′ of north latitude, and is consequently wholly situated in the torrid zone. It is bounded on the north-east by the intendancy of Vera Cruz, on the east by the intendancy of Oaxaca, on the south by the ocean, and on the west by the intendancy of Mexico. Its greatest length, from the mouth of the small river Tecoyame to near Mexitlan, is 118 leagues, and its greatest breadth from Techuacan to Mecameca is 50 leagues. The greater part of the intendancy of Puebla is traversed by the high cordilleras of Anahuac. Beyond the 18th degree of latitude the whole country is a plain eminently fertile in wheat, maize, agave, and fruit trees. This plain is from 1800 to 2000 metres* above the level of the ocean. In this intendancy is also the most elevated mountain of all New Spain, the Popocatepetl. * From 5905 to 6561 feet. Trans. STATISTICAL II. Intendancy of Puebla. * This volcano, first measured by me, is continually burning; but for these several centuries it has thrown nothing up from its crater but smoke and ashes. This mountain is 600 metres higher than the most elevated summit of the old continent. From the isthmus of Panama to Bering's Straits, which separate Asia from America, we know only of one mountain, Mont St. Elie, higher than the great volcano of Puebla. The population of this intendancy is still more unequally distributed than that of the intendancy of Mexico. It is concentrated on the plain which extends from the eastern'declivity of the Nevados↑ to the environs of Perote, especially on the high and beautiful plains between Cholula, La Puebla, and Tlascala. Almost the whole country, from the central table-land towards San Luis and Ygualapa, near the South Sea coast, is desert, though * 1968 feet. Trans. + The words Nevado and Sierra Nevada do not mean in Spanish mountains which from time to time are covered with snow in summer, but summits which enter the region of perpetual snow. I prefer this foreign word to the length of periphrases, or the improper expression of snowy mountains, sometimes used by the academicians sent to Peru. Moreover, the word Nevado, when it is joined to the name of a mountain, gives an idea of the minimum of height attributable to its summit. (See Recueil de mes Observations Astronomiques, Vol. I. p. 134.) |