STATISTICAL II. Intendancy of Puebla. tecol, surrounded by beautiful planta tions of agave. Atlixco, justly celebrated for the fineness of its climate, great fertility, and the savoury fruits with which it abounds, especially the anona cheremolia, Lin. (chilimoya), and several sorts of passiflores (parchas), produced in the environs. Tehuacan de las Granadas, the ancient Teohuacan de la Mizteca, one of the most frequented sanctuaries of the Mexicans before the arrival of the Spaniards. Tepeaca, or Tepeyacac, belonging to the marquisate of Cortez. It was called in the commencement of the conquest Segura de la Frontera (Cartas de Population. 16,000 four hundred towers all of mosques. The number of the inhabitants is so great that there is not an inch of ground uncultivated; and yet in several places the Indians expeence the effects of famine, and there are many beggars, who ask alms from the rich in the streets, houses, and marketplace, as is done by the mendicants in Spain and other civilized countries." (Cartas de Cortes, p. 69.) It is curious enough to observe that the Spanish general considers mendicity in the streets as a sign of civilization. He says, "Gente que piden como hay en España y en otras partes que hay gente de razon." STATISTICAL II. Intendancy of Puebla. Hernan Cortez, p. 155). In the district of Tepeaca there is a pretty Indian village, now called Huacachula (the old Quauhquechollan), situated in a valley abounding in fruit-trees. Huajocingo, or Huerotzinco, formerly the chief town of a small republic of the same name, at enmity with the republics of Tlascalla and Cholula. Whatever may 'be the depopulation of the intendancy of Puebla, its relative population is still four times greater than that of the kingdom of Sweden, and nearly equal to that of the kingdom of Arragon. The industry of the inhabitants of this province is not much directed to the working of gold and silver mines. Those of Yxtacmaztitlan, Temeztla, and Alatlauquitepic, in the Partido de San Juan de los Llanos, of La Canada, near Tetela de Xonotla, and of San Miguel Tenango, near Zacatlan, are almost abandoned, or at least very remissly worked. THIS province, wholly situated on the ridge of the Cordillera of Anahuac, is the most populous in New Spain. The population is also more equally distributed here than in any of the other provinces. Its length, from the lake of Chapala to the north-east of San Felipe, is 52 leagues, and its breadth, from the Villa de Leon to Celaya, 31 leagues. Its territorial extent is nearly the same as that of the kingdom of Murcia; and in relative population it exceeds the kingdom of the Asturias. Its relative population is even greater than that of the departments of the HautesAlpes, Basses-Alpes, Pyrenees Orientales, and the Landes. The most elevated point of this mountainous country seems to be the mountain de los Llanitos in the Sierra de Santa Rosa. İ found its height above the level of the sea 2815 metres*. The cultivation of this fine province, part of the old kingdom of Mechoacan, is almost wholly to be *9235 feet. Trans. STATISTICAL III. Intendancy of Guanaxuato. ANALYSIS. ascribed to the Europeans, who arrived there in the 16th century, and introduced the first germ of civilization. It was in these northern regions, on the banks of the Rio de Lerma, formerly called Tololotlan, that the engagements took place between the tribes of hunters and shepherds, called in the historians by the vague denominations of Chichimecs, who belonged to the tribes of the Pames, Capuces, Samues, Mayolias, Guamanes, and Guachichiles Indians. In proportion as the country was abandoned by these wandering and warlike nations, the Spanish conquerors transplanted to it colonies of Mexican or Aztec Indians. For a long time agriculture made more considerable progress than mining. The mines, which were of small celebrity at the beginning of the conquest, were almost wholly abandoned during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and it is not more than thirty or forty years since they became richer than the mines of Pachuca, Zacatecas, and Bolaños. Their metallic produce, as we shall hereafter explain, is now greater than the produce of Potosi or any other mine in the two continents ever was. There are in the intendancy of Guanaxuato 3 ciudades (viz. Guanaxuato, Celayo, and Salvatierra); 4 villas (viz. San Miguel el Grande, Leon, San Felipe and Salamanca); 37 villages or pueblos; STATISTICAL III. Intendancy of Guanaruato. ANALYSIS. } 33 parishes (paroquias); 448 farms or haciendas; 225 individuals of the secular clergy, 170 monks and 30 nuns; and in a population of more than 180,000 Indians, 52,000 subject to tribute. The most remarkable towns of this intendancy are the following: Guanaruato, or Santa Fe de Gonnajoato. The building of this city was begun by the Spaniards in 1554. It received the royal privilege of villa in 1619; and that of ciudad the 8th December, 1741. Its present population is: Within the city (en el casco de la ciudad) In the mines surrounding the city, of which the buildings are contiguous, at Marfil, Santa Ana, Santa Rosa, Valenciana, Rayas, and Mellado Population. 41,000 29,600 70,600 Among whom there are 4500 Indians. Height of the city at the Plaza Mayor 2084 metres *. Height of Valenciana at the mouth of the new pit (tiro nuevo) 2313 metrest. Height of Rayas at the mouth of the gallery 2157 metres . Salamanca, a pretty little town, situated in a plain which rises insensibly by Temascatio, Burras, * 6836 feet. Trans. † 7586 feet. Trans. |