THIS singularly ill-peopled province is a mountainous and arid tract, exposed to a continual inclemency of climate. It is bounded on the north by the intendancy of Durango, on the east by the intendancy of San Luis Potosi, on the south by the province of Guanaxuato, and on the west by that of Guadalaxara. Its greatest length is 85 leagues, and its greatest breadth from Sombrerete to the Real de Ramos, 51 leagues.

The intendancy of Zacatecas is 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 table-land, which forms the centre of the intendancy of Zacatecas, and which rises to more than 2000 metres in height, is formed of Sienites, a rock on which repose, according to the excellent observations of M. Valencia †, strata of

* 6561 feet. Trans.

+ Don Vicente Valencia, pupil of M. del Rio and of the School of Mines of Mexico, has written a very interesting description of the mines of Zacatecas (Gazeta de Mexico, tom. XI. p. 417).

STATISTICAL} VI. Intendancy of Zacatecas.

primitive schistus and schistous chlorites (chlorith-schiefer). The schistus forms the base of the mountains of grauwacke and trappish porphyry. North of the town of Zacatecas are nine small lakes abounding in muriate, and especially carbonate of soda*. This carbonate, which, from the old Mexican word tequixquilit, goes by the name of tequesquite, is of great use in the dissolving of the muriates, and of the sulphurets of silver. M. Garces, an advocate of Zacatecas, has recently fixed the attention of his countrymen on the tequesquite, which is also to be found at Zacualco, between Valladolid and Guadalaxara, in the valley of San Francisco, near San Luis Potosi, at Acusquilco, near the mines of Bolaños, at Chorro near Durango, and in five lakes around the town of Chihuahua. The central table-land of Asia is not more rich in soda than Mexico.

The most remarkable places of this province

are:

Zacatecas, at present, after Guanax

uato, the most celebrated mining place of New Spain. Its population is at least 33,000

* Don Joseph Garces y Eguia, del beneficio de los metales de oro y plata Mexico, 1802, p. 11 and 49 (a work which displays a very profound acquaintance with chemistry).

STATISTICAL
ANALYSIS.

} VI. Intendancy of Zacatecas.

Fresnillo, on the road from Zacatecas to Du

rango.

Sombrerete, the head town, and residence of a Diputacion de Mineria.

Besides the three places above named, the intendancy of Zacatecas contains also interesting metalliferous seams near the Sierra de Pinos, Chalchiguitec, San Miguel del Mezquitas, and Mazapil. It was this province, also, which in the mine of the Veta Negra de Sombrerete exhibited an example of the greatest wealth of any seam yet discovered in the two hemispheres.

THE name of this province, which other geographers less correctly call Guaxaca, is derived from a Mexican name of the city and valley of Huaxyacac, one of the principal places of the Zapotec country, which was almost as considerable as Teotzapotlan their capital. The intendancy of Oaxaca is one of the most delightful countries in this part of the globe. The beauty and salubrity of the climate, the fertility of the soil, and the richness and variety of its productions, all minister to the prosperity of the inhabitants; and this province has accordingly from the remotest periods been the centre of an advanced civilization.

It is bounded on the north by the intendancy of Vera Cruz, on the east by the kingdom of Guatimala, on the west by the province of Puebla, and on the south for a length of coast of 11 leagues by the Great Ocean. Its extent exceeds that of Bohemia and Moravia together; and its absolute population is nine times less; consequently its relative population is equal to that of European Russia.

STATISTICAL VII. Intendancy of Oaxaca.

ANALYSIS.

The mountainous soil of the intendancy of Oaxaca forms a singular contrast with that of the provinces of Puebla, Mexico, and Valladolid. In place of the strata of basaltes, amygdaloid, and porphyry with grünstein base, which cover the ground of Anahuac from the 18° to the 22° of latitude, we find only granite and gneiss in the mountains of Mixteca and Zapoteca. The chain of mountains of trapp formation only recommences to the south-east on the western coast of the kingdom of Guatimala. We know the height of none of these granitical summits of the intendancy of Oaxaca. The inhabitants of this fine country consider the Cerro de Senpualtepec, near Vilalta, from which both seas are visible, as one of the most elevated of these summits. However, this extent of horizon would only indicate a height of 2350 metres*. It is said that the same spectacle may be enjoyed at la Ginetta, on the limits of the bishoprics of Oaxacan and Chiapa, at 12 leagues distance from the port of

* The visual horizon of a mountain of 2350 metres (7709 feet) of elevation has a diameter of 3° 20'. The question has been discussed if the two seas could be visible from the summit of the Nevado de Toluca. The visual horizon of this has 2° 21' or 58 leagues of radius, supposing only an ordinary refraction. The two coasts of Mexico nearest to the Nevado, those of Coyuca and Tuspan, arc at a distance of 54 and 64 leagues from it.