up 35° 30'. I see from a manuscript map drawn in 1541 by Domingo de Castillo, found in the archives of the family of Cortez, that at this epoqua two rivers were already known, which appeared to unite under the latitude of 33° 40′, and were called Rio de Buena, Guia, and Brazo de Miraflores. Three years before, in 1538, Father Pedro Nadal found by the meridian altitude of the sun, the junction of the Gila and Colorado, 35° 0′. Fray Marcos de Niza made it 34° 30'. It was undoubtedly on these grounds that Delisle adopted 34° in his maps: but in a work printed at Mexico*, recent observations are cited, made by means of an astronomical ring by two well instructed fathers of St. Francis, Fray Juan Diaz, and Fray Pedro Font; observations which agree with one another, and which would seem to prove that the junctions are much more southern than has hitherto been believed. In 1774, Father Diaz obtained at the mouth of the Gila, two days successively, 32° 44 Father Font found there, in 1775, 32° 47′. The former asserts also, that from a simple consideration of the road followed by him, that is to say, a consideration of the rhombs and distances, it is impossible that the junctions can be at 35° of latitude. The positions which Father Font assigned in 1777 to the missions of Monterey, S. Diego, and S. Francisco, and which differ but a few mi * Cronica Serafica de Queretaro, p. 11, 1792, Prologo. nutes from the result of Vancouver and Malaspina's observations, would seem to testify in favour of the accurary of his labours, provided these fathers did not copy the data furnished to them by their pilots. Besides it is certain that a zeal ous observer may, with very imperfect means, procure often very satisfactory results. The latitudes obtained by Bouger in the Rio de la Magdalena, with a gnomon from seven to eight feet in height, and employing for a scale pieces of reeds, differ only from four to five minutes from what I found fifty-nine years afterwards by means of excellent English sextants. However, Father Font appears to have been less fortunate with his astronomical ring in fixing the latitude of the mission of S. Gabriel at 32° 37', that of S. Antonio de los Robles at 36° 2, and that of Luis Obispo at 35° 17. Comparing these positions with the atlas of Vancouver, I find that the errors are sometimes + 1° 11', sometimes 23'. It is true the English navigator did not himself visit these three missions, but he connected them with the neighbouring coast, the situation of which he examined. From hence may be seen how much we ought to be on our guard against observations made with astronomical rings. Fray Pedro Font visited also the site of the ruins called las Casas grandes; and he found them 33° 30'. This position, were it exact, would be very important; for it is the site of an ancient cultivation of the human species. We must not, however, confound this second abode of the Azteques from which they passed from Tarahumara to Colhuacan*, with the Casas grandes, or the third abode of the Azteques, situated to the south of the presidio of Yanos, in the intendancy of New Biscay. I could wish to know the observations of the jesuit Father Juan Hugarte, who discovered, according to M. Antillon, the errors in the maps of California. He is even said to have first discovered that this vast country was a peninsula; but in the sixteenth century nobody in Mexico denied this fact, which was long afterwards doubted in Europe †. I reckon among the operations somewhat doubtful, those which were executed by several Spanish engineer officers in the frequent and laborious visits which they made to the small forts situated on the northern frontiers of New Spain. I procured at Mexico the itineraries of brigadier Don Pedro de Rivera, drawn up in 1724; those of Don Nicholas Lafora, who accompanied the Marquis de Rubi in his researches, in 1765, as to a line of defence for the provincias internas; and the manu * In the original, de la quelle ils passèrent de la Tarahumara d Colhuacan. Translator. + In 1539, Francisco de Ulloa, in an expedition undertaken at the expense of Cortez, explored the gulf of California to the mouths of the Rio Colorado. The idea of California's being an island has its date only in the seventeenth century. (Antillon, Analysis, p. 47, No. 55). script travels of the engineer Don Manual Mascaro from Mexico to Chihuahua and Arispe *. These respectable travellers assure us, that they made observations of the meridian altitude of the sun. I know not what instruments they made use of; and it is to be feared that the manuscripts which came into my hands are not always exactly copied; for having taken the trouble to calculate the latitudes by the rhombs and distances indicated, I found results which coincided very ill with the latitudes observed. MM. Bauza and Antillon at Madrid made the same observation. I regret that none of the observations of latitude of the engineer officers are connected with places whose position has been determined by M. Ferrer or myself. M. Mascaro indeed observed at Queretaro. We differ 10' in the latitude of that city; but my re * 1. Derotero del Brigadier Don Pedro de Rivera en la visita que hizo de los Presidios de las Fronteras de Nueva España en 1724.-2. Itinerario del mismo autor de Zacatecas a la Nueva Biscaya.-3. Itinerario del mismo autor desde el Presidio del Paso del Norte hasta el de Janos.-4. Diaria de Don Nicolas de Lafora en su Viage a las Provincias Internas en 1766.-5. Derotero del mismo autor de la villa de Chihuahua al Presidio del Paso del Norte.-6. Derotero de Mexico a Chihuahua por el Yngeniero Don Manuel Mascaro en 1778. -7. Derotero del mismo autor desde Chihuahua a Arispe Mission de Sonora.-8. Derotero del mismo autor desde Arispe a Mexico en 1785. The originals of these eight manuscripts are preserved in the archives of the viceroyalty of Mexico. sult being founded on a method analogous to Douwes', is doubtful to nearly the extent of 2'. Notwithstanding these uncertainties, the materials which I have spoken are of great use to those who would draw up maps of a part of the world so little visited by people of information. We shall content ourselves with discussing some of the most important points. Mr. Jefferson in his classical work on Virginia has discussed the position of the Presidio de S. Fe in New Mexico; he believes it to lie in 38° 10′ of latitude; but striking a medium between the direct observations of M. Lafora and Fathers Velez and Escalante, we shall find 36° 12′. MM. Bauza and Antillon, by a union of ingenious combinations, and by connecting S. Fe with the Presidio de l'Altar, and this again with the coast of Sonora, found S. Fe de Nueva Mexico 4° 21' to the west of the capital of Mexico*. The map of M. Antillon gives five degrees of difference. Without possessing any knowledge of the labours of these Spanish geographers, I arrived, by a different way, at a still greater result. I fixed the longitude of Durango by a lunar eclipse observed by Doctor Oteyza; this position agrees with the one adopted by M. Antillon; now, supposing the latitude of Durango 24°30', and that of Chihuahua, the capital of New Biscay, where M. Mascaro observed for * Analysis de la Carta, p. 44. |