NORTH AMERICAN DOMINIONS.
SPANISH AMERICA.
PART I.
NORTH AMERICAN DOMINIONS.
The discovery of the New World, has caused more discussion,
arising from interest, curiosity and scientific motives, during a
period of nearly three centuries, than any anterior extension of
geographical knowledge, in the annals of mankind. Numberless have
been the disputes concerning the probable duration, formation and
population of that vast continent; as well as on the identity of
the individual, who fortuitously opened that immeasurable region
and wonderful country to the admiring eyes of his brethren of the
eastern hemisphere.
This work professing solely to relate, from authentic documents,
what regards that portion of the New World which is claimed
by Spain, either by right of conquest or discovery, we shall,
consequently, not touch upon any of those indeterminate questions:
therefore, whatever may be the notions respecting voyages prior to
those of Columbus, having been performed by European navigators,
it is universally admitted that Cristoval Colon, or as he
is usually called Christopher Columbus, was the first who
made the existence of America generally known; accordingly we shall
take our dates from the era of his discovery of the western world.
In the year 1492, on the 3d of August, being Friday, Columbus
sailed from Spain, in a small vessel called the Santa Maria,
having with her two others, and, after meeting with difficulties
which no one but a man possessed of the most extraordinary mind
could have overcome, he made the land of the New World, at ten
oʼclock on the night of the 11th of October, in the same year;
having himself first observed a light moving about on the shore;
although the land itself was not visible until two oʼclock, on the
morning of Friday the 12th, when it was seen by Roderic de Triana
in the ship Pinta: so that an interval of sixty-nine days, passed
in the greatest anxiety, elapsed, from the time of quitting the Old
to the arrival in sight of the New Hemisphere.
The joy of the Europeans at this discovery, knew no bounds; they
lavished encomiums on their leader, whom they had hitherto looked
on as a visionary; they solicited his pardon for their infidelity,
and pressed him to land: he set his foot on the shore, amid the
exultation of his companions, and the prostrations and astonishment
of the natives, who regarded their unexpected visitors as a
celestial people, and, accordingly, paid them divine honours.
Columbus took formal possession of the land in the name of the King
of Spain, hoisting the royal standard, displaying a flag with a
large green cross, and naming it San Salvador (The Holy Saviour);
but it is now known by the native name Guanahani, and is the Cat
Island of the British charts, one of the outermost of the Lucayos
or Bahamas Group. He afterward discovered Cuba and St. Domingo, or
Hispaniola, where he built a fort out of the timbers of his ship
which was cast ashore, and then returned to Spain. This fort was
afterwards destroyed, as well as its garrison, by the natives.
His next voyage lasted during the years 1493, 94, 95, when he
founded a town in Hispaniola, or St. Domingo, which town he
called Isabella. The natives styled this island Hayti (the Land
of Mountains); but Columbus chose to name it Hispaniola (little
Spain). This town, which Columbus founded about the 10th December,
1493, was the commencement of Spanish enterprize and colonization
in the New World, as it was a permanent settlement. Columbus
arrived in Europe in 1496, having spent the intermediate time in
researches amongst the Caribbean Islands.
The third voyage of Columbus in 1498, was the means of discovering
the island of Trinidad, and observing near it the mouth of a large
river, he proceeded farther; when, to his astonished view, the
continent presented itself. He landed on that part of the South
American coast, called Paria, which took place in the month of
August in the same year.
A person named Americo Vespucci, a Florentine, accompanied one of
the officers of Columbus to the New World, in 1499, (this officer
had been with Columbus during the second voyage), when they visited
those places which the Admiral had previously explored, and
returned to Europe.
Vespucci being a man of some science, published an account of the
New Countries, which being the first description that had been
given to the world at large, ungrateful Europe has decreed to him
the honour of allowing the New World to bear his name; neglecting
the genius whose daring imagination had dictated the Discovery,
and whose arduous exertion had completed it; he, receiving for his
reward, the disgraceful punishment of being conveyed to Spain, in
the year 1500, in fetters. An affecting proof of his sense of this
indignity is related by his son, who says, “These fetters Columbus
ever after kept with him, and on his death-bed, ordered them to be
deposited in the grave with his body!”
In 1502, Columbus, having discomfited his enemies, made a fourth
voyage, in which he discovered and explored a vast extent of the
continent of America; particularly the coast of Honduras, Verapaz,
and Veragua, with the harbour of Porto Bello.
Having thus briefly stated the voyage of Columbus, which has been
done with the view of fixing the epoch of Spanish colonization in
the New World, we shall not enter into the discoveries of parts of
the Spanish American colonies by other navigators or adventurers,
at present; but reserving these subjects for the particular
provincial descriptions, we shall proceed to relate what extent of
territory is claimed by the Spanish Crown in North America.
In North America, the northern and eastern boundary of the Spanish
territory is situated in north latitude 31°, where an ideal line,
running through St. Maryʼs River, separates the United States from
the Floridas. The Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Gulf of Mexico on
the south, and the river Perdido on the west, complete the limit of
that division which comprises the tract of territory known by the
name of Florida.
The northern and western boundary is much disputed, but according
to the best information, it extends from Port St. Francisco on the
Pacific Ocean in 37° 48ʹ 30ʺ north latitude, and 122° 36ʹ 45ʺ west
longitude, (according to Vancouver); between which and Port Sir
Francis Drake, there is a wild country. Port Sir Francis Drake is
in about 39° north latitude, and to this port the British claims on
the western coast of America extend.
The Spanish government have set up an inadmissible claim to the
whole western coast, but, as much doubt has existed on the claims
of the two nations, 39° north latitude, has been usually taken as
the boundary of Spanish acquisitions in the New World; because
they have some settlements in that latitude to the north of the
town of Santa Fé, in New Mexico, as well as because the sources
of the Rio Bravo are situated thereabouts. Therefore, commencing
from the coast of the Pacific in 39° north latitude, we draw an
ideal line from that parallel across the country, until we have
passed the province of New Mexico; thence the line bends southward
and eastward, until it meets the River Mexicano, or Mermento,
which it follows to the Gulf of Mexico; where, in this quarter,
the boundaries are again disputed by the government of the United
States; who, since Louisiana has been ceded to them, lay claim to
the whole country, up to the eastern bank of the Rio Bravo del
Norte; the Spaniards, however, do not admit this, and fix their
boundaries at the estuary of the Mexicano, or Mermento. A reference
to the accompanying map will better explain those disputed limits
than any verbal account.
The western barrier of Spanish territory in North America, is the
Pacific Ocean; on the south east, the Gulf of Mexico, the Bay of
Honduras, and the Caribbean Sea, are the boundaries established by
nature; and on the south, a chain of mountains called the Sierro de
Canatagua, which run across the extremities of the two provinces
of Veragua and Panama, in about 80° 50ʹ west longitude. This chain
divides the northern from the southern continent of America, and
the country is here known by the geographical name of the Isthmus
of Darien.
The extent of these possessions may be computed, by taking 7° north
latitude, as the southern extremity, and 39° as the northern, which
will give about 1900 miles in length, whilst from the varying
form of the country in the Isthmus of Darien, the cutting out of
Louisiana, the singular figure of the Floridas, and the immense
inlet of the Californian Gulf, it may be computed at about 450
miles in mean breadth.
THIS vast extent of continent, including the two West India islands
of Porto Rico, and Cuba, is divided into four great governments.
The viceroyalty of New Spain, or Mexico, the Capitania general of
Guatimala, and the two Capitanerias Generales of Porto Rico and
Cuba, which last includes the Floridas.
THE face of the Spanish dominions in the North American Continent,
is divided into three great sections; on the east, Florida; in the
centre, north and west, New Spain; and on the south, Guitamala;
we shall therefore proceed to give a separate description of each
division, and its local divisions; commencing on the east with the
government of the Floridas.
Florida is bounded on the north by the United States, an
ideal line, commencing at the centre of the estuary of St. Maryʼs
River, in the Atlantic Ocean, extending thence along the coast of
that river, and across the Ekanfanega Swamp up to the junction of
the Flint and Apalachicola rivers; thence up the eastern bank of
the Apalachicola, until it meets the 31° of north latitude, when
it crosses the river, and follows the parallel of 31° to the river
Perdido, which separates the Floridas from the United States; on
the west, the line follows the river Perdido down into the Mexican
Gulf; on the south, the Gulf of Mexico, and on the east, the
Atlantic Ocean, complete the boundaries of Florida.
Discovery. The Floridas were originally not restricted to the
small tract of country now bearing, that name, but extended over
an immense region, which was discovered by Sebastian Cabot, in
1496; they certainly however, had their designation from Juan Ponce
de Leon, a Spanish navigator, who landed in Florida from Porto
Rico, on Saturday, 2d April, 1512; when the country being in full
verdure, and its appearance highly beautiful and picturesque, he
gave it the name of Florida, or Fairo.
The British were masters of this country till the termination of
the American war; when it was included in the Charter, granted by
Charles II. to Carolina, together with Georgia. The English founded
their right to Florida on the discoveries of Cabot, who was a
Venetian in the English service.
In 1564, the French occupied several parts of this country, but
being neglected by their government, the Spaniards, sent out an
expedition to dispossess them; in which they succeeded, and such
prisoners as were taken, were hung with labels attached to them,
bearing the inscription, “Not as Frenchmen, but as Heretics.”
However, these unfortunate colonists were revenged soon after by
their countryman Dominic de Gourges, an intrepid adventurer, who,
having disposed of his property in Gascony, built some vessels,
and choosing a band of restless spirits to assist him, sailed for
Florida. He defeated the Spaniards at all points, and after acting
with the most determined valour, to revenge the treatment of his
compatriots, he hung his prisoners, with this sentence attached to
their necks, “Not as Spaniards, but as Assassins!” This affair
had not the least effect towards resettling the Floridas by the
French, who unnoticed by their government, destroyed the fortified
places, and left the country.
The settlement by the Spaniards, after much bloodshed, on account
of the opposition of the natives, who were of a very warlike
disposition, did not finally succeed until the year 1665; when
they fortified the capital, Saint Augustine. This place suffered
repeated attacks from the neighbouring English colonists in
Georgia, and by the buccaneers; in 1702, Colonel More, the governor
of Carolina, besieged it with a body of five hundred troops, and
seven hundred Indians; the siege lasted three months, but they were
forced to raise it, by the arrival of a reinforcement of ships and
stores to the garrison.
In 1740, it was again besieged by General Oglethorpe, but he also
was forced to retire with some loss; so that the Floridas continued
under the domination of Spain, until the year 1763, when they were
ceded to Great Britain, in exchange for the Havannah, which Lord
Albermarle had taken from Spain.
Whilst the British possessed the country, they first divided it
into east and west Florida, separating them from each other, by the
great river Apalachicola. East Florida extends much further to the
south than West Florida, and is washed by the waters of the Mexican
Gulf, in the 25th degree of north latitude; while the southernmost
point of West Florida, is only in 29° 30ʹ north latitude.
The figure of East Florida is nearly that of a triangle; the base
towards Georgia being an imaginary line, as before described, of
more than 160 miles in breadth; the perpendicular being about 350
in length. West Florida has the figure of a parallelogram, and is
about 120 miles in length from east to west, and from 40 to 80 in
breadth. The river Perdido being its western, and the Apalachicola
its eastern limit.
The capital of East Florida is St. Augustin; that of West Florida,
Pensacola.
During the struggle of Great Britain with her American colonies
in 1781; Spain took forcible possession of Florida, and it was
confirmed to that crown by the treaty of peace in 1783.
The climate of the Floridas, is for the most part tolerably good;
in the summer it is very hot; the winters cold, and the rivers are
frequently frozen during that season. Inland, and on the mountains,
the air is very pure and salubrious.
The soil of the Floridas is sandy and barren on the coast; but
in the interior, and on the banks of the rivers, very fertile
and good; so rich indeed was the land thought to be by the first
explorers, and the climate so good, that the voyage of Ponce de
Leon was undertaken, in the hopes of conquering, and making his
fortune in this part of the New World. A tradition which existed
among Caribs had also some weight; they reported that on the
southern part of the eastern continent, existed a spring, of which
any person, advanced in life, tasting, they would become renovated,
and enjoy eternal youth. The Spaniards, ever fond of romance,
greedily swallowed the miraculous tale, and undertook voyages to
discover this invaluable fountain. Many Indians had embarked from
time to time, but as they never returned, they were supposed to be
so charmed with the country, and the all-healing water, that they
preferred living there, allured by all the bounties of Nature,
and the supreme bliss of perpetual youth. Ponce de Leon at last
set out; actuated by the motives before mentioned, as well as by
these, he explored Florida, and returning with increasing years,
and an increase of wisdom, made that country known to the Spanish
nation; who however neglected it, until the massacre of the French
settlers happened, excepting that in 1539, Ferdinand de Soto, had
many actions with the native tribes, who were not however finally
quelled until the year 1665. Luke Vasquez de Ayllon, and Pamphilo
de Narvaez (the same who had been routed in Mexico by Cortez) made
attempts to conquer Florida, and both lost their lives; and the
adventurers who accompanied them, as well as those who were with
Soto, suffered incredible hardships, after the death of their
commanders.
Rice and indigo are the chief productions of West Florida; and in
the eastern province the land is so fertile, that the inhabitants
have sometimes three crops of Indian corn a year. The interior of
this province is very hilly, a chain of mountains traversing it
from north to south, the sides of which are covered with forests,
and the valleys they form afford the richest pasturage. Oranges and
lemons grow without the assistance of cultivation, and are finer
than the European fruits of those kinds. Immense trees of the white
and red oak, the splendid and beautiful magniola, the cypress, red
and white cedar, the crab-oak, mulberry, pine, hickory, &c., are
here observed in grand masses, and form the most delightful shades
in the heats of summer.
Vines flourish and produce excellent fruit. They have also in
these provinces the best sassafras in America, palms, Indian
figs, chesnuts, walnuts, peaches, plums, cocoa nuts, and melons,
in abundance. Olives, which are indigenous, thrive exceedingly,
and are in great plenty. The cabbage tree affords the principal
nutriment to the native Indians, and constitutes a food, at once
pleasant and wholesome. Flax, hemp, and cotton, are produced in
abundance; cochineal forms a valuable article of the exports.
The coasts and rivers furnish fish of every description known in
these latitudes. Shell fish are found in the shallows, (which
are so numerous along the shores); particularly large and small
oysters, of excellent quality; along the southern beach, amber is
also occasionally found.
Numerous flocks of sheep and herds of cattle are fed in Florida;
swine are had here in great perfection; for as they feed chiefly on
the chesnuts and acorns of the forests, their flesh is supposed to
have a peculiar delicate flavour. In the woods and desert places,
are wild animals of various descriptions, amongst which are the
American tiger, the panther, coup cervier, racoon, buffalo, with
the fox, hare, rabbit, goat, otter, flying squirrel, opossum,
guano, armadillo, &c.; with many species of snakes and serpents.
The bird tribes are very extensive in Florida; among which, the
heron, crane, wild-goose, and duck, partridge, pigeon, macaw, hawk,
thrush, jay, &c. are a few of the most noted.
The alligator, or American crocodile, frequents the large rivers
and lakes; and the tribe of reptiles is also very numerous.
The interior of the Floridas has not been explored by scientific
travellers; it is chiefly inhabited by the native Indians, the
Europeans confining themselves mostly to the towns. The country in
general is not very thickly populated, and requires much exertion
to clear the forests, and drain the swamps, which, if done, would
render it a salubrious and desirable residence, where the wants of
man might be easily satisfied; and where he would rest secure from
some of those tremendous convulsions of Nature, which terrify and
destroy his fellow-creatures, in most other parts of the Spanish
colonies in the western world.
The capital of East Florida, St. Augustine, is situated on the
east coast of Florida, in St. Augustine Bay, west longitude 81° 10ʹ
and 30° north latitude, and contains a population of about 4000
souls.
This city was founded originally by the Spaniards, in 1586,
and fortified in 1665. Sir Francis Drake reduced the fort, and
pillaged both it and the town; Captain Davies also, and a body
of buccaneers, treated the place in a similar manner afterwards.
Also, as has been before stated, the British and Indians attacked
it under Colonel More, but were forced to retire, leaving their
vessels and stores behind them; in their retreat, they burnt the
houses in the neighbourhood, and ravaged the country to a great
extent; General Oglethorpe, in 1740, also bombarded the fort, but
was obliged to retreat.
The situation of this city, on the coast of the Atlantic, renders
it healthy, as it has all the advantage of the sea breezes; it
is 316 miles south-west of Charlestown, in South Carolina, 180
miles east of St. Markʼs, in East Florida; and 240 miles from the
entrance of the gulf or straits of Florida. The figure of the town
is an oblong, and it is built at the bottom of an eminence, along
the beach.
There are four principal streets, running parallel to each other;
these are wide and perfectly straight, and intersected by others of
a smaller size, at right angles. The church of St. Augustine, is
a well built edifice, and with the monastery, forms the principal
ornament of the place. The fortress which protects the town, is
called the Castle of St. Juan; it is built of stone, having four
bastions, the curtains between which are 180 feet in length, and
the rampart is twenty feet in height. The buildings are very good,
and the greater part are bomb-proof, and partly casemated; so that
this fortification is reckoned strong.
The other most noted towns of East Florida, are St. Markʼs, a
sea-port, situated on St. Markʼs river, near where it falls into
Apalachia Bay, 180 miles west of the capital, in 30° 10ʹ north
latitude, and 84° 36ʹ west longitude.
Apalachia, is also a sea-port on a bay of the same name, into
which the Apalachia river empties itself. In the environs of this
town, is a country inhabited by the Apalachia Indians; it is 130
miles east of Pensacola, the capital of West Florida, and 90 miles
west of the river del Espiritu Santo, and situated in 29° 48ʹ north
latitude, and 84° 28ʹ west longitude.
St. Juan, twelve miles north of St. Markʼs.
St. Francisco, fifty-six miles east south-east of St. Markʼs.
St. Pedro, forty-four miles east south-east of St. Markʼs.
Apalachicola, on the Apalachicola river, 100 miles north-east of
Pensacola in West Florida.
Neuvilla, fifty-four miles south south-east of St. Markʼs; and—
Talahosochete, an Indian town, 30 miles north of St. Markʼs.
In West Florida, the capital, Pensacola, is situated on the west
side of Pensacola Bay; this harbour is one of the finest in the
Floridas, safe from every wind, and having from seven to eight
fathom water, so that vessels drawing 21 feet may enter.
Pensacola, is in 30° 28ʹ north latitude, and 87° 12ʹ west
longitude. The city is of an oblong form, about a mile in length
and a quarter of a mile in breadth, delightfully placed, and
accounted a very healthy place. The entrance into the bay is
fortified by a small fort on Rosa Island, and a battery on the
opposite shore.
The Spaniards took this town on the 11th of May, 1781.
When it was in the hands of the English, the houses were elegant
and spacious; it exported, in skins, furs, logwood, and dyeing
stuffs to England, to the amount of 68,000l. annually, and
its imports from England were valued at 97,000l. for the same
period. The town and forts were not surrendered to the Spanish
troops, until the English garrison had made a most determined and
protracted resistance. The whole province fell at the same time
into their hands, since which, Pensacola has been on the decline.
A river called the Escambia Coenecah runs near the town, and
supplies it with water; it falls into the bay, and is navigable for
boats for fifty miles, and for sloops for twenty.
The other towns of most importance in West Florida are, St.
Josef, or the bay of St. Josef, near Cape St. Blaz, in the Gulf
of Mexico, situated in 85° 34ʹ west longitude, and 29° 45ʹ north
latitude.
Wells, a sea-port on the west-side of St. Andrewʼs Bay, and in
30° 25ʹ north latitude, and 85° 50ʹ west longitude, and—
Campbeltown, in Pensacola Bay, is seven miles north north-east of
Pensacola.
The rivers of East Florida are chiefly the Apalachicola, which
rises in the United States, and as before stated, forms the
boundary between the two Floridas; it is a considerable river, and
falls into the Mexican Gulf near Cape St. Blaz. The mouth of the
Apalachicola is encircled with a number of small islands, named St.
Georgeʼs Isles.
Nassau River; a small stream, which joins the ocean in 81° 42ʹ
west longitude, 30° 49ʹ north latitude.
St. Maryʼs River, famous only for its being a part of the
northern boundary between Georgia and Florida; it rises in a small
lake in the great Ekanfanoga Swamp, and after a short course, runs
into the Atlantic in St. Maryʼs Bay, in 81° 41ʹ west longitude,
and 30° 35ʹ north latitude. The Americans have a town called St.
Maryʼs, on their side of the mouth of the river.
St. Johnʼs River, which rises in a swamp in the southern part of
East Florida, and after running northerly for a short distance,
forms several lakes; the largest of which is Lake George; it then
again pursues its course to the northward, and turning to the
east, joins the Atlantic in 81° 42ʹ west longitude, and 30° 22ʹ
north latitude; its mouth is encumbered with a bar, otherwise it is
a broad and fine river, and being situated within ten leagues of
the capital is very serviceable.
Apalachia River, or Apalache, a small river which empties
itself into the Bay of Apalachia, in the Mexican Gulf, in 84° 28ʹ
west longitude, and 29° 43ʹ north latitude.
St. Johnʼs River, rises in Ekanfanoga Swamp, and after a winding
course of two hundred miles, falls into Apalachia Bay, to the east
of Apalachia River. This is said to be the purest of American
rivers, receiving in its course no tributary streams, but being
fed solely by the springs which exist in its banks; it is two
hundred yards broad, and twenty feet deep at the Indian town of
Talahosochete in East Florida.
There are a few other rivers in East Florida, the names of which
are, the Assilla, St. Markʼs river, St. Matheoʼs river, which falls
into Apalachia Bay, the Amajura, the Tampa and the Manatte; the
two latter of which fall into the Bay del Espirtu Santo, and the
Romano, which falls into Carlos harbour; but of these so little is
known, as indeed is the case with respect to every thing relating
to the Floridas, that a particular description is impracticable.
The latitudes and longitudes of many of the above places and
rivers, are variously laid down in the maps, and different accounts
are given of them by different authors; so that it is not probable
that they are exact; the most correct sources of information have
been sought, and as no late observations have been made in the
country we have been describing, the reader must unfortunately
remain satisfied with the imperfect account we are enabled to
give of a colony which belonged within the memory of the present
generation to Great Britain, but of which, no British author has
given an explicit account.
The rivers of West Florida, are the boundary stream, the Rio
Perdido, or Lost River, so called by the Spaniards, because it
loses itself for a short distance under ground, and then appears
again and empties itself into the Mexican Gulf, in Perdido Bay,
which is a large basin, though at its entrance not very wide, yet
gradually enlarging till it meets the mouth of the river, which
joins it in 87° 26ʹ west longitude, and 30° 26ʹ north latitude, ten
leagues east of Mobile Point, and four leagues west of the line of
Pensacola. This river stretches to the north-east, and in one place
comes within a mile of the Great Lasson, that is to the west of
Pensacola harbour.
The Rio Perdido, was formerly the boundary between the French and
Spanish dominions, and is now considered by the treaty of 1783,
as the limit between Mississippi territory and West Florida. By
this treaty, the eastern and southern boundaries of Louisiania
were fixed, and thus defined; “south on the Gulf of Mexico, from
the Bay of St. Bernard, south-west of the Mississippi River, to
the mouth of the Rio Perdido, up the Perdido to its source, and
thence, (if it rise not north of the 31° of north latitude,) in a
straight line north to that parallel, (31° north latitude,) thence
along the southern boundary of the United States, west to the
Mississipi, then up this river to its source.” The northern and
western boundary of Louisiania will be spoken of under the head of
New Mexico.
The St. Andrewʼs River runs into a bay of the same name in the
Gulf of Mexico, in 85° 40ʹ west longitude, and 30° 17ʹ north
latitude.
Swamps.—The great swamp of Ekanfanska, called by the
natives Ouaquaphenogaw, forms a striking feature of East Florida;
through which the boundary of this province runs by an imaginary
line. The swamp is half in Georgia and half in Florida; it is
300 miles in circumference, and in the rainy season, bears the
appearance of a vast lake, with several large spots of firm land,
which may be denominated islands, as they are nearly always
surrounded with water; one of these the American tribes call a
heavenly dwelling, which is peopled by a peculiarly gifted race,
who enjoy all the pleasures and luxuries of the savage life in
perfection; whose women are very lovely, and supposed to be the
children of the Sun. These people, who are conjectured to exist
there, have been said, though with less of the marvellous, to be a
tribe of Indians, who in some wars with the Creeks, had been nearly
exterminated and fled here for shelter. The islands in the swamp
are fertile; in it rises the river St. Mary and some others. There
are several large tracts of marshy ground in both the Floridas,
which are extremely fertile.
Lakes.—The lakes of Florida are more numerous than large,
the principal one is Lake George, or the Great Lake, and Mayaco, a
large expanse of water and swampy land, in which, or near which,
the river St. John rises. Lake George is formed by the river St.
Juan, filling a large valley with its waters; it is about fifteen
miles in breadth, adorned with many beautiful and fertile islands,
the largest of which is two miles long, commanding an extensive
prospect; on this island are the remains of an Indian town of
considerable size. The waters of Lake George, are from fifteen to
twenty feet deep; the river St. John, forms in its course many
other lakes, but none of them so large as are laid down in early
maps, which are all, and even those of a later period, miserably
defective with respect to Florida, although that country has been
long in the possession of Great Britain. Another lake of some
extent is laid down in the best maps near Apalachia Bay; but of
it little information has been given; what is called Hillsborough
River, may with equal propriety be termed a lake; it cuts off a
long slip of land parallel to the east coast, reaching from St.
Augustine southwards.
Islands.—The islands on the coast of Florida are
numerous, but not of any very great consequence. The chief ones
are Amelia Island near the north-west boundary of East Florida
in the Atlantic; extending from the mouth of the river St. Mary
to the mouth of the Nassau River, and on which is a town called
Fernandina, with a small fort.
Corne Island, on the coast of West Florida, ten miles long and
one broad, in 82° 32ʹ west longitude, and 30° 11ʹ north latitude.
Roebuck Island, near the same coast, in 84° 45ʹ west longitude,
30° 17ʹ north latitude.
St. Anastasia Island, on the east coast of East Florida, eighteen
miles in length, and from one to three wide, in 81° 36ʹ west
longitude, and 29° 48ʹ north latitude.
Cluster of the Espiritu Santo Islands, in a bay of the same name,
on the west coast of East Florida.
Santa Rosa Island, on the south coast of West Florida, thirty-six
miles in length, and two wide, in 86° 50ʹ west longitude, and 30°
26ʹ north latitude.
Talbot Island, on the coast of East Florida, eight miles long and
two wide, in 84° 42ʹ west longitude, and 30° 26ʹ north latitude;
and some others.
Bays.—The bays of Florida are chiefly the following.
Espiritu Santo, or Nassau Bay, in East Florida or the west
coast, a large and fine bay full of islands, which reaches from 82°
35ʹ to 83° west longitude, and 27° 45ʹ to 28° 10ʹ north latitude.
Santa Rosa Bay, on the coast of West Florida, in 86° 5ʹ to 86°
32ʹ west longitude, and 30° 33ʹ north latitude.
Pensacola Bay and the Bay of St. Josef, in West Florida.
The great bay Apalachia, Carlos Bay, St. Maryʼs Bay, and Bay
of St. Augustine, in East Florida.
Capes.—The most remarkable capes or headlands are,—
Cape St. Blaz or St. Blas, near the mouth of the Apallachicola
River, and situated in 85° 35ʹ west longitude, and 35° 44ʹ north
latitude.
Sandy Point, the north part of Santa Rosa Bay in West Florida.
Cape Cross, in 84° 80ʹ west longitude, 46° 25ʹ north latitude,
coast of West Florida.
Cape Florida, the most easterly point of East Florida, on the
west side of the Gulf or Straits of Florida, in 80° 37ʹ west
longitude, 25° 44ʹ north, latitude.
Cape Roman, in 82° 25ʹ west longitude, and 25° 40ʹ north latitude.
Cape Sable, the most southerly point of East Florida, in 81° 49ʹ
west longitude, and 24° 57ʹ north latitude, and—
Cape Carnaveral, Punta Larga, and the Promontory in East
Florida.
We shall close this account with some circumstances relating to
the government, the late events which have taken place on the
coast of Florida, and the funds allotted for the support of the
administration.
The Floridas are usually included under the government of the
Capitania-general of the Havannah, forming, with Cuba, one of the
great governments of the Spanish American colonies. So little
is known of the subdivisions of this captain-generalship, that
it would be futile to attempt an enumeration of them; as errors
must inevitably occur, so thus it will be better not to state the
uncertain knowledge we possess of them, than to run the risk of
misleading the reader.
The insurgents of Spanish America have lately been carrying on some
operations in this quarter, and have established themselves in
Amelia Island, at a town called Fernandina, where they have built
batteries for their defence, and to whose port they carry many of
the prizes they make of the Spanish merchant vessels in the West
Indian seas. They are principally European adventurers, who have
raised a flag in Amelia Island, which they display occasionally in
their predatory incursions on the neighbouring continent; on this
flag is a green cross, designated by them the green cross of the
Floridas; they have hitherto been unsuccessful in their efforts,
and have not been assisted by the Colonists. The government of the
United States, have lately taken forcible possession of this port.
The expences of the administration of Florida are disbursed from
the treasury of Mexico, the situado or annual remittance for
this purpose being sent by way of the Havannah to Pensacola, and
amounting in general to the sum of 62,700l. sterling. This sum is
usually remitted to the intendant or governor of Pensacola.
The most important of all the kingdoms of Spanish America, is New
Spain; therefore, before commencing with a detailed description of
its boundaries and situation, we shall give a concise view of those
circumstances which are of most importance, with respect to its
history, colonization, &c.
Under the title of Viceroy of New Spain, a Spanish officer of
the highest rank governs a territory, which, in Europe, would be
designated as an empire; for it comprehends a surface extending
from the thirty-ninth to the sixteenth degree of north latitude; in
its broadest part, occupying 22 degrees of longitude, and is washed
by the waters of the Great Pacific on its western, and by those of
the Mexican Gulf, or Atlantic Ocean, on its eastern shores; having
unknown lands to its north; the republic of the United States
of America to its east; and the government of Guatimala, as its
southern limit; thus occupying one of the most advantageously
situated positions in the political world, whether for the
facilities afforded to its commerce, by the vicinity of two oceans,
or by its stretching through part of the Torrid and Temperate
Zones, affording from the heat of the one, the luxuries of the
East, and from the mildness of the other, the necessaries of human
existence in the most profuse abundance; here too exist more mines
of silver and gold, of copper, tin, &c., than in any other part of
America; whilst its western shores afford the pearl muscle, equal,
if not superior, to the celebrated produce of Ormus and Ceylon.
That enterprizing and enlightened traveller, M. le Baron de
Humboldt, states the population of this viceroyalty of Mexico, or
New Spain, to have exceeded, in the year 1806, six millions five
hundred thousand souls; and its surface to extend over a space
equal to 118,748 square leagues, at twenty-five leagues for each
degree.
Discovery, &c.—The person who made the greatest figure in
discovering and subjugating this extensive region, was Fernando
Cortez, a native of Old Spain, born at a town called Medellin,
in Estremadura, about thirteen miles south-east of Merida, in the
year 1485, of a noble family whose fortune had declined. He was
intended for the law, and studied at Salamanca; but his restless
disposition caused him to quit all prospects in this pursuit,
and to follow the adventurers of the day in America; he went
accordingly to Hispaniola, where he obtained lucrative posts; but,
still dissatisfied, quitted the island in 1511, under the command
of Velasquez, in an expedition to the island of Cuba. Here he
distinguished himself by his bravery, and was chosen to undertake a
voyage of discovery to the coasts of Mexico; he spent the greater
part of his fortune in equipping his army and fleet; and on the
18th of November 1518, set sail from Cuba, but anchored again, and
sailed for the Havannah, to complete his stores; here he suffered
much delay and vexation from the jealousy of Velasquez, and having
secured the fidelity of his followers, by the promises of immense
wealth, and his engaging qualities (for he was a man of the most
insinuating address, and of great personal endowments, a robust and
soldier-like appearance, and a dauntless mind), he completed by his
own exertions, and those of his officers, amongst whom was Pizarro,
then a youth, who afterwards rendered himself so famous in Peru,
his armament, which consisted of eleven small vessels, containing
617 men, 508 being soldiers, and 109 sailors or workmen, with ample
stores of provision.
Cortez once more set sail from Cuba, in the year 1519, on the 10th
day of February, and steered for the Isle of Cozumel, on which he
landed, and then proceeded to the River Tabasco; where he forced
the natives to acknowledge the Spanish king. His standard bore a
cross with this motto, “Follow we this sign, for beneath it we
shall conquer.” Procuring provisions, a present of gold, some
cotton clothing; and 20 female slaves, he sailed to the west,
and landed at the place now called St. Juan de Ullua, where he
fortified himself, disembarked all his men, horses, and guns,
having previously conciliated the natives.
The Emperor of Mexico hearing of the arrival of the Spanish ships
at this place, sent two embassadors to meet the strangers, to
inquire their intentions, and to offer his assistance in furthering
their voyage. They received from Cortez a haughty reply, that “he
would confer with no other person than the emperor.” The silly
Mexicans, alarmed at the unusual appearance of the troops, the
horses, the ships, and the artillery, endeavoured to conciliate the
commander by rich presents. The embassadors had painters in their
train, who were busily employed in tracing these wonderful objects,
during the interviews; and Cortez, observing the circumstance,
to give a greater effect to his warlike show, made his troops go
through their manœuvres, and fired his cannon at some trees.
The poor Mexicans, astonished at this display, fell with their
faces to the earth, being unable to withstand the alarm caused
by the report of the guns. They returned to Mexico, and with
incredible dispatch, some presents which Cortez had given them,
were transported to the capital, a distance of 180 miles; and other
messengers returned, accompanied by a train of one hundred Indians,
bearing the most costly gifts of silver, gold, &c. An emblem of
the sun, in massive gold, and another of the moon, worth 5000l.
in silver, were amongst the articles. These magnificent gifts, it
was hoped would conciliate the Spaniards, and make them consent to
relinquish their idea of marching into the interior; Montezuma, the
emperor, declaring he would not permit their staying longer in his
dominions; but instead of attempting to eject them, he sent another
and more costly present.
The natives however discontinued supplying the troops with
provision, and the embassadors of Montezuma left the camp in
resentment; the soldiers imagining that they should be attacked,
came to open mutiny; but Cortez, by promises, threats and presents,
gained their affections, and offered to lead them to the attack of
the capital; after having punished the ringleaders, he assembled
a council, and laid his warrant before them, telling them he
would only be chosen as their leader, by their united consent.
This experiment succeeded; they unanimously elected him commander
in chief and president of the new Colony, and then formed a
corporation to govern the town they were about to found. This they
immediately commenced, and called it Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz.
“The rich City of the true Cross.”
Whilst employed in this work, Cortez received overtures from the
Indian town of Zempoalla, to assist him in his enterprise against
Montezuma; he accordingly matched thither, and assisted by its
inhabitants, founded another settlement, about 100 miles to the
northward of Vera Cruz; this was at the Indian town of Quiabaslan.
The caciques or chiefs of Zempoalla and Quiabaslan, placed
themselves under his protection; and their example was followed by
the Totonaques, a powerful and warlike tribe, who inhabited the
mountain country.
Whilst engaged in fortifying his new acquisition, and rendering
it habitable, a second conspiracy was plotted against him; to
counteract this, he proposed two methods, the latter of which
was the most extraordinary that ever entered the mind of man. In
the first place, he proposed to the council, to send an account
of the riches, fertility, &c. of the country, to Don Carlos of
Austria, the Spanish monarch, and to request him to ratify their
proceedings, and to appoint Cortez, by the sign manual, as they
had already done, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty;
this they consented to, and a vessel was dispatched for Spain,
with orders not to touch at Cuba, for fear of the intention being
thwarted by Velasquez. The second proposal was “To burn the
fleet.” This, after great persuasion, and exhausting all his arts,
he obtained their consent to do, and it was accordingly performed;
thus leaving between five and six hundred men, at the mercy of a
powerful and populous empire.
After obtaining this triumph over the adherents of Velasquez,
who had no resource but in the capacity of their leader, and in
their own courage, marched from Zempoalla, on the 16th of August,
1519, with five hundred soldiers, fifteen horses, and six cannon;
the cacique of Zempoalla gave him four hundred warriors and two
hundred slaves. The rest of the troops were left as a garrison,
to defend Villa Rica. With this force, he entered the state of
Tlascala, where he met with great opposition for fourteen days; but
after having beaten the Tlascalans at all points, without losing
a man, these people made overtures for peace: he accepted their
proposals, and they ever after acted as his best allies. He halted
twenty days in Tlascala, where he endeavoured, as he had before
done at Zempoalla, to convert the natives; but succeeded only in
abolishing the immolation of human victims on the altars of their
deities. It was by the intervention of a priest, Bartolomeo de
Olvedo, his chaplain, whose name deserves to be recorded, that
Cortez was restrained from converting the natives by the sword,
when he found he could not otherwise attain that object.
He next advanced against the state of Cholula, where he was
treacherously received; and to avenge himself, massacred six
thousand of the Cholulans. Cholula was only sixty miles march
from Mexico. In the course of his advance, he was aided by the
rebellious state of the surrounding country; and after a march of
some days, saw the capital of the empire from the Chalco mountain.
His troops were invigorated at the sight; and beholding such a
rich and fertile country, such an immense city, and so beautiful
a landscape, they conceived their fortunes to be made, and that
their toils would now be soon ended. They marched until they
arrived within a very short distance of the entrance to the city;
when Montezuma, preceded by a train of a thousand nobles, himself
sitting on a chair richly adorned with gold, and borne by men,
surrounded with his guards and courtiers, advanced to meet the
Spaniards; Cortez dismounting from his horse, saluted the emperor
in an humble manner; cloths of cotton were then spread along the
road, and Montezuma, quitting his chair of state, walked to meet
and salute the Spanish commander; after much ceremony, the emperor
conducted the general to a house prepared for the reception of
himself and followers. No sooner had Cortez taken possession of
his new habitation; than he set to work, and fortified it in
the strongest manner he was able. The emperor shortly renewed
his visit, accompanied by people bearing rich presents to the
troops. It was at this interview, that Cortez learnt, from the
unguarded expressions of the Mexican ruler, the reason why he had
not been attacked. It appeared, that the Mexicans had traditions
and prophecies, that a powerful race would come from the regions
towards the East, where their deity, the Sun, rose, and that these
people would overturn and chastise their country for the punishment
of their sins; in this, Montezuma was a firm believer; and it was
from the motive of religion alone, supposing that the Sun would
exterminate his people if violence was offered to his children,
that the monarch was persuaded to act in the way he did.
Cortez immediately seized the idea, and by his artful conduct
was received as a child of the same universal Parent, the Sun,
by the emperor and by his people. He spent several successive
days in viewing the city, and making his observations; at the
same time assuring Montezuma, that he was the embassador of the
greatest monarch amongst the children of the Sun; and that his
master had sent him with the most friendly designs to his brethren
the Mexicans. Having fortified his house, which was surrounded
by a stone wall and turrets, and keeping a large body of his men
constantly on the alert, he came to the resolute determination of
seizing Montezuma in his palace, and confining him in the Spanish
quarters. He entered the palace, thirty men waiting outside of the
audience hall, whilst Cortez, five officers, and five soldiers,
placed themselves in the presence. He addressed Montezuma, and
complaining of several things which he affected to dread, he
requested the emperor would condescend to live in the Spanish
quarters, until the alarm excited by some unusual appearances, had
subsided. Montezuma reluctantly consented, and was escorted thither
by the men. He was at first treated with all the attention and
respect due to a mighty sovereign; but, after a short interval,
Cortez, with a soldier bearing fetters, came to his apartment,
and told him that his garrison at Villa Rica had been attacked,
and that he was the instigator of the insult; that he had ordered
the guilty to be executed, and that the emperor himself must feel
the weight of his anger. Turning fiercely to the soldier, he
commanded him to fetter the legs of Montezuma. The unfortunate
monarch and his attendants were sunk in grief and affliction, and
Cortez left the room to attend at the execution of the sentence on
the culprits. After this was ended, he repaired to the Emperorʼs
chamber, and with his own hands, took off the shackles.
For six months Montezuma remained a prisoner, and Cortez during
this time was employed in reconnoitring the country, preparing
to build vessels on the lake, and dividing the spoils amongst
his soldiers. In attempting to establish the Catholic faith, by
throwing down the Mexican idols, he nearly ruined all his schemes,
as the whole people were about to rise. At this juncture Montezuma
requested he might be liberated, and declared that his power of
saving the Spaniards was at an end, as his people would inevitably
revenge the insult offered their Gods; he concluded by requesting
that the embassy would withdraw from his territories, as he could
no longer answer for their safety: previously however to this
communication, the Emperor had acknowledged himself a vassal of
the Spanish King, and had sent to Cortez his tokens of homage,
executed in all the prescribed forms, with a magnificent present,
accompanied by others from his subjects. The Spanish commander
had therefore good reason for not listening to the request of
Montezuma; he replied, that he intended to send to his master the
presents, and in time to return himself, but that he must build new
ships first.
Whilst these discussions were going on, Velasquez, who had heard
of the success of Cortez by the vessel which had touched at Cuba,
(contrary to express command), had fitted out a fleet of eighteen
vessels, with 800 infantry, eighty horse soldiers, twelve pieces
of ordnance, and 120 arquebusiers, or crossbow men. Pamphilo de
Narvaez, was appointed commander of the force, with instructions to
seize Cortez and his staff, to conquer the empire in the name of
Velasquez, and send the general and his officers prisoners to Cuba.
Cortez hearing of the arrival of this armament, and that the troops
under Narvaez, had marched to Zempoalla, determined to quit Mexico,
leaving 150 men to guard Montezuma, and the capital; arriving at
Zempoalla, he sent bribes to the officers of Narvaez army, many of
whom were seduced, and attacking his enemy in the night with only
250 men, completely defeated him, and was joined by his followers
the next day; receiving notice however, soon after the combat,
that his little garrison in the capital had been attacked by the
Mexicans, he returned to that city with two thousand Tlascalan
warriors, who joined him in his march. He entered the city without
resistance, but was soon after attacked in his fortress in the most
resolute manner, and having made a sally in which he lost twelve
men, and sixty wounded, he was forced to retreat; he again sallied,
and was wounded in the hand. He then had recourse to the stratagem
of placing the Emperor in the view of his enraged subjects.
Montezuma endeavoured to pacify them; they listened with attention,
but directly he had finished his speech, they again renewed the
assault, and the forlorn monarch was wounded by an arrow.
He refused all aid from the Spaniards, and tearing open his
wounds, expired, frantic with rage and despair. After the death
of the Emperor, Cortez found that he could no longer maintain
his position; he according quitted it secretly in the night, and
marched for the Tlascalan territories. On viewing his troops
after several hot assaults, which they experienced on the march,
he is reported to have shed tears. Having recruited the spirits
of his followers, and mustering the remainder of his forces, he
again bent his course towards the capital, determined to perish
or conquer. His infantry amounted to 550 men, his cavalry to 40,
and he had 9 pieces of cannon; with this force of Spaniards, there
marched 10,000 Indian allies, mostly Tlascalans, and on the 28th of
December, 1520, the whole army were in motion exactly six months
after the evacuation of Mexico.
He fixed his head-quarters at Tezcuco, on the banks of the lake 20
miles from the capital. In this city, the natives adhered to his
cause, and assisted him in building thirteen small ships, which he
launched on the lake. At this juncture, four vessels, fitted out
by his friends in Hispaniola arrived with two hundred infantry,
eight horses, and supplies of arms and ammunition. He therefore
immediately attacked the city on the east, west and south. It was
defended by Guatimozin, the new Emperor, with undaunted courage,
and Cortez himself was once taken prisoner, but fortunately
rescued, though wounded in the attempt. His soldiers who fell into
the hands of the Mexicans, were immolated with horrid barbarity
on the altars of the god of war. His allies, the Indians, now
amounted to 150,000, and his vessels kept possession of the lakes
Tezcuco and Chalco. This siege continued with vigour for 75 days,
and the town capitulated on the 21st August, 1521, when Guatimozin,
the Emperor, was taken prisoner; but the Spaniards had ruined
three-fourths of the city in their attempts to take it; they had,
therefore, a barren triumph. Cortez stained his victory by ordering
the Emperor to be put to the torture, in order to make him confess
where he had hid his treasure; which, in fact, he had caused to
be thrown into the lake. It would be useless to detail the other
proceedings of the army in the conquest of the provinces of the
Mexican empire; suffice it to say, that they all yielded without
much opposition to the Spanish conquerors.
Cortez now projected other discoveries, and named the country he
had taken possession of, New Spain; in his views of aggrandizement,
he was much impeded by cabal both at home and abroad; even an
edict was issued by the King of Spain, to seize his person; this
was, however, revoked, and he was appointed Captain-General of New
Spain, by the Emperor Charles the Fifth. Other cabals being formed
against him, and a fresh order of seizure made out, which was only
prevented being put into effect by the death of the commissioner,
Ponce de Leon. Cortez, after settling his affairs in the New World,
returned to Spain, where his address and manners gained him the
affections of Charles, who conferred on him the order of St. Jago,
and the title of Marques del Valle de Guaxaca (still held by his
descendants) together with the grant of a large district of New
Spain. His unabated ardour for discovery caused him to return to
the New World, which he did in 1530.
Long previous to this event, the Spanish government determined that
he should have only the situation of commander in chief, and hence
arose the division of power which afterwards embittered his whole
life. An audienza real, or royal audience, was appointed for
New Spain; through the hands of this Court, all the civil affairs
of the country were administered. Having now, therefore, neither
the authority nor the influence he before held, he determined to
remove himself from the scene of his disgusts; and accordingly,
finding that the plans of discovery which he had prepared and sent
people to put in execution, in 1522, had all failed, he determined,
in 1536, to undertake them himself, and having fitted out some
vessels, he discovered the vast Californian Gulf and part of its
shores, when, after enduring incredible hardships, he returned to
Mexico; here his distresses were renewed, and once more to obtain
justice, he sailed for his native country, where he arrived in
1540; not being able to obtain his wishes, his vexation had so much
effect upon his health, that his constitution, robust and vigorous
as it had ever been, was unable to withstand the shock, and this
extraordinary man quitted this transitory existence on the 2d of
December, 1547, in the sixty-second year of his age.
During the absence of Cortez in California, in 1535, after the
new kingdom of Spain had been governed by Luis Ponce de Leon,
Nuno de Gusman and Ramirez de Fuenleal, a viceroy arrived from
the Mother Country; this was the first viceroy of New Spain, and
the government has descended from one to another ever since: the
enumeration of them would be uninteresting, and tedious; we shall
therefore pass them over, with the exception only of mentioning
that there have been fifty (up to the year 1808), and that of these
only one was an American, the Marquess de Casa Fuerte, who was a
native of Peru; a descendant of the unfortunate Montezuma, Don
Josef Sarmiento Valladares, Conde de Montezuma governed New Spain
from the year 1697 to the year 1701; and of the descendants of that
monarch, there are still three branches remaining, all of whom are
Spanish nobles. A descendant of Columbus, Don Pedro Nuno Colon,
Duke of Veragua, also held the viceroyalty of New Spain for six
days, dying, suddenly after he was invested.
It is requisite for the nobleman who is advanced to this dignity to
possess a large fortune, or there must be considerable emoluments
attached to the vice-regal office sub rosa; for the salary of an
American viceroy is only 12,600l. per annum, and with this he has
to observe the state of a king; he has his body guards, who precede
him whenever he goes out; he is served by pages, and allowed to
eat only with the members of his own family, it being too great a
condescension in the viceroy, to permit any inferior to sit at the
same table with him.
The nobles of New Spain are represented as extremely numerous;
the creoles seeking with great avidity after Spanish honours; the
government have also ennobled the caciques or heads of the Indian
tribes, who are extremely proud of their distinction. It is a
singular circumstance, that the descendants of the kings and great
chiefs who were in alliance with Montezuma at the time of the
conquest, should many of them at present hold the chief authority
by consent of the Spaniards over the tribes, which their ancestors
governed, and which they now oppress still more than their
forefathers did; the caciques being generally very proud, ignorant
and vain of their fancied superiority.
In describing the natives of this country, we shall relate the
manner in which they have been and are still governed; at present
it will be necessary to recur to the political divisions of the
territory of New Spain.
The viceroyalty of New Spain is divided into three provinces and
twelve intendancies; which again suffer also some other minute
subdivisions, which the enumerations will hereafter be given.
The three provinces and twelve intendancies are as follow:—The
province of New Mexico; two provinces of California, or Old and New
California. The intendancies of New Biscay, or Durango, Sonora,
San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, Guadalaxara, Guanaxuato, Valladolid
or Mechoacan, Mexico, Puebla or Tlascala, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, or
Guaxaca, and Merida or Yucatan. The civil affairs of these great
territories are under the control of two supreme councils, called
Audienzas Reales, which govern the districts situated to the
north and south of a certain line beginning thirty miles to the
northward of the Panuco river, or Rio Tampico, in the Gulf of
Mexico, and thence to St. Luis Potosi, along the southern boundary
of the intendancy of Zacatecas and west side of the intendancy of
the Guanaxuato, through the intendancy of Guadalaxara to Guatlan, a
port on the Pacific.
To the north of this line, the audienza of Guadalaxara exerts its
authority, and the southern part, till New Spain is bounded by the
kingdom of Guatimala, is subject to the audienza of Mexico.
This immense viceroyalty is situated partly in the northern
temperate, and partly in the torrid zone; and is politically
governed by a viceroy nominated by the Court of Spain, and two
captain-generals or comandantes generales, who are in some
measure under his authority. These last named governors have
authority over,—Sonora, New Biscay, New Mexico, and the two
Californias, which comprise the western captain-generalship; and
Coaguila, Texas, the colony of New Santander, and New Leon, in
the Intendancy of St. Luis Potosi; which comprise the eastern
captain-generalship: part of these are, however, only subject
to their authority as military commands, and to name those
would afford no satisfaction, as the minute subdivisions of the
governments of so vast a country are liable to constant changes.
New Spain is bounded on the north by an imaginary line the 39° of
north latitude, reaching to Port San Francisco on the Pacific; the
Pacific Ocean and Gulf of California bounds it on the west; on the
east the United States Territory of Louisiana, the Mexican Gulf
and Bay of Honduras; and on the south the kingdom of Guatimala
completes its boundaries.
The extent of this viceroyalty occupies a space equal to 118,478
square leagues, of twenty-five to a degree.
The climate of New Spain may be looked upon as the most
extraordinary in the world, varying from the tropical heats to the
mild and healthful climate of middle Europe, and to the frosts and
snows of Siberia; this phenomenon being observable in a journey of
a few hours across the ridge of the Cordilleras.
The sea coasts are hot and insalubrious in general; the port of
Vera Cruz, on the east, and that of Acapulco, on the west, the
two great emporiums of Mexican commerce, being amongst the most
unhealthy places in the world. The southern parts of this kingdom,
which are not on elevated land, are, during the whole year, subject
to excessive heats; even in December the heat exceeding that of the
English summer. The plains which extend along the ridges of the
Cordillera are in general healthy, and their climate temperate, and
the yellow fever extends its ravages only to a small distance from
the coast to the interior; as soon as the land begins to rise this
pestilence ceases.
The whole province of Mexico is crossed by a vast plain at the
height of from 2000 to 2700 yards above the level of the sea; here
the inhabitants enjoy a perpetual spring; and, although they live
under the Torrid Zone, they occasionally feel a considerable degree
of cold in the northern districts. The climate in the interior is
so delightful that the natives sleep, with little covering, under
the canopy of heaven.
The great Mexican plain above mentioned, may be said to extend
through the whole of New Spain. Carriages traverse a distance of
five hundred leagues on it from Mexico to Santa Fé in the north;
the whole road being made with little labour, and nearly level.
This enormous plain, or table land, as well as several others of
less dimensions, forms the ridge of the Cordilleras, which goes
by the names of Anahuac, Sierra Madre, Topia, &c. and is of great
breadth. On its bosom repose the summits of gigantic mountains,
which reach the region of perpetual snow. On the east coast the
land is generally flat and swampy; and on the west, the descent of
the central chain has four parallel valleys of great depth, which
are richly cultivated.
The Cordillera of New Spain is evidently a continuation of the
Andes; it traverses the captain-generalship of Guatimala, along its
western coast, throwing out arms into the province of Honduras; it
then turns eastward, for a short distance, on entering the kingdom
of New Spain, and sends an arm into the province of Yucatan; rising
afterwards gradually to the north, and occupying the middle of the
continent; it then, in the province of Mexico, goes off to the
east, where, forming the vast plain of Anahuac, it has its greatest
elevation, and is here called Sierra Madre; the Popocatepetl,
Iztaccihuatl, Pico de Orizaba, and Cofre de Perote being either in
or on the borders of this province; the Popocatepetl, the highest
summit of New Spain is 17,716 feet above the level of the sea.
The Cordillera then passes on to the north-west, and throws out
three branches, one into New Leon, one into Guadalaxara, and one
to the province of Zacatecas; it then continues northward, being
of great breadth, till it passes the kingdom of New Spain, and
on the borders assumes the names of Sierra de las Grullas, and
Sierra Verde, after which it joins the Blue Mountains, and Stoney
Mountains of north-west America. Amongst the lofty masses we have
mentioned are some volcanoes, which constitute a magnificent part
of the scenery; no less than five existing in the provinces of
Mexico, Puebla, and Vera Cruz, some of which are enveloped in
perpetual snows.
The sides of this great chain are covered with immense forests
of every species of trees, which luxuriate according to their
position; the hardy pine and fir occupying the upper, and the
tropical productions the lower regions.
In the valleys, on the plains, sides, and at the foot of the
chain, are observed beautiful cities, villages, and romantically
situated farms, forests, interspersed with rivers, cataracts, and
extraordinarily formed rocks. It is here that the painter might
mature his taste for the wonderful, the rude, and the majestic
features of nature. The soil, adapted to cultivation, is mostly a
deep clay, which requires nothing more than irrigation to render it
fertile in the extreme. The agricultural objects are principally
wheat, maize, cotton, indigo, pimento, sugar, tobacco, the agave
and cochineal plant. This applies chiefly to the southern portion,
the more northerly being nearly in a state of nature. Sugar,
cotton, cocoa and indigo flourish between 19° and 22° of north
latitude, and are only abundantly produced at an elevation of from
1900 to 2600 feet; as also European grains at the height of from
between 4550 to 9750 feet.
The oaks of Mexico grow to maturity only at from 2600 to 9750 feet
of elevation; pines reach, toward the lower term of congelation,
to a height of 13,000 feet, and descend on the east coast as low as
6000 feet above the level of the sea.
The banana, the great support of the natives, is found no higher
than 4600 in a state of perfection. This fruit forms the principal
food of the natives; when gathered green they cut it into slices,
and lay them in the sun to dry, and pound it into meal, which they
use for the same purposes that flour is generally put to; the fruit
is also eaten.
The plantations of the banana are kept up by suckers. The same
region which matures the banana, is also favourable to the manioc,
which is powdered and made into bread. Of this root there are two
kinds, one sweet, the other bitter; the latter is poisonous, unless
carefully made into bread by separating the noxious juice. The
bread of the manioc is called cassava, and is extremely nutritive;
forming, when made up in a particular manner, by being smoked and
grated, a substance which resists the attacks of insects, making
one of the chief articles of provision on long journeys. They also
make of the poisonous juice a sort of soy; but it is sometimes
dangerous to use this sauce.
Manioc is cultivated by slips, and they have one harvest a-year,
the whole process being nearly similar to that of potato planting.
Maize occupies the same region, and reaches to maturity at the
same elevation as the two former plants. This plant is of the
utmost importance to the colonies, and, being indigenous, thrives
better here than anywhere. It grows to the height of nine feet,
and yields a hundred-and-fifty fold. It succeeds better in the
southern provinces than in the northern, and forms a principal
article of food to the inhabitants, to the mules employed in the
mines, and in conveying goods from one province to another, and to
the poultry, &c. When the harvest of maize fails, the unfortunate
natives are reduced to the greatest straits. It yields, in the
most favourable situations, three crops annually. This maize, or
Indian corn, is eaten boiled and roasted, and, when ground, is
made into bread. The meal is used for soups, under which form it
is principally consumed. The Indians, also, by fermentation, make
several intoxicating liquors from this plant, as well as a sort of
beer; and, before the arrival of the Spaniards, the Mexicans made
sugar of the stalks.
Wheat was first introduced by the Spaniards, and promises to
become, with the other European grains, when the great roads are
completed, one of the most abundant articles of the commerce of
New Spain, as it already enters into competition, at the Havannah,
with the flour of the United States; but the means of transport
are at present so bad in the interior, that no great quantity is
cultivated for exportation. The potato which was introduced by the
Europeans thrives very well; for although it originally came from
America, it was known only in the southern part at the time of the
conquest. The capsicum, or pimento, the tomatas, rice, turnips,
cabbages, sallads of all sorts, onions, and every kind of European
vegetable are successfully cultivated. The table land produces all
sorts of European fruits in great plenty; plums, apricots, figs,
cherries, peaches, melons, pears, apples, &c. The vine and olive
also flourish equally well, but are not frequently to be seen,
on account of the Spanish Government discouraging the culture of
these plants, as the commerce of the Peninsula, in oils and wine,
would cease, if they were allowed to be reared; the climate of
New Spain being more favourable for their production than that
of Europe; however they are found in California, and some of the
northern provinces, in great abundance. The tropical fruits, of
every species, are met with in New Spain, guavas, ananas, sapotes,
mameis, &c; and the Europeans appear to take great delight in their
gardens. The orange and lemon plants, of almost every species,
grow in these delightful regions, where animal food forms the
secondary article of human nourishment.
The principal vegetable decoction which supplies the place of the
brandies and strong liquors of Europe, is that produced from the
agave, or maguey. The natives and Spaniards have large plantations
of agave, for the purpose of forming from it their favourite
beverage, called pulque, which is procured by wounding the plant at
a particular season, from which there flows a ropy liquor, which
they collect and ferment. Pulque, from being the great beverage
of the Indians, and lower orders of Mexican Spaniards, yields an
immense revenue to the government. The sugar cane is successfully
cultivated, and sugar already forms one of the principal articles
of export. Cotton is also an article of commerce, as is likewise
coffee, but neither of them to a great amount. Their cocoa and
chocolate have long been famous; the name of the latter being
originally Mexican, but the best chocolate comes from Guatimala.
Vanilla, of the finest quality, is imported into Spain from
Mexico. Sarsaparilla and jalap, which takes its name from the
town of Xalapa, near which it is found, are celebrated articles
of its export trade. Of tobacco, it does not grow enough for
its own consumption, not owing to the soil, but to its culture
being discouraged. The indigo from the Spanish colonies is raised
chiefly in Guatimala. Odoriferous, gums, medicinal plants, and
drugs; the dying woods, particularly logwood; the valuable woods
used in making articles of furniture; are the produce of this
Viceroyalty; which is as rich in the productions of the vegetable
as of the mineral kingdom. Cochineal, and the plant on which the
insect feeds and comes to maturity, are amongst the most singular
of its products; they are principally managed by the Indians, who
are most skilful in the mode of collecting the harvests of this
extraordinary dye.
The animals wild and domestic, are chiefly the horse, mules, of
which thousands are employed in carrying goods over the crests of
the mountains separating the two oceans, and in drawing the metals
from the mines, &c., sheep, goats, and cattle; the cougar, or
American tiger; the puma, the tiger-cat, loupcervier, wild-boar,
swine, buffalo bison, tapir, marmadillo, and immense tribes of apes
and monkeys, with birds of every variety and beauty, amongst which
are wild and tame turkeys, ducks, domestic fowls, &c.
The insects are as numerous as singular, and the serpents and
reptiles thrive under the vertical sun, and amid the humid
exhalations of the low-lands. The alligator is found in its rivers
and swamps, and is nearly as formidable as the Egyptian crocodile.
In the northern part of New Spain, horses, cattle, sheep and
goats, are found in a state of nature, having multiplied to an
extraordinary degree in the wide spread plains and Savannahs.
The silk-worm is reared in some of the provinces; but as the
growing of silk would interfere with the commerce of the East
Indian possessions of Spain, this article is not much attended to.
Honey and wax are procured in the greatest plenty, as may
reasonably be imagined in a country abounding with aromatic herbs
and flowers; wax forms a great article of its home consumption,
which is the case in all Catholic countries, where such immense
quantities of it are burnt in processions and the churches.
The pearl fisheries of the Californian Gulf, are not at present
carried on with much activity, but pearls of great value have been
found on its coasts.
In the description of the different provinces of this kingdom, we
shall occasionally give more particular relations of the animal and
vegetable productions of New Spain.
The gulf of Mexico, the bay of Honduras on the eastern side,
the Pacific on the western, with the immense inlet or sea of
California, afford to this rich and fertile viceroyalty the
favourable opportunities for the most extensive commerce, were it
not that it is greatly impeded by the want of numerous roads across
the elevated land of the interior; these, however, are gradually
opening; and in proportion as the Spaniards exert themselves in
forming them, so will the commerce of Mexico increase in value
above that of the neighbouring continental states, with whom,
at present, it is, for this cause alone, unable to enter into
competition. The distance in some parts of New Spain, from ocean
to ocean is very inconsiderable; and some rivers which run from
opposite sides of the same mountain approach so near, at their
sources, to each other, as to offer to an enterprising people every
facility for internal navigation; at present, the commerce of these
colonies is tardily carried on from the coasts of the Pacific, to
those of the Atlantic by means of mules, which travel in cavalcades
along the roads crossing the chain, or by Indians carrying burdens
on their backs.
The commerce of New Spain centres chiefly at the port of Acapulco
in the Pacific, to which the vessels from Manilla bring the
productions of the East Indies, which, with the commercial articles
of the country itself, are transported over the mountains to
Vera Cruz, the Atlantic port, from whence they proceed to the
Havannah, and to Europe. We have related what the vegetable and
animal kingdoms chiefly furnish towards this trade; it now remains
to state the share which the mineral kingdom affords. New Spain
is probably richer in productions of this nature than any other
country of the world; but for want of the mechanical means which
are so extensively employed in raising the metals of Europe, the
produce of the Mexican mines, as well as of all those of the New
World, is not so great as has been usually imagined, many of the
richest veins having been abandoned (after enormous expences and
labour employed in opening them), on account of water gaining on
the operations of the miners. That useful and surprising instrument
the steam-engine, requires to be introduced generally into the
mining system of the Americans, before any great accumulations of
the precious and useful metals can be had on that continent; then
also will the terrible labour of those unfortunate people, who
carry on their backs, in baskets, from the depths of these heated
caverns, the ores which are there discovered, to the surface,
be discontinued; the human race will sensibly increase, and the
sterile wastes and thick forests will give way to the arts of
agriculture.
The mining stations of gold and silver in New Spain amount to
more than 450. They are divided into thirty-seven districts,
each governed by a council of the mines. Humboldt supposes that
near three thousand actual mines exist in these 450 stations.
The principal and most valuable are those of the provinces of
Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, Guadalaxara,
Durango, Sonora, Valladolid, Oaxaca, Puebla, Vera Cruz, and Old
California. The veins exist mostly in primitive and transition
rocks, and the richest silver veins, which are single, run to an
amazing breadth and length; the poorest are those in which the
silver is dispersed in small and numerous ramifications. The best
and most productive of the silver mines of New Spain, are situated
at a height of from 5900 to 9840 feet above the level of the sea,
and there are three which supply more than half as much again as
all the rest put together; these are the mines of Guanaxuato,
Catorce, and Zacatecas. The quantity of silver exported from New
Spain to Europe and India, per annum, is about one million six
hundred and fifty thousand pounds in weight. After the three above
mentioned, the mines of Real del Monte, Tasco, and Zimapan in
Mexico; Guarisamez, Batopilas, and Parral in Durango; Bolaños in
Guadalaxara; Sombrerete and Fresnillo in Zacatecas and Ramos in San
Luis Potosi, are those which afford the greatest quantity of ore.
Gold is generally procured in the sands of torrents by washings.
It is produced abundantly in Sonora, where it is found in the
alluvious grounds; in the sands of Hiaqui and in Pimeria, where
grains of very large size have been discovered. It is also procured
from the mines of Oaxaca in veins, as well as in most of the
silver mines, mixed with the silver, crystallized, in plates,
&c. The produce of gold in New Spain is stated to amount, in the
most favourable seasons, to a million of piastres, or 218,333l.
sterling; the produce of silver at twenty-two millions of piastres,
is 4,812,500l. sterling.
Native silver is sometimes found in great masses in the mines of
Batopilas, as well as in some others.
The mines of Guanaxuato, of which the most celebrated is the one
named Valenciana, are said to produce double the quantity of gold
and silver to that of the celebrated Potosi in South America. In
this mine the great vein is twenty-two feet in breadth; and, as the
chasm is entirely dry, it is easier worked than almost any other
American mine. The pits extend to the breadth of 4900 feet, and
the lowest is 1640 feet in depth. The undertaking employs upwards
of 900 men in carrying the ores to the surface up the stairs on
their backs, 1800 workmen in procuring and sorting the ore, with
400 women and children, carrying the minerals to the sorters; the
total expences of the materials, workmen, overseers, &c., is above
187,500l. sterling per annum, and the net profit, during the same
period, to the proprietors, after deductions of the kingʼs fifth,
and all expences, is from 82,500l. to 123,759l. per annum.
The mine of Sombrerete in Zacatecas yielded in one year a profit of
above 833,400l. sterling to its proprietor. In San Luis Potosi,
the mine of La Purissima Catorce yields annually to its owners
a profit of upwards of 43,700l. sterling. The others we have
mentioned, as being the richest, yield immense revenues to their
holders and to the government.
In these rich mines the miners and labourers contrive occasionally
to steal the valuable metals. They, however, undergo a very
rigorous search on leaving the pit; nevertheless, like the Indians
in the diamond mines of Golconda, they frequently are adroit enough
to secrete the ores, notwithstanding many of them go nearly naked.
The greater part of the silver is procured by the means of mercury
from the ores, smelting being not much used for want of fuel:
the quantity of mercury used in the process of amalgamation is
estimated at upwards of two millions one hundred pounds troy weight.
Copper, of which the ancient Mexicans made their tools, is found
both native and in the mines of Valladolid; as well as in those of
New Mexico.
Tin is found in grains and in wood tin in the clayey soil of
Guanaxuato and Zacatecas.
The quantity of these metals which is brought to market is very
trifling, as they are not much sought after; as is also the case
with iron, which exists in various parts of New Spain in great
abundance, and under every form. Lead is chiefly found in New Leon,
and New Santander; and in Mexico, antimony, zinc, and arsenic.
Mercury is procured in Mexico and Guanaxuato, particularly at
Chica, Celaya, and Zimapan: but the mines are insufficiently
worked, the mercury for amalgamation coming entirely through Spain
to the northern colonies of Spanish America. Coal exists in New
Mexico; and salt is yielded from the lakes of the Mexican plains;
diamonds, topazes, emeralds, and other gems; asphalt, amber,
jasper, alabaster, and the magnet, are produced in New Spain. The
affairs of the mining interest are directed by a council-general;
on this council, which has a president, the thirty-seven districts
depend. The mines are wholly the property of individuals; their
councils are only erected to judge of the affairs relating to
the payment of the duties, and to the general ordering of the
undertakings. At Mexico there is a college of mining, where young
men are educated by the government, to instruct them in all the
branches of science necessary to be attained, in order that the
mines may be worked in the best manner. The council-general
receives a tithe on all metals, and with this, the salaries of the
members, the expences of the college, and advances to undertakers,
are paid.
Rivers.—New Spain does not contain such extensive
and majestic rivers as are to be found in her sister colonies
of the south; nevertheless some of the streams are by no means
inconsiderable; the Rio Bravo del Norte, and the Rio Colorado,
roll a vast body of water to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The
Rio Bravo rises in the Sierra Verde, near the northern boundaries
of the kingdom; this noble river, after various intricate windings,
and watering a tract of country, inhabited principally by the
aborigines, loses itself in the Gulf of Mexico, having performed
a course of nearly two thousand miles; which immense length of
river is obstructed by cataracts in the mountainous country of the
interior, and by bars of sand in the flat and marshy lands towards
the sea coast; canoes navigate, however, a surprising distance
up the stream. The Rio Colorado rises in the same mountains, and
nearly in the same latitude; but on the opposite side to the
sources of the Rio del Norte, and running through a country either
waste or inhabited only by the Indians, empties itself into the
upper extremity of the Gulf of California, by a large estuary,
after a course of a thousand miles; canoes navigate this river for
three hundred miles from its mouth. The other rivers of New Spain
which are of the greatest importance, are the Mexicana, Arighitas,
Flores, Trinidad, Colorado de Texas, Medina or San Josef, Magdalena
or Rio Guadalupe, the Nueces, the Gila near the Great Colorado,
and almost equalling it in length; the Hiaqui, Mayo, Nasas, Rio
Grande de St. Jago, Panuco, Zacatula, Yopez, Alvarado, Tula, or
Moetesuema, with many others of smaller note, the names of which
will be mentioned under the heads of the several provinces in which
they are situated.
Lakes.—The lakes of New Spain are chiefly the lakes
of Mexico, near which the capital is built. Lake Chapala in New
Gallicia, a large sheet of water, the dimensions of which have not
been accurately obtained; it contains several islands, in one of
which, some of the insurgents who had been routed by the Spanish
troops, shut themselves up. Also Lake Cayman in New Biscay, in
a desert country, called the Bolson de Mapimi, not so large as
that of Chapala; and lake Pascuaro near Valladolid. The lakes of
this part of the American continent, are neither large nor very
numerous; the whole country descending rapidly from the central
Cordillera, towards the east and west, throws off the deposits
which may commence from the springs, into the form of rivers.
The bays and coasts, cities, towns, &c. will be described in
following the provincial relations.
The islands of Spanish North America, are described at the end of
the First Part.
Temperature.—In order to give some notion of different
regions inhabited by man in this extraordinary country, we shall
adduce the temperatures of the coast and of the higher lands.
On the coast and at the foot of the mountains under the tropical
sun, the heat is excessive, and the temperature of the air is as
great as in the hottest of the West India islands. This is called
the hot region; and above it is the temperate region which enjoys a
perpetual spring, and a temperature of from 60° to 70° Fahrenheit,
at an elevation of from 3930 to 4920 feet above the sea; they
are, however subject to thick fogs, as it is the height at which
clouds usually float in the atmosphere. Above this and to the
height of 7200 feet, is the cold region, where the mean heat is 62°
Fahrenheit; beyond which the cold becomes greater and greater till
the region of perpetual snow commences, at the height in the 19°
and 20° of north latitude of nearly 15,050, above the ocean.
Population.—The extent of the population of New Spain may
be said to be about six millions and a half, of which the Indians
are conjectured to amount to nearly three millions; the remainder
consists of European Spaniards, Creoles, or people of Spanish
extraction; Mestizoes, from the Spaniards and Indians; Mulattoes,
from whites and negroes; Zambos, from negroes and Indians; negroes,
and the aboriginal race, or Indians, which are totally unmixed,
and are the descendants of the people who inhabited the country
at the conquest. The European Spaniards hold the chief offices,
civil, military and ecclesiastical; but the Creoles view with great
jealousy this assumption of power, which causes these two casts to
look with very little complacency on each other; and as, by the
cultivation of their minds, they hold the first rank in the colony,
it has been observed by a late Spanish writer, that the struggle
which unfortunately exists against the mother country, has been
materially favoured by the latter class. Humboldt relates, that the
expression of “I am not a Spaniard, I am an American,” had been
frequently heard during the time he was on the continent.
The Europeans and Creoles, or whites, are computed to amount to
1,200,000; of whom, about 80,000 are European Spaniards.
The whites in New Spain possess the greatest property, both in
the mines and the land; a descendant of Cortez, the Duke of
Monteleone, a Neapolitan and non-resident, is amongst the richest
who derive no advantage from mining operations; the whites are
those who principally cultivate their minds, though instances of
scientific attainments are not uncommon in the other classes. New
Spain can boast of several learned men of Creolian birth, who have
considerably advanced the arts and mathematical sciences in their
country; many painters also of considerable talent exist in this
portion of the New World. The manners and customs of the whites are
nearly the same as those of their European brethren.
The religion is Roman Catholic, and the clergy of New Spain are
a mixture of all the casts, excepting the negroes; the beneficed
and dignified clergy, being chiefly whites; they consist of an
archbishop of Mexico, and eight bishops of Puebla, Guadalaxara,
Valladolid. Durango, Monterey, Oaxaca, Sonora, and Yucatan
or Merida, with about 14,000 dignitaries, parish priests,
missionaries, monks, lay brothers, and servants.
The revenues of the archbishop and bishops amount to about
118,000l., out of which the archbishop has 27,000l., per annum.
The negroes and slaves of New Spain form a very inconsiderable part
of the population; of the negroes, there are only about 6000, and
many of them are free; of slaves, about 10,000, who are negroes,
and the Indians who are taken on the frontiers by the missionariesʼ
troops; these slaves are to be found only at Vera Cruz, Acapulco,
and on the coasts; employed in the ports, the culture of sugar,
indigo, &c. being almost entirely the work of the free people. The
slaves are, with the exception of the Indian prisoners, treated
mildly, and gain their freedom by amassing, if they are of an
active turn, a small sum which they give to their owner, who is
forced to emancipate them; this sum is from sixty to eighty pounds.
The mestizoes, mulattoes, zambos, and people of mixed blood, amount
to about 2,400,000. The mestizoes, are represented as a mild and
well conducted people, differing in hardly any thing from the
whites.
The mulattoes have that revengeful disposition, versatility of
conduct and voluble tongue, which they possess in all other
quarters of the world.
The aboriginal race form a large section of the Mexican population;
their number, as before stated, amounts to about three millions;
they inhabit, chiefly the central and southern part of New Spain,
and in these regions they are mostly to be found concentrated in
towns and villages. Towards the north the Indians are, with the
exception of a few, who have been converted by the missionaries,
wandering tribes who subsist by the chace, and by the plunder
of the Spanish settlers. The military stations are in constant
activity against these people, they frequently capture numbers, who
are sent to Mexico, as slaves. For the history of the migration of
the Mexican race we must refer to the description of the province
of Mexico, under which head will be found some interesting details
of the principal events which have taken place in respect to these
people, up to the period at which they were subjugated by the
Spaniards.
The Indians of New Spain are of a copper colour, and in general
well made, with very little beard, but long smooth, shining dark
hair, prominent cheek bones, and thick lips. Their temperament
is melancholic, and their physiognomy indicating a great share
of moroseness, strangely intermingled with gentleness. The
Mexican Indians generally wear some hair on the upper lip, no
doubt in imitation of the Spaniards; they are extremely fond of
an intoxicating liquor, made of the juice of the agave, and those
who addict themselves to this practice, by taking very little
solid food, greatly weaken their constitutions; otherwise they
are a robust race, and attain in general a healthy old age. They
are in their common demeanour, silent and reserved, and appear to
entertain for the Spaniards a constant sort of distrust. In the
Indian towns and villages, few whites settle, and they are governed
by magistrates, elected from their own tribes, who are represented
to be more severe, and fond of punishing their brethren, than the
Spaniards themselves. Very few of the Indians who are subject to
Spanish power, are in any other situations than those of small
cultivators, labourers, or artisans, and are a hard working people
when urged by interested motives; otherwise they are idly disposed,
as is the case with most people who live in a warm climate; they
are however free, and receive for their labour, when employed
in the mines or other work, very good wages. They are, in some
instances, forced to supply a certain number of labourers for
particular operations, but these are always paid.
The women are more lively, and of a less reserved disposition than
the men, and are kept by them in a state of much subjection.
Carving on wood, and rough paintings, or rather designs, with
the fabrication of pottery and cotton cloths, are the principal
arts in which they excel, and they are represented as equalling
the Chinese in their taste and ability in imitating objects of
European workmanship. Flowers are a part of the household goods of
the Mexican Indians; their shops for the display of fruit, &c. in
Mexico, being completely lined with the most beautiful productions
of the flower garden, in which they take great delight.
The Indian tribes who inhabit the northern part of New Spain,
are mostly free from the domination of the Spaniards; they are a
warlike people, and are a more noble race than their subjugated
brethren, carrying on a constant warfare against the settlers, and
only trading with them, when in absolute want of some articles of
finery, or nourishment. This trade never takes place personally;
the Indian leaves his goods, at a stated place, and the Spaniard
takes them, and deposits in return the articles the Indians are
known to be in need of; this commerce is said to be carried on with
a rectitude of principle highly honourable to both parties.
The whole of the Indians are styled tributary by the Spanish laws,
excepting only such as are descended from the ancient kings and
nobles of the country; these are called Caciques, who levy the
tribute, and are appointed to the magisterial functions in the
Indian towns and villages; but are not a jot better informed than
their brethren. Many of them have embraced the rigid rules of the
monastery, and their daughters are often devoted to the veil; in
most of their towns or villages, the curate is an Indian.
At the conquest, these unfortunate people suffered very much,
they were used as beasts of burden, in the working of the mines,
the erection of buildings, and as slaves, in fact, in every
thing where labour was required; their conquerors disdaining to
work. They were divided as spoil among the soldiers and the new
settlers, particularly the monks; thus they languished for some
time under the pressure of this burden, and it was not until the
eighteenth century, that these poor people were in some measure
freed from slavery. Charles III. abolished the right of possession,
which had been granted over the Indians to the Spanish settlers;
intendancies were established, to watch over the welfare of the
natives, and since that period they have gradually enjoyed a milder
form of government, and, comparatively speaking, are very little
oppressed.
Many of the Indian families possess considerable wealth from
their plantations. M. de Humboldt mentions Indian families at
Cholula, where there are no Caciques, who possess from these
sources, capitals from 33,000 to 50,000l. sterling; but they
live nevertheless very wretched, at least in exterior appearance.
The Indian tribute levied on all individuals, amounts to about
9s. each per annum; by paying which, they are exempted from
all other taxes; they are, however, looked upon by the law, as a
sort of irrational beings, and consequently, great impediments to
their advancement in the arts of civilisation, and intermixture
with Europeans takes place; they can enter into no contracts above
a very small sum, and the whites are forbidden to settle in Indian
towns, or to intermarry with that people.
The laws are still more severe with respect to the blacks and their
descendants.
Antiquities, &c.—The ancient monuments of the Mexicans, at
present remaining, are chiefly their teocallies or temples of a
pyramidal form; these are generally divided into steps or separate
platforms with a square top, on which the priests officiated; the
greatest and most striking of them, are those of Cholula, Mitla and
Papantla, which will be spoken of in describing the provinces.
The Mexican paintings are extremely singular, being on stags skins
prepared for the purpose; on paper made of the agave, and on other
substances. These people preserved by symbolical paintings, the
memory of former events relating to their general and particular
history; the colours are extremely bright, and the designs, though
rude, are well executed.
Manufactures.—The manufactured articles of New Spain, consist
chiefly in cottons, woollens, soap, and soda, plate, coin, powder,
cigars, and snuff. The manufacture of tobacco is a royal monopoly,
and carried on by the government; the others are principally
carried on by individuals, (coin and powder excepted,) who
employ the Indians, mulattoes, negroes, &c., and are (in large
establishments) allowed a certain number of slaves. There are some
trifling manufactories of crockery-ware and glass in the cities
near the capital.
The silver and gold taken from the mines, is either wrought into
services of plate for the table, for the churches, in ornamental
works, or is coined at the royal mint of Mexico, which was
established by Antonio de Mendoza, first viceroy of Mexico,
fourteen years after the conquest; it is estimated that upwards of
four hundred and eight millions of money has issued from this mint
since that period.
The Indians manufacture beautiful toys of bone, wood, &c.
Cabinet-ware and turnery are executed with great skill by the
white artisans, the woods they are able to employ being cheap and
beautiful; carriages are also made in New Spain, but most of those
which are in use in the capital and great cities, by the nobility
and gentry of fashion, are the productions of the London workshops.
Commerce.—The commerce of New Spain has been of late years
considerably augmented, both by the great additions made to
agriculture, and by the formation of good roads from the interior;
when these shall become sufficiently finished to admit of the
conveyance of merchandise by means of waggons instead of on the
backs of horses, mules, and Indians, the commercial relations of
New Spain, will embrace the most remote countries of the Old World.
The internal traffic consists chiefly in maize, ingots of metal
carried from the mines of the capital to be coined or assayed,
hides, flour, tallow, woollens, European goods, of which iron and
mercury form the most prominent articles; cocoa, chocolate, copper,
woods for the cabinet-makers, cottons, wines, tobacco, sugar, rum,
pulque, wax, powder for the mines, &c.
The exterior traffic consists in coin, plate, ingots of the
precious metals, cochineal, sugar, flour, indigo, provisions,
hides, pimento, vanilla, jalap, sarsaparilla, mahogany, logwood,
cabinet-woods, soap, cocoa, &c.; these are exported from Vera
Cruz and Campeachy. The imports from Europe, are cottons, linens,
woollens, silks, paper, brandy, mercury, steel, iron, wines, wax,
vinegar, raisins, almonds, olives, oil, saffron, corks, thread,
crockery-ware, and cordage, with a variety of minor articles,
such as fruits, medicines, toys, &c. The imports from the East
Indies, at the port of Acapulco, are calicoes, silks, muslins,
cottons, spices, gums, and jewellery, which trade is carried on by
armed vessels, under the orders of officers of the Spanish royal
navy; New Spain returns to the East Indies, coined silver, iron,
cochineal, cocoa, wine, oil, wool and hats.
The imports from the other Spanish American colonies to Acapulco
are chiefly in cinchona, or Jesuits bark, Chili, or long-pepper,
oil, Chili-wine, copper, sugar and cocoa; for which New Spain
returns woollens of her own manufacture, cochineal, tea and some
East Indian articles.
The commerce of New Spain has suffered much since the war, from
the heavy duties exacted at Vera Cruz, for articles the produce
of European soil, manufactured in the mother country, and by the
want of encouragement to the introduction of goods manufactured in
countries which have carried the arts to a greater height than they
have hitherto reached in Spain, as well as to the restrictions put
upon the cultivation of tobacco, the olive, and the wine. We shall
not examine here the value of the export and import trade of this
viceroyalty. It is well known, that the duties do very little more
than support the administration, and that having subsidies to make
annually to the islands of Cuba, Porto Rico, and to other of the
Spanish colonies, Mexico affords very little towards the support
of Old Spain. Indeed amongst the whole of the Spanish American
colonies, none but the vice-royalties of Peru and Mexico, make any
regular remittances of monies to Spain for the assistance of the
mother-country; the charges of government swallowing up all the
revenues in the others. M. de Humboldt cites the public accounts
of the colonies as his vouchers, and states, that the revenue of
New Spain may be estimated at upwards of four millions sterling,
of which about a million and a quarter are annually remitted to
Spain, the remainder being consumed in the subsidies paid to Porto
Rico, Cuba, &c., and in the interior administration. An anonymous
writer, who styles himself Espagnol amante de su Patria, has
lately published a pamphlet in London, in which he shows that the
revenue derived by the Spanish government, has very much decreased
since the period of M. de Humboldtʼs travels; although a free
trade has been conceded to the island of Cuba, by means of which,
the administration of that island has been enabled to meet their
expences, and to have a small sum in reserve, without being obliged
to have recourse to the Mexican subsidy.
The revenue of New Spain consists in the duties paid on all gold
and silver extracted from the mines, on the sale of quicksilver,
the coinage, sale of tobacco and powder, duties of entry, and
embarkation at the ports, the tribute imposed on the Indians, duty
on pulque (the fermented liquor of the agave), sale of indulgences
from Rome, tax on the clergy, sale of powder, stamps, sale of snow,
which is a royal right, and very productive in the hot regions,
where so much cooling liquors are consumed, and some other minor
taxes. With the amount of money collected under these heads, the
expences of the administration, of the missions to the northern
provinces, the fortifications, dockyards, ships of war, the
militia and regular troops are paid, together with the subsidies
before-mentioned.
The Army of New Spain consists of a regular force raised in the
country, of ten thousand men, and more than 20,000 militia. In the
present time, the army and navy of New Spain must be considered as
a component part of the military force of the Mother country, as
she is engaged in reinforcing them, by every means in her power, in
order to quell the disturbances which have arisen to such a height
in her more southern colonies.
The insurgents have made no decided progress in New Spain; they are
seen only in the province of Puebla, or rather in the old province
of Tlascala, in small bodies, and in the district of Texas, on the
northern part of San Luis Potosi, where they have formed a slight
establishment in Galveston Bay.
In Guadalaxara and Valladolid symptoms of disaffection have been
shown; but it has been immediately quelled, and the discontented
were dispersed by the Spanish troops; the few who could get
together taking shelter in an almost inaccessible island of the
lake Chapala in Valladolid.
The Indians are said to take no part with the insurgents, nor
are the people of the interior at all willing to enter into the
struggle; on the contrary, they have formed themselves, in many of
the districts, into military bodies for the preservation of the
public tranquillity.
It will be seen, on consulting the journals of the present time,
that the Government of the United States lays strong claim to
that portion of the kingdom of New Spain, east of the bay of St.
Bernardo; it having been declared in congress, that Galveston Bay,
where the insurgents have been attempting to form settlements,
in order to annoy from thence, the coasts of San Luis Potosi
and Vera Cruz, is within the limits of the United States. Should
this assertion, which is founded on the treaty of 1783, be well
grounded, the Spanish government will have no other barrier to
oppose to any future aggression of that power, than the great river
Bravo del Norte, which will bring the Americans within a very short
distance of the capital, and will leave them some of the richest
silver mines in the government of San Luis Potosi.
We shall now give a description of the capital of New Spain, as in
it the commerce, the wealth, and the power of the country, is, as
it were, concentrated.
Mexico, the capital of the Spanish vice-royalty of New
Spain, is situated in 19° 25ʹ 45ʺ north latitude, and 99° 5ʹ 5ʺ
west longitude, in a beautiful valley near the banks of the lake
Tezcuco. The houses are mostly founded on piles, on account of
the marshy nature of the ground, and the town is intersected by
numerous canals. The scite of the city is the same as that of the
ancient Mexico, which is said to have been so denominated from the
god of war of the Mexicans, whose appellation was Mexitli, as he
had a temple erected there to his worship. A palace was erected by
Cortez, opposite to the scite of the palace of Montezuma. This city
is a very fine one, and it is asserted that, with the exception of
some parts of Westminster, Petersburgh, Berlin and Philadelphia,
there is no city of the same magnitude which bears any comparison
with Mexico for its great regularity, the extent of the public
buildings and places, the level, and the general architecture.
The railings and gates of the houses are of iron, ornamented with
bronze, and the roofs of the houses are flat, and formed into
terraces. The great breadth and length of its streets is an object
of admiration to strangers, but it is said they are nevertheless
dirty. The streets are paved and lighted by large reflecting lamps,
and generally run in straight lines, from west to east, and from
north to south; the footpaths are guarded by little stone-pillars,
and a covered sewer runs along the middle of the streets, as in
France.
The chief building is the vice-regal palace, built by Fernando
Cortez, near the ruins of that of Montezuma; it stands in the
central square, near the cathedral, and is a massive stone edifice.
The cathedral is a magnificent building, and cost the labour of
upwards of ninety years. In it are two images of the Virgin, one
of solid gold, weighing fourteen pounds, six ounces, eighteen
pennyweights. There are upwards of 100 other churches, which are
decorated in the usual glittering style of Catholic countries; the
monasteries and convents amount to twenty. Behind the palace of
the viceroy stands the mint, where 100 workmen are employed; the
bullion being here exchanged for coin, by the proprietors of mines.
The cathedral is so rich in plate, and gold, &c. that there is a
solid, silver rail round the high altar, and an enormous silver
lamp, enriched with gold embossed work, into which lamp, it is
said, three persons might enter, and the images of the saints, are
mostly solid silver, enriched with jewels and gold. The inhabitants
of the better sort are habited generally in silks, their hats
having diamond ornaments and gold lace; even the very slaves wear
bracelets of gold, silver, and gems.
The shops of Mexico make a profuse display of the most valuable
articles, and every thing wears the appearance of great riches, and
consequently of great luxury. There are thirteen hospitals, and
many charitable buildings; the population is estimated at 137,000
souls, of which 2,500 are Europeans, 65,000 white creoles, 33,000
copper-coloured natives, 26,500 mestizoes, and 10,000 mulattoes.
This great mass of people are abundantly supplied with provisions
from the neighbourhood of the city, which is very fertile.
Mexico is not fortified, having merely a ditch round it, without
ramparts or walls; there are however six gates for the great
communications from the country, together with other smaller ones,
for the immediate environs. The extent of this city is four miles
from north to south, and three from east to west. There is a great
market place, and a sort of bazaar, after the eastern fashion,
being a square of shops.
Mexico is plentifully supplied with good water, by means of two
aqueducts; the police of the city have guarded against fires by
water pipes, and they have lately built ten fountains with cocks,
after the manner of the towns in France, &c. They have a regular
watch, who take care of the lamps, and guard the streets; besides
which, the guard of the city, a species of troops, who are under
the orders of a judge, (who has, besides those who act immediately
in the city, about ten thousand spread through the kingdom,) patrol
the streets constantly, and punish excesses in the most exemplary
manner. The municipal body consists of a corrigidor or mayor,
twelve regidors or aldermen, and other inferior officers; the
alcades, or justices of the peace, sit for the judgment of civil
and criminal cases; their judgments, as well as that of the chief
judge of the police, are reversible by the Audienza Real, which
again refers to the viceroy, whose judgment is final, except in
particular cases, which he deems necessary to refer to the king of
Spain.
The courts, are the above-named Audienza Real, or royal audience,
the chancery, tribunal of accompts, the strangersʼ court, the court
of administrations for persons dying intestate, the tribunal of
registers, the tribunal of the inquisition, the royal tribunal
of mines, the tribunal of the descendants of Fernando Cortez, the
tribunal of the city, &c. Amongst the public offices are the royal
mint, chancery, the royal coffers, the house of the Californian
missions, the mount of piety, and the chapter and government of
the city, which is stiled Illustrious. The city arms are a castle
with three towers, an eagle on a tree, with a serpent in its beak,
and the Lake Tezcuco at the foot of the tree; supporters, two
lions; and crest, an imperial crown. These arms were granted by
the Emperor Charles V. whence the city has sometimes the title of
Imperial and Illustrious. In 1728, Philip V. granted it all the
privileges, &c. of a grandee of Spain, and in 1773 Charles III.
granted to the chapter of magistrates of the city, the distinction
of pre-eminence over all other tribunals, excepting the royal
audience and tribunal of accompts; and the use of uniforms laced
with gold. There are thirteen hospitals, and various charitable
establishments under their jurisdiction.
The viceroy of New Spain, a grandee of Spain, and of course always
a nobleman of high connections and rank, is commander in chief,
and president of the government, or in fact, king; and as Mexico
is the seat of his government, it will not be improper to give an
account of his command, &c. in a description of the city. He is
regarded as the chief viceroy of Spanish America, his territory
being equal to an European kingdom of large size. The governors of
the provinces of his vice-royalty are not however all named by him,
this power resting with the court of Spain. His patronage over all
the churches makes no inconsiderable part of his power.
The court of the viceroy is formed in the most splendid style;
he has body-guards both horse and foot, an immense train of
attendants, &c. His salary is not great, but the patronage over
lucrative places, monopolies, and the presents he receives, are
supposed to render it enormous; as he however is obliged to
support the style of a king, the greater part is spent in the
payment of his household, equipages, &c.; he is commander in chief,
and has under his orders in the kingdom of New Spain, about 10,000
regular troops, and 20,000 militia, making a total of 30,000 men;
these are however so dispersed, and ineffective, that he can send
no very large force into the field.
Mexico is an archbishopric, and metropolitan see; it is very
valuable, as the income is inferior to none but that of the
bishopric of Puebla de los Angelos; the archbishopʼs annual income
being 100,000 dollars.
The clergy of Mexico are numerous and wealthy, the chapter of the
cathedral containing twenty-six ecclesiastics. The income of the
dean is 10,000 dollars, the canons from 7,000 to 9,000, and the
sub-canons, from 2,000 to 4,000, and the parish curacies very
valuable in general.
The ecclesiastic courts of Mexico are comparatively as numerous as
the clergy, the principal one being the Holy Tribunal of the Faith,
or as it is better known by the title of “the Inquisition.”
The university of Mexico was founded in 1551, and is called the
Royal and Pontifical university of Mexico; it is composed of two
hundred and fifty doctors in all the faculties. It is under the
government of a rector, who is annually chosen by the preceding
rector, and eight of the council chosen by ballot from amongst
the doctors and bachelors. It has a chancellor, who is the chief
schoolmaster of the city, and who presides at the conferring of
degrees. The professors are nominated by a council, consisting
of the archbishops, the chief-judge of the royal audience, the
chief-inquisitor, the dean of the cathedral, the rector of
university, the chancellor, the senior professor of theology and
the dean of faculty.
The library of the university is in a bad condition, having been
only lately endowed, and is filled chiefly with theological works;
it is open to the public.
The college of Santa Maria de Todos los Santos, is the principal
college of Spanish America; it was founded in 1682, by the
archbishop of Mexico, and has a public library and thirteen
professors; it received additional buildings in 1750, and has 400
students.
The college of St. John is the oldest in New Spain; it was endowed
for children of Spanish and Indian parents.
The Jesuits had formerly five colleges in Mexico; there are now
two only remaining under the direction of the viceroy. Like the
colleges of this order in all parts of the world, these buildings
are strong, massive and magnificent; the great hall and chapel
of one being the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the
viceroyalty.
The public schools are numerous, being chiefly conducted by the
priests of the several religious orders.
The royal academy of Arts and Sciences has a good establishment of
professors of architecture, sculpture, painting, engraving, and
mathematics. There has also been lately erected a college of mines,
in which young men are instructed in various branches of science,
and in every thing that relates to mining.
The botanical garden is another useful institution, lately much
enriched.
The patron saint of Mexico is St. Mary of Guadaloupe, who is also
the patroness of Spanish America.
The character of the people of Mexico, as given by late travelers,
is that of a courteous and charitable people. The polite arts are
their chief study, and they boast of their painters. They are
great smokers, using cigars even at the theatre, and the ladies
all smoke; a part of their ornaments being a gold or silver cigar
box suspended by a chain or ribbon, in which they keep their
paper cigars; on the chain they wear little pincers to hold the
cigar, which, is nearly finished, whilst they light the new one.
The manufactory of cigars, a magnificent building, employs near
5000 persons; such is the demand for this article. They are fond
of theatrical exhibitions and have a handsome theatre. As in all
Catholic countries, religious processions and shows occupy a great
part of their attention; amongst the most splendid of these,
is the procession of the Corpus Christi, the festival of the
anniversary of the conquest of Mexico, and the publication of the
bulls of indulgence; which are hailed with eagerness, and looked
for with earnestness. The great civil show, is the entrance of a
new viceroy, on which occasion, the city is all splendour and joy.
The lower people are immoderately fond of a liquor named pulque,
and the number of houses for the sale of it have of late become so
numerous that the Police allow them only to remain open from ten
till four in the day-time, on account of the riots and violence
that happens in them; this liquor is allowed to enter the city only
by one gate, that of Guadaloupe; and such is the consumption of it
by the inhabitants, that the tax on it yields a revenue annually
of a million of dollars. The shopkeepers of Mexico issue tokens of
copper, iron and wood; and even grains of cacao pass as current
in the neighborhood; which arises from there being no bullion
currency. The price of bread is regulated three times in the year
by the price of grain. There are numbers of sugar mills in this
capital, and from there numerous distilleries of rum are kept at
work.
Mexico is at present a place of immense commerce, and will become
of more importance in a commercial point of view, when the great
roads from Vera Cruz, &c. are completed; as the transport of goods
will then be easier and less expensive; and the wheat, &c. of the
fine plains of Mexico, will find a ready market all over the world.
This city, though on a marshy soil, is in general healthy, and the
black vomit or yellow fever is here hardly known; but consumptions,
apoplexy, agues, fever, and pleurisy, are not uncommon. The worst
disorder to which the inhabitants of Mexico are subject appears to
be what they denominate “flato” or “flatus;” the unhappy patients
appearing in a state of madness, and have hot and shivering fits as
in the ague; convulsions, and hysteric affections also accompany
this strange disorder; which has been supposed to arise from the
great quantity of spice they use in their food, and from the
excessive use of tobacco.
This extraordinary city attracts the notice of Europeans from its
curious situation, as well as from the remembrances attached to its
name. It is placed on a plain, the height of which above the level
of the sea is 6900 feet, near the banks of the lakes Tezcuco and
Chalco, which are about ninety miles in circumference; the waters
of the latter are salt, of the former fresh; they communicate with
each other, and contain only two sorts of fish, one of which is
of very peculiar organization. The city at a distance, appears
to rise from the waters of the former lake; the banks of which
are beautified with the most enchanting village scenery; on the
opposite side of the lake, a luxuriant and highly cultivated valley
is contrasted with the towering summits of the enormous mountains,
emitting flame and smoke, in regions where eternal snow and winter
reigns. This extensive plain is covered with flax, hemp, cotton,
tobacco, sugar, indigo, &c.; and furnishes the markets of the
city with abundance of vegetables, meat, fruits, and poultry,
and reaches to the mountains, whose bases repose on its bosom.
These mountains are diversified into every form that imagination
can present, and are clothed with cedars, shrubs, and plants,
and contain in their bowels precious jewels and minerals. The
plain extends on all sides of the city and of the Lakes Tezcuco
and Chalco; but on the eastern-side of the latter it is not so
prolific, owing to the saline exhalations from the waters. On the
lower parts of the mountains, farms, country-seats and romantically
situated cottages are seen; and the whole plain appears well
watered by numerous canals and rivulets. To the north of the town,
near the suburbs, is the promenade, or Alameda; it is surrounded
by a rivulet, and is in the shape of a large square, with a basin
of water and fountain in the middle. From this bason eight walks
strike out, each bordered by two rows of trees: there are also
several other public walks, but the ground, in the immediate
neighbourhood of Mexico, is full of rivulets and canals, and rather
swampy.
The cold at Mexico is not great in the winter, as the Lake Tezcuco
seldom freezes thicker than a sheet of paper; in the summer it
is very hot, but as there are regular showers, which fall in the
evening, the air during the summer is much tempered. The rainy
season occupies four months, from the middle of May, to the middle
of September.
The houses of pilgrimage in the neighbourhood of Mexico are
singular; the chief one is the sanctuary of Neustra Senora de los
Remedios, on the spot where Cortez retired when he was repulsed.
The sanctuary of Guadalupe has a college, church, &c.
Just without the city is the sanctuary of Neustra Senora de los
Angelos, formerly the retreat of an anchorite. The desert of the
Carmelites is five leagues from the city, and here, in an inclosure
of three miles, the most austere of these monks live in solitary
cells.
About half a league from the city is the rock of the warm-baths.
The village of Traspana is also a place of great resort, the air
being thought very wholesome and pure. On a hill in the environs,
where there was formerly a palace of Montezuma, is the great
aqueduct of Chapultepec, which conveys water to the city; it is
above 9000 feet in length. The water of this, is however, not so
pure as that of the aqueduct of Sante Fé, which is 30,600 feet in
length, and which runs along the Alameda, but is not so beautiful a
structure as the former, as the water is not conveyed the whole way
over arches.
The surrounding scenery of the metropolis is in all respects highly
beautiful and singular; from it are seen the summits of some of the
loftiest mountains of North America, and the varied foliage of the
cypress, the avenues of elms and poplars, which branch to the city
from all quarters, the gardens of oranges and European fruits, the
deep verdure of the plain, the golden tint of the ripening corn,
and the different shades of the various Mexican plants, conveys,
through the medium of a pure and cerulean atmosphere, the utmost
delight to the eye of the beholders. The valley in which the city
and its neighbourhood rests, is filled with villages and towns, and
surrounded with enormous masses reposing on the great plain; two of
which, Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, are the most remarkable of
the group; the first is continually vomiting fire and smoke, though
covered with snow. The Pico de Orisaba is also visible, and forms a
grand feature of the scene. On the west of the city, the chain is
very high and continuous.
The remains of the former city are inconsiderable; some traces
of the great dikes yet subsist, as well as of the aqueducts. The
temples have been destroyed, but the foundations of the ancient
Mexican habitations are numerous in the environs of the city, and
prove that it was much larger than it is at present.
The lake has retired a league from the city, so that it is now
situated in a marshy soil to the left of the southern extremity of
Lake Tezcuco, and between it and Lakes Xochimilco and Chalco. To
the north it has two small lakes, one called Lake San Christoval,
and the other Lake Zumpango.
The palace of Montezuma stood opposite to where the viceroyʼs
palace now stands, and a palace was erected on the site of
Montezumaʼs, by the descendants of Cortez, as they were obliged to
resign the original building of the conqueror to the government;
this house still belongs to a descendant of Cortez, who is Marquis
del Valle de Oaxaca, and is also Duke de Monte Leone in Naples.
The building in which Cortez was stationed when he first entered
the city, still shows some of its remains behind the convent of
Santa Teresa.
Of the great temples nothing is to be seen; that dedicated to the
god of war was destroyed to make room for the cathedral.
A fine modern equestrian statue in bronze, of one of the Spanish
kings, ornaments the great square, which was cast and erected by a
Spanish artist residing in the city.
In this city, there are a set of people who resemble, in their
general habits, the Italian Lazaroni. They pass the night under
the arcades and porches, and work one or two days of the week, to
gain enough to enable them to buy sufficient liquor and food. They
amount to 30,000, and are designated by the names of Saragates,
and Guachinangos; they differ only from the Lazaroni, in not being
ferocious, and in never asking alms.
After having given this extended description of the metropolis
of New Spain, we shall return to the subject of its division
into provinces, &c. These have been before enumerated; we shall
therefore commence at the northern boundaries of the viceroyalty,
and proceed regularly to the southern limits of North America, on
the isthmus of Panama or Darien.
The most, northerly province of New Spain is New Mexico, which
extends from the Spanish boundary in 39° of north latitude, and is
terminated by an unknown country, inhabited by the savage tribes,
and by ranges of lofty mountains which have been very little
explored; on the east, it has unknown countries between it and the
United Statesʼ territory of Louisiana, from which it is divided by
an ideal line; on the west by unknown lands and Indian nations; and
on the south by the intendancy of New Biscay; it is 175 leagues in
length and 40 in breadth: the limits on the east and west are not,
however, very accurately defined. This country has been subdivided
into several districts; but as few details of these have ever been
published, it is impossible to ascertain their accuracy. Though
very extensive, it is but thinly peopled, and that chiefly by the
native tribes.
Throughout its whole western extent, the great chain of the Sierra
Madre presents itself, running from south to north, and extending
nearly the whole length of North America; this chain changes its
name after quitting the Spanish territory, and then receives that
of the Stony Mountains, Crane Mountains, Azure Mountains, &c. It
is supposed, and with great probability, that this immense range
is part of the same Cordillera as the Andes; thus forming one
continuous ridge from the Tierra del Fuego to the Icy Ocean in the
north. It is the great barrier of the west, and interposes its
awful front to the whole length of the world.
In New Mexico, the climate is colder, generally speaking, than that
of any other part of the Spanish possessions. The summers are warm,
but not intensely scorching, the winters cold, and frequently very
severe, especially in the higher regions of the mountains; and they
are not deluged with those incessant rains that prevail in some
other parts of New Spain. This country lies within the temperate
zone. The soil is represented as, in some parts, extremely fertile,
which appears from the luxuriancy of the pasturages, where the
herds of buffaloes and bisons are found; in others, as very arid
and barren. The country is, excepting on the Cordillera, agreeably
diversified into hill and vale; and the rivers and lakes are
well stocked with fish; great quantities of game frequent the
mountains; and the forests are stored with wild animals. Many of
the writers on this country state, that it is amongst the most
agreeable and the most plentiful colonies of America. Under these
circumstances, it is wonderful that the Spaniards do not settle it
more effectually; their attention has, however, of late years, been
so much distracted by the unhappy state of the mother country, and
by the struggle of the colonies for independence, that they have
not had leisure to extend their views to this desirable land.
The capital of New Mexico is Santa Fé, which is in 36° 12ʹ north
latitude, and 104° 52ʹ 45ʺ west longitude, on a river which falls
into the Great Rio del Norte; it was founded in 1682, and is small
and placed near the northern limits of the colony; its population
is 3,600.
The other towns of most importance are;—Santa Cruz, containing
8900 souls, and Albuquerque 6000 souls; both near the east bank of
the great Rio del Norte.
There are enumerated 26 villages and 19 missions in New Mexico.
The Passo del Norte, or Fort, is the most noted of these, and is
situated in a country which produces all sorts of fruits and a fine
wine; it is on the right bank of the Rio del Norte, 60 leagues
south of Santa Fé.
This country, which was discovered by a missionary in 1581, was
finally subdued in 1644, and slightly settled by the missionaries.
The mines are generally of tin; and the total population is about
40,000.
The chief river of this country is the Rio Grande del Norte,
(the great northern river,) called also Rio Bravo, rising in the
Sierra Verde, beyond the extreme bounds of the province; and after
a course of 2000 miles, this noble stream enters the Gulf of
Mexico, traversing the whole length of New Mexico, the province of
Coaguila, and that of New Santander. In the province of Coaguila it
receives the Puerco River, a considerable stream, which rises south
of Santa Fé, the capital.
The Rio Grande is beautifully adorned in New Mexico by woody banks
of poplar and oak. It is subject to periodical floods, which
begin in April and end in June; the great road from the south to
Santa Fé, runs along the east bank of this river in New Mexico,
and crosses it at the Fort del Passo before mentioned, and is so
level, that carriages of a light construction are used on it; but
the wandering Indians render travelling unsafe in some points. In
New Mexico, the Rio del Norte frequently is encrusted, during the
winter, with ice thick enough to travel on. This river is fordable
for horsemen in the droughts of summer; the streams which join it
in New Mexico, are of no moment, the country being in general dry;
near the northern part some rivers rise which have been conjectured
to be the Red River, and Arkansas of Louisiana; but the geography
of the countries to the west and east of New Mexico, remains in a
very defective state.
The eastern towns of New Mexico, as well as its villages, are in
general thickly peopled, on account of the proximity of the country
to tribes of warlike Indians. On the west of the great river Del
Norte, the Indians are of a comparatively peaceable character, and
are on friendly terms with the natives, of New Mexico.—Of these
western tribes—
The Moqui Indians have towns well constructed, after the manner
of the ancient Mexicans, for the purposes of defence; and the
missionaries who have visited these tribes, say, that although
their language is different from that of the ancient Mexicans, yet,
from several concurrent circumstances, they appear to be part of
the remnant of those people who scattered themselves at Cinaloa, on
their march from the north. Their houses exactly resemble those of
Casas Grandes, which the Aztecs built on their route near the Rio
Gila.
It is the Indians of the east country, from the great river Del
Norte, that are so constantly engaged in disputes with the New
Mexicans.
Of these, the Cumanches are amongst the most warlike. They have no
settled place of abode, but wander about, as the chase, or their
inclinations dictate, in the immense extent of country from the
rivers Trinidad and Brazos, across the Red River, to the heads
of the Arkansas and Missouri, and beyond the Rio Bravo, over the
ridge of the Great Cordillera; they have, of course, from this
unsettled life, no towns or villages, and are subdivided into many
hordes, who have so little communication with each other, as to be
often supposed to be distinct tribes. They principally exist by
the chase, the flesh of the bison and buffalo being their chief
food; this, with some vegetables, which they procure from the
tribes and settlements in their vicinity, constitutes nearly the
whole of their nourishment. They carry about with them tents made
of the skins of these animals, which they form like a bell, large
enough to contain a dozen people; but the heads of the tribes and
other great persons, have them of a much larger size. The tents are
pitched in regular order, in the manner of a town, having streets
of communication.
The wild horses which run about the country serve the Cumanches in
their predatory excursions; they know well how to ride and manage
these animals, and pass nearly all their time on horseback; their
tents are removed on horses, and having few other goods to pack up,
they perform marches with astonishing quickness, and fall upon the
unsuspecting settlers, whom they plunder of every thing, and carry
off their children to serve them as slaves; many Spaniards existing
in a state of servitude amongst them.
The chase of the buffalo is carried on by them on horseback, and
they kill that animal either with arrows or with spears.
In person, the Cumanche Indian is strong and well made, uncommonly
neat and clean; the dress of the women is a long loose robe, tied
round the waist with a fine girdle; the whole is formed of leather,
decorated with paintings in a rude manner: the men wear a close
shirt and pantaloons of the same materials.
Their language is totally different from that of the neighbouring
Apaches.
They cook their beef with a mixture of wild fruits and herbs, and
particularly with a sort of bean which grows on a tree; this mess
they season with pepper, which grows abundantly in the country they
inhabit; and the food, so prepared, is said to be very good and
palatable.
The great extent of uncultivated territory on both sides of New
Mexico is subdivided amongst many other Indian tribes; of these,
however, a dry detail cannot prove interesting; and so little
is accurately known concerning those subdivisions, that errors
would unavoidably arise in recapitulating them. The chief of
these districts is named Apacheria, from the Indian tribes called
Apaches, a warlike and restless race of Americans, who inhabit the
country to the west and east of Santa Fé.
They are denominated, towards the southern part of New Mexico,
Apaches Mescaleros; Apaches Llaneros, and Lipanes in the northern
part; and Apaches, Chicaraguis, Mimbrenos and Gilenos, on the
eastern side. They are a brave, resolute and independent people,
extremely attached to their primitive customs, and very jealous
of the power of the Spaniards, with whom they are frequently at
variance; but this does not proceed to open war, as they stile
themselves the allies of Spain. They were subjugated on the first
settling of this country, but revolted towards the close of the
17th century, since which time they do not acknowledge subjection
to that power.
In referring to what has been before observed concerning the
great chain of mountains which pervade this country, it will be
necessary to state, that the name Sierra Madre, or Topia, is more
strictly applied to that elevated part of this immense ridge, which
commences near Guadalajara, and extends 450 miles in a northerly
direction into New Mexico; the breadth of all its ridges, or
parallel crests, at this part, is sometimes 120 miles, where the
chain is called more distinctively by the appellation of Sierra
Madre, or Mother Ridge, on account of its great altitude above
the other parts: it has, by some writers, been compared with the
Cordillera of Peru; and the chasms and precipitous terminations of
its sides, are said to exceed any of the most terrific and sublime
mountain features of the world; their aspect is terrible, their
depths profound, and appear to the wondering traveller, to unite
the concave of heaven and the valleys of New Spain, by everlasting
walls of adamant.
This part of the chain, and indeed nearly the whole of it, is in
general densely covered with forests of the most gloomy appearance,
composed principally of pines and oaks. In these impracticable
wilds, birds of every description, peculiar to the country,
inhabit; and their variegated and beautiful plumage throws a ray of
lustre on the sombre scene.
On the summits of some of these mountains snow eternally lodges,
and the cold, in consequence, is intense. Many rivers take their
rise in the sides and near the tops of this Cordillera, and rush
with impetuous force into the valleys below, whence they take
their courses to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. During the rainy
season, (from June to September,) and when the upper snows lose
their solidity and become fluid, these rivers, and the smaller
streams, are turned into torrents, inundating the lowlands;
and their devastations, to the distance of 10 or 12 miles, are
inconceivable. During this period, when the natives are forced to
much manual labour and bodily exertion in the open air, to repress
the ravages of the waters, these pests of warm climates, the
musquitoes, become intolerable.
Bears, tigers, &c. with various beautiful species of squirrels,
inhabit the thick forests on the sides of the Sierra Madre. This
ridge is most prolific in silver, each quintal of earth in the
mines yielding a mark (two thirds of a pound); but these mines,
on account of their distance from Mexico, have many of them been
forsaken.
This ridge received its other name of Topia, from the appellation
of a tribe of savages who inhabited it, and who were converted to
the Catholic faith by the exertions of the Jesuit missionaries in
1590. So little was known of the existence of the Indians in some
of the middle parts of this chain, that the inhabitants were not
converted till the year 1718.
As before observed, nothing can be accurately advanced with
respect to the termination of the continuation of the Topia, or
Sierra Madre Cordillera on the north; but it seems, without much
doubt, to be continued to an amazing distance towards the north
pole, and that the Stony Mountains are certainly a part of it. In
the immediate vicinity of the northern boundary of the Spanish
territories, the tribe of Indians called the Moquis, are reckoned
amongst the inhabitants of its regions; they live under the same
parallel as Santa Fé, the capital of New Mexico, and some distance
to the westward of that place; their houses have already been
mentioned.
The Sierra Madre sends off a branch in the west part of the
province of New Mexico; this ramification, the summits of which are
very lofty, is called Gemes, and bears a south-easterly direction;
whilst on the eastern side, it throws off another arm, called the
ridge of Nahmi; which is, however, of inferior height, and of
shorter duration, than that of Gemes.
From the shore of the Pacific to the great Topian ridge, the
general distance may be computed at 140 miles; in many places,
however, it is greater, and in some, where the continent begins to
straighten its bounds, not one half that distance.
The Topian chain takes the name of Sierra de las Grullas, from
38° to 40° north latitude; beyond that to 42° north latitude, it
receives the name of Sierra Verde; during its southern course, it
bears several distinct names, besides the general one of Sierra
Madre.
It is in the Sierra Verde, that the great rivers, Colorado and Del
Norte take their rise, and their sources are only separated from
each other by the ridge of the mountain.
The great tract of uncultivated country between the Colorado
and Gila, is inhabited by tribes of wandering Indians whose
names appear on the map. To the south of the Gila is a tract of
uncultivated country, inhabited by the Apaches Tontos, and other
tribes: it was in this country that two missionaries in 1773, at
the distance of three miles from the Gila, discovered the ruins
of a Mexican or Aztec city, the houses of which were similar to
those that are mentioned in the account of Mexico. These houses
were large, and the one most entire, consisted of five rooms three
stories high, and in length, was 445 feet by 276 broad, the walls
being 3 feet 11 inches in thickness. A wall and towers surrounded
the mansion; and the ruins of the city occupied more than a square
league; fragments of pottery and domestic utensils were found in
all directions; and a canal had conducted the waters of the Gila
to the city. This was supposed to be the second station of the
Mexicans in their migration from the north; the third is in New
Biscay, near Fort Yanos.
The Indians in the environs of these great buildings are more
polished than their neighbours, and are in a more social state;
from which circumstance, it is conjectured, that they are a remnant
of the Aztec nation, who settled here in their journey from the
northern countries.
California is divided into two intendancies. New and Old
California.
Old California consists of the peninsula bearing that name. New
California reaches from Port San Francisco to the isthmus, or down
to the Colorado, and comprises a strip of land along the coast; as,
however, neither of these countries are at present of any great
importance, we shall not divide them in our account, but describe
them both together under the general head of California.
The boundaries of this country are an imaginary line, in the 39th
degree of north latitude; on the north, the river Colorado and
Indian tribes; and the Vermillion Sea, or Californian Gulf on the
east; the Pacific Ocean on the west and south.
The bay of Sir Francis Drake, which runs some distance into the
country, is the limit placed by nature between the claims of
the British government and that of Spain in North America; and
on the south-side of this bay is another, called the bay of
St. Francisco, where the Spaniards have a small town and fort;
this settlement is in 37° 48ʹ north latitude according to the
latest authorities, but some have made it near 39°. The length
of California, may be however computed from Sir Francis Drakeʼs
harbour, in 39° north latitude, to Cape Lucas, in 22° 55ʹ north
latitude, and 109° 52ʹ west longitude; the breadth varies so much,
that a reference to the map will give a better idea of it than
words.
Fernando Cortez seems to have been the discoverer of this country;
he had sent several vessels in pursuit of the desirable object
of making the coast of the Pacific known, when Hernando de
Grijalva discovered the coast in February 1534; but they were so
unsuccessful, that Cortez determined to undertake a voyage himself,
which accordingly performing, he discovered the Gulf of California,
in the year 1536, after encountering all sorts of misfortunes and
perils; it was however neglected, and the form of it remained
unknown till long after. In 1540, the viceroy of Mexico sent a
vessel to explore it, but nothing was done of consequence; the
same attempt was again made, but with like success. In 1578, the
English navigator, Sir Francis Drake, explored the western coast
of America, from 48° of north latitude, to 37° north latitude,
and gave his name to the harbour, in 39° north latitude, which
is the boundary of Californian lands. He called the country New
Albion, and took possession of it in the name of Queen Elizabeth.
In 1595, the Spaniards sent another vessel to explore the coast of
California, but this vessel perished in Puerto de los Reyes. They
were however determined to prosecute this object, on account of
their wish to obtain a harbour for the Manilla galleons on their
homeward voyage; the viceroy therefore dispatched Admiral Biscaino,
who discovered and explored the harbour and land, to which he gave
the name of the Viceroy. This place, Monterey, is in 36° 36ʹ
north latitude, and has since become the chief settlement of the
Spaniards in California. After a long interval, Spanish missions
were sent to this country, and inland discoveries consequently
made. In 1684, Father Caino, a Jesuit, discovered that California
was actually a peninsula; he came from the east, and crossed the
country in the 35th degree of north latitude.
The Jesuits made many exploratory journeys in the latter part of
the seventeenth century, and having converted many of the natives,
they ruled with absolute sway, and continued in possession of what
they gave out as a barren country, till their final expulsion from
the territories of Spain. Some doubts having arisen as to their
representations of the unfavourable nature of the country, the
viceroy appointed Galvez, afterwards the minister of the Indies, to
explore it, and from his accounts of the value of its productions,
new regulations were ordered; but it has not yet been colonized to
any extent. In 1769, ships were sent to build forts at St. Diego
harbour, in 32° 39ʹ 30ʺ, on the west coast of California, and one
at Monterey. This research occupied a whole year, and still nothing
of consequence was achieved on the coast, and it was not till 1786,
when that unfortunate but great navigator La Perouse, visited the
west coast of America, that the whole of the coasts of California
were made known.
The inhabitants of the Old and New Californias, are chiefly the
native Indians, the Spanish settlers not forming any considerable
body. There are twenty-five missions or subdivisions of these
countries, the principal of which are Loretto, St. Domingo, St.
Josef of Cape Lucas, and All Saints, El Rosario, St. Fernandez,
St. Francisco de Borgia, St. Gertrude, St. Ignacio, La Guadalupe,
Santa Rosalia, La Conception, St. Josef, and St. Francisco Xavier.
Monterey is the capital and place where the governor lives.
The natives of Old California are computed at about 6000 who
live in the villages of the missions; those who live a wandering
life are not enumerated, but are supposed not to exceed 4000; of
these the greater part are Roman Catholics, having been converted
by the missionaries. The natives of New California are computed
at 15,600; they are a small race of people, and of an indolent
character. Their complexions are dark, and they wear their hair
long; the custom of eradicating the beard is prevalent amongst
them, though not universally adopted. They are very expert at
catching their game, and their principal weapon is the bow. Loretto
is the chief town on the east coast. Old California appears not
to be so estimable a province as New California, the climate not
being so good or the land so fruitful; it abounds, however, with
fish and game. The habitations of the natives are as miserable as
the wigwams of Northern America, and in some measure resemble them,
being constructed of boughs; they however will not alter them,
preferring a life of independence to a settled state; they are
much attached to the priests, who rule them with the authority of
fathers over their children. The women manufacture coarse stuffs,
and prepare the food, which is generally the objects of the chase,
and corn or maize with pease and beans. They have caciques or
chiefs of their own, but their power is very limited; they wear
skins made in the forms of cloaks, and the women and men dress
nearly alike; the boys go naked, but the young women have girdles
round their loins; they all paint their bodies, and scalp their
enemies, as the Canadians do, and they sometimes burn their dead
with many ceremonies; the priests who settle amongst them are
Europeans, who are sent from Mexico.
The women are the best looking, but in general, are not handsome;
they are mostly taller than the men, who have low foreheads,
projecting cheekbones and hollow eyes, with a large mouth, thick
lips, and strong teeth, with bushy, eyebrows; the women are
particularly careful to eradicate the hair from their bodies, and
pierce their ears for ear-rings; the age of puberty in the women
is as early as eleven and twelve, in the boys about thirteen; they
are rapid and violent in the expressions of the passions of anger
and joy; like other savage nations, they are divided into tribes,
which move together from one place to another as fancy or necessity
dictate. Their chiefs are chosen from the tallest, the strongest
and the most warlike amongst them, and are distinguished by their
head-dress. Such as are not under the immediate influence of the
missionaries, practise polygamy; but the men hold their women in
servitude.
Sore throats, colds, pleurisies and disorders, attendant on a
variable climate, are their complaints in the severe seasons;
they make use of vegetable decoctions for the cure of these
disorders; fevers prevail in summer. The women suffer very little
in child-birth, and the attendant in those cases, plunges the new
born infant into cold water, the mother bathing soon after, and is
then covered up warm near a fire: she performs these ablutions and
heatings successively for some time, and the infants are bandaged
up in furs and pieces of bark, nearly in the same manner as in
Canada. Their religion, previous to the priests coming amongst
them, was very similar to that of most savage people, having a
faint, idea of the Creator. A chain of mountains runs through the
peninsula, the highest of which, called Cerro de la Giganta, is
4920 feet above the level of the sea.
The peninsula, or Old California, is, as we before observed, more
barren than the northern province; it is mostly a rocky soil,
and seems as if some concussion of nature had disjoined it from
Sonora; the climate is hot in the summer, but it is moderated by
the sea breezes. Few trees of any consequence are found except on
the south; there are some small volcanoes in it, with a ridge of
mountains; vines and the Indian fig grow wild; the coast of the
gulf is low and marshy, and the pearl fishery is very valuable;
the gulf produces all sorts of shell-fish, turtles, oysters,
lobsters, &c. Peacocks, bustards, geese, ducks, cranes, vultures,
and sea-fowls, are plenty on the coasts; horses, asses, sheep, and
goats, have been introduced and thrive very well. In New California
the climate is nearly the same as in New Mexico, the western side
being superior to the other parts, on account of the neighbourhood
of the Pacific; the soil of this province is very prolific. The
harvests of maize, barley, wheat, pease, and beans, are comparable
to those of Mexico and Chili, corn produces in a seventy-fold
proportion, and the soil is favourable for nearly all sorts of
fruit trees. The climate is compared by late travellers, to that of
the south of France; the forests, that great feature of American
scenery, are extensive, and contain cypresses, pine-apple-firs,
evergreen oaks, and the western planes and rose trees; on which
a singular kind of dew falling in the morning, and covering the
leaves, candies, and has the appearance of manna, being as sweet as
white sugar. Immense bodies, or plains of salt, are found in the
interior, and there are some gold mines.
The animals of the two provinces resemble each other, chiefly
consisting of wolves, bears, wild sheep, bisons, buffaloes,
rabbits, foxes, wild goats, and an animal peculiar to the country,
called taye, as large as a young ox, and resembles the ox in its
body, having a head like a deer, with horns as a ram. The great
article of Californian commerce consists in the furs of the
northern and pearls of the southern province, the pearls equalling
in size and beauty those of Ormuz or Ceylon. The languages of the
natives are too numerous for description, each tribe having a
peculiar one of its own.
The mission of St. Domingo is the most northerly of the New
Californian settlements, and borders upon New Albion. This and the
other northern missions of California were hastily settled, on
account of the Russians having advanced their colonies considerably
to the southward, on the north-west coast of America.
The other missions or settlements, which are twenty-five in number,
are divided into four districts, the whole under the directions of
the governor of Monterey, the captain-general of the province, and
of the father president of the Franciscan order of missionaries. In
each of these divisions, is a presidio or fort under the command of
a lieutenant, with an ensign, serjeant, &c. The most northern fort
is St. Francisco, which has under it, the missions of St. Francisco
and Santa Clara; the town of St. Josef, and a settlement in the
southern part of the bay, or Port Juan Francisco, or Bodega.
The next division is that of Monterey, the capital of the province,
under which is the mission of Santa Cruz, at Point Aña Nueva,
established in 1789, and some others; southerly, and easterly from
this, are the missions of St. Carlos, St. Antonio, St. Louis, Santa
Rosa, and La Purissima.
The ensuing division is that of Santa Barbara, established in
1786, which governs that of Buena Ventura, founded in 1784; south
of which is the town of Los Angelos, founded in 1781; this last
is under the government of the fort of St. Diego, which is the
southernmost of the new settlements.
The climate of the country from Port St. Francisco, in the
thirty-eighth degree of north latitude, to the thirtieth, is
subject to great drought; the season of the rains is from December
to March, after which the summer and autumn is dry; however the
dews are heavy, and in some measure supply this want. The air is on
the whole healthy, the soil sandy, very capable of improvement, and
generally fertile, except in the upper and rocky country; in these,
the soil is of course naturally very barren. The Spanish settlers
have large flocks of sheep, and much poultry near Santa Barbara.
Buena Ventura is abundant in fruit, viz. apples, oranges, peaches,
pomegranates, pears, plums, figs, grapes, the plantain, cocoa-nut,
banana, sugar-cane and indigo, with the kitchen-garden produce.
The towns are in general no larger or better than villages; they
contain from 500 to 1000 Spaniards and creoles; some late accounts
say, that 20,000 natives have embraced the Catholic religion, but
half that number may be judged as the fair proportion in both
Californias. Their principal and best fur is the sea-otters,
which abound on the northern coast. Many of the natives cultivate
corn under the direction of the missionaries, but they refuse to
become stationary. The trade in the above-mentioned skins has
been monopolized by the Spanish government, and these settlements
furnish a yearly supply of about 10,000.
The presidio or fort of St. Francisco was founded in 1776, and has
a fine harbour, with a population of 820 souls; it is the most
northern fort of the Spanish American dominions, and as such,
is worthy or note. M. de Humboldt, gives the population of the
villages of the missions of New California, but they are of course
liable to constant changes. The missions of Old California are not
so thickly inhabited, and several of them are deserted.
The presidio of Monterey, or San Carlos de Monterey, has a
population of 700 souls, and was founded in June 1770. This town
is in latitude 36° 36ʹ, and west longitude 121° 50ʹ 43ʺ, at the
foot of the chain of Santa Lucia. Monterey is the capital of the
Californias, and in it resides the governor. In this settlement the
soil is productive, but generally not very good, and the climate
fine, though troubled with fogs. Unfortunately, the rains in the
rainy season are excessive, and they have dreadful hurricanes and
water spouts on the coast. Peltry it the principal article that is
sought after.
The European and American fruits have been propagated here by the
missionaries, and yield very well; the mezcala is the chief plant,
and like the maguay of the south, is the principal article of food
of the natives, and at the same time supplies them with drink and
raiment. Northward from this settlement there are immense forests
of pines and firs. Their trade is with Manilla, in furs, chiefly
of the sea-otter, which is of a fine glossy black. The manner of
catching this animal is peculiar to the Indians; they pursue it
in small canoes, capable of holding one man, in which they go to
sea, with a long rope in them, with two hooks; when they see the
otters and their young, the Indian advances towards them, the old
ones immediately dive, and the Indian catches a young one by the
foot; he then paddles off, and the young one, struggling with the
pain, soon brings the dam its assistance, who in her turn becomes
entangled with the hook, and is killed by blows from the hunter.
The natives massacred some of the settlers at the missionary
district of Todos los Santos, at the station of St. Ann. This must
have arisen from some oppression, as the Californians, in general,
are very submissive and indolent. They are very dexterous at the
chase and in fishing; their wigwams are generally two or three
together, and the women wear a head dress of rushes, whilst that
of their chiefs have feathers; the women have necklaces of little
shells in the north, and pearls in the south. The furniture of
their hovels consists of a quiver for arrows, two pieces of wood to
light their fires, a pipe of clay, a net for seeds, tobacco, a bow
and arrows, their lines and hooks for fishing, and a club to kill
rabbits. They often pierce the nostril, and wear ornaments in it;
seaming their flesh, and painting horribly to inspire their enemies
with fear. The women carry all the household goods when they move,
and the men the weapons. They have magicians, who act as priests
and physicians, and these magi are the great obstacles in the way
of converting the natives.
The bay of Monterey is formed by Point Año Nueva on the north,
and Point Pinos on the south; it is twenty-four miles wide at its
entrance, and six in length to the east; the east shore is low and
sandy, and the sea runs into the beach with a tremendous noise,
that may be heard three miles off.
The Spanish ships which stay at Monterey, anchor in six fathoms
water, at two cables length from the shore, and moor to the beach;
ships putting in, keep the south shore aboard, and after doubling
the south point, or Fir Point (Point Pinos) which stretches to the
north, they see the fort, and drop anchor in ten fathoms behind
the point, where they are sheltered from the west winds—the south
winds blow here very strong off shore. At full and change of the
moon it is high water here at half-past one; the tide rises seven
feet.
The whales, a species of finner, are numerous in the bay, and La
Perouse says, that they came within half pistol-shot of the ship,
and occasioned a disagreeable smell. The coasts of this bay are
generally covered with fogs, which render it dangerous to approach,
otherwise it is not at all hard to enter. Pelicans frequent the
sea at a small distance from land, and are a good sign for seamen,
never going more than six leagues from shore; pelicans are very
common on the coast of California; where they are called Alcatras
by the Spaniards. Late travellers who have visited Port Monterey,
say, that a better harbour could not be found for ships coming from
the west, and that the soil in its neighbourhood is good, though
dry; all sorts of grain succeed very well, and the cattle are very
fine. The Manilla ships find this a good harbour to recruit in,
when driven to the north by contrary winds.
Is the next subdivision of New Spain which meets our attention
in proceeding to the south. It is bounded on the north by the
Rio Colorado, on the east by New Biscay, on the west by the
great Californian gulf, and on the south by the intendancy of
Guadalaxara. Under the title of Sonora, are comprehended the
provinces of Pimeria, Sonora, Hiaqui, and Mayo, or Ostimuri, and
Cinaloa. The capital of Sonora is Arispe; and its provinces lie
from the Colorado River in the north to Culiacan on the south,
following the order above mentioned; we shall begin therefore
with Pimeria; and the description of climate, soil, &c., of each
subdivision, will best explain the general appearance of the whole
of Sonora, or as it is called in modern maps, New Navarre.
PIMERIA.
Pimeria is the most northern district of this extensive
division, and is bounded on the north by The Rio Colorado, by New
Biscay on the east, by the Californian gulf on the west, and by
Sonora on the south.
Pimeria received its name from the Pimas, a tribe of Indians who
inhabit this tract of country. It is subdivided into high and low
Pimeria, and extends about three hundred miles to the north of
Sonora. The climate is cold and moist, and the rains often last a
week without intermission in the winter season, and torrents from
the mountains during that period descend in all directions.
Pimeria is very little known, being inhabited chiefly by the native
tribes, the Spanish colonists frequently deserting it on account
of the irruptions of a warlike race of savages, who inhabit the
neighbouring country of Apacheria in New Mexico.
The river Colorado is the principal river of the uncolonized
country north of Pimeria. This river has been also called Rio
Colorado de los Martyres. The course of the Colorado may be
computed in a straight line at 200 leagues, or 600 miles, and it
is generally from north-east to south-west. It is called Colorado,
or coloured, from the water being tinged red by the clay of its
banks. This river rises in the Sierra Verde, it is navigable for
a considerable distance, and very deep where it is joined by the
Rio Gila, which issues from the same mountains in Pimeria, further
to the south. This latter river, though broad and large, has no
depth, and the country which lies between these streams is a desert
of high land, without water or grass. The savages who inhabit the
northern side of the Colorado, are termed Cocomaricopas, and are
celebrated for their dexterity in swimming the river with a piece
of wood in their left hand to support their goods and weapons above
the water, and steering with their right, the women carrying their
infants on a basket work attached to their bodies. Their side of
the river is fertile, and they are an industrious people. The
Colorado meets many other rivers which rise in the same chain; the
chief of these is the Zaguananas, which rises in those mountains,
in about 40° north latitude. There is a large lake near this
branch, called Buenara, in 39° north latitude, on the frontier,
but of this lake nothing certain is known. The Colorado empties
itself by an immense estuary into the northern part of the gulf of
California. The Rio Gila is the next river of importance of this
country, but both this and the Rio Colorado are north of the actual
intendancy of Sonora.
There are several rivers in Pimeria, but so imperfect are the
accounts relative to this province, that nothing can be advanced
with certainty about them. The Rio Ascension is the chief, on whose
banks live a tribe of warlike Indians, named Seris.
Higher Pimeria contains the fort of Ternate and Lower Pimeria, the
fort of Buenavista. The province contains much gold in grains, but
it is not sought after, owing to many causes, amongst which the
incursions of the warlike Indians of the neighbouring country is
the principal one.
SONORA.
Sonora is the next province in proceeding southward, but,
as in all this part of the New World, its limits are not accurately
defined; it is however bounded by Pimeria on the north, the gulf
of California and Hiaqui on the west, New Biscay on the east, and
Hiaqui on the south. It is about 420 miles in length in a northerly
direction, and 380 in breadth, from west to east.
The soil of Sonora is good on the shore of the gulf, and very
fertile, but no very extensive forests are found in this province.
The climate is good, the air being reckoned very pure; but on the
immediate vicinity of the gulf, the air is indeed impregnated with
marshy effluvia, and therefore not so conducive to health as in the
interior.
The gold and silver mines of Sonora are very numerous, the mines of
gold being in the greatest proportion, and in which the chief value
of the province consists.
The trade of Sonora consists in the exchange of its natural
productions with Mexico, both by land and by means of the gulf of
California, as also with New Mexico and New Biscay. Sonora will
in all probability become in time a very valuable province, its
natural advantages being great.
Sonora is in the diocese of the bishop of Durango.
This country is famed for an excellent breed of horses, for its
fine cheeses, and for its cattle, which are superior and numerous.
The animals of Sonora are chiefly the deer, the bear, the goat,
and an extraordinary species of large lizard, which the natives
domesticate, and teach to hunt mice and vermin.
The capital is Arispe, situated near the head of the Hiaqui River,
108° 53ʹ 15ʺ west longitude, and 30° 36ʹ north latitude. This town
is celebrated for its hospitality, and for the great quantity of
gold used in the table services of the chief families, with a
population of 7600 souls.
Sonora is the next town of any importance, its population is 6400.
The principal rivers of Sonora are the Hiaqui or Yaqui, which rises
in the Sierra Madre, and falls into the gulf of California, (after
watering the district of Hiaqui,) in 28° north latitude, and the
Ascension River, which falls into the same gulf in 31°.
HIAQUI, AND MAYO, OR OSTIMURI.
Hiaqui and Mayo are two small districts, situated between
Sonora and Cinaloa. The district of Hiaqui is bounded on the
north by Sonora, and on the south by Cinaloa, on the west by the
Californian gulf, and on the east by the ridge of mountains. Hiaqui
is so called from a river of that name, which flows through it from
Sonora. It is not a very extensive district, and little is known
concerning the climate and productions, though they are nearly the
same as those of Sonora.
The Rio Hiaqui is the principal river, a branch of which in the
south east, divides that part of Cinaloa which lies on the eastern
side of the ridge from Sonora; it also overflows occasionally, and
inundates in the rainy seasons part of Sonora and Mayo, rising in
a southerly direction in a place called Tauramara, and bending in
a north-west course for half its length, it pervades the grand
chain of mountains, and then turns off to the south-west, and falls
into the Californian gulf, at the village of Huiribis, and forms
a good harbour, from which a trade in provisions is carried on
to the opposite shore of California. The banks of the Hiaqui are
extremely fertile, and produce abundance of maize, beans, pease,
and vegetables. The chief town is Riochico, situated fifty leagues
north-north-west of Sinaloa.
Mayo is a small district to the south of Hiaqui, and is
bounded by that province on the north, on the east by the ridge
of mountains, on the south by Sinaloa, and the west by the gulf
of California. Of it very little is known with accuracy; it is
fertile, aid watered by the river Mayo, from which it receives its
name; this river falls into the Californian sea in north latitude
27° 40ʹ.
SINALOA OR CINALOA.
Sinaloa is the most southern province which is
comprehended under the intendancy of Sonora; it is bounded by the
gulf of California on the west, on the east by New Biscay, or the
ridge or Cordillera of Topia, also called Tepecouan, and Sierra
Madre, on the north by Mayo, and on the south by Culiacan. This
country is about 300 miles in length from the south-east to the
north-east, and 120 miles broad.
Sinaloa was discovered by Nunez de Guzman in the year 1552. The
climate is good, the air being very pure, the land fertile, and
producing abundantly grain, cotton, and fruits.
The rivers are numerous, though small, and well stored with fish.
Sinaloa is chiefly inhabited by Indians, though there are numbers
of mining stations established; and the province bids very fair
to be well colonized. The natives are a warlike race, and were
with great difficulty brought to submit to the dominion of the
Spaniards. They have caciques or chiefs, whose authority is however
very limited, being confined to heading warlike expeditions.
It is chiefly by valour displayed in battle, or hunting, that
they obtain this distinction; sometimes indeed the interest of a
powerful family elevates one of their number to the caciqueship.
They are fond of oratory, and if one of their number displays
any great ability in this art, universal acclamations decree him
their chieftain. These latter instances are however rare. Laws are
unknown.
Their weapons are bows, with poisoned arrows, heavy clubs of
wood and shields. These people are more industrious than their
Californian neighbours in manufacturing coarse cotton stuffs. Many
of the tribes subsist entirely by hunting and fishing, and have no
regular residences, neither do they till the ground. In the inland
parts these tribes are chiefly found subsisting by the chase; on
the sea coast they live by their industry, and by the fishery.
Those in the mountainous regions are reckoned to be in the most
perfect state of nature of any of the American Indians, relying
solely on their skill in the chase, and on the bounty of nature in
her produce of roots, fruits, and plants. During the rainy season,
they make a large cap of rushes like a pent-house or umbrella,
which they wear on their heads to throw off the water, by which
means they keep themselves dry for a considerable time. They
construct a sort of rude wigwam of branches, to shield themselves
from the scorching rays of the summer sun, and in winter they
constantly keep large fires, round which they sleep, eat, and
drink, with no other canopy than Heaven. The heat in this country
exceeds the cold, and they have little other bad weather, than
during the rainy months.
There are many gold and silver mines in the mountainous parts of
this district, and in one of these called Yecorato, there was found
a piece of gold which weighed 16 marks and upwards, the mark being
two-thirds of a pound, or eight ounces. This was sent to Spain and
deposited in the royal cabinet of Madrid. The chief mining station
is Sivirijoa.
The principal town is Cinaloa, or St. Felipey St. Jago, on the
river Cinaloa, in 106° west longitude, and 26° north latitude, 630
miles north-west of Mexico; the stream on which it stands and the
Rio del Puerto, form the two principal rivers of this province;
they both rise in the Cordillera of Topia, and receiving other
streams in their course, enter the southern part of the Californian
sea, very near each other, and a little to the northward of
Macapule Bay. Cinaloa contains 9500 inhabitants.
The chief place of the whole government of Sonora is the capital.
Arispe, which has the forts of Bacuachi and Bavispe on the south
and west.
Hostimuri, the chief place of Mayo and Hiaqui, has many rich
mines in its vicinity, with a council of the mines situated at St.
Xavier.
Los Alamos is also another station of note for the mines, between
the Mayo and Fuerte rivers, with a population of 7900.
The towns of Sonora Proper, and Ostimuri, are three in number,
the villages 46, and the missions 46; of these villages, many are
mining stations.
Cinaloa contains four towns, Cinaloa, Montes Claros, with 7900
souls; and El Rosario 5600; with 92 villages, numerous distinct
farms and missions, and many important mining stations.
In quitting Sonora, on the east, we find the province and
intendancy of New Biscay or Durango, which is bounded on the north
by New Mexico and Indian nations, on the east by a desert country
between it and Coaguila, on the west by Sonora, and on the south
by Zacatecas and Guadalaxara, or New Gallicia. It is about 100
miles in medial breadth, and 690 in length. The great ridge or
Cordillera of Sierra Madre crosses it in its whole length, and the
whole country is very mountainous, well watered by small rivers,
the climate temperate, the soil fertile, the cattle fine and
numerous, and the mountains abounding in ores. This intendancy has
a population of 159,000 souls.
The country near New Biscay contains several small marshes, in the
islands or firm ground of which the Indians bid defiance to their
Spanish neighbours, and are so hostile, that many forts have been
built along the country to prevent their incursions.
The capital is Durango, which is the farthest town of any
consequence north of Mexico; it is situated on a river which
empties itself into a lake, (the river is called Durango or
Guadiana).
The population of this city amounts to 12,000. It is the see of
a bishop, which is very extensive; in his jurisdiction all the
western interior provinces, comprehending those on the east shore
of the Californian gulf, are included. It was erected in the year
1620. The tithes of this see are said to have amounted in ten years
to 1,080,300 dollars.
A branch of the royal treasury of Mexico is established here
for collecting the duties on the mines. The climate in the
neighbourhood of this city is mild and healthy, and the country
fertile, producing corn, maize and fruit, and pasturing fine
cattle. It has three churches and four convents, and is 170 leagues
from Mexico, and 298 from Santa Fé. Durango is elevated 6845 feet
above the level of the sea, and the intendant or governor of the
province resides here.
The inhabitants of New Biscay are all whites, there being no
Indians amongst them; they are a people of robust constitution and
good intellectual qualities.
They live in a state of constant warfare with their neighbours the
Indians, particularly with the Cumanches, a very warlike race of
people, who bear an inveterate hatred to the Spaniards. A tract
of desert country to the west, called the Bolson de Mapimi, is
inhabited by the Acoclames, the Cocoyames, the Apaches Mezcleros,
and Apaches Fardones. It is from this waste that the natives are
principally annoyed by the Indians; in it is a large lake called
Cayman, and part of another called Parras.
The Rio Conchos is the largest river of New Biscay, which rises in
the Sierra Madre, and after taking a southerly course, suddenly
turns to the east, and again to the north, and empties itself into
the Rio del Norte, at the Fort de las Juntas. New Biscay has six
towns and 199 villages, with innumerable stations and farms.
The towns of New Biscay of the greatest note after Durango, are
Chihuahua, formerly the residence of the captain-general of all
the interior provinces of the upper part of the viceroyalty of New
Spain, and now the residence of the captain-general of the western
interior provinces, which comprehend New Biscay, New Mexico,
Sonora, and the two Californias. The population of Chihuahua is
11,600, and it is surrounded with mining stations, the principal
of which is Santa Rosa de Cosiquiriachi, where that part of the
Sierra Madre, called De los Metales, has valuable and numerous
silver mines; this mining station is peopled by 10,700 souls.
Mapimis, on the south extremity of the desert of Mapimi, is a
military port, with 2700 inhabitants.
St. Juan del Rio, south of Lake Parras, 10,200 souls.
Saltillo, situated to the west of Monterey, in New Leon, on a
barren dry soil; 6000 people.
Pasquaro, south of Rio de Nasas; 5600.
Batopilas, west of Rio Conchos, 8000, formerly a place of great
repute for its mines.
Parral the seat of a council of mines, 5000, and the mining
station of Guirisamey, 3800.
The population of this government is concentrated entirely in these
towns and in the mining stations, as in New Mexico, the warlike
Indians rendering this method of living necessary; even the forts
are well peopled, as the settlers choose to live under their
protection, in preference to possessing large tracts of land at a
distance from any defence.
The intendancy of San Luis Potosi, comprises the provinces
of Coaguila, New Leon, Texas, and the colonies of New Santander;
and forms the western captain-generalship of the interior provinces.
It is bounded on the north by desart countries, inhabited by tribes
of wandering Indians; by the Bolson de Mapimi, an unconquered
desart on the west, as well as by part of New Biscay and Zacatecas;
on the south by the intendancies of Guanaxuato, Mexico, and Vera
Cruz. On the east its limits are not defined; by the Spaniards they
are considered to reach to the river Mexicano or Mermento, between
the sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth degrees of west longitude, but the
American congress deny this being the boundary of Louisiana, and
extend their claims as far as the bay of St. Bernardo.
This intendancy is computed to have a population of 334,900 souls.
That part of San Luis Potosi which joins Zacatecas, is a
mountainous country; in New Leon the land is not high, consequently
the summers are hot and the winters cold; the land on the right,
between Coaguila and Louisiana, is represented as containing
impervious savannahs and enormous desarts. The nearest post of the
Americans to New Spain, is Fort Clayborne, on the Red River. In
the greater part of this immense territory of San Luis the climate
is good, and the air pure and healthy.
The coast which borders the Mexican gulf, is lined with long narrow
islands, between which and the continent, are sheets of water
denominated lakes. The mouth of the Rio Panuco, and the bar of New
Santander, are the only ports of the coast from which vessels trade
with the West Indian Islands in provisions. The whole coast has
remained very little explored; such parts as have been surveyed,
are found to be shut out by sand bars, which prevent large vessels
from passing into the harbours, which are otherwise excellent.
The southern parts contain the mines of Catorce, Guadal-Cazar and
Charcas, in the mountain districts.
There is a route which the Americans follow from New Orleans,
through this intendancy, to Mexico, for the purposes of traffic,
which is represented to require ten weeks to perform it, under
great perils and hardships.
The great ridge of Anahuac, or plain of New Spain, gradually
descends, and loses itself in this intendancy; and on its slope is
situated the capital, St. Luis Potosi, where the intendant or
governor-general resides; it is a little westward of the source of
the Panuco River, and contains a population of 12,000 persons.
COAGUILA.
Coaguila is a province of St. Luis Potosi, lying to the
north of New Leon, and sometimes included in that division; it is
also called New Estremadura, and in some maps Cuvilla. It is
bounded on the north by uncultivated countries, on the east by
the provinces of Texas, New Santander, and Leon, on the west by
New Biscay, and the Bolson de Mapimi, and on the south by New
Biscay. Its extent is 200 leagues from north to south, and 160 from
north-west to north-east.
This province is nearly a waste, peopled only by the Indians and
some few missions, and if it possesses mineral treasures, they
remain to be discovered. The capital is Monclova, situated in the
south part, the residence of a military governor. The next town of
importance is Castanuela, on the southern borders.
The Rio del Norte pervades this district.
NEW LEON
Is bounded on the north by Coaguila, on the west by Coaguila and
New Biscay, on the east by New Santander, on the south by Zacatecas
and St. Luis Potosi, or Guasteca. It is a very mountainous country,
thinly inhabited and possessing few other mines than those of lead.
The chief town is Monterey, the see of a bishop; there are also
several villages and small stations; but although it has been
sometimes designated by the high sounding title of the New Kingdom
of Leon, it is only a small tract, of which scarcely any thing is
known.
NEW SANTANDER AND TEXAS, AND PANUCO, OR POTOSI.
These provinces extend for an immense length along the
shores of the Mexican gulf, and commencing at the estuary of the
river Mexicano follow the course of that river; Coaguila then
bounds them on the north, New Leon on the east, Mexico on the
south, and the gulf of Mexico on the west. The Rio Bravo del Norte
flows through the centre of these provinces.
Numerous herds of cattle feed in this country, which abounds in
fruit, corn, &c. A chain of mountains, from the main ridge, runs
through New Santander, and is called the Sierra Gorda; from which
the district has sometimes been named; this chain abounds in mines.
It was not till 1748, that this district or province was wholly
subdued, in which year the capital was built. There is a fine
harbour attached to it, which was first observed in 1739.
The richest mines are in Panuco or Potosi, and the chief of these
is Catorce, or La Purissima Conception; it was discovered in 1773,
and is said to yield annually to the amount of from seven to
800,000l. sterling of silver. Charcas is the next mining station
of note, and is in the north of Panuco or Potosi.
The remaining towns of most importance in the intendancy of San
Luis Potosi, are New Santander, the capital of the province of
that name, with its port of Soto la Marina, which however does
not admit vessels that draw more water than six feet.
Linares, in New Leon, between the Rio del Norte, and the Tigre,
and—
San Antonio de Bejar, capital of Texas, between the two rivers
Nogales and St. Antonio.
The most eastern fort of this intendancy is the Presidio of
Nacogdoch, which is 68 leagues from the United Statesʼ Fort
Clayborne.
The great river of this government is the Rio del Norte, which
enters the Mexican gulf in about 25° 40ʹ north latitude, and 97°
20ʹ west longitude. The other rivers of most note are, beginning
from the east, the Rio Mexicano, Rio de Sabina, Rio de la Trinidad,
Rio Colorado de Texas, Rio St. Antonio, Rio de las Nueces, Rio de
Tigre, to the south of the great Rio del Norte, and the Rio Panuco
or Tampico; of all of which very little is known.
This intendancy is one of the smallest in New Spain, and
is the first of those we are about to describe, which are under the
immediate controul of the viceroy.
It is bounded on the north by the intendancy of New Biscay
or Durango, on the east by San Luis Potosi, on the west by
Guadalaxara, and on the south by Guanaxuato. It is 85 leagues long,
and 51 broad in its greatest dimensions.
The population of this province is 153,300.
Zacatecas consists almost entirely of mountain country; so much so,
as to have been said greatly to resemble Swisserland. The climate
is very variable and inclement, and the soil far from fertile; but
all this is compensated by the riches of the mines, which are only
inferior to those of Guanaxuato.
Its chief town is Zacatecas, where the great mines are situated.
The population of this town, is 33,000; it is a bishopʼs see, and
is 240 miles north-north-east of Mexico.
The next is Sombrerete, the seat of the chief-council of mines;
Fresnillo, near the latter, both of which are great mining
stations. Sombrerete was formerly the richest of the whole, and
there are many other mining stations of great importance in this
district, most of which are very populous.
This, with Zacatecas, formed New Gallicia, in the former
division of New Spain. It is bounded on the north by Sonora, and
New Biscay, on the east by Zacatecas and Guanaxuato, on the west,
by the Pacific, and on the south, by Valladolid, or Mechoacan; it
is 118 leagues long, and 100 broad. This province is of importance,
from being the seat of a royal audience, or supreme court, which,
as before observed, governs in civil affairs, more than one-half of
New Spain. It was established in the year 1548.
Guadalaxara, contains a population of 630,500 souls, and its
eastern side is a part of the declivity of the plain of Anahuac;
the western side is mountainous, and covered with extensive
forests. On the sea coast, the air is hot and unhealthy, but on the
heights, pure and wholesome.
The chief productions of this country are wheat, maize, cotton,
and cochineal, all of which are produced in very great abundance.
Guadalaxara contains two cities, six towns, and 322 villages; there
are five mines of silver of great value, the chief of which is
Copala.
The great river of this country is the river Santiago, which
crosses it from east to west, communicating with Lake Chapala.
The volcano of Colima is the most striking feature in this
province, and is the last of those which lie on the same parallel
to the west. Its height is near 10,000 feet above the sea, and its
crater continually ejects smoke and ashes. This volcano is isolated
from the neighbouring chain.
The Rio Santiago, or Rio Grande, is a noble stream, which rises
in the Nevada de Toluca, near Mexico, and after traversing the
extremity of Valladolid, or Mechoacan, and Guanaxuato, crosses the
province of Guadalaxara, first going through the northern extremity
of Lake Chapala; it throws itself into the Pacific, at the point of
St. Blas; in Valladolid it bears the name of Rio Lerma.
Lake Chapala is a fine sheet of water of this province, much larger
than the Mexican lakes, and has some islands in it; it is about
ninety miles long, and thirty broad, but its dimensions are not
accurately ascertained.
The great towns of Guadalaxara, are Guadalaxara, where the
governor, the bishop, and the officers of the supreme court of
the royal audience reside; its population is 19,500 souls. It is
placed on the Rio Esquitlan, or Santiago, which flows from Lake
Chapala. At the distance of twelve miles from the town, this Great
River has a cataract, and is very rapid. The city stands on a
plain, in which there are many rivulets, surrounded by mountains,
and covered with oaks and pines. Handsome gardens are seen in all
directions, which abound with every sort of fruits. There is in
estate belonging to the Marquis of Altamira near it, which sends
annually to the markets of Mexico, four thousand head of cattle,
with numerous flocks of sheep and swine; it also grows great
quantities of pimento, maize, &c., of which it has been computed to
yield, to the value of 40,000 dollars per annum.
The extent of the city is very great, and the population consists
of Spaniards, mulattoes and mestizoes; the native Indians inhabit
the suburbs and villages adjacent. The people are celebrated for
industry, and they have excellent artisans amongst them; they are a
good looking and well made race. The streets are unpaved, and mules
are used for their carriages; this city is subjected to tempests of
a very violent nature, but snow never lodges there.
Here there is a manufactory of cigars, and the natives make a sort
of jars of a fine scented earth, which are in much request.
They have fine aqueduct, many churches, convents, and two colleges,
with eight fine squares.
The revenues of the bishopric amount to 2,579,100 dollars annually.
The jurisdiction of the royal audience has been already mentioned
in a former part.
The other towns of most importance are—
Colima, six miles south of the volcano of the same name.
Aguas Calientes, near the mines of Asiento de Ibarra.
Compostella, Lagos, and San Blas; the latter of which is a
noted sea port, where the marine department is stationed.
San Blas is at the mouth of the river Santiago; here there are
magazines, dock yards for the royal navy, and in the vicinity, all
sorts of necessary timber for constructing ships; but it is so
unhealthy a place, that the officers usually reside in a village
near it, where the air is better.
This is one of the small but populous provinces of
New Spain, and is situated on the great ridge of the Mexican
Cordillera. Its length is fifty-two, and breadth thirty-one
leagues. The highest land is the mountain De los Llanitos, 9325
feet above the sea.
The value of this province consists chiefly (although great part
of it is very fertile) in its mines. They are the richest of North
America, and exceed in produce and value that of Potosi in South
America, or indeed, any mines in the world.
The population of this province consists of 517,300 souls, of
which, 180,000 are Indians.
The cities of Guanaxuato are three in number, with four towns,
thirty-seven villages, and numerous settlements.
Guanaxuato, or Santa Fé is the capital; it was founded in 1554.
It is surrounded closely by the silver mines, six principal ones of
which have been enumerated. The height of Guanaxuato is 6836 feet
above the sea; some of the mines have their entrance shafts even
higher, the one called Valenciana, having its mouth as high as
7856 feet above the level of the ocean.
In the city, and mining villages surrounding it, the population is
estimated at 70,600; the other towns of most note are—
Salamanca, at the height of 5762 feet, Silao or Celaya,
which has a very fine church, still higher, and Villa de Leon,
celebrated for its neighbourhood producing fine maize and corn.
This province is the most important, though not the most
extensive of those which form the viceroyalty of New Spain; its
historical relations, its splendid capital, extraordinary and
beautiful appearances and situation, give it, independently of
its chief place being the metropolis of New Spain, an advantage
over the other states of this widely extended region; we shall
accordingly enter more at large into its history and description,
than what the limits of this work will allow to be allotted to the
other provinces.
Mexico is bounded on the north by the intendancy of San Luis
Potosi, on the east by the province of Tlascala, or Puebla, and
Vera Cruz, on the west by Mechoacan, or Valladolid, and Guanaxuato,
and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. The government of the royal
audience, in the capital, is the richest and most extensive of the
three royal audiences established in North America.
Mexico was formerly an empire of no great extent, but numerously
peopled, and covered with towns; it was surrounded by several other
states, either in alliance with it, or under its dominion. Of these
the most noted were the Michuacan, Tlacopan, and the Acolhuacan
kingdoms, the Cholollan, Huexotzincan, and Tlaxcallan republics,
with several others of inferior note.
The boundaries of the Mexican kingdom were the small state of
Quauhtemallan on the south-east; on the east, part of the above
states and the Mexican gulf; on the north Huaxtecas, a country
inhabited by a tribe of that name; Tlacopan, and a savage tribe,
called the Chichemicas, were on the north-west; Michuacan on the
west; and on the south and south-west the Pacific. This kingdom
was therefore situated between the fourteenth and twenty-first
degrees of north latitude, and between the ninety-seventh and the
hundred and fifth degrees of west longitude. Of this extent, the
most fertile and best cultivated portion was the vale of Anahuac,
or of Waters, which embraced a beautiful district, comprised
within mountains, the circuit of whose basis occupied 120 miles.
From the name of this vale, the whole country received afterwards
the appellation of Anahuac, previously to its settlement by the
Spaniards, who called it New Spain; which title has since been
given to the dominions of Spain, in North America, occupying the
whole extent from the northern boundaries, to the kingdom of
Guatimala, and often embracing that territory also. In the centre
of the vale of Anahuac are the lakes of Tezcuco and Chalco, on
whose banks were the cities of Mexico, Acolhuacan, Tlacopan,
Tezcuco, and forty others, with innumerable small towns.
Michuacan, the westerly kingdom, had its capital on a lake, called
Pascuaro, with four other cities. Tlacopan lay between Mexico
and Michuacan, and its capital was Tezcuco, four miles west of
Mexico. Acolhuacan, which was very extensive, as well as the most
ancient of the kingdoms, had its capital on the eastern shore of
Lake Tezcuco, at about fourteen miles from Mexico; this kingdom
was powerful, populous, and contained many cities; it was amongst
the most civilized of the territories of Anahuac. Tlaxcallan
or Tlascala was on the south of Mexico, and the chief of the
republics; it was not large, and its capital was situated seventy
miles east of Mexico. The republics of Cholollan and Huexotzinco
lay to the south of Tlaxcallan.
The origin of the Mexican nations, or the nations of Anahuac is
very obscure, but it is supposed that the Toltecas, who inhabited a
country to the north of Mexico were the most ancient inhabitants,
of whom any trace could be found; and they had a tradition that
they came from the north. A tribe of this nation being banished
from the country where they dwelt, journeyed to the southward in
search of a favourable spot whereon to fix their residence; it is
asserted they commenced their migration in the year 596 A.D., but
not finding a place which had charms enough to fix them, for any
great length of time, they still kept removing to the south for the
space of 104 years, when they came to a spot which pleased them.
Here they erected a city, fifty miles eastward of the spot where
Mexico the capital was afterwards founded. They rested twenty years
in this place, when they again removed and settled forty miles
farther west, building another city.
They appear to have been an industrious people, well skilled in
many arts, and living under the government of their kings in a
peaceable manner; but, unfortunately in the year 1052, suffered
from a dearth and want of water, which pervaded their land; and
a great part of their people died of famine. Those who remained,
dispersed themselves into Guatimala, Mexico, &c. For the space
of 100 years the Toltecan country was nearly a desert, very few
having been left behind; after this interval the Cachemecas,
another race from the north arrived, whose manners were not so
cultivated, and their way of living more savage than the Toltecans.
They established themselves in a place about six miles from the
present city of Mexico, and were governed by kings, who encouraged
their people to cultivate the friendship of the poor Toltecans
who remained; in return for which they instructed them in all
the arts they knew. This monarchy lasted till the year 1520, or
nearly five centuries; the Toltecan monarchy having endured nearly
four. Some other tribes from the north, of which the Acolhuans,
and the Otomies were the principal, entered into alliance with
the Cachemecas. After them the Tarascas and the Nahuatlacas, also
from the north, settled in Anahuac. The Aztecas, or Mexicans, were
the last; they came from a country beyond the gulf of California;
this is said to have taken place in the year 1160, when they
moved southward, and traces of the buildings they left, are said
to exist on the banks of the Rio Colorado, and on the Rio Gila,
&c. They stopped for some time at a place in New Biscay, about
250 miles north-north-west of Chihuahua, and there raised some
large buildings, from which the place is now called Casas Grandes,
which signifies large houses, and is in 29° north latitude. This
large building is constructed with three floors, and crowned by a
terrace; the lower floor has no door, and the upper is accessible
only by a ladder, which is still the manner in which the buildings
of New Mexico are constructed. This house, or fort, has been
surrounded by a wall, seven feet thick, and in which enormous
stones were used; the beams of pine are said still to exist. In the
centre is a keep or mound; the whole has had a ditch about it, and
earthen pots, jars, &c. with mirrors of the itzli stone, have been
dug up in the neighbourhood. On leaving this spot, they crossed the
mountains of Taraumara, and rested three years at Culiacan.
When the Aztecas left their native country, they consisted of
six tribes, viz. the Mexicans, Tepanecas, Chalcese, Tlahuicas,
Tlascans, and Xochimilcans. At Culiacan they constructed the
image of the deity Huitzilopochtli, with a throne to carry it
on the shoulders of four priests. The Mexicans were deserted by
the five other tribes on quitting Culiacan, and journeying with
their image, arrived at Tula, the capital which the Toltecans had
built, erecting altars at all their resting places on the road.
They stayed here, and in the vicinity, twenty years; and in 1216
they came to Zumpanco, a large town in the vale of Anahuac; here
they were kindly received, and one of their chief women married
Ilhuicatl, the son of the chief; from which marriage the race of
Mexican emperors descended. They roamed about the borders of the
lake Tezcuco, settling in different places, and at last engaged in
wars with the Cachemicas and Acolhuans, and were obliged to take
refuge in some islands called Acocolo, in the southern part of the
Mexican lakes. Here they existed fifty-two years, in great poverty,
and were finally enslaved by the chief of a small state called
Colhuacan.
A few years after a war commenced between the Xochimilcans, one of
the tribes who had separated from the Mexicans at Caliacan, and
the Cholhuans, in which the Mexicans assisted their enslavers, and
behaved so valorously as to gain their liberty. Their conduct was
however stained by the cruelty they committed in the action, by
cutting off their prisonersʼ ears, and by a human sacrifice, which
they made to their divinity after the battle, which consisted of
four of the prisoners whom they had reserved. The chief of the
Cholhuans commanded them to quit his territory, being disgusted at
their barbarity; they moved therefore to a place near the junction
of Lakes Chalco and Tezcuco, which place they named Mexicaltzinco;
they removed however from this to Iztacalo, nearer the place
where Mexico was soon after built. Here they rejoiced for their
victory and subsequent liberation, and remained two years, when
wandering about, they discovered on an island, in the lake, a sign
which their oracles had declared to be the mark of their future
resting place; here they accordingly built some miserable huts
of reeds, and having taken a Cholhuan prisoner, sacrificed him
to their deity, built an altar, and prepared permanently to fix
their residence. To this town and island they gave the name of
Tenochtitlan, and afterwards building their huts round the altar
of Huitzilopochtli or Mexitli, they gave the town the name of
Mexico, or the city of Mexitli, their god of war. This took place
in the year 1825.
The situation of their new town, chosen solely from the omen,
was as uncomfortable and as ill-placed, as they could have found
on a small island, in a lake without ground for cultivation, or
much space for building. There they lived long in a very wretched
manner, till at last, impelled by necessity, they drove stakes and
made dykes to the neighbouring islets; by which means they shut out
the water, and connected the islands, so as to gain considerable
space from the lake. By industry they attained sufficient
quantities of materials from the neighbouring settlements to erect
their habitations and furnish themselves with necessaries, and
constructed floating gardens on the water, with the mud of the
lake and branches of trees, on which they raised vegetables, &c.
Struggling with great distress and difficulties, they remained
unanimous and constant in their exertions for thirteen years, when
an old quarrel was renewed amongst themselves, and they divided
into two factions, who separated, one remaining on the spot,
the other going to an island in the vicinity, which they named
Tlatelolco, and which was afterwards united to the other by mounds.
The original town was now divided into four quarters, and in the
centre was built the temple of Mexitli.
They remained in great barbarism for some time, and sacrificed a
daughter of the king of Cholhuacan, whom they had invited into
their town, under a specious pretext; on which the king declared
war against them, but they were now as powerful as himself. Their
government had been hitherto an aristocracy; the nation obeying
a council of their great chieftain. At this era they found that
a monarchy was best suited to their views, as well because their
neighbours had mostly adopted that form of government, as because
their territories consisting only of the city, one person was
better able to perform the duties of the kingly office than
several. They therefore elected Acampatzin for their king and
leader, who was descended from the race above mentioned.
This prince took a daughter of Acolmiztli, king of Coatlican, for
his consort; their rival brothers, the Tlatelolcos also chose a
king, the son of the king of the Tepanecans, and in consequence of
their choosing the son of this prince, who had hitherto received
tribute from both parties, they endeavoured to instigate him to
make war on the Mexicans; he however, only doubled their tribute,
and otherwise oppressed them very much, for fifty years; during
thirty-seven of which, Acamapitzin governed Mexico. He took another
wife, and had by her a son Huitzilihiutl, and by his concubines
several children, of whom Itzcoatl was afterwards one of the most
renowned.
Acamapitzin governed Mexico with great success, and in his reign
buildings of stone were constructed, and canals for the use and
ornament of the place were commenced. He died in the year 1389,
and after four months Huitzilihiutl his son, succeeded him by the
universal choice of the people. He married a daughter of the king
of the Tepanecas, as well as another princess; they each brought
him sons, and the son of the latter was the famous Montezuma
Ilhuicamina. Huitzilihuitl reigned twenty years, and died in 1409,
and was succeeded by his brother Chimalpopoca, who, dying by
his own hands in prison, to which he was treacherously conveyed
by the king of Acolhuacan, was succeeded by Itzcoatl, the son
of Acamapitzin, by a slave. In the mean time they were engaged
in many disputes with the neighbouring kings and their rivals
the Tlatelolcans, who were as rapidly advancing in power as the
Mexicans. The first king of the Tlatelolcans died in 1339.
On the ascension of Itzcoatl to the Mexican throne, who was
accounted one of the most prudent of their kings, he built
temples, &c. subdued some neighbouring provinces, and concluded
an alliance with the exiled prince of Acolhuacan, whose father
had been killed, and himself supplanted by a neighbouring king.
This prince immediately declared war against the usurper, and took
several towns. Itzcoatl sent Montezuma, the son of Huitzilihuitl
to congratulate him. He was taken prisoner, but escaped by
treachery, and got back to Mexico, when Maxtlaton, the usurping
king of Acolhuacan, who had been only king of Tepanecas, declared
war against Mexico, on account of the Mexicans joining the exiled
prince Nezahualcajotl. This terrified the Mexicans, and they
demanded their king to make peace, but Montezuma, by his oratory
persuaded them to commence hostilities. Montezuma undertook to
carry the defiance, and was assailed in his return by some of the
enemy, but got back after killing two or three. After this the
exiled prince joined his army to the Mexicans, and a furious battle
took place. When night approached, the troops of the enemies still
increasing, the Mexicans were discouraged, and began to give way;
but Montezuma, and the other chiefs, rushing to the front, redeemed
the day. Montezuma took the general of the adversaries with his
own hand; the next day the battle was renewed, and the Tepanecans
totally defeated, and their city taken.
That nation was afterward totally subdued, and became subjected
to Itzcoatl; who, after reducing all the provinces which were
refractory, replaced Nezahualcajotl on his throne; in these actions
Montezuma manifested his usual address and courage. Itzcoatl gave
the Tepanecan country to Totoquihuatzin, with the title of king of
Tacuba. These kings then formed a treaty of alliance, offensive
and defensive. The Xochimilcans, fearing that they might be the
next objects of Mexican power, declared war, but were defeated,
their capital and strong holds being taken by Montezuma. Thus,
after twelve years, Mexico rose from its insignificancy, and became
more powerful than all the surrounding states, and was no longer
tributary. Itzcoatl died in 1436, at an advanced age, and Montezuma
was called to the throne; one of the first acts of his reign was
to build an immense temple, and he was no sooner placed on the
imperial seat, than he was called to a war between the Chalcese
and the Tezcucans; which terminated in the defeat of the former,
and in this war he obtained the victims to be sacrificed at his
coronation, which was the most splendid they had ever witnessed.
The king of Tlatelolco having formed a conspiracy against Itzcoatl,
and renewing his designs against Montezuma, he deposed him, and put
Moquihuix in his place. Two large provinces were also conquered,
and added to the Mexican dominions about this period.
He then engaged in a war with the king of the Mixtacas, the
Huexotzincas, and Tlascalans, and after meeting with a reverse,
he finally succeeded in defeating them, and again enlarged his
dominions. In 1457 he undertook the conquest of Euetlachtlan, and
sent Moquihuix, king of the Tlatelolcos to subdue it, but hearing
that the Cholulans, the Tlascalans and Huexotzincas had joined the
enemy, he ordered his army to return; they however disobeyed his
command, conquered the enemy, and dispatched an immense number
of them to be immolated in the Mexican temples. This so pleased
Montezuma, that he forgave them, and married Moquihuix to one of
his own relatives.
The Chalcese, who had again rebelled, were again reduced, and the
whole of his reign was occupied in augmenting his dominions; so
that at his death, in 1464, his territories reached from the gulf
of Mexico nearly to the Pacific.
During the reign of Montezuma, Mexico suffered by an inundation;
this happened in 1446, when, after a very long continuance of rain,
the lake swelled, and overflowing the city, destroyed many houses;
to prevent its recurrence, he constructed a dyke of two parallel
rows of stakes, filled in with mud and stones; this dyke was nine
miles long, and for the future, prevented that evil in a great
measure. Six years after this calamity, the maize harvest failed;
and, in 1452, after having suffered more or less, from the same
cause, for three years, the people were become so reduced, that
many sold themselves for slaves, and Montezuma was obliged to open
the granaries, and issue edicts that no woman should sell herself
for less than 400 ears of wheat, or any man for less than 500. They
existed on fish, and were only restored by a plentiful harvest
happening in 1454.
On his demise, he was succeeded by Axaycatl, in 1468; which prince,
after a great victory, built an immense temple called Coatlan; this
was after conquering the natives of the province of Tecoantepec.
The Tlatelolcos, in opposition, built another which they called
Coaxolotl. This prince was not so fortunate as Montezuma, for many
of the districts he conquered, revolted, and the Tlatelolcos became
again the enemies of the Mexicans. In 1469 and 1470, the kings
of Acolhuacan and Tacuba died, and thus the league was weakened.
The Tlatelolcos now declared war, and the king Moquihuix, who had
married a sister of Axayacatl, treated her so ill that she informed
her brother of the enterprise, by which means he totally defeated
the Tlatelolcos, penetrating, in the commencement of the action,
into the market place, where he tore out the heart of Moquihuix,
who had been taken prisoner; he then united the city to Mexico,
which it has ever since made a part of.
Axayacatl then engaged in war with some other states and
was wounded, however, he gained a complete victory over the
Matlatzincas, and continued to extend his dominions till his death
in 1477. He was succeeded by his brother Tizoc, after reigning
thirteen years. Tizoc conquered fourteen cities, and after having
collected materials to build a larger temple than any of his
ancestors, was poisoned by his subjects. This prince married one of
his grand-daughters to the king of the Acolhuacans, who also fell
in love with her sister Xocotzin, and married her, by whom he had
a son named Cacamatzin, who succeeded his father, and was taken
prisoner afterwards by the Spaniards.
Ahuitzotl, the brother of Tizoc, succeeded him in 1482, after he
had reigned five years. His first care was to finish the temple
begun by Tizoc, which he completed in four years. This king was
engaged in several wars, and the human sacrifices he caused to be
made at the dedication of the new temple, were so enormous, that
they are said to have amounted to upwards of 70,000. Another temple
was also dedicated in his reign, at which many unfortunate victims
were immolated.
The dedication of these temples took place in 1486 and in 1487,
when there was a terrible shock of an earthquake felt at Mexico.
This monarchʼs life was spent in war, he extended his dominions as
far as Guatimala, 900 miles from his capital. The Mexicans were
however defeated in 1476, by the Atlixcans, under the command of a
chief of the Huexotzincas.
Ahuitzotl caused a channel or aqueduct to be made from a fountain
into the lake, by which the waters were so much increased, that an
inundation, followed by a famine, took place.
He died in 1502, after a reign of twenty years. At the period of
his death, Mexico was precisely in the same state, with regard
to territorial acquisitions, as when the Spaniards arrived. He
embellished Mexico by building with a stone which he discovered
a quarry of in the neighbourhood, and his death was caused by a
contusion on the head, which he received in rushing out of his
palace, when the waters of the lake rose, by striking his head
against the upper part of the door.
The next sovereign was Montezuma, the second of that name, and the
ninth in order; he was called Montezuma Xocotzin, or the younger;
who was a priest, and a man of great bravery; and on his election
the people particularly valued themselves.
Montezumaʼs attention was first directed to war, in order to
procure victims to be offered to the deities at his coronation, and
the unfortunate Atlixcans were the sufferers, who, however, slew
numbers of the Mexicans before they were subdued.
The pomp of Montezumaʼs coronation exceeded that of any preceding
emperor, and the people saw with regret, symptoms of a tyrannical
and haughty disposition show themselves after this ceremony, which
they had before not suspected.
Montezuma changed many of the rules adopted by his predecessors,
and particularly favoured his nobles, at the expence of the other
classes. His household were entirely composed of people of rank,
and he kept a number of women confined in the palace, choosing
those for himself and favourites, which he thought the most
beautiful; 600 neighbouring chieftains came to congratulate him,
and appeared themselves to be in the utmost dread of his vengeance.
His attendants cast off their shoes on entering the palace, and he
permitted none of them to be sumptuously dressed. On entering the
audience hall, they made three obeisances, at each of which they
addressed him with a higher title. He was carried in a litter on
the shoulders of his nobles, covered with a canopy, and carpets
were spread along the streets in which he walked; the kitchen
utensils of the finest earthenware, his tablecloths and napkins
were never used more than once. His chocolate was prepared in
golden vessels, and his state dinners were carried by three or
four hundred young nobles, who respectfully retired when they set
the dishes down, each dish standing on a chafing dish, and the
whole consisting of every variety of the game, fish, fruits and
herbs of the country. He pointed out those which he preferred,
and the rest were taken into the anti-chamber to the attendant
nobility. Four women stood by him the whole time with ewers, and he
was surrounded by his counsellors and carvers.
He bathed every day, and changed his dress four times, never
putting on the same dress again, they being reserved for his
nobles and chief warriors. One whole city he appointed as a place
of residence at his expence, for those who were worn out in his
service. All his palaces and gardens were very magnificent, and
he had palaces in Mexico, appropriated to the kings and foreign
nobles, whenever they should choose to reside there; with royal
menageries; an aviary that occupied the attention of 300 men and
physicians; five hundred turkeys were killed every day for the
birds of prey, and the beasts were fed on deer, rabbits, and the
entrails of human sacrifices.
This Prince had many parks for hunting; he was the patron of the
arts, and had many good qualities; but was bigoted in the extreme;
so much so, that he afterwards lost his life and empire by his
belief in vain predictions. Montezuma was not so fortunate as his
predecessors had been, he indeed conquered a province which had not
before been reduced; but in his wars with the Tlascalans, he was
unsuccessful. This small republic contained a brave and independent
people, and though comparatively in small numbers to the Mexicans,
they resisted all their attacks; the Tlascalans fortified their
territories, and built a wall six miles in length on the frontier
they suspected would be attacked, and they repulsed the Mexicans
and their allies in every attempt they made to subdue them.
The resistance of these people to the power of Montezuma created
several other rebellions which lasted during the remainder of
his reign. In the year 1508, an expedition had been sent against
Amatla, a distant region, and the Mexican army, in marching over
a mountain, encountered a furious snow storm, in which great
numbers perished, and on arriving at Amatla, the remainder were
almost all slain. A comet appearing at this time, and the empire
suffering under rebellion and other calamities, Montezuma, ever
superstitious, was thrown into great alarm; the king of Acolhuacan,
Nezahualpilli, who was accounted a learned soothsayer, presaged,
that the comet portended a calamity that was about to befal the
nation, by the arrival of some strangers. This he was unwilling to
believe, and an astrologer, who verified the predictions of his
brother king, was slain in his house, which was razed to the ground.
There are many other things related of the foreknowledge the
Mexicans had of the arrival of the Spaniards, these may be traced
to two sources; the Spanish priests, who have invented most of them
since, and to the following; the Spaniards at that time had become
very formidable in the West India Islands; settlements had even
been attempted on the southern continent, and their uncommon arms
and appearance must have been the universal topic of conversation
among the natives where they came; many of the savages on the
islands had escaped, and it is hardly possible to think, that from
the year 1492, when Columbus discovered the American islands, to
1508, the period we are now speaking of, that such a people as the
Mexicans would not have heard of these formidable neighbours, and
that they would not have formed some idea that it might soon be
their turn to be attacked. They, however, went on for some years
in the usual manner, and although always dreading the arrival of
the unknown people, they continued their internal wars and human
sacrifices. The stone, or altar, on which these unfortunate victims
had been laid, was found too small, and the emperor ordered one of
enormous dimensions to replace it; this was dragged by a multitude
of people towards the temple, and in going over a bridge, broke the
structure and precipitated the high priest and his attendants into
the lake. It was, however, got out by immense labour, and, it is
said, upwards of 12,000 victims were sacrificed on it.
This was the period when Mexican splendour was at its height, and
Montezuma on the pinnacle of his glory. The Spaniards having well
settled themselves in the great islands of Cuba and Hispaniola,
turned their attention to explore the continent towards the
west. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa first landed on the coast, and from
the mountains descried the Pacific; this was, however, near the
Isthmus, in the year 1513.
Juan de Grijalva was appointed to command a small expedition for
discovery; having four ships and 240 men, he first landed on the
island of Cozumel, east of Yucatan, on the 3d of May, 1518, and
returned to Cuba without making any attempt to reduce the country,
which he called New Spain. Velasquez, the governor, by the accounts
he gave, entrusted Cortez with a commission to explore and conquer
the newly discovered regions; the manner in which this was effected
has been related under the head of New Spain, as well as the cause
of the death of Montezuma.
The Mexican empire extended, at this time, 500 leagues from east
to west, and 200 from north to south. On the death of Montezuma,
his brother Quetlavaca, or Cuitlahuitzin, succeeded him after
he had reigned nearly eighteen years; which event happened in
June 1520. Quetlavaca gave promise of being an excellent king;
he prepared his capital to receive the Spaniards, when he heard
they were returning from their last retreat, and caused it to
be supplied with stores, and made spears headed with the daggers
and swords taken from the Europeans who had fallen, to annoy the
Spanish cavalry. He died of the small-pox before he could bring his
projects to bear, in July 1520, and was succeeded by his nephew
and son-in-law, Guatimozin, who had the misfortune to observe his
people, dividing themselves from each other, and instead of aiding
him to extirpate the Spaniards, many of them were assisting them to
the utmost of their power. He was a man of undaunted courage and
great capacity, and defended his city with great resolution; but
being at last nearly starved; want, wretchedness, and disease, with
the daily advance of the Spaniards and their auxiliaries, induced
him to effect his escape, which he sought to do with his family
in a canoe, accompanied by many of his faithful subjects; whilst
those whom he had left to guard the remnant of his once flourishing
capital endeavoured to deceive the Spaniards, in order to favour
it. The canoes being large and rowing very swiftly, with other
suspicious appearances, attracted the attention of the Spanish
vessel, and a brigantine commanded by Garcia Holguin, was ordered
to chase by Sandoval, one of Cortezʼs best officers. On coming up
with the canoes the rowers dropped their oars, and the people with
lamentations, begged the Spaniards not to fire, as the emperor was
there. Garcia eagerly seized such a prize, and the emperor in an
undaunted manner gave himself up, earnestly requesting them not
to injure his wife and children. Appearing before Cortez, he, in
a manly and majestic tone, addressed him, saying, “I have done
my duty as a king, sheath your dagger in my body; my life is now
useless to myself and my subjects.”
He had, previously, ordered his treasures to be thrown into the
lake; and the allies of Cortez, had, during the general bustle,
carried off the most valuable of what remained; this exasperated
the Spaniards, and the rebellious spirit of his soldiers urged
Cortez to a deed which has for ever stained his memory; he directed
that Guatimozin and his prime minister should be put to the
torture, to make them reveal where the treasure had been deposited.
The emperorʼs favourite or minister, overcome with pain, for they
varied the torture in every possible manner, putting them on heated
grates with live coals, &c. threw a glance of supplication to
Guatimozin, as if he requested leave to explain. The emperor looked
at him sternly, and saying, “am I reposing on a bed of roses,”
checked all further solicitation. The unfortunate minister, worn
out with agony, shortly after breathed his last. Cortez, who was
present, ordered the torture to cease, and released the emperor,
but only for further indignities; he made him swear allegiance to
the crown of Spain, and afterwards, pretending he had planned a
revolt, ordered him to be strangled. Thus died Guatimozin, who had
reigned about nine months, and finished his imperial career on the
15th of August 1521, the day on which the city was taken.
Here ended the race of Mexican emperors, after a period of 197
years, and 300 years from the emigration of the colony to Mexico.
The memory of the events which happened in Mexican history was
retained by means of paintings on cloth of a coarse and awkward
appearance, and by historical songs which were handed from
generation to generation; we shall not, however, enter into those
discussions which have taken place with respect to the probability
of many of the circumstances; it is sufficent to say, that they
were generally believed by the natives themselves. The Mexicans
were assuredly an extraordinary people, and were acquainted with
many arts unknown to more civilised nations; they cast metals,
made pictures in feather work, dyed their cloths with beautiful
and permanent colours, fabricated mirrors of a stone called itzli,
as well as razors of the same substance, cut and polished gems,
made a strong and lasting cement for their architectural purposes,
cultivated their land, and knew the uses of the cochineal insect,
which they bred; manufactured cotton cloth and hewed wood into
beams, &c. with instruments of copper. Their potters were adroit,
and manufactured beautiful articles; above all, they knew the
difference between the solar and civil year, and added 13 days to
their cycles, or era of 52 years, as intercalary days. They divided
their year into 18 months, and gave these months appropriate names
from the seasons, agricultural employments, &c. In their pictures,
a month was represented by a circle divided into twenty parts or
days; for a year, they divided a circle into eighteen parts or
figures, and placed the moon in the centre. The era or century of
fifty-two years, was similarly represented, and round the circle a
serpent was drawn with four folds, to denote the commencement of
the four periods of thirteen years each.
Cacao nuts were the monies of the people of Anahuac; and, for large
purchases, were made up in bags, each bag passing for a certain
sum. (In Mexico, the poor people still make use of these nuts,
to purchase articles at market.) Very few remains of the Mexican
structures exist; but Cortez asserted, that the great temple of
Mexitli, occupied a space, in which five hundred houses might have
stood. It appears, that the habitations of the Mexicans were rudely
constructed, and ill contrived. The ancient city stood nearly where
the present stands; though the waters of the lake have receded,
owing to a drain having been formerly cut, to carry off some
superabundant water. Its scite was on some islands on the west side
of Lake Tezcuco, north of its junction with Lake Chalco, accessible
on the west side only, by three large causeways, thirty feet broad,
of earth and stone; the lake covering the other sides. It is
asserted, that the circumference of the city was ten miles, and
that it contained 60,000 houses. It was divided into four quarters,
which had four broad roads leading from the four gates of the great
temple; a fifth quarter was added, when the city of Tlatelolco was
taken, and the city was intersected by canals in every direction.
It contained many temples and palaces, the better kind of which
had parapets and balconies; and many had even towers for defence.
The largest square was that of Tlatelolco, where the great market
was held, large enough to contain 40,000 people; and the city had
fountains and reservoirs for fish, with beautiful gardens and
terraces. The population was immense, but no just account has been
given of it.
The Mexicans were a sanguinary people. The human beings they
sacrificed on the altars of their gods were innumerable; they
laid the body on the altar, cut the breast open, and took out
the panting heart to satisfy their chief deity. The priests
practised all sorts of austerities; puncturing their bodies with
the spines of aloes, and mangling their flesh; after which they
bathed in a sacred pond, which was tinged with the blood of these
self-tormentors.
The dress of the Mexicans consisted, in the higher ranks, of
fine cotton, dyed in fanciful colours, interwoven with hair and
feathers, and painted with curious figures; they wore two or three
mantles, one above another, the longest undermost, so that each
might be visible. Their shoes were mere sandals of leather, or
coarse fibrous cloth, tied with ribbands; the rich people adorning
them with precious stones, &c. Their hair was worn long; the women
allowed it to fall naturally in tresses; the men tied it up, and
adorned it with feathers and jewels. They wore ear-rings, pendants
from the upper lip, as well as the nose; necklaces, bracelets on
the wrists and arms, and round their legs. Those of the rich
were of gold, pearls and gems; the poorer sort wore crystal,
amber and shells, and their habits were made of the thread of the
mountain-palm or coarse cotton. They used the pulp of a fruit, and
a root, for soap, to wash their cotton garments.
Having traced the Mexican people, from the earliest known period of
their history, to the conquest by Cortez, it is now time to recur
to the actual situation of the country.
The climate of Mexico Proper varies according to the situation
of the districts; its sea coast is hot and unhealthy, the plains
are temperate and salubrious, and the high land cold and barren.
Earthquakes and dreadful thunder storms are common. This province
abounds in mountains; their principal summits have been described
under the general head of New Spain; four of them are within a
short distance of the capital; these mountains abound in ores and
fossils, and are in general covered with thick forests, and, in
their upper regions, with snow. Some large rivers run from them
into the two oceans. They occasionally furnish precious stones and
marbles for sculpture, as well as different kinds of stone for
building. Mexico is cultivated with the lemon, orange, citron,
cocoa, and plantain trees, vanilla, chili, or long-pepper, achiote,
cotton, indigo, pimento, wheat, maize, barley, rice, pease, beans,
and all sorts of European vegetables and fruits; also the plants
useful in forming drugs, resins, gums, oils, as well as for
their fruit, flowers, and roots, which are indigenous, have been
enumerated as exceeding one thousand.
The trees which afford timber in this province, are of every
variety. Tigers, wild cats, or loupcerviers, wolves, bears, foxes,
deer, goats, badgers, weazels, polecats, martins, squirrels,
rabbits, otters, and rats, are common in the forests, and usual
haunts of the respective species. The cojotl, the tlacojotl,
and three other species similar to dogs; the wild cat, called
ocotochtli; the cajopollin, resembling a mouse; the tozan, a
similar animal; the porcupine and ahuitzotl, an amphibious
creature; the mitzli, a sort of lion, without long hair; the
polutaca, a flying rat; the Mexican hog, the opossum, the
armadillo, the tapir, racoons, monkeys, and apes, are amongst the
most noted animals of Mexico, and the adjacent regions.
The birds of Mexico are numerous, and celebrated for the variety
and splendour of their plumage. Eagles, falcons, hawks, ravens of
two or three different kinds, of which one never touches carrion,
but subsists on corn; and another which follows the alligator, and
destroys her eggs; ducks, geese, swans, herons, quails, divers,
king-fishers, pelicans, pheasants, pea-hens, the mocking bird,
cardinals, humming bird, &c. &c. It would occupy a volume to
describe their peculiarities as well as their number. Mexico has
indeed been called the country of birds, celebrated for their song,
their beauty, and for their feathers, of which the Mexican pictures
were executed, and which had all the softness and brilliancy of oil
colours, and were so skilfully done, as to be distinguished only by
the touch; they having had the art of flattening them, in such a
manner, as to give them an appearance of the finest painting.
The reptiles are numerous; the cayman, or alligator, being nearly
as formidable in appearance as the Egyptian crocodile. The
serpents in the forests and marshes attain an enormous size, but
are rarely found in the inhabited districts. The lizard tribe,
from the cayman down to the water lizard, are very numerous. The
rattle snake, cenocoatl, or phosphorescent snake, are the most
venomous; and there are many harmless snakes, who devour the ants
and other insects. Edible frogs, of three species, which attain a
great size, are found in Lake Chalco and are eaten at Mexico. The
rivers and lakes abound with fish, as do the seas which bound the
province. Turtles are a principal article of food; lobsters, and
other crustaceous animals also abound; and upwards of one hundred
kinds of nutritious fish, have been enumerated as used by the
inhabitants. Sharks of great voracity are found on the coasts; and
the almost tepid water of the Mexican gulf, seems highly natural
for the production of the large aquatic animals. Beautiful shells
are collected on the shores, and sponges and lithophytes are
produced in great variety. The insect tribe, terrestrial, aquatic,
and atmospherical, are more numerous than can be conceived; of
these, the scolopendras, ants, scorpions, spiders of great size,
are all dreadful and venomous; hornets, wasps, bees, &c. common,
and the fire-fly and lanthorn beetle, are singular and innumerable;
indeed, the whole continent of America seems to be amply furnished
with luminous insects, which are not to be found in Europe. A large
fly, which is produced near the Mexican lake, lays innumerable eggs
on the flags which border the shores; these eggs are collected by
the natives, and made into a sort of paste for sale in the market,
where it is eagerly purchased for food, and is said to resemble
caviare.
Mosquitoes and venomous gnats occupy the air in clouds, and are
extremely tormenting, sometimes causing inflammatory appearances
on the bitten parts, which become dangerous. The capital, though
on a lake, is however free from these pests, probably owing to
the circumambient atmosphere being charged with smoke; the smoke
or vapour of wood fires being destructive to these insects. Thus
many towns in North America are free from mosquitoes, whilst, if
you step across their boundaries, these insects immediately assail
you, and it is remarkable, that they are more troublesome to
strangers than to the natives. Butterflies of every beautiful and
elegant variety are natives of the Mexican forests and fields, and
form rich articles in the collections of the virtuosi. A species
of locust sometimes destroys the rising vegetables, and great
distress is felt from their ravages. A species of the tique or tick
is as troublesome as the chigoe, or jigger of the West Indies.
Many of the insect tribe, after being reduced to powder, and made
into paste, are eaten by the natives, as they were also before the
conquest.
The silk-worms of Mexico are in a state of nature; but produce a
beautiful and strong cocoon. The cochineal insect forms one of the
principal articles of Mexican commerce; and great pains are taken
in rearing it.
The mineral productions, are gold, silver, copper, tin, the mines
of which are near the capital; lead, iron, quicksilver, sulphur,
alum, vitriol, cinnabar, ochre, and a sort of earth, resembling
white lead. Asphaltum and amber are found on the coasts.
Among the precious stones and gems of Mexico, are a few diamonds,
topazes, emeralds, amethysts, the stone called cats-eye,
turquoises, cornelians, &c. Chrystal is also found in the
mountains. Jasper, and various marbles, alabaster in particular,
and a red stone, called tetzontli, which is porous and light, yet
firm, is much used in the capital, where the foundations being
marshy, they wish not, in many spots, to overload the piles on
which they are erected. The loadstone is found to the north-west
of the province; mica is common, and a fine sort was, after being
burnt and powdered, used by the Mexicans in their paintings. The
itzli stone is the most curious of the productions of the Mexican
quarries; it has a glossy appearance, is semi-transparent, and
generally of a black colour, though sometimes varying to dark blue
and dirty white; it has been assimilated to the obsidian of the
ancients, and declared to be the obsidian, or volcanic glass of
modern mineralogy. The Mexican artists fabricated it into mirrors,
razors, spearheads, knives, lancets, and all sorts of fine tools.
The natives, that is to say, the aborigines or Indians, are well
made, above the middle size, with complexions of an olive colour,
narrow foreheads, black eyes, firm, regular, and fine teeth,
coarse, black shining hair, with very little beard or hair on the
trunk, or legs and arms; and it is remarked, that few deformed
people are seen amongst them.
The women are fairer than the men, and many of them handsome. These
people have generally good health, and are long-lived. Ardent
spirits, together with European disorders, have considerably
thinned their numbers, and they have much degenerated; the modern
Mexican possessing little of the fire and warlike spirit which
characterized his ancestors, neither are they so industrious
as their forefathers, being of a melancholic temperament, and
affecting mystery in all their actions. They are mostly of the
Catholic persuasion; their progenitors had an imperfect notion
of the Supreme Being, and adored him under the appellation of
Teotl; they likewise called him Ipalnemoani, “He by whom
we live,” and Tloque Nahuaque, “He who has all in himself.” Of the
Creator, they formed no image, and to him no set forms of religious
worship were made; they principally directed their prayers to
Tlatecolototl, or the wise owl, an evil spirit; they also believed
in the metemsychosis, and imagined, that the souls of their heroes
went, after death, to the mansions of the Sun; and, after living
there four years in happiness, returned under the form of beautiful
birds. The souls of their slaves and meaner people, passed into
the bodies of animals, in the more abject scale of creation; but
souls of those who died by disease, by water, by lightning, and
other accidental causes, went with the souls of little children
to an Elysium; and those who died by punishment for crimes, &c.,
to a kind of Tartarus, which they called Mictlan, or the abode of
utter darkness. It is said, that their historical pictures related
the events of the creation, deluge, confusion of languages, and
consequent dispersion of the people; and that this is one proof of
the Americans being of the same origin as their brethren of the Old
World.
They had thirteen chief deities. The creator; Tezcatlipoca, ever
young, and supreme agent under the Invisible Being; the Sun, the
Moon, the god of the air; Tlaloc, the god of water, of harvests,
and of the household; the god of fire, Centeotl; the goddess of
the earth; the god and goddess of hell; the god of night, and
Mexitli, the god of war; and the rational owl, or evil god, who
was worshipped to avert his wrath. Besides these, they had many
inferior deities, who presided over the hunters, fishers, &c. They
had also 260 gods, who had each a day of service assigned them;
these were probably their heroes.
They were adored under the form of images of clay, wood, stone,
gold, silver, or copper, and gems. In their prayers, their
faces were turned to the east; and the avenue to the sanctuary,
where the image was placed, had its opening to the west. It is
said, the temples in Mexico amounted to 2000, and that the idol
Huitzilopochtli, or Mexitli, was the most adored; having more
sacrifices offered at his altar; and that this image was formed of
seeds glued together with human blood. The two high priests, in
fact, governed the nation; they were consulted on all occasions,
and wore a distinctive habit. They ruled the inferior priests,
whose dress consisted of a black mantle, thrown over the head;
their hair reaching down to their legs, as they never were shaved.
They gave the names to new born children with many ceremonies, and
assisted at all nuptials. They also presided on these occasions,
and at the funeral ceremonies, placing by the side of the deceased,
if he was buried, a jug of water, and pieces of their paper, with
gems, and one of the deceasedʼs domestic animals. The bodies of the
dead were however generally burnt, and the ashes collected in a
pot, which, in the case of people of high rank, were deposited in
the temples. The priests had likewise the care of instructing the
children, and preceded their armies in war.
The language of the Mexicans bears some similarity to that of the
Peruvians; it is expressive and copious; and the great feature
of it before the conquest was, that an addition of respect,
according to the rank of the person addressed, might be added to
each word; the words are many of them of immense length, as in the
more northern dialects of the American Indians. It has not the
consonants b, d, f, g, r, s;—l, x, t, z, tl,
tz, are the most usual; but no word begins with l, though it is
the most common liquid of the language. The penultimate syllable of
most of the words is long, yet no nasal sound occurs in speaking
it; the aspirations are soft; it is also abundant in augmentatives
and diminutives; and is as well supplied with verbs as with nouns.
The colleges and university of Mexico admit the natives as freely
as the Spaniards and their descendants, and are said to be well
conducted, and to find considerable genius for the fine arts, and
for some of the higher branches of science manifested in the pupils.
The capital of this province or intendancy, and of the whole of New
Spain, has been already described under the head of New Spain; and
the province of Mexico is 136 leagues in length, and ninety-two
leagues broad; its population has been laid down at 1,511,800
souls; which at once shows its importance.
The great features of this province are the immense plains on the
ridge of the Cordillera, elevated from 6561 to 8857 feet above the
level of the sea, and forming bases for still higher mountains,
whose hoary heads repose on their bosom. These plains are from
fifty leagues in length, to ten in breadth.
The mountain of Toluca, the highest summit of the intendancy, is
covered with snow, whence it is called Nevado de Toluca; the word
nevado signifying a mountain which rises above the lowest term
of congelation. The highest peak of this volcano is 15,156 feet
in height, the plain on which it rests being itself 8857 feet
above the level of the sea. The mountains surrounding the vale
in which Mexico is situated, are all very high, but reach the
greatest elevation on the south, where the intendancy of Puebla
begins, in which are two great volcanoes close to the boundaries of
Mexico. The Iztaccihuatl and Popocatepetl roads of communication
cross the crest of the Cordillera, enclosing the valley in six
directions; one road passes between the last named volcanoes, and
consequently, through very sublime scenery, another road, which is
not yet finished, leads from Mexico to Vera Cruz, and promises to
give great energy to the commerce of the interior countries. Some
idea may be formed of the labour and art employed in opening these
extraordinary communications, when we find that some of them are
carried over summits elevated near 10,000 feet above the sea, at a
greater altitude than the lower limit of perpetual snow in central
Europe, and at nearly the height of Mont Perdu, the highest peak of
the Pyrennean chain.
On the plate of comparative heights of the American Cordilleras
which accompanies this work, a glance will suffice to point out
these stupendous undertakings.
The lakes of Mexico are fed by small rivers, which rise in the
surrounding mountains.
The Lake Tezcuco has retired since the period of the conquest,
nearly three miles from the city of Mexico, and the city at
present, instead of being enveloped by waters, stands solely on the
margin of the strait or channel which connects the lakes with each
other. Lake Tezcuco, the sheet of water nearest to the city, is
saturated with salts, and hence was called by Cortez, who supposed
that it ebbed and flowed, the sea of Anahuac; it is 7468 feet above
the ocean, and is only from ten to sixteen feet in depth. In the
dry seasons it is so drained by evaporation, that the canoes find
great difficulty in navigating it; there is also another cause,
which operates to decrease this celebrated lake; a cut has been
made through the mountains to throw off the superabundant waters of
the two upper lakes of Zumpango and San Christoval, which prevents
those lakes from nourishing Tezcuco. Lake Tezcuco, covers a space
equal to ten square leagues. A strait or channel connects Tezcuco
with the lakes of Xochimilco and Chalco to the south of the city,
which are not so broad as Tezcuco, but are more interesting;
in Chalco there are several islands of large size, famous for
the retreat of the ancient Aztecs. These lakes are of fresh
water, and occupy a space of six and a half square leagues; the
first-named is the most pure; on their surfaces are the celebrated
floating gardens of the Mexicans, which supply the capital with
fruits and vegetables. They are formed on rafts of reeds and
brush-wood covered with soil, which is constantly watered from the
surrounding lake, and the earth, which is strongly impregnated
with muriate of soda, becomes by this continual washing, at last
very free from salt and fit for vegetation. They are moved from
one place to another by men with poles, and some of them contain
watch-huts; where the proprietor or his deputy resides to overlook
the gardens; pease, beans, chilis, potatoes, artichokes, cabbage,
&c. pimento and flowers of all sorts luxuriate on these moving
gardens, and afford both pleasure and profit to the inhabitants
of the metropolis; many of them have become fixed on the borders
of the lake, on account of the general decrease of the waters.
The remaining great lakes to the north, are San Christoval and
Zumpango; the former has an expanse of three and a half square
leagues; the latter of one and a quarter.
There are two mineral springs near Mexico, at which baths have been
constructed, and near one of them the earth is so impregnated with
salts, that regular salt pans are established for the supply of the
capital.
One of the most extraordinary works in the neighbourhood of the
capital executed by the Spaniards, is the cut or canal above
mentioned, which has been made to carry off the superabundant
waters of lake Zumpango. It is carried through a mountain, and
cost the labour of fifteen thousand Indians for nearly a year;
its length is 21,653 feet, in breadth more than eleven feet, and
in depth more than thirteen; it was completed in 1608. Beyond the
mountain, this canal is carried on above 28,000 feet to the river
Tula, which runs into the gulf of Mexico near Panuco. This canal
was undertaken in consequence of the many and dreadful inundations
the city had suffered, and it appears, that it may still be visited
by this calamity, by the southern lakes being overflowed from the
high mountains in their neighborhood. This wonderful gallery was
however inefficient; for want of proper arching the earth fell in
and closed the passage, and Mexico was inundated for the space
of five years. After much discussion and trials of various other
means, the subterraneous cut was entirely uncovered, and formed
into an open trench; in many parts, upwards of 160 feet deep, and
300 in breadth at top, the old canal serving as the course for the
water, and it yet does not answer the purpose, the slope of the
banks not being sufficient, and the soil so friable that it is
constantly falling. This work was put a stop to in 1789; and cost
above one million forty thousand pounds sterling, and is 67,535
feet in length. In digging, fossil bones of the elephant species
were discovered.
Many unfortunate Indians perished in this undertaking, which
displays an astonishing effect of human industry, but very little
science. Canals have since been executed at enormous expence, to
conduct the water from the lake Zumpango and St. Christoval to
the cut; these, with the repairs, and the great cut itself, cost
up to the year 1804, as computed by M. De Humboldt, the sum of
1,291,770l.
It appears, that a new canal is about to be commenced from Lake
Tezcuco to the cut just described, which is also to be in part
deepened, the waters of Tezcuco being lower than those of Zumpango.
In the vale of Mexico north-east of Lake Tezcuco, are two pyramidal
shaped masses, called the temples of San Juan de Teotihuacan, which
the Mexicans had built for the worship of the sun and moon. The
temple of the sun is 180 feet in height, with a base of 682 feet;
the temple of the moon is not so high or so large, their sides
nearly correspond to the cardinal points, and around them are lines
of smaller pyramids of about thirty feet in height, which branch
off in streets from the faces of the pyramids, and were supposed to
be dedicated to the stars; of these there are many hundreds. Time
has eradicated the exact forms of them all, but though covered with
plants, they are still very apparent. To the south of the Nevado
de Toluca is another curious monument called Xochicalco, also a
pyramid, with its sides to the cardinal points; it is above 500
feet in height, and divided into five stages covered with stone,
the whole being surrounded by ditches; on the top are the ruins
of a square building, and the stones of the several platforms are
covered with figures; it is supposed to have been an Aztec fortress.
The great causeways which led to the ancient Mexico, are now
converted into paved roads, but still exhibit all the traces of
their wonderful construction.
An extended description of the capital of the intendancy having
been given, we shall now briefly describe the most noted towns
of the province. Of these, Queretaro, Tacubaya, Cuernavaca,
Tascho, Acapulco, Toluca, Zacatula, and Pachuca, are of
the greatest note; there are also four mines of much consequence,
of which, those of El Doctor and Zimapan, are the most productive.
Queretaro, in 20° 36ʹ 39ʺ north latitude, 100° 9ʹ 15ʺ west
longitude, near the east boundary of Guanaxuato, is celebrated for
its manufactures of cloth, its superb aqueduct, and the elegance of
the buildings; it is situated at the height of 6374 feet above the
level of the sea, and contains 35,000 people, of whom 11,600 are
Indians; south of this city is a handsome town, called San Juan
del Rio, surrounded with beautiful vineyards and gardens.
Tacubaya, celebrated for its olive grounds and the archbishopʼs
palace.
Cuernavaca is in a delightful climate, on the southern edge of
the Cordillera.
Tasco or Tascho, has a fine church founded by Laborde, a
Frenchman, which cost him more than 83,000l.; he had gained
enormous riches by the mines, but was afterwards reduced to poverty.
Acapulco, in 101° 40ʹ 45ʺ west longitude from Greenwich, and
16° 50ʹ 29ʺ north latitude, formerly the most famous sea-port of
America, when the galleons came from Manilla with spices, muslin,
china, silk, and other Asiatic productions, in return for cocoa,
quicksilver, and silver; this trade still subsists, but in a
different manner. It was formerly very populous, but is in so
unhealthy a situation behind a chain of mountains, which reflect
the heat to so great a degree, that the inhabitants made a cut
through them to admit the sea breeze. Its population is only four
thousand, which is increased on the arrival of the Asian vessels,
by people from the interior employed in the trade.
Toluca, at the base of a great mountain, in a fertile valley,
producing abundance of maize and the agave, called also by the
native name of maguey. This town, though at the foot of a mountain,
is elevated 8813 feet above the level of the sea.
Zacatula, the most northern sea port of any consequence in the
intendancy of Mexico, on the shores of the Pacific, is situated on
the borders of the river Zacatula.
Pachuca is one of the most ancient mines of New Spain, and the
village dependent on this town called Pachuquillo, is said to be
the first Spanish village that was built in the vale of Anahuac.
The height of Pachuca is 8141 feet above the sea.
The rivers of this province are the Rio Tula, which rises near
the lakes, and receives several small rivers from the mountains,
as well as the superabundant waters of the upper lake; and after
a course through the whole north-eastern part of the province,
crosses the intendancy of Vera Cruz, and falls into the river
Panuco, or Tampico, near the town of Panuco, close to the Mexican
gulf.
The great river Santiago also rises in this province, in the Nevado
of Toluca, and is called Rio de Lerma, for a considerable length;
it has already been described.
The next and last great river of consequence is the Rio Zacatula,
which rises in the Cordillera of Anahuac, and discharges itself
into the Pacific, at the town of Zacatula, on the confines of the
province of Valladolid.
Is bounded on the north by the river Lerma, or Santiago, and
Guanaxuato, east by Mexico, west by Guadalaxara and the Pacific
Ocean, and south by Mexico; its length is 78 leagues, its breadth
38.
This country enjoys a salubrious climate, owing to its situation
along the western side of the great Cordillera of Mexico; on the
coast of the Pacific the air is not so good, and the climate in
some parts unhealthy.
Travellers speak with much delight of this province; it presents
some charming scenery, and in the valleys surrounded by mountains,
it has all the variety of hill, dale, water and forest.
The land in some districts is very high, but no part if the country
offers so singular a feature, as the volcanic mountain of Jorullo,
which rose from the plains in one night The highest point of
Valladolid is the Pico de Tancitaro, and a little to the east of
it, is the volcanic production above-mentioned; which, in the midst
of the darkness of the night on the 29th of September, 1759, rose
from the bosom of the plain.
Previous to this wonderful event, the ground consisted of part
of an immensely extended plain between some ranges of mountains.
This plain was covered with cultivation, and elevated from 2460 to
2624 feet above the level of the ocean. The sugar cane and indigo
were thriving, and the inhabitants of the district, or plantation,
which was reckoned as the richest of the kingdom, looked forward
with delight to the prospect of the fruits they were to derive from
their labour. A confused noise under the surface of the plantation
was distinctly heard in June, 1759; to which succeeding alarming
earthquakes for a month, the inhabitants fled from the devastation
they imagined was about to overwhelm them; but these convulsions
ceasing for a time, they thought that the effect was at an end,
and returned to their beloved spot. For nearly the whole month of
September nothing extraordinary appeared, when on the night of
the 28th and near the morning of the 29th, the dreadful rumbling
noise again began beneath the plain. The affrighted natives fled to
the mountains, and forsook their homes; an immense tract suddenly
rose and swelled itself into an enormous convex hill 524 feet in
perpendicular height above the plain. This phenomenon continued
to vomit fire to an amazing extent; rocks of enormous magnitude
were cast up, and two rivers were swallowed into the bosom of the
burning entrails of the newly formed hill; the land of the plain
was also seen to undulate like the waves of the ocean.
Thousands of small conical mounds, enveloped in basaltes, started
up, and studded the hill with their knobs, each of these is a
little volcano, occasionally vomiting smoke; amidst them, six large
hills, elevated themselves above the main body, from 312 to 1640
feet in height, above the mass of cones.
The highest of these is called Volcano de Xorullo, and is 1695 feet
above the level of the old plains; it spouted forth fire, rocks,
ashes, &c. and continued to terrify the people till February, 1760.
The roofs of houses 48 leagues distance were covered with ashes
during this time; since then the mountain has been less furious,
and the natives have returned to reside in its vicinity. M. De
Humboldt went down into the crater of Xorullo in 1803, and examined
the inside minutely; a sulphureous vapour issued from it, and the
air was at 139° of Fahrenheit. He mentions that the hill begins to
be covered with plants as well as the tumuli about it. The country
filled with these volcanillos or brood of little volcanoes is not
unaptly styled Malpays; and the air is so warm that in the shade
the thermometer stood at 109°. The Indians inhabit this country
even amidst these ovens! The two rivers which were swallowed, it is
said, may be heard running underneath the ground, and issue from it
in the form of heated mineral springs.
The above cited author, in concluding his account of Xorullo,
remarks what is in reality a most singular circumstance. The
volcanic mountains of central New Spain do not follow the direction
of the great Cordillera, which is from the south-east to the
north-west, but cross this chain perpendicularly, beginning on the
east or Mexican gulf-shore by the great Pico de Orizaba; thence
west to the Pacific, the two volcanoes of the Intendancy of La
Puebla, the Nevado de Toluca, the Pico de Tancitaro, the volcano
of Colima and the new volcano of Xorullo, all lying in a line east
and west between 18° 59ʹ and 19° 12ʹ of north latitude. The Pico de
Tancitaro is covered with snow, but accurate measurement has been
made of it.
The population of Valladolid is 376,400 souls. In it there are
three cities, three towns and 263 villages. The Indians or natives
exceed 120,000, and are of three tribes, the Otomies, Chichimecs
and the Tarascs, inhabiting the whole of the southern part of the
province; the Chichimecs retain the ancient Mexican language, and
the Otomies their former savageness.
The bishop of Valladolid governs the ecclesiastical affairs of this
province; his bishopric is not one of the most valuable of New
Spain, and many of the priests are Indians.
Valladolid or Mechoacan, the capital, is delightfully situated
on a small river, which discharges itself, into a little lake on
the north; it has also another small lake on the east, both famous
for fish.
It is a well built large town, and is at the height of 6396 feet
above the level of the sea; snow sometimes falls, but the climate
is in general excellent. It has a handsome aqueduct, and is the see
of a bishop, with a population of 18,000 souls.
The other towns of note are Pasquaro on the banks of the little
lake of that name on the west of Mechoacan, which has 6000 people.
Huitzitzilla, a village formerly the capital of the kingdom of
Mechoacan, contains 2500 people; there are many other villages and
towns, some of which are very large, inhabited chiefly by Indians.
There are five principal mines in Valladolid, and the products of
the province are gold, silver, copper, maize, corn, cotton, cacao,
gums, sarsaparilla, vanillas, cassia, the root mechoacan, honey,
ambergris, balsam, odoriferous gums, &c.
The Indians are famous for their pottery ware, silks and ornamental
feather works; they supply the capital with fruit, flowers,
vegetables, &c. and possess some beautiful gardens.
Valladolid is famous for an excellent breed of horses and fine
cattle; the wild animals are principally the tiger, wild dogs,
squirrels and an innumerable tribe of foxes, which are very
troublesome to the inhabitants in destroying their fowls, &c.
There are no good ports on the coast of Valladolid, which causes
most of the commerce of that province to be carried on by land.
Puebla or Tlascala, is the next province to the south of
Mexico, and is bounded on the north by Vera Cruz; on the east by
Oaxaca, or Guaxaca; on the south by the Pacific, and on the west,
by the province of Mexico; and is about 354 miles in length, and
from 40 to 150 in breadth.
The soil and productions are nearly the same with Mexico; it
is here that the continent begins to narrow very much; and as
we approach the southern boundary of North America, it gets
continually less and less, until it passes the dividing mountains
in Panama, when it again spreads into that immense extent of
country, known in geography by the general name of South America.
Tlascala is crossed by the great chain of mountains called
Cordillera de Anahuac on the west, which is adorned by cultivation;
and on the north, by a range eternally overspread with snow; these
are constantly subject to violent hurricanes, terrible tempests and
torrents, by which those habitations, situated in their vicinity,
are often swept away, and even those which are built on the tops
of little rising grounds endangered. Notwithstanding all this, and
the dreadful earthquakes to which the country is subject, Tlascala
is supposed to be one of the most populous provinces of New Spain.
It is so fertile in maize, that it received its name from that
produce of the soil; Tlascala signifying the land of bread in the
native language.
This province was formerly a kingdom, but afterwards divided into
different districts; a chief, or cacique of each district residing
at the court of Tlascala, where a council of the whole was held
to promulgate laws. They were the enemies of the Mexicans, and
maintained themselves against its kings for a length of time, and
continued this form of government until the conquest of Mexico by
Cortez. The towns and villages are filled with the native Indians.
Cortez obtained a grant of this kingdom from Charles VI., and it is
consequently exempt from services and duties to the crown of Spain,
on account of its having been his ally, in his expedition against
the Mexicans; they pay solely a poll-tax to the Spanish king in
kind, being a handful of Indian wheat each person, and this has
been said to amount to the extraordinary quantity of 13,000 bushels
in one year.
The government of the caciques or chiefs was decreed by the
inhabitants of the country after the close of some civil wars; thus
making many kings to abate the power of one.
The capital of this province was anciently Tlaxcallan, or
Tlascala, on the side of a great mountain, and on the banks of a
small river which runs into the Pacific. If we are to believe the
accounts of the Spanish adventurers when they first saw this city,
its inhabitants amounted to 300,000; and it was adorned with a
large market-place, sufficient to contain 30,000 people; the market
was supplied with hardly ever fewer than 1500 sheep, 4000 head of
cattle, and 2000 swine. In the year 1698, Gemelli says, that it
was then a village with one church, in which hung the picture of
the vessel in which Cortez arrived at Vera Cruz. The Tlascalans
offered human sacrifices to their deities, and kept them in cages
till their execution. It is situated twenty miles north of Puebla
de los Angelos, and now contains only 3400 inhabitants, of whom 900
are of the original tribe.
Puebla de los Angelos, is at present the capital of Tlascala,
and one of the few cities entirely built by Spaniards in America;
it is situated in 19° 15ʹ north latitude, and 102° 43ʹ west
longitude, east-south-east of Mexico, on a small river which runs
through the town; the number of good houses is very great. It has
a fine cathedral, several churches and monasteries, which are
all well built and beautifully decorated. The houses are mostly
of stone, very lofty and tasteful, the streets broad and quite
straight, crossing each other at right angles, which is a favourite
method of building the towns of the Spanish dominions in the New
World. The streets are generally very clean, and there is a fine
square in the middle of the city, superior to the great square of
Mexico, adorned with porticoes or piazzas on three of its sides,
and on the fourth, by the great cathedral built of stone, with
two lofty towers, and an elegant front of modern architecture.
The piazzas are filled with shops for the display of all sorts of
goods, which has an exceedingly rich appearance. It is a bishopʼs
see removed from Tlascala, and is reckoned the richest in New
Spain. There is a manufacture of fine felts, with a royal mint and
glass-house. The valley which adjoins this fine city, is extremely
productive in corn and fruits, including all the European sorts.
In the neighbourhood are many mineral springs; it contains 67,800
inhabitants, and its height above the level of the sea is 7380 feet.
The highest mountain in New Spain, or indeed in all the known
parts of North America, is in this province; as Popocatepetl; more
elevated than any summit of Europe, its height being 17,716 feet
above the level of the sea; it is constantly in action, throwing
out smoke, ashes, and fire; and its figure is that of a truncated
cone with a large crater; but no great eruption has hitherto taken
place.
Iztaccihuatl is the next greatest elevation of the chain of Puebla,
and is situated near the former on the north-west of it, and close
to the boundaries of the province of Mexico; this mountain is part
of the Sierra Nevada; its height is 15,700 feet above the level of
the sea, and it appears to have been an active volcano; and between
these two, Cortez and his wondering army passed when he marched to
attack the capital; they are both constantly enveloped in snow on
their upper peaks.
The whole of Puebla is under the torrid zone; the western part
is a mere desert, and the east, from the above named volcano to
the borders of Vera Cruz, where there are beautiful plains filled
with fields of maize, corn, sugar, cotton, fruit, &c., is the
most populous, containing 813,300 souls. It is on this ridge or
plain, that the most ancient monuments of the former state of the
Mexicans exist, of which the greatest and most astonishing, is
the pyramid or temple of Cholula, 177 feet high, with a base of
1420 feet in breadth. It is divided into four stages; on the top
the Spaniards have erected a temple to the Virgin, in which mass
is constantly performed. This pyramid is built of layers of brick
and clay, and has been injured by part of it having been destroyed
to form a road, which has, however, shown that it was a place of
burial, as in the Egyptian pyramids; the faces of this structure
are directed to the four quarters of the globe, and as in the
others before-mentioned, vestiges, though not very perfect, are
found of smaller pyramids around it. It had an altar on its summit
dedicated to the god of the air, who was one of the most ancient
Mexican lawgivers, and is represented to have disappeared suddenly,
promising to return to resume the reins of government; the Mexicans
imagined that Cortez and his Spaniards were the descendants and
messengers of this mysterious being.
The view from the summit of this pyramid is very superb; the
volcanoes of La Puebla, the Pico de Orizaba, and the stormy summits
of the Sierra de Tlascala being distinctly visible from it. It is
covered with vegetation, which renders an accurate examination of
its superficies impossible.
There are some great salt works in Puebla, and some fine quarries
of marble.
Puebla contains six cities and 600 villages.
The Tlascalan part of Puebla has been lately united to Mexico; the
chief town Tlascala, being governed by a cacique who is the kingʼs
lieutenant, and four Indian judges; and the municipal body is
composed entirely of Indians.
Cholula, Tlascala, and Huexotzinco, are famous as having been the
three republics which so long resisted the power of the Mexican
kings; Tlascala for having been the ally of Cortez, and Cholula, as
a holy city.——Three distinct languages are spoken by the Indians;
the Mexican being one, which is spoken only by the Indians of the
towns of Tlascala, Puebla and Cholula.
The town of most note after the capitals Puebla and Tlascala, is
Cholula, which has a population of 16,000 souls. In ancient
times this was one of the first of the Mexican cities, containing
an immense number of inhabitants, and was deemed the sacred town
of the empire; it contained more than 400 temples and places of
worship. Cortez was astonished at the sight of this city, and
described it with admiration in his letters to the king.
Huexotzinco, now a small place, was formerly the capital of the
republic of that name, and a very populous city; as was also—
Atlixco, celebrated for its pure air, and excellent fruits, with
many others which the limits of this work forbid us to enumerate.
The great mining undertakings of New Spain are not paid so much
attention to in this province as in many others; however, it is
not deficient in ores; but the fertility of the soil renders
agriculture and other branches of commerce to be the more attended
to; and where tillage once takes place in America, the produce of
the interior of the earth is not so greatly sought after.
The principal river of the Intendancy of Puebla, is the Rio Yopez,
which rises in the mountains near La Puebla, and throws itself into
the Pacific just below the boundary of Valladolid; there are also
several others on the Pacific coast, but of no material moment.
This Intendancy lies almost entirely along the shore of
the Gulf of Mexico, and may consequently be denominated the eastern
maritime province of New Spain; it contains, indeed, the most
celebrated port in the viceroyalty, from the name of which that of
the province is derived.
Vera Cruz lies wholly within the tropics, and its coast is
consequently subject to violent heats, which render it unhealthy:
but in the interior the high mountains and the declivity of the
table land, or plain of the ridge of Anahuac, ameliorates the
climate, and renders it suitable for European constitutions.
The length of this province, from the salt water lake of Terminos
to the mouth of the great Panuco River, is 210 leagues, and its
breadth twenty-six. It is bounded, on the north by San Luis Potosi,
or New Santander; on the east by the Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan,
or Merida; west by Puebla, Oaxaca, and Mexico; and south by Oaxaca,
or Guaxaca, and the kingdom of Guatimala.
Vera Cruz comprehends within its limits the former province of
Tabasco.
M. de Humboldt has given a very animated picture of the sensations
excited in a traveller when he ascends the acclivity leading from
the coast of Vera Cruz, the capital, to the Plain of Perote. Here,
he says, nature may be observed in the course of a few hours in all
her variety; suffocating heat prevails on the coast; ascending, the
air becomes gradually more pure and less heated; the face of the
country sensibly changes; the productions of the torrid zone first
meet the eye, then those of the temperate, and the eager step of
curiosity advancing may place it amid the region of ever during
snow and ice. The mountains covered to a certain height above and
below with a belt of oaks, of bananas, and trees of the liquid
amber, denote that the climate is conducive to health; the hardy
pine ascends the higher regions, and becomes more and more stunted
in its growth, till it is lost in fields of snow. The majestic
features of the volcanoes, the vast expanse of the ocean, the
verdure of the forests, and the fall of the cataracts, rushing from
the mountains, cause the most wonderful and gratifying variety in
the coup dʼœil of this singular province.
The pimento, the vanilla, jalap, cacao, tobacco, sarsaparilla,
cotton, indigo, and sugar are amongst the principal productions of
Vera Cruz, and in some of which a very lucrative and considerable
trade is carried on.
The population of the Intendancy has been estimated at 156,000;
part of which is concentrated in the town of Vera Cruz, and in the
towns on the table land; and the remainder thinly scattered over
the extent of country between the coast and the mountains.
The capital of this province is La Vera Cruz, which is the seat
of government, situated in 19° 11ʹ 52ʺ north latitude, and 96° 8ʹ
45ʺ west longitude; with a secure harbour sufficiently large for a
great fleet, having from four to ten fathom water; the only danger
being from the northerly winds, which are excessively violent, and
have sometimes done much damage to the shipping in the port. This
harbour swarms with aquatic birds.
The defence of the port is principally Fort St. Juan de Ulua,
situated on a small island at the entrance of the channel, strongly
fortified, and mounting three hundred pieces of cannon. It was
this island that Juan de Grijalva discovered in 1518. This city is
neither the Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, nor Vera Cruz el Antigua of
the followers of Cortez, both of which were deserted on account of
their unhealthiness; it stands on the spot where Cortez first set
his foot on the continent, on the 21st of April 1519.
Vera Cruz is the mart for the merchandizes of the East and West
India Islands. The situation of the city is bad, on account of
the marshy soil and the barren tract round it. It projects in a
semicircular form into the sea, and is inclosed with a parapet six
feet in height, and three broad at the crest, having a palisade.
This rampart has six low bastions or square towers, twelve feet
high. Along the shore on the north-west is a redoubt mounted with
cannon; and on the south-east is another, to defend the port. The
houses of the city are built of stone, and have wooden balconies;
the streets being wide, paved, and in good order. The churches are
numerous and richly decorated, and the inhabitants are chiefly
merchants, very indolent, and very devout Catholics. The great
luxury of their houses is porcelain; trade is carried on here to
a great extent, and the city is accounted to have seven or eight
houses, each worth a million of dollars. The women are not reckoned
very handsome, and are kept in great retirement; they are excused
from going to mass during the north winds, which are very violent,
and load the ramparts with sand from the beach. Processions and
religious shows are the principal amusement of the people, who,
during the time there are no arrivals, are computed at about
16,000: but this amount is much swelled in the season when the
fleet arrives from Spain; at which time there is a fair here and
at Xalapa, and lodging is not to be had. The display of riches on
this occasion is immense; but since the galleons have been done
away with, and the restrictions of the other ports taken off, Vera
Cruz, no longer enjoying the monopoly, has dwindled from its former
importance; it is, however, still a place of great trade. In the
rainy season, the water falls chiefly during the night, and at
this period the marshes and bogs on the south are infested with
alligators of seven or eight feet in length, but which are said to
be innocent. The mosquitoes, during this season, are intolerable,
and the country subject to earthquakes, so that these evils,
combined with its unhealthy situation, render it no very desirable
residence. Commerce, all-powerful commerce, nevertheless, draws
man to this abode, and in the middle of swamps, reptiles, venomous
insects, tornadoes and earthquakes, he finds enjoyment in its
pursuit, and shortens his life to amass a few grains of dust to
enrich those, who after he is gone, laugh at him for his pains. The
Buccaneers and different powers having taken and sacked this city
several times, the Spanish government built small forts along the
line of coast near it.
The black vomit, that dreadful malady which so often prevails in
this town, has been supposed to be owing, in a great measure, to
the want of good water, the richer people contenting themselves
with what falls in for all the uses of the kitchen and table;
the poorer class living on bad water collected from the ditches.
An aqueduct is constructing, though very slowly, and at immense
expence, to bring a pure stream to the city.
Old Vera Cruz is also a sea-port near the former city, at the
distance of only fifteen miles to the north. Cortez landed here in
1518. It is also situated very unhealthily in a marsh, and on a
river which is full of large alligators, said to be strong enough
to manage an ox, and to draw him under water. They devour all the
dogs which fall in their way.
Xalapa, on the north of Vera Cruz, is the place where almost all
the business of the European commerce is transacted. It gives its
name to the medicinal root commonly called jalap, but originally
spelt Xalap. This town is the see of a bishop, and contains 13,000
inhabitants; it is placed at the foot of a basaltic mountain, and
its environs are highly picturesque; but it is sometimes subject to
thick fogs for weeks together, during the winter. The merchants of
Vera Cruz reside mostly at Xalapa. This town is at the height of
4264 feet above the level of the port of Vera Cruz, and contains an
excellent drawing academy for young mechanics; the great road from
Mexico to Vera Cruz will pass by it.
Cordova, near the Pico de Orizaba, and Orizaba are famous for
being the places where the tobacco for home consumption in New
Spain is mostly produced.
To complete the description of this intendancy, there remains only
to notice a part of it, which was until very lately a distinct
province, the coast of which is still designated the Tabasco shore.
THE PROVINCE OF TABASCO
Occupied the southern portion of the present government
of Vera Cruz, and was 100 miles long and 60 miles broad. The soil
is not very fertile, neither is the air healthy, as the country
is in general flat and marshy, filled with small lagoons or lakes;
and as it rains during greater part of the year, the climate is
very damp. The coast is subject, from September to March, including
both those months, to dreadful storms, the northerly gales
prevailing during that period, which renders navigation dangerous
and difficult. In February, March and April, the heats prevail,
which are insupportable, and accompanied with infinite swarms of
mosquitoes and other venomous insects. Notwithstanding all these
disadvantages, the inhabitants have good farms, well stocked with
cattle, in which their principal traffic consists. To Vera Cruz
they also export maize and cocoa nuts, and the Spaniards having
brought vines, lemons, oranges and fig-trees here, they are now
found in abundance, and thrive very well in most parts of the
country. The natives reap from three to four harvests of maize in
the year, and have rice, barley, European garden herbs and fruits,
as well as those common to America. The cacao tree grows so well
in Tabasco, that they formerly paid their tribute to the Mexican
emperors in chocolate.
The woods, which are principally of Brazil-wood and cedar, with
thickets of bamboos, mangroves, &c. are infested with serpents,
tigers, bears and apes; and the rabbit, the deer, the squirrel,
&c., find covert and shelter every where.
The marshes and lakes are well stored with fish.
The chief town, and one of the oldest of New Spain, is Tabasco,
in 18° 34ʹ north latitude, 93° 36ʹ west longitude, called also
Neustra Senora de la Victoria, on account of a great victory
which Cortez gained here on his first landing. It stands on an
island at the mouth of the Rio Grijalva, which divides itself near
the gulf into two arms; the west arm falls into the Rio Tabasco;
and the other continues its course till within twelve miles of the
ocean, where it again divides, and separates the island on which
the city stands, from the continent.
The town is not very extensive, but strongly and well built, and
owes its prosperity to a sort of annual fair at Christmas.
The island of Tabasco is about thirty-six miles in length, and
seven or eight broad; near it, on the continent, are great plains
abounding in cattle, sheep, &c., and a wild animal called the
mountain cow, or tapir, which subsists on the moss that accumulates
on trees near the great rivers, in marshy situations.
Villa Hermosa and Tlacotalpan, formerly the principal Indian
town of Tabasco, are the only remaining towns of note.
The principal river of the Intendancy of Vera Cruz, is the Rio
Tabasco, which rises in the mountains of Chiapa, and after a
circuitous course, and receiving the Grijalva and other streams,
runs into the gulf of Mexico: it is said that some of the largest
cabbage and cotton trees, which are known in the New World, grow on
the banks of this fine river.
There are some other streams in this country, viz. the Sumasinta,
which rises in the mountains of Chiapa, twenty miles south of
Sacatulan, and falls into the gulf near the isthmus of Yucatan.
The Rio Tula, under the name of Motesuema, pervades this province
in the north, as do the Rio Panuco, or Tampico, the Rio Atopan,
and the Rio Antigua, which rise near the volcano of Perote, the
Rio Blanco which rises near the Orizaba volcano, the Rio del Passo
and Huasacualco, with many others, which all fall into the Mexican
gulf, and form large and numerous islands, of which little is known.
The lake, or enclosed bay, of Tamiagua, is an extraordinary large
basin, having a long and narrow outlet to the south, parallel with
the shore; it contains a large island called De Ramirez, and
several others. Lakes, or lagoons, and indentations, are very
frequent on this coast, as are islands; but a bar extending all
along, and the insalubrity of the climate, prevents the shore from
being explored.
The volcanoes of Vera Cruz form the most astonishing feature of its
scenery; of these, the highest is the great volcano of Orizaba,
visible from Mexico; it is the most elevated mountain of Spanish
North America, excepting only Popocatepetl; its form is that of
a truncated cone, with a large crater, from which issues fire,
smoke and ashes; as it is considerably above the lower period of
congelation in these latitudes, its summit is constantly covered
with snow. The inferior limit of congelation is very distinctly
marked on the Mexican summits; at a distance, it forms so accurate
a line on the cones, that it appears the effect of art rather than
of nature, and adds greatly to the singularity of the landscape.
This volcano is called, in the Mexican dialect, Citlaltepetl, or
the Starry Mountain, its fire appearing like a star, when viewed
from the capital, and is 17,371 feet above the level of the sea;
its cone is a little inclined, at the summit, to the south-east.
The next summit is Nauhcampatepetl, or the Square Mountain, which
the Spaniards call Cofre de Perote, from the small square rock on
the top.
The Cofre de Perote is 13,414 feet above the level of the sea, and
is to the north-east of Orizaba. It is seen at a great distance at
sea, being a landmark for the harbour of Vera Cruz. There appears
no crater at the top; but from beds of lava, and the whole mountain
being surrounded with pumice stones, and other substances attendant
on volcanoes, it is evident that it has formerly been one of a
tremendous nature.
There is another volcano on the coast, to the south of Tlacotalpan,
and in that part of the shore which projects considerably into the
Mexican gulf; it is the highest summit of a small chain, called
Sierra de St. Martin. The distance is twelve miles from the beach
to the volcano, which is called Volcan de Tuxtla, from a small
village of the Indians in its vicinity. It is a very powerful
volcano, and some dreadful eruptions have lately taken place;
the last was not more than twenty years ago, when the houses and
streets of Vera Cruz were covered with ashes, and the noise,
resembling the firing of cannon, was heard 57 leagues distant.
The height of this volcano has not been ascertained, but it is
considerably inferior to those which we have mentioned, as crossing
the Cordillera of Anahuac, in a transversal line.
The next objects of curiosity which we have to turn our attention
to, in traversing the intendancy of Vera Cruz, are the pyramidical
remains of temples, of which that of Papantla has been recently
discovered in the bosom of a forest; this building is not of
layers of clay and stones, or brick, as those we have described
are, but differs from them in all its architectural points; it is
composed of enormous stones, cemented together, and well polished
and finished, and is only 82 feet in base, with a height of about
160 feet. It has seven different platforms round it, and a square
summit. In the middle of one of the faces a large and well-cut
stair ascends the whole height. Niches are observed along the sides
of each stage, regularly decreasing in number to the top; and the
whole is carved in relief with figures.
This province is bounded on the north by Vera Cruz and
Puebla; on the west by Puebla; on the east by Chiapa and Guatimala,
and on the south by the Pacific.
This intendancy, the last of the viceroyalty of New Spain, to
the south-west, is esteemed one of its most fertile districts,
producing excellent chocolate and cochineal, sugar, cotton, rice,
plantains, cassia and indigo. The mountainous parts abound in mines
of gold, silver, lead and crystal; and many of its rivers have
particles of gold in their sands. The inhabitants are, however, not
very industrious, and there are but two manufactures of indigo,
and five hundred looms in employ for the weaving of cotton. It has
also a manufacture, in its chief city, of black wax. Oaxaca may be
stiled the western maritime province of New Spain, as it embraces a
great extent of coast along the Pacific ocean.
The capital is Oaxaca, in 17° 30ʹ north latitude, at the opening
of three large plains, one of which runs as far as Guatimala. This
city stands on a river, which runs into the sea, near Vera Cruz,
and aqueducts supply it with pure and wholesome water from the
mountains on the north-east of the town. The form of Oaxaca is an
oblong square, being two miles long, and one and a quarter wide,
and surrounded by gardens and plantations of the cactus, which
feeds the cochineal insect; and it is at this city that the most
abundant gatherings of that valuable insect take place.
The streets are wide, uniform and well paved, and the houses mostly
built of stone, two stories high. From a distance, the beautiful
spires and numerous houses of stone, give it a magnificent
appearance, and nothing seems to be wanting to render it a
delightful abode, but superior industry; for the air is clear and
healthy, and here reigns a perpetual spring, refreshed by westerly
breezes in the evening, and the east winds in the morning. The
temperature of the climate causes the fruits of Europe to flourish
luxuriantly in the gardens; and thus, with the native trees, they
have a constant succession for the luxuries of the table.
The town house is a stone building, in the middle of one of the
sides of the great square, and has not been long built; the
stone of this edifice is of a green colour, and has a pretty
effect; the cathedral and bishopʼs palace occupy two of the other
sides of the square; which is surrounded with arcades. There
are many monasteries and churches of handsome architecture, and
magnificently ornamented.
The population, including mulattoes, Indians and negroes, which
form the greater portions, (the whites not being very numerous) is
estimated at 24,000.
The governor of the province resides here, as well as the diocesan.
Yet this beautiful city, so delightfully situated, in such a
temperate clime, so fruitful a soil, and with such beautiful
decorations, is sometimes visited by that tremendous scourge, an
earthquake; and has a few years back suffered very much from the
effects of one which was felt over all this part of the continent.
The other towns of the greatest importance, in the province of
Guaxaca, are Tehuantepec, a sea-port town, situated on the shore
of the great bay of Tecoantapeque, at the foot of a mountain,
whose summit is a volcano, in 16° 20ʹ north latitude, 95° 1ʹ west
longitude, with a population of 2600 families of Indians, and fifty
of whites.
Aguatulco, or Guatulco, is a sea-port of Guaxaca, with a large
and well frequented harbour, in the Pacific, in 15° 44ʹ north
latitude, famed as having been plundered by Sir Francis Drake.
Embarcadero is situated on the western side of the province in a
small harbour of the Pacific.
San Pedro, a sea-port 75 miles south of Guaxaca.
San Antonio de los Cues, in the north, on the route from Orizaba
and Vera Cruz to Oaxaca, with a large population, is famous for the
remains of some Mexican fortifications, but which are in great
dilapidation.
There are four mines of silver, which are very valuable, in Oaxaca,
and the population of the province, amounts to 534,800.
Oaxaca is described as the finest, healthiest and most productive
province of New Spain; and its former inhabitants were amongst the
most civilized of the people discovered by the Spanish conquerors.
It is extremely mountainous, and is divided into two highland
districts, called Mixteca and Tzapoteca. The Cordillera, which runs
through the province, falls to the oceans on either side; and it
is said the mountains are so high, that in one or two points, the
Pacific and Atlantic may be observed at the same time, the summits
are however not so high as those of Mexico, and their substance
differs widely. In Oaxaca, granite and gneiss compose the ridges;
whilst in Mexico, basaltes, amygdaloid, porphyry, and grunstein,
are the strata which form those tremendous elevations.
The most singular monument of the ancient inhabitants of this
province is the ruins of Mitla, which was the burial place of the
chiefs or kings of the country, and is finely constructed of stone,
covered with sculpture; the excavations under the building are
very large, and lined with large engraved stones. Six columns of
porphyry, sixteen feet in height, of a single piece each, support
the roof of a large room, and the whole is in good preservation;
many curious paintings having been found amongst the rubbish.
These ruins are ten leagues south-east of Oaxaca.
The province is celebrated, as part of it forming a grant made to
Cortez, for his services, with the title of Marquess.
It consists of four towns and 49 villages, and now belongs to the
Duke of Monte Leone, a descendant of the conqueror.
The rivers of Oaxaca are principally, the Rio Verde, on which
Oaxaca stands, which rises in the mountains of Higher Mixteca, and
falls into the Pacific; the river Chicometapea, after receiving
others, falls into the Pacific, north of the former.
The river Chimalapa, on the southern boundary, which falls into the
bay of Tecoantepec, and several smaller ones along the coast, all
of which proceed from the mountains, water the country, render it
fertile, and also fall into the Pacific.
Yucatan is the most easterly province of the kingdom of
New Spain, and is in the form of a peninsula, jutting out into the
gulf of Mexico from the main land of the isthmus; it is surrounded
on the north-west by the waters of the Mexican gulf; by the bay
or gulf of Honduras on the south-east; the province of Vera Cruz
bounds it on the south-west, and Vera Paz in Guatimala on the
south. Here it is connected with the continent of North America,
by an isthmus of about 120 miles in breadth. The English have
settlements extending a short distance along the east coast of
Yucatan, opposite Ambergris Key.
The soil of this peninsula is very prolific, and when under proper
cultivation, produces great crops of corn, maize, indigo and
cotton. The climate is hot, their summer beginning in April and
finishing in September, but January and February are very warm
months, the rest of the winter cooler, and little or no rain falls
throughout that season. The north side is the pleasantest, for
although very hot, it is refreshed by gentle breezes; on the whole
the climate of Yucatan is not an unhealthy one. It produces and
sustains vast quantities of cattle, fowls, and bees; honey and wax,
are therefore plenty; and its forests afford shelter to various
kinds of wild beasts. It has no mines, for which reason it is not
much settled by the whites, the chief part of its inhabitants being
Indians, who are employed in making salt in Campeachy Bay, and are
subject to the Spaniards. On the coasts of Yucatan, large pieces
of amber are frequently found. There is a ridge of considerable
mountains pervades the whole extent of this province, which extends
from the eastern side at Merida to the western extremity of the
peninsula; on this range of mountains, the climate is very fine,
and it is asserted that the natives live to a great age. On the
north side of this chain the land is refreshed with breezes, and
contains plenty of springs; but the southern side is in want of
good water, ill cultivated and thinly peopled, the settlers being
chiefly on the north. In Merida the nights and days are nearly of a
length owing to its situation.
In Yucatan there are very few rivers of any consequence, but
springs are numerous, especially on the north side, and in digging
for their wells, in which they always find water at a little
depth, shells are usually found, from which, with the shallowness
of the sea near the coast, it has been supposed that the greater
part of the peninsula was once submerged. The eastern coast of
Yucatan is not inhabited by Spanish colonists, the English alone
appearing there, except in the small fort of Bacalar, which has
been built to prevent the British from going into the interior. The
British logwood cutters find that article in greatest perfection
in Campeachy Bay, and in the Bay of Honduras; but it has been said
that the logwood of Campeachy is more plentiful, as well as greatly
superior to that of Honduras.
Campeachy, or St. Francisco de Campeche, the principal trading
town of Yucatan, is situated in 19° 50ʹ 45ʺ north latitude, and
90° 30ʹ west longitude, on the west shore of the Bay of Campeachy,
in the gulf of Mexico, in the river St. Francisco. It has some
fortifications which command the town and harbour, and has often
been plundered and taken by the English and French buccaneers; In
1659 it was taken by the English under Sir Christopher Mims, in
1678 by the Buccaneers, and in 1685 by the pirates of St. Domingo;
the last named year they set fire to the town and fortification,
and plundered the adjacent country to the distance of fifteen
miles; they also burnt 50,000l. worth of logwood, because the
governor would not ransom the place for an enormous sum which
they demanded. When the Spaniards first took this place, it
contained three thousand houses, with many beautiful monuments
of the Indian arts. The houses at present are numerous, and well
built of stone; the harbour is large, but not deep; and the chief
manufacture is cotton cloth, and wax. It used formerly to be the
market for logwood till the British landed; when they cut it at
Trieste island, 120 miles from Campeachy, near the isthmus. Great
quantities of logwood formerly grew all about Campeachy, but the
British have nearly monopolized this trade.
The logwood cutting establishments are under the Spanish governor;
but by the treaty of peace in 1783, the British were allowed the
privilege of cutting it without being molested.
The wood is felled at stated seasons, and in stated places, by
permission of the intendant, and is dried for a year previous to
exportation. This wood is not confined to Yucatan; it grows in
abundance on the coast of South America, near the mouths of the
Orinoco. The town of Campeachy contains 6000 people.
The language of the Indians is styled the Maya Tongue; and Yucatan
is remarkable for being the scene of the early conquests and
discoveries of the Spaniards, who found the natives in a state of
comparative civilization; as they had stone houses, temples, and
cultivated fields; some monuments of their industry still exist.
The population, including Indians, is 465,800. We have given
a description of Campeachy first, on account of its being the
principal trading place, and formerly the metropolis. Merida de
Yucatan is now the capital and residence of the intendant, who is
also called captain-general. Merida is ten leagues from the coast;
its port is called Sisal, being in 21° 10ʹ north latitude, 89° 59ʹ
30ʺ west longitude, with a castle and small harbour, having an
immense sandbank opposite its entrance. Merida is situated in a
plain almost destitute of water; the population amounts to 10,000.
This with Campeachy and Valadolid, famous for its cotton
plantations, are the most noted places of the country, with the
large Indian villages of Zampolan and Equetchecan, between Merida
and Campeachy.
Guatimala is a general name for a portion of the territory on
the narrow part of the continent, which reaches from Oaxaca and
Vera Cruz, southward to Veragua, on the isthmus of Darien. This
tract of land is subject to the government of a captain-general,
and is called the Capitania General of Guatimala, or as it is
sometimes written, Gualtimala. The officer who exercises this
command is independent of the viceregal court of Mexico, and is
appointed by the king of Spain, consulting the viceroy on important
occasions only; in what regards the immediate government of the
captain-generalship, he is perfectly independent of any of the
viceroys of the New World, acting solely on behalf and in the
name of His Catholic Majesty. Of his power and resources, with
his emoluments, &c. very little can be said, as this interesting
portion of Spanish America has not attracted the serious attention
of any contemporary writers.
The territory of Guatimala is subdivided into numerous provinces
or districts, of which the following names are given as a list:
Soconusco, Suchitepec, Sonsonate, St. Salvador, St. Miguel,
Tiguesgalpa, Choluteca, or Keses, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica,
Vera Paz and Chiapa. The first seven of these are denominated
Guatimala, in the most modern maps, which is however an error.
The general appearance of the soil, (excepting the neighbourhoods
of the volcanoes,) is fertile in the extreme; and Guatimala
abundantly produces corn, cochineal, honey, wax, cotton, the
sugar-cane, indigo, maize, pimento and chocolate. There are plenty
of cattle and sheep in the farming districts. The climate differs
greatly, according to the situation of the provinces on the eastern
or western coasts; the western side is in general the best and
healthiest, as may be observed, throughout the whole of North
America. The whole country is mountainous, of which the particular
ridges are very little known. In the Guatimala of the maps, that is
to say, on the western shore from Guaxaca to Veragua, the country
is dreadfully subject to tremendous convulsions of the earth, which
has at times involved whole cities in ruin, exterminated complete
tribes of people, and reversed the order of peaceful nature. The
volcanoes are extremely numerous, and some of them terrific;
no less than twenty are known to exist, which are constantly
in action. The captain-general is commander of the troops, and
Guatimala, the chief city, is the seat of a royal audience, which
governs twenty-five districts. This Audienza Real, or Supreme
Court of Justice, was first established in 1554.
The capital of this extensive country is Guatimala, which
is situated in 14° 28ʹ north latitude, and 92° 40ʹ west longitude.
It is built near the Pacific Ocean, on the Rio Vaccas, and has a
good harbour. It is the see of an archbishop, which was established
in the year 1742, and seat of the Audienza Real, with that of the
government of the Capitania General. This renders it a place of
nearly as much importance as Mexico, or any other chief city of the
Americas. It has an university, and its chief trade consists in
chocolate, pitch, and naptha.
When this city was first built, it was founded on the declivity of
a mountain, at whose summit was a volcano, in a beautiful valley
of three miles in width, and was then called St. Jago. This valley
opened to, and fronted the Pacific Ocean, and the town contained
about 7000 families.
In the year 1751, this unfortunate city was overwhelmed by an
earthquake, and by the matter from the volcano, which is called
the Volcan de Guatimala. Notwithstanding this awful calamity, the
surviving inhabitants ventured to rebuild their favourite abode;
but direful to relate, another and a more tremendous convulsion
again destroyed the devoted place in the year 1775. The greater
part of the inhabitants were buried in the ruins, and the whole
circumstance was one of the most tremendous and calamitous ever
known. The city was again rebuilt shortly afterwards, on the spot
on which it now stands, which is twenty-five geographical miles to
the southward of the Old Town. It is a magnificent place, adorned
with churches and monasteries, and an university reckoned one of
the best in the empire. The women have been celebrated for their
beauty, and the people altogether for their suavity of manners and
courteous disposition. The moisture of the climate has been stated
as a cause of the beauty and delicacy of the females.
The number of inhabitants in this city has been computed at about
19,000.
Or the Guatimala of the maps, is a division of the above territory,
which is bounded on the north by Vera Paz, Chiapa, Guaxaca and
Honduras; on the south, by the Pacific; on the east, by Nicaragua;
and on the west, by Guaxaca and the Pacific Ocean. Guatimala or
St. Jago de Guatimala is its capital, as well as that of the
whole Audience. It is subdivided into the following districts, from
the north to the south, along the coast of the Pacific, Soconusco,
Suchitepec, Sansonate, St. Salvador, St. Miguel, Tiguesgalpa and
Choluteca, or Xeses, each of which we shall separately describe,
but in a limited manner, as no information, that can be relied on
is to be found with respect to these regions.
Soconusco.—This province is situated in the northern part
of Guatimala, and is bounded on the north, by Chiapa; on the east,
by Vera Paz; on the south, by the Pacific; and on the west, by
Guaxaca and the Pacific.
The air in this district is exceeding hot, and the general state
of the climate either rainy or sultry; the rains last from April
till September, and violent storms are very frequent. Soconusco is
neither a healthy nor a pleasant country, and the soil is not so
fertile as in some other parts of Guatimala, the corn and maize
not growing so abundantly; but to compensate for this, it produces
pimento, indigo, and cacao, in great quantities, and with these
articles it carries on a great trade with the other North American
colonies of Spain. The Spaniards are not numerous in Soconusco,
it being chiefly inhabited by Indians, but the few Spaniards
who reside there are very rich. The capital of this province is
Soconusco, or Guevetlan, which is situated in 18° 30ʹ north
latitude, and 120° 40ʹ west longitude, on a small river which runs
into the Pacific Ocean; Soconusco is 460 miles south-east of the
city of Mexico.
Suchitepec is a small district to the southward of
Soconusco, and whose capital is St. Antonio de Suchitepec, which
is situated on a river running into the Pacific, in 14° 44ʹ north
latitude, 93° 36ʹ west longitude, and 60 miles west-north-west
of Guatimala. Its population amounts to 1480, all Indians of the
Suhutil nation.
Sansonate is another small district of Guatimala, to
the southward of Suchitepec, having for its capital La Trinidad
or Sansonate, situated on the river Sonsonate, at its mouth;
this town is a sea-port, and is situated 120 miles south-east of
the city of Mexico, with about 2000 inhabitants, of whom 400 are
whites. The population of the district is about 40,000 souls,
consisting almost entirely of Indians, Mulattoes and Negroes.
St. Salvador is also a small district of Guatimala to the
southward of the former, which produces sugar-canes and indigo
in great abundance, the soil being very fertile; the capital of
this province is Cuzcatlan or St. Salvador, which is situated
in 13° 40ʹ north latitude, 89° 20ʹ west longitude, twelve miles
from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, and 140 miles east-south-east
of Guatimala; it has a little trade, and is the residence of a
governor: many maps have absurdly made this town the capital of
Spanish North America. Its population is about 5,000 Indians,
whites and Castes.
St. Miguel, to the southward of the former, is another
small district, having for its capital St. Miguel, which is
situated fifty miles east of St. Salvador or Cuzcatlan.
Tiguesgalpa or Tiguazalpa, is also a small
district of the same country, situated near the province of
Nicaragua, whose capital of the same name is situated on a river
which runs into Amapalla Bay; eighty miles north of Leon de
Nicaragua, in 13° 50ʹ north latitude, and 87° 36ʹ west longitude.
Choletuca is also another and the last district of that
division of the Audience of Guatimala, which is named Guatimala
Proper, or Guatimala only in the maps; of all these foregoing
divisions little or nothing is known; their climate is very hot,
they have rains from April to September, and are bounded from the
eastern or Atlantic provinces of Guatimala by a ridge of mountains
which are very lofty, and in which there exists numerous dreadful
volcanoes. The whole of this country is subject to earthquakes and
storms, and although in general very fertile and productive, it
has little commerce, there being no mines of any great importance
in its whole range; the number of its inhabitants has not been
ascertained. Its rivers are not considerable, nor has it any lakes
of consequence.
Solola, Quesaltenango, Totanicapan,
Escuintla, &c. are the names of other districts in the
interior, mostly inhabited by Indians living in missions or
villages; but as so little is accurately known concerning this
kingdom, it is of no use to merely enumerate titles of districts.
Is the next province of Guatimala which occurs in tracing the map
of that country; it is situated inland, and is bounded on the
north by the province of Tabasco; on the south-east, by Vera Paz;
south-west by Soconusco, and west by Guaxaca; it is 255 miles in
length from west to east, and 300 miles broad at its widest, and
ninety at its smallest breadth. It is full of hills and mountains,
but has no mines, nor is gold found in its rivers; the Spaniards
therefore only value it for its situation, which renders it the
key to New Spain, as the river Tabasco, Puerto Real, and its
vicinity to Yucatan render it the easiest of access of any part of
their dominions. The principal river is the Chiapa, which rises
inland, and running to the north through the Indian country of the
Quelenes, falls into the Mexican gulf at Tabasco. This river is
the great road of the inhabitants of Chiapa; by it they carry on
a considerable trade with the adjacent provinces, particularly in
cochineal and silk, the Indian women making beautiful handkerchiefs
of the latter article, which are eagerly sought by the Spaniards
for the European market.
Chiapa abounds with magnificent forests of cedar, cypress, pine,
oak, walnut, &c. with trees which yield all sorts of aromatic
balsams and gums, copal, &c.; wild cochineal, maize, corn, cacao,
and cotton are also extremely productive, and fruits are found here
of every kind that is known in these regions. The natives colour
the chocolate with a substance called achiotte. This province is
famous for its fine cattle, and for a very excellent breed of
horses, which are in such request that they often send them to
Mexico, 500 miles distant.
Wild beasts are very numerous in its forests, and wild hogs,
foxes and rabbits are seen every where in its plains; snakes of
a formidable size, said to be twenty feet long, are found in the
mountainous parts, also others of a red colour, streaked with black
and white, which are tamed by the Indians, who carry them about
their persons.
The inhabitants of this country are a well made, fair people, very
courteous in their manners and skilled in music and painting, with
great knowledge of the mechanical arts.
The chief town of this province is Chiapa or Cuidad
Real, or Chiapa de los Espagnoles; it is the see of a bishop,
whose revenue is 8000 ducats per annum. It is also the seat of the
courts of justice, and is situated in 17° north latitude, and 96°
40ʹ west longitude, in a beautiful plain environed with mountains,
at nearly the same distance from the Pacific Ocean as from the gulf
of Mexico, and 300 miles to the north of Guatimala. Chiapa Real is
neither very populous nor very rich, and it is said that the upper
orders of the Spaniards who inhabit it are proud, poor and ignorant
to a proverb. The families amount to four hundred in the city,
and the Indian families in the suburbs, to about one hundred. The
cathedral is an edifice of beautiful appearance and the city has
several monasteries. It is governed by a magistrate chosen amongst
the burgesses, in consequence of a privilege granted the city by
the king of Spain, and its principal commerce consists in cacao,
cotton and cochineal.
Chiapa de los Indios, or Chiapa of the Indians, is the
next town of rank in this province; this is the largest city which
they have in the country, and is situated 36 miles north-west of
Chiapa Real, in a valley near the Rio Tabasco.
The town is extensive and opulent, and is filled with Indians who
hold a high rank amongst their tribes. It is asserted that this
city contains 20,000 people of the native race. The climate is
excessively hot during the day-time in this part of the country,
but the evenings and nights are cool. There are many monasteries
and churches in this town; the first bishop was the celebrated
Bartolomeo de las Casas, who struggled so hard for the rights of
the Indians, and whose memory is consequently very dear to them. On
the river Tabasco the inhabitants amuse themselves in performing
naval actions with boats; and all around the town are farms which
are plentifully stocked with cattle; in the vicinity there are
also some sugar plantations: wheat is sold here from Chiapa Real,
and biscuits are made of it, which are bartered by the natives and
Spaniards for cotton, wool and other necessaries.
The province of Guatimala next to Chiapa is Vera-Paz; it is bounded
on the north by the provinces of Chiapa and Yucatan; on the east,
by Honduras and the bay or gulf of Honduras; on the south, by
Guatimala; and on the west by the Saine and Chiapa. It is about 120
miles in length, and 74 in extreme breadth. The air in the higher
parts of Vera-Paz is healthy; in the low land insalubrious. This
district is subject to earthquakes, to nine months of rain, and
storms with dreadful thunder and lightning. The mountains which
overspread great part of the country, are thickly covered with
forests, of which cedars occupy the greatest part. It is not much
cultivated, and yields a little corn and fruits. The wild animals
of America are very numerous in the extensive woods of Vera-Paz.
Its trade consists chiefly in drugs, cotton, cacao, honey, wool,
&c.; and from its situation on the gulf of Honduras, might be
rendered much more flourishing than it is. The gulf of Dolce or
Dulce, a sort of large lake, but which communicates with the sea
by means of the gulf of Amatique, lies on the eastern and southern
part of Vera-Paz, and seems placed there by nature, to facilitate
the commerce of the government of Guatimala.
The chief town of Vera-Paz is Coban, or Vera-Paz, situated
in north latitude 15° 50ʹ west longitude, 91° 14ʹ; 600 miles
south-east of Mexico, on the Rio Coban which falls into the gulf or
lake of Dulce.
Is bounded on the north by Honduras, on the east by the Caribbean
sea, on the west by Guatimala and the Pacific, and on the south by
Costa Rica.
The climate is, generally speaking, salubrious; the summers are
hot, but not unhealthy, and in the winter they have much rain and
storms.
It is one of the most woody countries of Spanish North America,
and where cultivated, extremely fertile, so much so, as to
receive the name of the “Garden of America.” When the Spaniards
first discovered it, they called it Paraiso de Mahoma, Mahometʼs
Paradise, on account of the beauty of the country, and the perfume
of the odoriferous plants, with which the soil is covered. Its
chief products are flax, hemp, balsams, cotton, sugar, long-pepper,
turpentine, liquid amber and Nicaragua-wood, which is a substance
used in the dying trade; these, with its silver mines, constitute
the chief objects of the labour and traffic of its inhabitants, who
carry on a great trade with Panama, &c.
Wheat is not plentiful in Nicaragua, nor is there any great
quantity of sheep, but black cattle and hogs are very numerous.
Wild turkeys and parrots occupy, with wild animals, the extensive
woods, whilst the sands of some of its rivers furnish gold, which
is also found in lumps in this province.
The natives are numerous, and reckoned an industrious and ingenious
people, and are particularly skilled in the goldsmithʼs art.
The capital of the province of Nicaragua is Leon, or Leon
de Nicaragua, situated on a lake of fresh water, abounding with
fish, which is called by the same name, and communicates with the
great lake; this town has a mountain near it with a volcano, which
has sometimes caused it to suffer by earthquakes. The town is not
very large, containing about 1200 houses, with many convents, and
four churches. It is the see of a bishop. Its port is Realexo,
which is situated near it, and is a fortified town with a good
harbour, which has the same name, and is on the Rio Realejo.
The river Realejo is so deep and commodious as to be capable of
containing 200 sail of vessels. The town has good fortifications
and fine docks for building and repairing ships. It has three
churches and an hospital. Realexo is in north latitude 12° 45ʹ, 87°
30ʹ west longitude, eighteen miles north-west of Leon. It suffered
much from the Buccaneers, as they found it a commodious harbour;
the Pacific is shut out by an island which lies across the mouth of
the bay, and forms two channels; but the one on the north-west side
is the safest and best.
The town of Realexo is unhealthy owing to the marshes and creeks in
its neighbourhood; its chief trade consists in cordage, pitch and
tar, and in the little commerce it carries on for Leon, of which it
is the embarcadero or port.
Nicaragua, or Granada, is another town near the great
lake at its south-eastern extremity, in 86° 15ʹ west longitude,
11° 15ʹ north latitude. In the year 1680, this town as well as the
capital was sacked by the Buccaneers, it has now a considerable
trade in cochineal, hides and sugar, with the neighbouring
provinces.
St. Juan is a sea-port thirty miles south-east of Leon, in
12° 10ʹ north latitude, 87° 38ʹ west longitude, and there are some
others of little note.
The river St. Juan is the stream which affords an outlet to the
lakes of Nicaragua and Leon into the Caribbean sea. Its length
is about 100 miles; this river is navigated by boats and canoes
carrying tallow and goods to Porto Bello, 240 miles distant, but
they are obliged to make three portages which is owing to some
obstructions in the course. These carrying places are defended,
and at one of them is the Fort St. Juan, called also the Castle of
Neustra Senora, on a rock, and very strong; it has thirty-six guns
mounted, with a small battery, whose platform is level with the
water; and the whole is enclosed on the land side by a ditch and
rampart. Its garrison is generally kept up at 100 infantry, sixteen
artillery men, with about sixty of the militia, and is provided
with batteaux, which row guard every night up and down the stream.
Some slaves are allowed for the menial services of the garrison,
and this post is supplied with provisions, fowls, garden-stuff,
&c. from Granada, distant 180 miles, being usually provisioned for
six months. The climate is very unhealthy as it is always raining,
and the place requires to be constantly recruited from Guatimala.
This port is looked on as the key of the Americas, and with the
possession of it and Realejo on the other side of the lake, the
Spanish colonies might be paralyzed by the enemy being then master
of the ports of both oceans. This river St. Juan has also been
proposed as the means of joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans;
its great length, the necessity for making only two or three cuts
to avoid its obstructions, the immense depth of the lakes Nicaragua
and Leon, and a short canal of twelve or fourteen miles on the
western side, would effect this object; thus rendering an easy and
safe communication from the West Indies, the coast of the Spanish
main, and the eastern shore of New Spain to the Pacific Ocean. It
is to be supposed that the Spaniards would not have neglected an
opportunity thus afforded them by nature, had not political reasons
suggested the impropriety of the undertaking.
Is a large province of the kingdom of Guatimala, and is bounded
on the north by the gulf or bay of Honduras, which separates it
from the province of Yucatan; on the west by Vera-Paz; on the
east by the Caribbean sea; and on the south by the province of
Nicaragua. The length of Honduras from east to west is 390 miles,
and its breadth from north to south about 150. Honduras was first
discovered by Columbus, who landed on the Mosquito shore on Sunday
the 14th of August, 1502, and took formal possession of the country.
The climate of this country is good; the air, excepting on the
eastern shore, and near the morasses, being pure and wholesome.
The soil in most parts is exceeding fertile, abundantly producing
corn, vegetables and fruits. They have a three-fold crop of maize
in the year, and the vines produce grapes twice in the same period.
The pastures are excellent, and the country furnishes all kinds
of provisions; but for want of cultivation and settlements, the
greater part of it is in a state of nature. It has many good and
serviceable small rivers, and is well watered. It has several
mountains in its extent, in which are gold and silver mines, and
the face of the country is agreeably diversified into valleys,
plains and eminences, overspread in most parts with thick forests.
Honey, wool, cotton, wax, mahogany and logwood, with other dyeing
drugs, are its chief products; the latter forming an immense part
of its exports, and from which its chief importance is derived.
The felling of the mahogany trees is performed twice in the year,
in Autumn and at Christmas. This is done by slaves, who have one
man called a finder, or huntsman, whose business it is to seek for
the mahogany trees in the thick woods, and to point them out to
the gang. This he does by penetrating the forest, and climbing the
tallest trees to discover his object; the mahogany trees generally
grow separately, and are much dispersed, so that the labour of
procuring this valuable wood is very great; the finder soon
discovers them by the deep colour of their leaves, and he selects
the place where they are most numerous to call his comrades to work
at.
The mahogany tree is cut at the height of ten or twelve feet from
the earth; and for this purpose they erect a stage for the feller
to stand conveniently on. The trunk is used for tables, and other
articles of furniture, which require large planks of this wood;
but the branches are reckoned the best parts of the tree, as the
grain in them is closer, and the streaks more beautifully varied.
The trunks and branches are dragged by the negroes to the nearest
river, and there made into rafts, for the purpose of being floated
into the sea to the settlements.
The growth of the mahogany tree is very rapid, but not so much
so as that of the logwood, which comes to a state fit for use in
five years. The slaves who are employed in cutting the logwood and
mahogany have been brought either from the United States, or the
West India Islands by their owners, and are not in such a degrading
state of subjection as their brethren of the last-mentioned places.
Logwood trees are cut in logs of about three feet in length, and
sent to Europe in that form, where they afterward undergo many
operations, and are principally used by dyers for the finest black
and for purple colours.
The Mosquito shore, a tract of country which lies along part of
the northern and the eastern shore of Honduras, has been claimed
by the British. The English held this country for eighty years,
and, abandoned it in 1787 and 1788. The Spaniards call it a part
of Honduras, which it really is, and claim it as such. It is an
unhealthy, hot country, inhabited chiefly by a race of people
called the Mosquito Indians, who are excellent marksmen, and of a
warlike disposition. They are employed by the British to strike the
manati, or sea-cow, for the sake of the oil it affords, and bear
an invincible hatred to the Spaniards, being much attached to the
English; as they were so cruelly treated on the conquest of this
part of the country by the former people, that they have never
forgiven it, and they do not acknowledge any allegiance to them.
Their ancestors, after long and exterminating contests with the
Spaniards, retreated into the mountains, and there remained till
the English took possession of the Mosquito shore.
When the Duke of Albemarle was governor of Jamaica, they put
themselves under his protection, and their king had a commission
granted him from Great Britain. It is asserted that since that time
the new monarch always goes to Jamaica to receive this document;
and that the Mosquito Indians, his subjects, refuse to acknowledge
his power till he does so. They trade with, and are frequently in
the habit of crossing to Jamaica. The Spaniards are said to have
no settlements on the Mosquito Shore; which name has been given to
this country, partly from the Indians, and from a bank and cluster
of islands which lie near it, in 14° 30ʹ north latitude, and 82°
10ʹ west longitude.
The Mosquito Indians were formerly a very powerful and numerous
race of people; but the ravages of rum and the small-pox have
diminished their numbers very much. They inhabit, however, nearly
the whole coast of Honduras; and their most numerous tribe exists
near the Cape Gracios á Dios. This tribe has, however, been the
subject of many enquiries and disputes, as they differ in their
persons from the other natives, and it is confidently said by many
authors that they are the descendants of the slaves of a Guinea
ship, which was wrecked near this Cape. They are called the Samboc
Mosquitoes. Cape Gracias á Dios was the place where the British
first established themselves in the Honduras territory, upon the
banks of a navigable river, where the country is very fertile, and
the harbour, formed by an inlet of the sea, is safe and commodious.
This happened in 1730. They also fixed a colony about 78 miles
from Cape Honduras, the colony at Cape Gracios á Dios being 162
miles distant. Seeking farther southward, at Bluefields River,
210 miles-from the first colony, they found a fine harbour, an
extensive river, and a natural situation for a fort, with spacious,
beautiful and fruitful plains.
The bay of Honduras, so celebrated for its trade in logwood and
mahogany, is situated between Cape Catoche, the north-eastern
most point of the province of Yucatan, and Cape Honduras. The land
in the neighbourhood of this bay is inhabited by the Mosquito
Indians. The English factories in 1769 amounted to 200 whites, the
same number of people of colour, and 900 slaves. They exported
to Jamaica, mules, &c. and to Europe, 800,000 feet of mahogany,
10,000 pounds of tortoise-shell, and 200,000 pounds weight of
sarsaparilla. This trade was much damped by smuggling: but in the
year 1763 Great Britain obtained the privilege of the logwood
trade. They have lately discovered that the Campeachy wood of
Yucatan, which grows on drier ground, is better, and of a closer
grain, than the Honduras wood: but the price of the former had been
so long kept up, that the latter trade was the most flourishing.
The best mahogany is now cut in Yucatan.
The climate of the Honduras is superior to that of the West Indies;
the sea-breezes being regular during the whole of the year,
excepting in April, May and June, when the heats of summer prevail;
but the mean heat is 30°.
Balize is the chief and only settlement of the British
which is worth mentioning, situated at the mouth of a river of
the same name, and consists of 200 habitations built of wood, and
elevated on pillars. The shops, magazines, or offices, are on the
ground-floor, and the habitable parts in the upper. The two floors
have each piazzas, to which the people retire, from the heat of
their inner apartments. The river on which Balize is situated,
is navigable for boats 200 miles up the country, and the wood
cutters proceed to that distance, in search of their article.
The agriculture of this country has been neglected, on account
of the wood trade, though the soil would produce the West Indian
commodities of sugar, coffee, or cotton, with rice and Indian corn
in great abundance. The British government appoint an officer to
the command of this station, who is usually an officer of some
rank in the army.
Many of the turtle which are caught here, are exported to England;
and the hawks bill (a particular kind) is consumed in the
settlement; its shell being an article of the commerce of Honduras.
The bay of Honduras is full of shoals, rocks, and islands, which
make its navigation dangerous. The fog, which is prevalent during
the northerly winds, increases the difficulty, and the currents on
the coast are very uncertain.
The introduction of British manufactures has been impeded into the
adjacent Spanish settlements by the jealousy of the Spaniards; but
it is probable that it may in time become a very valuable station.
The British government grant a convoy in January and July each year
to the Honduras traders; and the annual revenue of the settlement
is stated at about five thousand pounds.
The Mosquitoes who have fallen under the observation of the British
settlers, seem to have no other religion than the adoration of evil
spirits; and their conjurers are in fact the priests, the lawyers
and the judges. Polygamy is practised; and all domestic offices are
performed by the females.
The crown is succeeded to hereditarily, and the king is a despotic
monarch. These people are warlike, keeping the other Indian
nations and their Spanish neighbours, in complete defiance; they
can support hardships and want of food with great heroism; but,
as all savages do, when they can indulge, they place no bounds
to their excesses. The warriors of this tribe are accounted at
fifteen hundred. The mosquitoes annoy these savages, who probably
have received their name from these insects being so plentiful on
the coast; so much, that at particular seasons, they quit their
dwellings, and pass their nights in their canoes.
In Honduras, the rainy season is always accompanied by great
flights of swallows, who remain at night at rest on the great
savannahs or plains, and at sun-rise rush in a body up into the
air, in quest of the flies, their nutriment; at dusk they return,
and a traveller has described the noise which this immense body of
birds make in their flight, as comparable to that of a waterfall.
In the bay, cormorants and pelicans are very numerous, as well as
many other sorts of sea-fowl, attracted by the abundance of fish.
The chief towns of the Spanish part of Honduras, are Valladolid,
the capital, Truxillo, Gracias á Dios, and Omoa.
Valladolid, or Comayaguas, is the capital, and
is a large and fine town, in 88° 19ʹ west longitude, 14° 30ʹ north
latitude, on the banks of a river which falls into Honduras bay.
It is said that there are rich silver mines in the vicinity of
Valladolid; this city is the residence of the intendant, and the
see of a bishop, who is styled Bishop of Honduras.
Truxillo is situated on a hill near the sea, and in
Truxillo bay; this sea-port has very often been ravaged by the
Dutch and British; it is at present a place of little account,
though made, by some writers, the capital; and is in 15° 51ʹ north
latitude, and 86° 8ʹ west longitude. Truxillo is ninety miles north
of Valladolid.
Gracias á Dios, is on the bay of Honduras, at the mouth
of a small river; and there are said to be some gold mines in
its vicinity. It is in 14° 30ʹ north latitude, and 90° 6ʹ west
longitude.
Omoa, or St. Francisco de Omoa, is situated in
15° 50ʹ north latitude, 89° 53ʹ west longitude, and is a strongly
fortified sea-port. The treasure and valuable commodities of
Guatimala are received here to be embarked; and the European trade
of the kingdom carried on through this port, which is so important
as to be called the key of Honduras.
Costa Rica is the most southern province of Guatimala,
and is bounded on the north by Nicaragua, east by the Caribbean
sea, west by the Pacific, and south by the province of Veragua.
It is 150 miles long, and in its widest part about 140 broad. Its
name, Costa Rica, “the Rich Coast,” is derived from its valuable
gold and silver mines, and a pearl fishery, which formerly existed
on its shores. It is a very mountainous country, overspread with
thick forests and waste lands; its population is not extensive,
and consequently, there is little or no agriculture practised. The
native tribes are its principal inhabitants; the Spaniards only
occupying some small towns and mining stations; but the natives are
not subjugated, and live independent of their Spanish neighbours.
Its chief mine is Tisingal, reported to be nearly as rich as
Potosi. The commerce of this province consists in cacao, cattle,
honey, hides and wax; and in its pearl fishery, with a species of
shell-fish, which produces a purple dye. The pearl-muscle and the
shell-fish alluded to, are found principally in a small bay, called
the Gulf de la Salinas, or Nicoya. This is its principal port on
the Pacific shore, while on the Atlantic, the port of Carthago is
situated at a great distance from the town of the same name.
Carthago the capital is situated in 9° 5ʹ north latitude,
and 83° west longitude, 360 miles west of Panama, the see of a
bishop, and the residence of a governor; it is not a place of much
importance or any considerable population, having been lately much
deserted, though it was formerly one of the first towns in this
part of the world.
Nicoya is the next town of any importance; it is situated
near the shore of the gulf of the same name, on the western or
Pacific coast, in 85° 53ʹ west longitude, and 10° 42ʹ north
latitude. The pearl and dye fishery is situated in the bay of
Salinas, thirty miles east of Nicoya. The trade of the inhabitants
of Nicoya consists in salt, honey, Indian corn, wheat, fowls, and
the purple juice of the above mentioned fish, which they export to
Panama; and which was first discovered to produce so valuable a
substance by the Indian women, who stained their cotton garments
with its fluid.
Veragua, though actually situated in North America, is
an integral part of the government or kingdom of Tierra Firma,
in South America. The principle of this work being to offer
descriptions of the whole of Spanish North America, as it is
geographically situated, before entering upon the description of
the territorial possessions of the same power in the southern part
of that vast continent, we shall accordingly proceed with Veragua,
as though it formed a part of Guatimala.
It is bounded on the north, by the Caribbean sea; east by the
province of Darien in South America, which is separated from
Veragua by the ridge of Canatagua; on the west, by Costa Rica, and
on the south, by the Great Pacific ocean. It was first discovered
by Columbus, in the year 1503, and this province was granted to him
by the Spanish king, as a reward for his services, with the title
of duke. He gave the river the appellation of Verdes aguas, which
in Spanish is the same as Green Waters, on account of the colour
of its waves; this has gradually been corrupted into Veragua,
and from this river, the province takes its name. The Spaniards
were very long before they could make any permanent settlement in
this province, on account of the hostility of the inhabitants.
Gaspar dʼEspinosa, and Diego de Alvarez, endeavoured to conquer
and explore Veragua, but being repulsed in all their attempts by
the natives under their sovereign Urraca, they were obliged to
form a settlement in the neighbourhood, and fonded the city of
Santiago; but here they were assailed by these valiant Indians,
and were obliged to strengthen their position in every possible
manner to resist their frequent attacks. Veragua is a mountainous,
rugged country, covered with vast forests, beautifully interspersed
by luxuriant and fertile valleys; the heat of this province is
very great, though meliorated by the rains which are constantly
falling; thunder storms, accompanied with frightful lightning,
occur very frequently, and during these storms, the torrents rush
with impetuous and overwhelming force into the vales from the
surrounding mountains. The Indians, the principal tribe of whom are
called Doraces, live in the forests and mountains, and are only
partially converted by the missionaries, who have founded some
villages, where they reside with their flocks; this has only been
accomplished since the year 1760. The woods abound with monkeys and
wild animals; there is one kind of monkey of a delicate form and
yellow colour with a white head, and it is said, they never live
when removed from their native climate.
The gold and silver mines of Veragua are not much wrought, owing to
the rugged nature of the country in which they are situated; the
natives being the only means they have to transport the produce
over the mountains, which when a mine is worked they do on their
backs. The labour and expence attendant on this mode of carrying
the ores to be smelted, render the working of the mines, though
they are very rich, almost, impracticable.
The capital is Veragua, or St. Jago de Veragua, a handsome
town, situated in a moist and warm climate, and surrounded by a
small district which produces Indian corn, a root called yucca,
of which they make bread, and plantains; cattle and hogs are here
also very numerous. The Indians in the vicinity dye their cottons,
manufactured by themselves, with the juice of shell-fish found at
the bay of Salinas in Costa Rica, and on the coast of Veragua,
affording a rich and delicate purple; with this juice, and with
gold, which they find in the hills, they carry on a trade with
Panama and Guatimala. This city is the residence of a governor, and
has fourteen villages under the jurisdiction of its magistrates;
there is also a fine hospital founded by the friars; and its
inhabitants are partly Spaniards, partly mulattoes.
The next city is Nuestra Senora de Los Remedios, or Puebla
Nueva, inhabited by Spaniards and their descendants. Santiago el
Angel, or Alangi, is the third city of Veragua, and was founded
by Benito Hurtado, governor of Panama. There are also several large
villages, inhabited principally by the native Indians.
Veragua is famed as having been the country where the first
European colony was attempted to be planted by Columbus, on the
continent of America. This happened on the 24th of February, 1503;
but after building a fort and constructing some houses, they found
themselves unable to resist the attacks of the Indians; and from
this, and other circumstances, Columbus resolved to embark the
colony; which he accordingly did.
BELONGING TO THE CROWN OF SPAIN.
The West India Islands, colonized by Spain, are not numerous.
Puerto Rico and Cuba, in the northern group, Margarita and some
others on the coast of Caraccas, unimportant in their nature, being
mostly mere rocks, compose the whole of the islands in the West
Indian seas which are possessed by Spain; of these Puerto Rico and
Cuba are the most important; Cuba being the largest as well as one
of the most fertile islands belonging to any European power in the
American seas.
These islands are divided into three governments; Puerto Rico
is a capitaneria generale, as is the island of Cuba, including
the adjacent continent of the Floridas; under the title of
Captain-General of the Havannah, an officer of high rank governs
this island and Florida; his situation being the most important of
any of the capitanias generales of Spanish America.
The captain-general of Caraccas governs the island of Margarita
and the others on the coast of his province; we shall therefore
describe these islands under the head of Caraccas, proceeding at
present to the description of Puerto Rico.
The island of Puerto Rico, is situated in the Caribbean
sea and Atlantic ocean, between the island of Hayti or St. Domingo,
and the Virgin Islands. It occupies a space between 65° 30ʹ and
67° 45ʹ of west longitude, and between 18° and 18° 35ʹ of north
latitude. In shape, it is nearly a parallelogram, its length being
about 120 miles by forty in breadth. Columbus discovered this
island during his second voyage, in the year 1493. Juan Ponce
de Leon, of whom we have spoken in the description of Florida,
colonized Puerto Rico, in 1509; when he subjugated the country;
the native Indians were at that time very numerous, but have since
disappeared.
Puerto Rico is an important island to the Spaniards; its
productions are very valuable to their European commerce, and the
climate is more healthy and temperate than in the other islands of
the Caribbean seas. The mountains of Puerto Rico, are not of any
very great altitude, but form a beautiful feature of the landscape,
their gently undulating surface composing picturesque and well
watered valleys. The rivers are of no size, but agreeably diversify
the picture; and being very numerous, are exceedingly useful to the
purposes of agriculture. The interior, and part of the seashore to
the north, is still covered with the original forests, in which
roam large wild dogs; these dogs are the remains of a race brought
from Spain, by the first conquerors of the island, to assist in
hunting down the natives, who fled for protection to the fastnesses
of the interior.
These forests also abound with parrots, pigeons and other birds,
peculiar to the West India Islands, as well as with land-crabs,
which are as numerous here as in any of the Caribbean Isles; on
whose flesh the wild dogs are supposed to subsist.
The natural history of these crabs is highly singular; they are
the dread of colonists proceeding to the West Indies; who are
told, that should they die of the fevers so prevalent in that
region, their bodies will not rest long in the earth to which it is
committed; as the land-crabs burrowing to the grave, soon consume
them.
At certain seasons of the year, these singular animals, who
greatly resemble the sea-crabs in shape and manner of moving,
leave the mountains in which they have formed their burrows, and
move in immense cavalcades down to the sea-coast, for the purpose
of depositing their young in the waters. At this period nothing
arrests their progress, as they move continually in the same line;
if they meet with a wall, they climb up one side and down the
other; and the clattering noise produced by the claws is said to
be surprising. After depositing their young, they return to their
haunts, in the same order, and are followed by the young crabs, as
soon as they attain sufficient strength to perform the journey.
Cattle of superior qualities, originally brought from the
mother-country, are fed in this island; poultry are also very cheap
and plentiful, and the rivers and sea supply the inhabitants with
every variety of fish.
The southern coast is the most healthy as well is the most fertile;
producing, for the commerce of the inhabitants, sugar, coffee,
cassia, flax, cotton, ginger, and the odoriferous gums used in such
great quantity in Roman Catholic countries; these, with hides and
tropical fruits, compose the chief articles of their trade with
Europe, &c. They have here a fine breed of mules, which are sought
after, from the British islands in the neighbourhood.
The northern side, which is comparatively sterile, is supposed to
contain in the higher lands, some gold and silver mines; but of the
existence or value of these, nothing certain is ascertained.
With all these bounties so lavishly bestowed by the hand of Nature,
Puerto Rico is subjected occasionally to a dreadful calamity. In
the year 1742, a terrible tornado overturned the labour of years,
and destroyed the plantations, which did not recover the shock
they received for several years afterwards; these hurricanes
occasionally visit the island at present, but none of so calamitous
a nature has been experienced since that period. The total
population of the island is calculated at 136,000.
The capital of the island, and residence of the governor, is
situated on a peninsula on the northern shore. It was founded in
1514, and named Puerto Rico; from whence the whole island has
received its appellation; having been called Borriquen by the
natives when first discovered.
This town is also called St. Juan de Puerto Rico; and is situated
in 18° 29ʹ north latitude, and 66° 0ʹ west longitude; a fort
called St. Antonio, protects it on the south-west; and it has also
a citadel and other fortifications, with a very good harbour.
Puerto Rico is a bishopric, the bishop residing in the capital.
The amount of its population is not well known, but is very great.
This city has often been attacked; in 1594, by Sir Francis Drake;
in 1597, by the Duke of Cumberland, (who took and plundered it and
the island,) and again by the British in 1797; who were however as
unsuccessful as Sir Francis Drake.
The plantations and small towns of the island are very numerous,
but mostly too insignificant for notice. The number of slaves in
Puerto Rico is not considerable.
Puerto Rico draws from Mexico for the expences of its
administration, the sum of 377,000 piastres annually.
Its defence consists chiefly in the country militia.
It has adhered to the royal cause.
Cuba, the largest as well as the most important of
the islands in the West Indian seas, is situated to the south
of Florida, between the northernmost point of Yucatan, and the
westernmost point of the island of Hayti, or Hispaniola. The
western part of Cuba, nearly shuts in with the northern shore of
Yucatan and the western coast of East Florida, that immense basin
known by the name of the gulf of Mexico; it is strongly suspected
that Cape Catoche in Yucatan and the most western headland of Cuba,
were formerly united by an isthmus, which has been gradually worn
away by the pressure and action of the waters of the Caribbean sea.
Should this have actually been the case, the Mexican gulf must
have been very shallow, as we find that the passage of the waters
of the South Atlantic, impelled by the trade-winds through the
strait formed by Cuba and Yucatan, is, although it has considerable
breadth, so very forcible, as to send a vast stream or current,
with great impetuosity round the gulf and through the straits of
Florida, as far as the banks of Newfoundland, and to the northern
shores of Europe. This stream is distinguishable in the North
Atlantic, by its superior heat to the rest of the waters of that
ocean, and by a body of sea-weed which constantly accompanies it.
This the author has observed considerably to the east of the great
bank of Newfoundland, as well as small land birds, which he cannot
imagine could have reached those latitudes by the aid of flight
alone. Might they not have been conveyed on the masses of sea-weed
(which also envelope wreck and trunks of trees) borne by this upper
current from the Mexican gulf?
The extent of Cuba is from 73° 50ʹ, to 85° 30ʹ of west longitude
from east to west; its form is so curved, that it lies, although
narrow, between 23° 20ʹ, and 19° 40ʹ north latitude; it is about
700 miles long, but not more than seventy in medial breadth.
Its position gives it the command of the gulf of Mexico, by the
Straits of Yucatan and Florida, as well as the navigation of the
windward passage and channel of Bahamas. The fine harbour of the
Havannah, and some other smaller ports, renders this island, with
the before-mentioned advantages, the most important of the West
India islands, particularly to Spain, possessing as she does the
shores of the Mexican gulf.
The Spanish Government, have accordingly spared no expence in
fortifying the Havannah, on which they seem to place their chief
dependence for the security of their ultramarine colonies.
Cuba was discovered by Columbus during his first voyage in the
year 1492, on Sunday the 28th of October. The natives of San
Salvador, the first land he made, called it by its present name,
Cuba; Columbus, however, named it after the king or queen of Spain;
but it retained this title only for a short time, the native name
soon taking precedency of the other. Columbus appears to have made
his research in this island, from the reports of the Indians of
San Salvador; when he arrived with his ships at the estuary of a
large river, the inhabitants imagining some terrible event was
about to befall them, fled to the interior; he, however, sent some
of his people after them; they fell down astonished at the feet of
these men, whom they imagined to be gods, and gave them different
articles the produce of the country, amongst which were golden
ornaments, made, as they said, in the mountains; and the Europeans
imagined they had found the mines of gold and silver they were
taught to imagine existed in this quarter of the world.
Columbus visited the greater part of the north coast of the island,
in search of the precious metals, but the Spanish adventurers
were disappointed in their hopes, gold being found only in very
small quantities. They in some measure consoled themselves by the
reflection, that the continent, as they imagined Cuba to be, might
contain these valuable articles in some other part, and by the
certainty, that the part they were now in, was fertile, beautiful
and rich in the vegetable productions of nature. The Spaniards
imagined that Cuba was a part of an immense continent, till the
year 1508, when an officer of the name of Obando, circumnavigated
it, and by this means ascertained that it was the largest of the
islands hitherto discovered in those seas. The brother of Columbus,
in the year 1511, in his capacity of admiral, and governor of
Hispaniola, sent Don Jago Velasques with a force of 300 men, to
conquer and colonize Cuba, which having performed, Velasquez was
appointed governor of the island; his principal town he founded
on the southern coast, and called it St. Jago; this situation he
chose on account of the largeness and fineness of the harbour; he
then built the city of the Havannah, at first of wooden houses, and
afterwards with stone.
The climate of Cuba is better than that of any other island in the
West Indian seas, excepting Puerto Rico; it is mild and temperate,
and they have no winter; the summer heat is moderated by the rains
and sea-breezes; the periodical rains lasting during the months of
July and August.
The fertility of Cuba is celebrated; spices, among which are pepper
and ginger; cassia, manioc, cacao, maize, aloes, mastic, sugar,
tobacco, the flavour of which is superior to that of any other
part of the world, known in commerce by the name of Havannah, and
sold to an enormous amount in cigars, with many other articles
the produce of tropical climates, constitute the riches of this
fine island. Coffee, though cultivated, is so little attended to
in the plantations, that not so much is grown for exportation as
might easily be raised. Honey is one of the great articles of the
export trade, and is annually produced to a great amount, as wax is
also. Cattle, originally from Europe, have multiplied so much in
Cuba, that they have become wild, and frequent, in immense droves,
the forests and savannahs, or marshy plains; they are hunted for
the sake of their hides and tallow, which are exported to a great
amount.
The forests also abound with swine, which have multiplied in a
similar manner; and the inhabitants possess large stocks of mules,
horses, fine black cattle, and sheep, all of which thrive very much.
The woods chiefly consist of timber of valuable qualities, the
red cedar, oaks, firs, palms, mahogany, ebony, lignum vitæ; woods
producing gums, aromatic and medicinal, &c.
The rivers and coasts abound with fish, and fine turtles frequent
the shallows. The birds of Cuba are principally the parrot, and
paroquet, American partridge, turtle-dove, and great varieties of
aquatic birds.
In this island there are supposed to exist veins of gold and
silver, because the inhabitants procure a small quantity of those
metals in the sands of the rivers which descend from the mountains.
The great metallic production of Cuba is copper, of which some
valuable mines exist in the eastern part of the island, with which
a trade is carried on amongst the West India islands, and the ports
of the southern continent.
About an hundredth part of the island of Cuba only is supposed to
be under a state of cultivation; the inhabitants, consisting of
Europeans and their descendants, and negroes; the amount of the
former being 338,000, and of the latter 212,000, making a total of
550,000 inhabitants.
A chain of mountains runs the whole length of Cuba, from east to
west, following the curvature of the country.
This chain divides the island naturally into two parts; though
these mountains do not acquire any very considerable elevation,
but give rise to numerous rivers which flow into the ocean on each
side, and sometimes, during the rainy season, inundate the low
lands.
Cuba, as all the other islands of these seas are, is exposed
occasionally to the devastating effects of hurricanes, but on the
whole it is more free from these, as well as from disease, than any
of the others, and may be looked upon as the healthiest, the most
fertile, and the most secure of the West India islands.
Cuba with the Floridas, comprises a capitaneria generale, styled of
the Havannah. The officer who holds this command has a very arduous
and extensive jurisdiction, during war particularly; he has in the
island eighteen subordinate governors, who preside over as many
districts, into which Cuba is divided. An intendant superintends
the finances and commerce of the island, and is subordinate
only to the captain-general. The religious affairs of Cuba are
superintended by a bishop, who resides at Havannah, and whose
income is considerable.
The revenues of the island of Cuba are said to amount to more
than two millions of piastres per annum, but the expences of
administration are so great, that it receives from Mexico 1,820,000
piastres during the same period. We have observed more on this
head under the article commerce, in the description of New Spain.
The military force of Cuba consists chiefly in militia, the
amount of which arm is stated to exceed 26,000; most of whom are
undisciplined. This island, notwithstanding the immense droves of
wild cattle and swine which roam about it, is supplied from the
Caraccas with provisions.
Cuba has also adhered to the royal cause.
HAVANNAH.
The capital of this island is that well known town called
the Havannah, founded by Velasquez, in the commencement of
the sixteenth century, in 23° 12ʹ north latitude, 82° 14ʹ west
longitude, on the north coast, opposite to the Floridas.
The harbour is very fine, and capable of containing the largest
fleet in safety. This harbour and the town have been fortified as
strongly as possible; the Spaniards looking on this port as the key
of their North American possessions.
The only fault in this excellent port is, that the entrance is very
narrow and difficult; so much so, that during war, vessels have
been taken going in; on account of only one being able to pass at
a time, the rearmost vessels have fallen into the hands of the
pursuing ships, without their comrades being able to assist them.
This channel is however so strongly fortified during its whole
length, that it would be hazardous in the extreme, for an enemyʼs
fleet to enter. The mouth has a fort on each side; that on the
east, is called Moro Castle, on a high rock; which is a triangular
work, mounted with forty pieces of heavy cannon, having a battery
nearly level with the water at the foot of the rock; that on the
west is called Punta, and communicates with the city; this is a
square fort, strongly built, and well supplied with artillery.
The city is surrounded with works, mounted with numerous heavy
guns. A square citadel is erected, near the center of the town, and
is called El Fuerte; this work has also heavy cannon, and on this
the Spanish garrison and inhabitants place their chief dependance.
The captain-generalʼs palace is in it, and here the treasure is
deposited; and the fortifications are said to be commanded by hills
in the immediate neighbourhood.
The city contains eleven fine churches; two hospitals, a dock yard,
lazaretto, and numerous public buildings; an aqueduct supplies the
shipping with water, and turns the saw mills in the dock yard.
The town stands in a plain on the west side of the harbour, and the
houses, which are elegant, are mostly of stone. There are several
convents; and the great square is a fine ornament of the place.
The churches are highly and magnificently ornamented with gold and
silver lamps, images, &c. The manners of the inhabitants are said
to be more polished than in most of the American cities, and they
have societies for the encouragement of the arts and sciences.
During the stay of the fleet from Mexico, an immense commerce is
carried on, but at this time provisions are very dear; they are
in general high in price and difficult to obtain, owing to the
indolence of the natives, and the number of persons constantly
arriving here for the purposes of commerce from the interior, and
the other American ports: all the vessels from the east coast of
Spanish America, calling here on their way to Europe.
The importance of this city and harbour, has caused it to be
repeatedly attacked; it was taken in 1536, by a French pirate, but
ransomed for 700 dollars; it was again taken by the English and by
the French and by the Buccaneers; but the most memorable attack was
that executed by the British in 1762. Admiral Sir George Pococke,
and Lord Albemarle, conducted a fleet and troops to the Havannah,
and after a determined resistance of two months and eight days,
on the 14th of August, the Moro Castle and place surrendered,
as well as a district of 180 miles to the west of the town. The
victors captured nine sail of the line; three more were sunk by the
Spaniards; two on the stocks were burnt, and a great many merchant
vessels, loaded with valuable cargoes, completed the spoil. The
valuable merchandize and specie found in the place, was supposed
to amount to three millions sterling. Thus, after incredible
hardships, efforts of extraordinary valour, and a display of
unequalled judgment on the part of the commanders, did this gallant
force take this strong fortress; and were recompensed by the
applauses of their nation, the paralyzation of the enemy, and an
immense booty.
This city was restored to Spain at the peace of 1763; since which
period, the Government has been constantly employed in increasing
its strength and resources.
The trade of this port is computed to amount, by importations, (the
exportations being chiefly in sugar, wax and coffee,) to twenty
millions of piastres.
The inhabitants of the Havannah amount to 25,000, whilst the total
population of the island of Cuba is estimated to be about 550,000.
The other principal towns of Cuba are St. Jago, Puerto del
Principe, Bayamo, Trinidad, Batabano, Santa Cruz, Baracoa, and
Cadiz.
St. Jago, was formerly the capital of the island; it is situated
in 20° north latitude, and 76° west longitude, 269 leagues from
the Havannah. The country about St. de Jago de Cuba, or Cuba, is
mountainous, and this part of the island is frequently visited by
earthquakes, which are generally of a slight nature. The harbour of
Cuba is very good, and extends six miles inland; the entrance to it
is similar to that of Havannah, very narrow and long, and defended
by a castle called the Moro, and several batteries. Cuba is the see
of a bishop, who was formerly the suffragan of that of St. Domingo;
the bishop residing at present almost always at Havannah, and the
trade of the island being concentrated there, has reduced St. Jago
from its former splendour: It is still however a fine town, and
well peopled. The women are said to excel in beauty.
Puerto del Principe, or Villa del Principe, is 145 miles
north-west of St. Jago, in 21° 17ʹ north latitude, 77° 45ʹ west
longitude, and is remarkable for the fertility of the country
around it, where large droves of cattle are nourished by the
luxuriancy of the pasturage in the savannahs.
Bayamo, or St. Salvador, in 20° 46ʹ north latitude, and 76° 55ʹ
west longitude, is situated in the eastern end of Cuba, and on the
little river Estero, nearly twenty miles from the ocean. This town
gave its name to the Bayamo channel, which runs amongst the land
and low rocks, which Columbus called Jardin de la Reyna, or Queenʼs
garden.
Trinidad is in 21° 42ʹ north latitude, and 80° 6ʹ west longitude,
on a bay in the south coast. Trinidad is a fine sea-port, but of
little consequence.
Batabano is nearly opposite the Pinos Islands, on the south
side of the island of Cuba, near a very large bay, fifty miles
south-west of the Havannah.
Baracoa is a sea-port, on the north-east shore of the island,
with an excellent harbour for vessels of small tonnage; it is
situated in 21° 4ʹ north latitude, and 76° 10ʹ west longitude;
about seventeen leagues north-east of Cuba, or St. Jago.
Santa Cruz is a large town on the north coast, 30 miles east of
the Havannah, and 115 north west of Cadiz.
Cadiz is situated in Cadiz Bay on the north coast of Cuba, 164
miles east of Havannah, and fifty miles north of Espiritu Santo, in
23° 2ʹ north latitude, 79° 55ʹ west longitude, and about ten miles
west of Cadiz river.
Round the island of Cuba are several groups of rocks, and one large
islet, named Pinos, which is situated near the south coast of
Cuba, and separated from it by a channel, sixteen leagues long,
and six wide; this island has several good and secure roads, but
is uninhabited, except by a few fishermen, who occasionally dwell
on its coasts. The only animals on it are goats, but it abounds
in pastures and large trees. Pinos is about 42 miles long, and 34
broad, in 21° 38ʹ north latitude, 82° 45ʹ and west longitude.
OF NEW SPAIN AND GUATIMALA.
The islands belonging to Spanish North America near its coasts,
are numerous, both in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but most of
them are either uninhabited or unimportant from their being small.
Commencing on the north-east shores of the Intendancy of San Luis
Potosi, and proceeding along its maritime borders southward, we
meet with very numerous long strips of insulated land, the very
names of most of which are unknown; but from their situation, they
must be very fertile and will probably soon become of some use;
such are the islands in the bays of Galveston, St. Bernardo, at
the estuary of the great Rio Bravo del Norte, and on the coast of
New Santander; of these the island of St. Luis, which embraces
the above-mentioned bays, is one of the largest, with the island
of St. Josef, extending from the bay of St. Bernardo to Lake
Espiritu Santo, and La Carbonera, reaching from the same lake to
the Barra de Santander. On the coasts of the Intendancy of Vera
Cruz are the island of Ramirez in the gulf or lake of Tamiagua, a
large isle in the centre, and the smaller island of Tore. In the
bay of Vera Cruz are the islands of Sacrifices, Juan de Ulua,
and others, which are small and sandy.
Juan de Ulua was first visited by Grijalva, in 1518, who gave
it the name of Ulua, from having seen the remains of some human
sacrifices, which the natives told him they were in the habit of
offering here by order of the king of Acolhua. The interpreters who
only spoke the language of Yucatan called the Mayo, believed that
Acolhua or Ulua was the name of the island. A very strong fortress
called the castle of St. Juan dʼUlua now covers nearly the whole
rock, in the form of an irregular square, with advanced works
towards the sea front; the expense of finishing this fortress is
said to have been upwards of eight millions sterling; it contains
fine barracks, cisterns, and a newly erected giratory light-house,
placed at its eastern extremity, which was built according to the
plan of M. Mendoza, the astronomer, who lately died in London. It
consists of a high tower, on the top of which is the lantern with
the lamps fixed on a triangle, turning by means of clock-work; the
lights disappearing alternately, are supplied with a current of air
and reflectors. This beautiful building cost about 20,000l. and
is worthy of notice, on account of its utility in so dangerous a
navigation as the channel of Vera Cruz is at all times.
The island of Sacrifices was so called, from the first
discoverers observing the numerous remains of the victims immolated
by the Mexican priests.
In the environs of the river Alvarado, several rivers descending
from the interior, form numerous islands at their junction with the
sea, and farther to the south are the islands of Guascualco at
the mouth of the river of the same name and the island of Tabasco
on which that town is situated.
Near the boundary of the provinces of Vera Cruz and Merida or
Yucatan, in the lake or gulf of Terminos, are the islands of
Triste and Port Royal; the former is on the south-west side
of the gulf and west of Port Royal, from which it is separated
by a narrow channel only. Triste, or as it is sometimes written
Trieste, is in north latitude, 18° 20ʹ, and is eighteen miles
in circumference, containing valuable mahogany and logwood, cut
annually by the British. Port Royal is smaller, and is also called
Puerto Escondido, having a small harbour, in north latitude 18°
22ʹ, west longitude 92° 86ʹ.
In the Intendancy of Merida, the western side has several small
islands off its shores; of these the dangerous rocks called the
Alacranes, are the chief, the others, such as Arenas, Sisal, &c.
are chiefly sand banks above water, most of which are well laid
down in the charts of the Mexican gulf.
To the north of Merida, and between Cape Catoche and False Cape,
are a group of islands, of which Las Mugeres, or Womenʼs isle,
is the most easterly; this isle is called Mohair Key in some maps,
owing to the pronunciation of the Spanish word for women having a
similar sound.
These islands were explored by the fleet under Cortez, in a storm
which drove one of his vessels into their harbours.
On the east of Yucatan is the Island of Cozumel, or Cosumel
forty miles long, and from three to ten in breadth, in 19° 40ʹ
north-latitude, 85° 51ʹ west longitude; which is very fertile, and
abounds in cattle and fowls. It is inhabited by an Indian tribe,
and was first explored by Juan de Grijalva, on the thirteenth of
April 1518, when he gave it the name of Santa Cruz, because it
was discovered on the day of the invention of the Holy Cross. On
landing here the natives fled to the woods, but they took two
old men in a field of maize, here they found an Indian woman of
Jamaica, who had been driven on the coast with her husband and nine
men in a storm; the natives had sacrificed all her party to their
gods, and she gladly placed herself under the protection of the
Spaniards.
The Island of Cozumel was again visited by Fernando Cortez shortly
afterwards, in his expedition to Mexico; he reviewed his troops
here on shore, and found them to amount to 508, besides 109 seamen.
The 508 soldiers were now divided into eleven companies, with ten
brass field-pieces, four falconets, thirteen musketeers, thirty-two
cross bowmen, and sixteen horses. Cozumel had at that time several
temples, one of which was in the shape of a square tower, hollow at
top, with four large windows or openings and galleries, in which
were many idols; at the foot was a wall with a sort of battlements,
and on this was a cross three yards high, drawn with white lime.
From these high buildings, and on account of the resemblance of
this white mark to a cross, Grijalva named the Island and adjoining
coast New Spain. It was here they first saw the pecari or sus
tajassu, a sort of hog, with its navel on the back, or rather an
open glandular orifice, discharging an oily fetid liquor, which is
cut out when the animal is killed, otherwise it would taint the
whole carcase.
The Spaniards having heard the word Castellano, repeated by the
Indians in the former voyages, Cortez enquired of the Caciques,
if any whites existed among them, and learning that there were,
he gave large presents to some of them and dispatched them to the
neighbouring continent to search for and bring any European who
might be there to him; he also sent two ships to Cape Catoche,
where the word Castellano had been most frequently heard; in
consequence of these exertions, which he doubtless made to gain a
knowledge of the interior from the captives, Jeronimo de Aguilar
gained his liberty, and went to another Spaniard, Alonzo Guerrero,
to obtain his freedom, and to solicit him to accompany him; but
Alonzo having married an Indian woman, by whom he had several
children, would not return to his countrymen; and Aguilar lost
so much time in endeavouring to persuade him, that the ships had
already sailed, the appointed time for their stay being only eight
days; but one of the ships having sprung a leak, the whole fleet
returned to Cozumel a few hours after they had left it. Aguilar now
crossed to the island in a canoe, and presented himself to Cortez.
He had nearly forgotten his native language, was so dark from the
burning climate, and almost naked, that it was with difficulty he
was recognised as a Spaniard; he carried a paddle in his hand,
and had an old prayer-book in a tattered bundle on his back; on
coming before Cortez, he squatted down on his hams after the Indian
fashion, and no one discovered that he was the Spaniard they were
seeking for. He said at last, that he was a native of Ecija, and
had been brought up for the church; but had been wrecked eight
years before, in a voyage from Hispaniola to Darien. He and his
companions in misfortune tried to reach Cuba in the shipʼs boat,
but were drifted by the currents on this coast, where the Indians
made them all slaves.
Most of them had been sacrificed to the idols; others, among whom
were two women, were worn out with disease and fatigue, and soon
died. Guerrero and himself were the only survivors; Aguilar had
been condemned to die, but had escaped to a friendly chief, who had
ever since protected him. He knew nothing of the interior, being
kept constantly employed in getting wood and water, and in the
cultivation of maize. Guerrero had adopted the Indian manners, and
had headed them in their attacks on the former navigators. Aguilar
was much employed by Cortez in the subsequent conquest of Mexico.
The great temple of Cozumel was served by a priest in a long
mantle, who addressed the people from the summit. They burnt
incense before the idols, which so enraged Cortez, that he ordered
his soldiers to destroy them, and made the Indians build an altar
on the top, on which he placed an image of the Holy Virgin; and a
crucifix being erected, one of the chaplains said mass, to which
the people paid much attention, and as it afterwards appeared,
burnt incense before the image and cross.
Cozumel was formerly inhabited by the Spaniards, at the ruins of
several buildings, situated in a wood of palm-trees, indicate.
Ambergris Key, or Ubero Island, is the next of any consequence
south of Cozumel. It lies in the Bay of Hanover, is seventy miles
long, but narrow, and nearly shuts in the mouth of the bay. It
is opposite to this island that the British logwood cutters are
settled; besides Ambergris Key, there are several smaller islands
in Hanover Bay.
The British settlements extend from the mouth of the river Hondo,
to the north of Hanover Bay. This bay is in 18° 45ʹ north latitude,
and 89° 15ʹ west longitude, where it receives the Rio Hondo.
Turneff Island, lies south of the former; is in 17° 16ʹ north
latitude, 88° 20ʹ west longitude; twenty miles in length, and ten
in breadth; abounding in cocoa-nut trees, and constantly frequented
by the fishermen of the adjacent coasts. This part of the coast, as
well as that of Vera Paz, and the gulf of Amatique, is also studded
with islets.
On the coast of Honduras, towards the northern part, lie the
islands of Utila, Ruatan, and Bonacao, of which Bonacao is
supposed to be the Guanaia of Columbus, the first island
discovered by him in his fourth voyage. He made his brother
Bartholomew land here, who found lapis calaminaris, which some
of the sailors supposing to be gold, concealed lumps of for a
length of time. He took a canoe full of people on board his ship,
which came from the adjacent continent, and obtained information
concerning it from them; but the land lying to leeward, he did not
attempt to explore it, and therefore held on to the eastward, and
discovered Cape Casinas, or Honduras. Bonacao, is about sixty miles
in circumference, lying in 16° 30ʹ north latitude, 86° 23ʹ west
longitude.
Ruatan or Rattan, in 16° 24ʹ north latitude, and 87° 10ʹ west
longitude, is thirty miles long and twelve broad, with a fine
harbour. The island is surrounded with shoals; it was settled by
the British in 1741, for the purpose of carrying on the logwood
trade, but was soon abandoned.
Utila is a small island to the south-west of Ruatan.
The Swan Islands are a group at some distance from the
north-coast of Honduras, being chiefly barren rocks. Off Cape
Gracias à Dios, are a multitude of islets and shoals.
Misteriosa and Santanilla are at a still greater distance, nearly
in the middle of the gulf of Honduras.
Santanilla, consists of two small islands surrounded with rocks,
in 17° 20ʹ north latitude, 85° 30ʹ west longitude.
Misteriosa to the north-west of these, seems to be a considerable
bank or shoal.
Viciosas is a cluster of very small isles, in 15° 12ʹ north
latitude, and 84° 4ʹ west longitude, opposite to the Bay of
Carthago.
Cocoa-nut keys and Carrantasca shoals are other small clusters,
to the north of Cape Gracias à Dios.
South of Cape Gracias à Dios are several groups of small islands
and rocks. Tangulaco, Man of War Keys, Pearl Keys, little Corn
Island, Great Corn Island, and a multitude of little islets, line
the eastern shore of Honduras.
The Pearl Keys are a groupe of islets near Pearl Key lagoon, on
the Mosquito shore, in north latitude 11° 15ʹ, west longitude 83°
12ʹ.
St. Andres and Santa Catalina, or Old Providence, lie farther out
at sea than the last mentioned.
St Andres or Andero is situated, in 12° 30ʹ north latitude,
81° 40ʹ west longitude, south south-east of Cape Gracias à Dios,
and west south-west of Providence Island, which lies 80° 45ʹ
west longitude; and 13° 26ʹ north latitude, is eleven miles long
and four broad, with a good soil, excellent water, and pleasant
climate. It was formerly inhabited, as well as many other small
isles in these seas, by the Buccaneers, who fortified it. It
is said there are no serpents or venomous reptiles found here,
although it is near a continent in which they are so plentiful; at
present this isle is uninhabited.
Roncador, Serranilla and Serrana, are to the north-east of the last.
Roncador is in 13° 45ʹ north latitude, and 79° 30ʹ west longitude.
Serranilla Isles, are a cluster of small islands, in north
latitude 16° 10ʹ, west longitude 80° 10ʹ.
Serrana or Pearl Island, so called from Serrana, a Spanish
navigator, who was wrecked on it, is in 14° 5ʹ north latitude, 78°
50ʹ west longitude. All these which lie to the east of Honduras are
small.
In the bay or lake of Chiriqui on the coast of Veragua, are several
groupes, of which Provision Island and Bocalero are the principal
ones.
The whole of the eastern coast of Spanish North America abounds
with islets, rocks, shoals and sand-banks, and there are
consequently but few good harbours; for although there are many
deep bays and gulfs, yet the entrances to them are in general
blocked up.
The western coast is in the contrary extreme, vary bold, and with
few Islands; in describing these we shall commence on the north off
the coasts of New California, where the first are the rocks, called
in Spanish the Farallones, in 37° 48ʹ 10ʺ north latitude, and
123° 1ʹ west longitude.
The next are the island of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, in 34° north
latitude, and 120° 31ʹ west longitude.
The island of San Nicholas in 33° 16ʹ north latitude, and 119°
30ʹ west longitude.
The island of San Salvador in 32° 43ʹ north latitude, and 118°
30ʹ west longitude.
Island of St. Martin, or de los Coronados, a small groupe in
32° 25ʹ north latitude, and 117° 18ʹ west longitude.
Island of San Bernardo in 29° 40ʹ north latitude, and 115° 56ʹ
west longitude.
Island of Guadalupe in 28° 53ʹ north latitude, and 118° 17ʹ west
longitude.
This last island is about thirteen miles long, composed of high,
rocky and naked mountains with two small islands, one about a mile
west south-west and the other two miles south of its southern
point. The latitude and longitude are that of its southern cape,
the island itself running thirteen miles farther to the north.
The island of San Benito is small and surrounded with shoals; it
is mountainous, and its highest part is in 28° 18ʹ north latitude,
115° 46ʹ west longitude.
Island of Cedros in 28° 2ʹ north latitude, and 115° 23ʹ west
longitude.
To the south, off the coast of Old California, the islands are not
so numerous; there are however, several very small ones in some of
the bays, and near the bay of La Magdalena one large one, named La
Margarita, of which nothing is known excepting that it is about
forty or fifty miles in length, and hilly.
On the east coast of Old California are several small islands,
much used in the former pearl fishery; of these, proceeding from
Cape St. Lucas to the extremity of the Vermillion Sea, are the
islands Cerralbo and del Espiritu Santo, near the Mission de
la Paz; islands of San Francisco, and San Jose, with several
smaller ones. Island of Santa Cruz, island of Montserrat, and
island of Catalina, near Puerto Escondido, and a large island
near the coast of the Mission of Loretto; of these Santa Cruz is
famous, as having been the abode of Cortez during his expedition
to California; he remained on it a considerable time, suffering
dreadful hardships, and losing the greater part of his followers by
famine and disease. Santa Cruz is in 25° 23ʹ north latitude, and
110° 47ʹ west longitude.
Island of St. Lorenzo opposite Tiburon isle, and the
Island of Santa Ines, or Angel de la Guarda, a fine and
extensive tract.
In the estuary of the Gila and Colorado, at the extremity of the
gulf, another large island appears, but of it nothing certain is
known; descending the gulf of California on the eastern shore, off
the province of Sonora, are the islands of Tiburon, Tortuga,
Lobos, San Ignacio, and several smaller ones.
Tiburon is the largest of these, and appears to be about sixty
miles in length.
Off the shore of the intendancy of Guadalaxara is the islet of
Isabella in 21° 50ʹ north latitude, and 105° 56ʹ west longitude.
Islet of Juanico in 21° 45ʹ north latitude, and 107° 41ʹ west
longitude.
Piedra Blanca at the mouth of the Rio Grande de Santiago, and in
the port of San Blas, in 21° 33ʹ and 105° 17ʹ west longitude.
Las Tres Marias abounding with wood, water, salt-pits and game,
which cause them to be frequented by the English and American
whalers; the French and English pirates used to winter in them,
when they cruised in the South Seas. The south cape of the
easternmost island is in 21° 16ʹ north latitude, and 106° 17ʹ
west longitude. They were named Islands de la Magdalena, by Diego
de Mendoza in 1532, and are occasionally visited by the Spaniards
from Saint Blas, for the flax and lignum vitæ they produce. South
of these, and near cape Corrientes, is the islet Isasvirivil in 20°
45ʹ north latitude, and 105° 57ʹ west longitude.
The Revillagigedo islands, which are a considerable distance
from the coast, are four in number. Santa Rosa, Socorro, Rocca
Partida, and San Benedito; their origin seems to be volcanic, as
pumice stones are found in them; Santa Rosa is in 18° 37ʹ north
latitude, 114° 3ʹ west longitude. Socorro, the highest summit of
which is more than 3657 feet above the sea, is the largest of the
group, but not above fifteen or twenty miles broad and long, and is
situated in 18° 48ʹ north latitude, 110° 9ʹ west longitude. Rocca
Partida is in 19° 4ʹ north latitude, 111° 5ʹ longitude. San
Benedito in 19° 18ʹ north latitude, and 110° 53ʹ west longitude.
Socorro was visited by Captain Collnett, on the 20th September,
1793. He afterwards saw other islands of this group.
At Socorro no anchorage could be found near the shore, the coast
being exceeding bold and steep, except in a small cove where they
had only ten fathoms; which place he judged to be too insecure.
On this island, which consists of one very elevated summit and
several detached points, that have a singular and picturesque
appearance, the crew of his ship procured plenty of wild beans
and prickly pears; they also sowed all sorts of garden seeds and
some cocoa nuts. Leaving Socorro they went to San Benedito, or San
Berto, where they procured the same fruits: they then explored
Rocca Partida; its greatest length was fifty or sixty fathoms,
its breadth, thirty five, with two separated pinnacles, which
are about 120 feet in height, and look exactly like a ship under
jury-masts, when seen from afar: its distance from Socorro is about
forty-eight miles west. Here they saw a prodigious quantity of
fish, but could only catch a few, owing to the multitude of sharks
which destroyed their lines. A man reaching over the gun-wale of
the boat, one of these ravenous animals attempted to bite his hand
off, and they even seized the steering oar at the stern, so that
they were obliged to lay it in.
Man of war birds and seals were the only habitants of this dreary
rock. They steered from hence to the coast of California, and
returned to Socorro on the 25th of November, 1793; after examining
the coast they found a small bay on the south, with twenty-five
fathoms water and good anchorage; the surface of the island on
being explored, appeared to consist of a fine loose cinder,
excepting on the north-east, where the ground was more firm.
Captain Collnettʼs crew being very weak, and his ship in a bad
state, he staid here only long enough to procure fish and fruit,
and before his departure named the group Revillagegido, out of
compliment to the Viceroy of that name, who had treated him with
kindness whilst a prisoner at Mexico.
These islands were originally discovered by the Spaniards.
The whole coast from hence to Guaxaca and along the shores of
the kingdom of Guatimala presents no islands of any consequence
until we reach the extremity of Veragua, towards the south, where,
between Cape Dulce and Cape Mariato are the isles Zedzones,
Mentuosa, Quibo, or Caybo, and Quicaras; the first are merely small
barren rocks.
Mentuosa rises to a considerable height, covered with cocoa-nut
and other trees, and is about five or six miles in circumference,
in 7° 15ʹ north latitude and 82° 40ʹ west longitude. The Quicaras
are two islets, one of which is seven miles, the other two or three
in length, and about twelve miles south of Caybo; they are also
covered with trees.
Caybo, or Quibo, was visited by Lord Anson, in his celebrated
circumnavigation of the world, on the 3d of December, 1741; when he
came to anchor near Canal Bueno, and staid here until the 12th of
the same month.
They found plenty of water and wood. The island is of moderate
height, and thickly covered with a forest of cassia, limes, &c.
Tigers, monkeys, wolves, and deer, abound, but were all extremely
shy. Parrots, parroquets, macaws, hawks and vultures were seen in
large flights; guanos, alligators of enormous size, the hawkʼs-bill
and green turtle were found in great numbers, and the shores
abounded with sharks, sea snakes, and various sorts of fish.
Venemous reptiles were common, amongst which was the dreadful
hooded snake. This island was afterwards visited by Captain
Collnett, in 1794, who was bitten in the knee by one of these
serpents, and continued for a length of time in great danger.
The writer of the voyage of Commodore Anson, speaks with great
delight of the beauties of this isle, and mentions a cascade in
the north-east part, which surpassed any thing of the kind they
had ever observed; it was formed by a river of transparent water,
rushing between rocks, over a ledge forty yards wide, and 150 in
length, overhung by beautiful tropical plants; a flight of macaws
passing over, and hovering about whilst they were observing this
fall, added, by the glittering appearance of their beautiful
plumage, to the singularity of the scene. The cedar trees were of
enormous size, and the place affords, from its good anchorages,
every facility to a distressed vessel cruizing in the Pacific.
The coast abounds with whales.
These are the last islands of Spanish North America in the Pacific
Ocean; with them we therefore conclude the description of that
portion of the trans-atlantic colonies of Spain.
END OF PART THE FIRST.
