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loltttcal €$0a? 
 
 ON THE 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 CUNTAIM 
 
 Rnsearches relative to the fJeo- 
 graphy of Mexico, the Extent 
 of its Siiifaoe ami its political 
 Division into lnten(laiicies,the 
 physical Aspect of the Coun- 
 try, the Population, the State 
 of Ajrrk-ulture and Manufac- 
 tiiiing and Commescial In- 
 dustry, the Canals projected 
 
 NU 
 
 between the South Sea and 
 Atlantic Ocean, the Crown 
 Revenues, the Quantity of the 
 precious Motals which have 
 flowed from Mexico into Eu- 
 rope and Asia, since the Disi" 
 covery of the New Continent, 
 and the Military Defence of 
 New Spain. 
 
 BY ALEXANDER DE HUMBOLDT. 
 
 WITH 
 
 PHYSICAL SECTIONS AND MAPS, 
 
 i^tJUNDED ON ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS, AND 
 
 TRIGONOMETRICAL AND BAROMETRICAL 
 
 MEASUREMENTS. 
 
 TRANSLATKD FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH 
 
 BY JOHxN BLACK. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 PRINTED FOR LONCUAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN; AND 
 H. COLBURN: AND W. BLACKWOOD, AND BROWN AND CROMItlB 
 EDINBURGH. * 
 
 181L 
 

 V. I 
 
 !l . 
 
 ,1 1 
 
 11 
 
 ♦ 
 
 It ; . 
 
 T. Davison, Loir bard -street, 
 Wliitefnaig, London. 
 
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLA^J'OR. 
 
 It is observed by a popular French writer, 
 Beriiardin de St. Picrre,tliat by flir the most 
 valuable and entertaining part of modern 
 literature is the department filled up by 
 travellers. While the knowledge of the 
 ancients extended merely to a small circle 
 around them, and even there was far from 
 accurate, there is hardly a nook in the most 
 remote corner of the wqrld of which we do 
 not now possess some description, and with 
 the inhabitants of which we are not more 
 or less acquainted. We see the human race 
 before us in every stage of civilization, from 
 the refinement and enterprize of the inha- 
 bitants of the west of Europe, down to the 
 
 a2 
 
 - '.' O (J^ 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 II 
 
 ; I 
 f ( 
 
 1 I 
 
 I i 
 
 stupid savage of Xew Holland or the Terra 
 del Fuego. 
 
 The eagerness uith which the pubhc 
 have always received the accounts of tra- 
 vellers has naturally contributed to their 
 multiplication. It is to be regretted, how- 
 ever, that this eagerness is too frequently 
 so indiscriminate that ahnost nothing is so 
 very insipid that it will not be devoured in 
 the sliape of travels. Hence the numerous 
 productions which have appeared of late 
 witht)iit adding any thing to our stock of 
 information. No individual now who has 
 left the bounds of our own island, hesitates 
 a moment about the qualifications neces- 
 sary for his appearance before the pubhc 
 at his return. His previous education, his 
 means of access to proper sources of in- 
 formation, and his leisure to acquire it, 
 are objects of inferior concern. He has 
 travelled, and that is enough. 
 
 M. de Humboldt belongs to a higher order 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 of travellers, to whom the public have of 
 late been very little accustomed. We must 
 place him beside a Nieubuhr, a Pallas, a 
 Drucc, a Chardin, a Barrow, and a Volney ; 
 and his works will jirobably be long con- 
 sulted as authorities respecting the coun- 
 tries which he describes. Jle seems to be 
 a stranger to few departments of learning 
 or science ; and his fortune enabled him to 
 provide himself with every thing which 
 could most advance his pursuits, and to 
 make that appearance among persons of 
 rank and authority necessary to remove the 
 obstacles in the way of a traveller in every 
 country, but most of all in a country under 
 an arbitrary government. 
 
 The work of which a translation is here 
 offered to the public was submitted to a 
 very severe trial : the sketch of it was freely 
 communicated to the natives of New Spain, 
 and underwent the examination of the 
 Spanish government. It may be doubted, 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 !•{ 
 
 I ! 
 
 !l :- 
 
 • I 
 
 ill 
 ill 
 
 
 1 1< 
 
 however, whether the accuracy and fulnessf 
 of information which such a measure has a 
 tendency to procure might not be coun- 
 terbalanced by seeminiily unavoidable dis- 
 advantages. We never talk of our friends 
 so candidly before their faces as behind 
 their backs. In the formci- case we may 
 say nothing but the truth, but we are sel- 
 dom disposed to say the whole truth. He 
 must be a very honest traveller indeed who 
 communicates all tlie remarks which occur 
 to him to the people among whom he is 
 travelling. Even Dr. Johnson, with all his 
 bluntness, would have hesitated to read his 
 Tour to the Plebrides to his Scotch land- 
 lords. 
 
 There is one disadvantage indeed almost 
 inseparable from the mode in which M. de 
 Humboldt appears to have been treated in 
 the new world. He received so much 
 attention both from public men and private 
 individuals during his stay in Mexico, that 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 VU 
 
 lie could hardly avoid displaying some 
 portion of gratitude in return. We ac- 
 cordingly find him exceedingly prone to 
 give favourable accounts of all the indivi- 
 duals of that country whom he has occasion 
 to mention. JJe is profuse in his compli- 
 ments to their learning, science, and their 
 other good qualities, and nothing ever ap- 
 pears to shade the picture. AVe may easily 
 conceive, therefore, that he must have seen 
 both in individuals and institutions much 
 more that met with his disapprobation than 
 he has chosen to communicate. 
 
 M. de Humboldt has brought forward a 
 great mass of information regarding New 
 Spain, a country of which we before knew 
 very little indeed. Let the specious para- 
 graphs of our celebrated countryman Ro- 
 bertson be attentively weighed, and we shall 
 be astonished to find how little specific 
 information they sometimes really contain. 
 The present work, however, furnishes us 
 
^ 1 
 
 PREl'ACF.. 
 
 : 1' 
 
 with precise data on a very great variety of 
 important subjects. Yet it is to be regretted 
 that the authorcould not throw occasionally 
 more ra[)idity into his descriptions, and give 
 somewhat more condensation to his mate- 
 rials, lie is sometimes rather apt to indulge 
 in repetition, and to swell his accounts with 
 circumstances by no meaiis essential to be 
 told, but which have a necessary tendency 
 to fatigue the attention of the reader. 
 This failing is not peculiar to M. de Hum- 
 boldt, but is common to him with too many 
 authors, and particularly those of his own 
 country, Germany. Indeed the faculty of 
 selecting the more important and leading 
 features of an object is, perhaps, the rarest 
 and most valuable which any writer can 
 possess. It is this which conmiunicates 
 such a charm to the history of Hume, and 
 arrests so strongly our attention in the tra- 
 vels of Volney. 
 
 But whatever may be the sentiments of 
 
 4 
 
riJEiAi i:. 
 
 IX 
 
 I 
 
 the translator on tliis subject, it is not for 
 liiin to cnd'aviiiir to alter his ori"inal to 
 wliath(^ coii •< ivis a model of perfection. 
 The public naturally wish to iiavc his in- 
 formation in his own manner, and as nearly 
 in his own terms as possible. It were well 
 if even this was toleraI)ly done; but the 
 rapidity with which translations like the 
 present must necessarily be executed will 
 not admit of that flow and correctnc^ss of 
 style which the leisure of the closet miirht 
 produce. When we sit down to the trans- 
 lation of an established classic, we may 
 patiently endea/our to transfuse tie beau- 
 ties and graces of the original into our own 
 language; but the translation of a work 
 like this, impatiently expected by the pub- 
 lic, must lay claim to a very inferior degree 
 of merits 
 
 A few notes have been occasionally 
 thrown in by the translator, which he has 
 not the vanity to suppose of any great im- 
 
i; 
 
 ii' ^ 
 
 
 ill +.. 
 
 
 Hi I 
 
 \i 
 
 i *» 
 
 lit 
 
 i; 
 ill:: 
 
 ir 
 
 Hi 
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 portance; but as they do not in general 
 occupy much room, and as they served to 
 amuse him in the course of the work, he 
 hopes if they do not meet with the reader's 
 approbation, they will, at least, meet with 
 his indulgence. In one of them, vol. i. p. 
 47. he observes that he has completely 
 misunderstood the author, a circumstance 
 certainly not the more justifiable, because 
 it is by no means unusual with commen- 
 tators. 
 
 The translator has been at some pains in 
 ascertaining the value of the different fo- 
 reign measures, weights, and monies, used 
 by the author, and converting them into 
 those of our own country. The omission of 
 this is but too frequent in translations, 
 though it is essential to any work which 
 aims at being f^^enerally understood. These 
 conversions, however, appear only in the 
 notes, the original having undergone no 
 alteration. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 The orthography of the names has been 
 preserved in the translation with few ex- 
 ceptions. The Spanish names of persons 
 and places have never been touched, but 
 in a few names of Indian nations, such as 
 Aztcques, Tolteques, &c. the qiies has been 
 converted into C5, the corresponding ter- 
 mination in our own language. Clavigero 
 uses the same freedom in the Italian, writ- 
 ing these words AztecchU Toltecchi, &c. 
 This liberty is perhaps justifiable, though 
 it might not be advisable to go ail the 
 length recommended by Volney, in whose 
 work on North America we can with diffi- 
 culty recognize the names most familiar to 
 us. Who, for instance, could find out 
 PVashington in Ouachinnefone? The various 
 sounds given to the same letters by the 
 different European nations occasion a good 
 deal of perplexity. The same name as- 
 sumes quite a distinct appearance in the 
 works of a French and an English travel- 
 
xu 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 II ,,.,1 
 
 l' '"v 
 
 ■^\ 
 
 PI?! 
 
 ' t 
 
 P! 
 
 t,.i 
 
 
 ler. Another source of perplexity peciilrar 
 to the Spaniards and Germans is the indis- 
 criminate use of certain letters. The Spa- 
 niard, for example, confounds the b and 
 the v; the c and the z; the.;, the^-, and the 
 x; and they write the same word sometimes 
 with one of these letters and sometimes 
 with another. It is necessary to give this 
 caution to the reader, who, were he to meet 
 with Xiian de Griocalba in one place, and 
 Juan de Grijaha in another, might not at 
 first perceive the identi'.y. M. Pinkerton, 
 who seems to plume himself not a little on 
 his orthography, observes, that the Spanish, 
 French, and Italian writers, write Mote- 
 zuma; the English alone Montezuma; and 
 he of course must follow the Spanish, 
 French, and Italian writers. Why the En- 
 glish are bound to follow the orthography 
 of these nations it is not so easy to con- 
 ceive, any more than that they should fol- 
 low the English, the proper orthography 
 
 V. i 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XUl 
 
 being neither Motezuma nor Montezuma, 
 but Moteuczoma. M. de Humboldt some- 
 times inserts the n and sometimes leaves it 
 out. 
 
 A considerable part of the Essay on New 
 Spain has not yet arrived in this country; 
 but, when it does arrive, no time will be 
 lost in communicating it to the public, if 
 the portion now presented shall meet with 
 a favourable reception. The most import- 
 ant of the maps and drawings in the part 
 which we have received appear in the pre- 
 sent publication, but on a more economical 
 scale. Of the maps and physical sections 
 it is sufficient to say, that they have been 
 executed under the care of Mr. Lowry, 
 whose well known taste and skill so justly 
 entitle him to the public confidence. It 
 would have been foolish to attempt to 
 imitate the magnificence of the oric^inal • 
 but it will be found that nothing of essen- 
 tial importance has been omitted. The 
 
XIV 
 
 rRETACE. 
 
 '.!'■ '. 
 
 l::S 
 
 'I 
 
 publishers wished to spare no necessary 
 expense in the present publication; but 
 they were averse from increasing the price 
 of a book intended for general circulation 
 by an ostentatious and injudicious splen- 
 dour. 
 
 '^'11 
 
Jsary 
 but 
 )rice 
 tion 
 len- 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS CATHOLIC MAJESTY 
 
 CHARLES IV. 
 
 KING OF SPAIN AND THE INDIES. 
 
 
 SIRE, 
 
 Having enjoyed in the distant 
 regions subject to your sceptre the protec- 
 tion and kind offices of your Majesty dur- 
 ing a long succession of years, I fulfil only 
 a sacred duty in laying at the foot of your 
 throne the homage of my profound and re- 
 spectful gratitude. 
 
 I had the good fortune to be introduced 
 to your Majesty in 1779 at Aranjuez. You 
 deigned to applaud the zeal of a private 
 individual, whom the love of science con- 
 ducted to the banks of the Orinoco and 
 the summits of the Andes. 
 
i!|t| 
 
 J 
 
 (I 
 
 I ■%■ 
 
 
 
 
 i* 
 
 iii m 
 
 m 
 
 lib 
 
 Hi 
 
 ^;ii 
 
 Ml 
 
 II 
 
 XVI 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 It is through the confidence uhich your 
 Majesty's favours have inspired in me that 
 I venture to place your august name at the 
 head of this work. It contains the descrip- 
 tion of a vast kingdom, the prosperity of 
 which is dear to your heart. 
 
 None of the monarchs who have occu- 
 pied the Castilian throne have contributed 
 more hbcrally than your Majesty to the ob- 
 taining accurate information regarding tlie 
 state of that valuable portion of the globe, 
 which in both hemispheres yields obedi- 
 ence to the Spanish laws. The coasts of 
 America have been surveyed by able astro- 
 nomers with a munificence worthy of so 
 great a sovereign. Accurate maps of these 
 coasts, and even minute plans of several 
 military positions, have been published at 
 the expense of your Majesty ; and you gave 
 orders that there should be annually pub- 
 lished in a Peruvian journal at Lima a state 
 of the commerce, finances, and population. 
 
 There was still wanting a statistical essay 
 on the kingdom of New Spain. I digested 
 
 il 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 XVll 
 
 ■1 
 
 the great number of materials which I pos- 
 sessed into a work, of which the first sketch 
 drew the attention of the viceroy of Mexico 
 in a manner which redounded to his honour. 
 I should be happy if I could flatter myself 
 that my feeble efforts, under a new form, 
 and more carefully digested, are not un- 
 worthy of being presented to your Majesty. 
 They breathe the sentiments of gratitude 
 which I owe to the government who pro- 
 tected me, and to the noble and loyal na- 
 tion who received me, not as a traveller, 
 but as a fellow-citizen. How can we dis- 
 please a good king, when we speak to him 
 of the national interest, of the improve- 
 ment of social institutions, and the eternal 
 principles on which the prosperity of na- 
 tions is founded ? 
 
 I am, with the greatest respect, 
 
 SIRE, 
 
 your Catholic Majesty's very humble 
 and very obedient servant, 
 
 THE BARON DE HUMBOLDT. 
 
 Paris, StAMarchf 1808. 
 
 Vol. I. h 
 
13 
 
 mu 
 
 im 
 
 Bm 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 Geographical introduction. -Vol. i. p. 1 . 
 
 BOOK I. 
 
 General considerations on the extent and physical aspect of the 
 kingdom of New Spain. Influence of the inequalities qf the 
 soil on the climate, agriculture, commerce, and military de- 
 fence of the country. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Extent of the Spanish possessions in. America. Comparison 
 of these possessions with the English colonies, and with the 
 Asiatic part of the Russian empire. Denominations of New 
 Spain, and of Anahuac. Boundary of the empire of the 
 Aztec kings. Vol. i. p. .5, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Configuration of the coast.— Points where the two seas are 
 least distant from one another.— General considerations on 
 the possibility of uniting the South Sea and Atlantic ocean. 
 —Rivers of Peace and Tacoutche-Tesse— Sources of the 
 Rio-Bravo and Rio-Colorado —Isthmus of Tehuantepec— 
 Lake of Nicaragua.— Isthmus of Panama.— Bay of Cupica. 
 —Canal of Choco.— Rio-Guallaga.— Gulf of St. George. 
 'Vol. i. p. iG. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Physical aspect of the kingdom of New Spain compared 
 with that of Europe and South America.— Inequalities of 
 the soil.— Influence of these inequalities on the climate, 
 cultivation, and military defence of the country.— State of 
 the coasts. Vol. 1. p. 4Q. 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 General population of New Spain. Division of the inhabitants 
 
 into casts. 
 
i!> 
 
 u 
 
 M 
 
 I' ^^ 
 
 in '%. 
 
 •1, ^^^* 
 
 M I 'T 'l 
 
 
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 iff 
 Ii: 
 
 
 li 
 
 Mil 
 
 ,;i, 
 
 1:11 
 
 ,.'''i; 
 
 :i;, 
 
 !"|lil' 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 General enunierjition in 1/Cj3. — Progress of the population in 
 the ten following years. — Proportion of births to burials. 
 
 Vol. i. p. 89. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Maladies which periodically arrest the progress of population. 
 — Small- pox, natural and inoculated. — Cow-pox. — Matla- 
 zahuatl.— Famine. — Health of miners. Vol. i. p. III. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Diversity of casts. — Indians or indigenous Amewicans. — ^Their 
 number and their migrations. - Diversity of languages. — 
 Degree of civilization of the Indians. Vol. i. p. 130. 
 
 CHAPTER Vlf. 
 
 Whites, Creoles, and Europeans. — Their civilization.— In- 
 equality of their fortunes. — Negros. — Mixed casts. — Pro- 
 portion between the sexes. — Longevity according to the 
 difference of races. — Sociability.— —Vol. i. p. 204. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 Particular statistical account of the intendancies of •which the 
 kingdom of New Spain is composed. — Their territorial extent 
 and popidation. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Of the political division of the Mexican territory, and tlie pro- 
 portion of the population of the intendancies to their 
 territorial extent. — Principal cities. Vol. i. p. 263. 
 
 BOOK IV. 
 
 State of the agriculture of New Spain, — Metallic mines. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Vegetable productions of the Mexican territory. — Progress of 
 the cultivation of the soil. — Influence of the mines on 
 cultivation. — Plants which contribute to the nourishment 
 of man."— —Vol. ii. p. 399. 
 
 i'ji 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ■it? 
 
 
 In publishing maps of New Spain, differing in 
 many respects from any which have hitherto 
 been published, it is incumbent on nie to give 
 some account to astronomers and naturalists of 
 the materials >vhich I have employed. When an 
 author makes nothing more than a compilation j 
 when he draws from sources not generally known, 
 and merely collects what is scattered in printed 
 works or engraved maps, a simple nomenclature 
 of the articles employed may serve for analysis. 
 It is otherwise when a map is founded on the 
 astronomical observations or measurements of an 
 author himself; Mhen he has had recourse to plans 
 and manuscript notes preserved in archives or 
 buried in convents. In the latter case, which is 
 mine, the geographer has a right to demand a 
 satisfactory exposition of the means employed for 
 verifying the position of the most important points. 
 In offering this exposition to the public, I shall 
 carefully distinguish the results of simple com- 
 binations, from what has been immediately deduced 
 
 VOL* I. 
 
 fi 
 
u 
 
 (JRO(;UAPIII( AI, INTKOnUCTlON. 
 
 ■■! . J 
 
 III 
 
 from astronomical observations, and geodaaesical 
 or barometrical measurements made on the spot. 
 I shall endeavour to give a succinct analysis of the 
 materials which I had at command, reserving, how- 
 ever, the purely astronomical details for the col- 
 lection of observations and measurements which I 
 publish conjointly with M. Oltmanns. In following 
 this course, the different parts of my work, the 
 statistical account of Mexico, the historical relation 
 of my journey in the tropics, and the astronomical 
 volume, w ill all serve, 1 flatter myself, to prove that 
 a desire of accuracy and the love of truth have 
 been my guides during the course of my expedition. 
 May my feeble labours contribute something to 
 dispel the darkness which for so many ages has 
 covered the geography of one of the finest regions 
 of the earth ! 
 
 I. REDUCED MAP OF THE KINGDOM OF NEW 
 
 SPAIN. 
 
 I DREW up this map at the Royal School of Min- 
 ing {Real Scm'wario de Mineria) in the year 1803, 
 a short time after my departure from the city of 
 Mexico. M. d'Elhuyar, director of this school, 
 had long been collecting facts regarding the position 
 of the mines of New Spain, and the thirty- seven 
 districts into which they are divided, under the 
 denomination of Deputaciones dc Afinas, He was 
 
 ■*;, 
 
I 
 
 (;i:()ORAPM[C.\I. INTHODLTTION. 
 
 ••• 
 lU 
 
 desirous of having a detailed map, on which the 
 most interesting mines were marked, constructed 
 for the use of the supreme college, ciilled Tribunal 
 dc Miaeria, A labour of this nature was in fact 
 very necessary, both for the administration of the 
 country, and for those who wish to know its na- 
 tional industry. Jn vain do we seek in the greater 
 number of maps published in Europe for the name 
 of the city of Guanaxuato, which contains 70,000 
 inhabitants ; or for that of the celebrated mines of 
 Bolanos, Sombrerete, Batopilas, and Zimapan. 
 None of the maps which have hitherto appeared 
 show the position of the Real dc Caiorcc in the 
 intendancy of San Lu'ia Potosi, a mine from wliich 
 there is annually drawn nearly '20 millions of 
 francs* of silver; and which, from its proximity 
 to the Rio del Nor/c, appears already to have 
 tempted the cupidity of several colonists recently 
 established in Louisiana. Having begun to cal- 
 culate the greater number of my astronomical 
 observations, that I might have some fixed points 
 on which otheis could be established, and having at 
 my disposal a considerable number of materials and 
 manuscript maps, I conceived the idea of extend- 
 ing the plan which I had at first formed. Instead 
 of merely inserting in my map the names of three 
 hundred places known for considerable mining 
 undertakings, I proposed to unite together all the 
 
 * 83«,40O/. sterling. Trans. 
 B'2 
 
* 
 
 IV 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTUODUCTIOX 
 
 ' 
 
 m 
 
 ' y^ 
 
 
 1 ^' 41 i 
 
 ■8 !■, ' 
 
 m 
 
 <1 1 i' 
 
 'i ! '- 
 
 
 
 >( 
 
 i. i .1 
 
 Ll. 
 
 1 
 
 iJ'' 
 
 i 
 
 
 materials which I could procure, and to discuss the* 
 ^.ifFerences of position v,'hich these heterogeneous 
 materials e\ery instant presented. We ought 
 not to be surprised at the uncertainty wlil:h pre- 
 vails in the geography of Mexico, when we con- 
 sider the fetters which have rtrrested the progress 
 of civilization, not only in the colonies, l)iit also 
 m the mother country; and especially when we 
 consider the long peace enjoyed by these countries 
 since the commencement of the sixteenth century. 
 In Hindostan, the wars with Hyder Ally and 
 Tippoo Sultan, the continual marches of armies, 
 and the necessity of seeking the shortest commu- 
 nication, have singularly contributed to augir.ent 
 geographical information. And yet an accurate 
 acquaintance with Hindostan, a country vi. ited by 
 the most active nations of Kuropc, does not ex- 
 tend farther back than thirty or forty years. I 
 ought to have ibreseen, that, notwithstanding the 
 most assiduous labour during three or four months^ 
 I could only give a very imperfect map of Mexico, 
 compared with the maps of the most c vllized 
 countries of Europe. This idea, however, did not 
 discourage me. When I considered the advan- 
 tages afforded me by my individual situation, I 
 had to flatter myself that my work, notwiihstand- 
 ing the important faults which might disfigure it, 
 would still be preferable to what has yet been 
 Oil'ered to the public on the geography of New 
 Spain. 
 
G EOGR A PH IC A L I N TROULXTI OS . 
 
 It will be said, without d ubt, that ir is ye' too 
 soon to draw up general maps ot a vast kingdom 
 for which e\act data are wantirig. J3ur, for the 
 same reason we should, with the exception of he 
 provi ce of Quito and the United States, publish 
 no map of thu interior of continental America. 
 for the same reason, also, we should not yet con- 
 struct maps of m ny parts of Europe, of Spaiu for 
 example, or Poland, couniries in which, on sur- 
 faces of more than IGOO square leagues, there is 
 nt)t to be found a single place who«e position has 
 been fixed by astronomical means. It is not yet 
 fifteen years since, in the centre of Germany there 
 were hardly t'A enty places the longitude of u hich 
 yvas determined with certainty to within a sixth or 
 an eighth part of a degree. 
 
 In the part of New Spain situated to the north 
 of the par llel of ij 4°, in the provinces called 
 Inttrnas (in New Mexico, in the government of 
 Cohahuila, and in the intendancy of New Biscay) 
 the geogra, her is reduced to form combinati.ms 
 from the journals of routes. The sea being at a 
 great distance from the most inhabited part of 
 these couniries '^e has no means to connect to- 
 gether places situated in the interior of a vast con- 
 tinent, with points on the coa^t a little better known. 
 Hence, beyond the city of Durango, we wander as 
 it were in a desert, notwithstanding the show of 
 manuscript maps. There are not more reources to 
 be found than Major Rennel possessed for draw- 
 
VI 
 
 C I-OGRAI HICAI. INTKOni.CTIOX. 
 
 
 ing up maps of the interior of Africa. It is 
 otherwise in the part of Mexico contained between 
 the ports of Acapulco and Vera Cruz, and be- 
 tv/een the capital of Mexico and the Real* of 
 Guanaxuato. In this region, traver:-cd by me from 
 the month of March, 1803, to the month of 
 February, 1804, a region the most cultivated aad 
 best inhabited of the kingdom, there are to be found 
 a sufficient number of points of which the position 
 is astronomically determined. It is to be wished 
 that a traveller, versed in the practice of observa- 
 tions, and provided with a sextant, or a small re- 
 peating circle of reflection, a chronometer, an 
 achromatic telescope and a portable barometer for 
 measuring the height of mountains, should travel 
 in three direciions over the north of the kingdom of 
 New Spain. 1 le should direct his course, 1st. from 
 the city of Guanaxuato to the pre.s'uUo o{ Santa Fc, 
 or to the village of "^iaos in New Mexico; 2(1. 
 from the mouth of the liio del Norte, which pours 
 its waters into the gulph of Mexico, to the sea of 
 Cortez, particularly to the junction of the Rio 
 Colorado and the Rio Gila; and, Sd, from 
 the city of Mazatlan, in the province of Ciiialoa, 
 to the city of Alta Mira, on the left bank of the 
 Rio de Panuco. 
 
 The first of tho.e three journies would be the 
 most important, the easiest to execute, and that in 
 
 The word Real indicates a place where mines are worked. 
 
 \i \ 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION- 
 
 Vll 
 
 . It is 
 between 
 and be- 
 teal* of 
 me from 
 onth of 
 ted and 
 e found 
 position 
 
 wished 
 'bscrva- 
 nall re- 
 ter, an 
 ter for 
 
 travel 
 iom of 
 :. from 
 Ua Fc, 
 »; 2d. 
 
 pours 
 )Ca of 
 2 Rio 
 
 from 
 laloa, 
 »f the 
 
 5 the 
 lat in 
 
 rkeu. 
 
 which the chronometer would be exposed to the 
 smallest changes of temperature. It would be 
 useful, however, not to rely altogether on the mere 
 lapse of time, but to employ for determining the 
 longitudes, the satellites of Jupiter, eclipses, and 
 especially the distances from the moon to the sun, 
 means which since the publication of the excellent 
 tables of Delambre, Zach, and Biirg, merit the 
 highest degree of confidence. In the astronomical 
 journey from Mexico to Taos, the position would 
 be verified which I have assigned to St. Juan del 
 Rio, to Queretaro, Zelaya, Salamanca, and Guan- 
 axuato; the longitudes and latitudes would be 
 determined of S. Luis Potosi, Charcas, Lacatecas, 
 Fresnillo and Sombrerete, five places celebrated 
 for the riches of their mines ; and the passage 
 would lie through the city of Durango and the 
 Parral at Chihuahua, the residence of the governor 
 of the Proxincias Inter^nas, In following the 
 Rio Bravo, the traveller would pass along by the 
 Passo del Norte, to the capital of New Mexico^ 
 and from thence to the village of Taos, the most 
 northern point of this province. 
 
 The second journey, the most severe of all, and 
 in which the observer is exposed to a burning cli- 
 mate, would supply fixed points in the new king- 
 dom of Leon, in the province of CohahuIIa, in 
 New Biscay, and in Sonora. The operations 
 should be directed from the mouth of the Rio 
 Bravo del Noite, through the episcopal seat of 
 
w 
 
 vm 
 
 GEOGR A PI lie AL 1 NTllOD U CTI ON . 
 
 •;| 1 1 H 
 
 n'Myut 
 
 '1 Y'H 
 
 >. r> 
 
 ■■*'* 
 
 Monterey, to the presidio of Moncloya. Pursu- 
 ing the route by which the Chevalier de Croix, 
 viceroy of Mexico, arrived in 1778, in the pro- 
 vince of Texas, he would reach Chihuahua to 
 connect the second journey with the first ; from 
 Chihualma he would pass by the military establish- 
 ment (presidio) of S. Buena Ventura, to the city of 
 Arispe, and from thence, eitlier by the presidio of 
 Tubac, or by the missions of the Primeria alta, 
 or across the savannahs inhabited by the Apaches 
 tontos Indians, to the mouth of the Rio Gila. 
 
 The third excursion, in which he would traverse 
 the kingdom from Alta Mira to the port of Ma- 
 zatlan, would be connected with the first by the 
 city of Sombrerete ; it would serve, by a winding 
 to the north, to fix the position of the fiimous 
 mines of Catorce, of Guarisamey, Rosario and 
 Copala. A few days would suffice to determine 
 the latitudie and longitude of every place we 
 have named. Only the most considerable cities, 
 such as Zacatecas, S. Luis Potosi, Monterey, Du- 
 rango. Chihuahua, Arispe, and Santa Fe of New 
 Mexico, would occasion a stay of a few weeks. 
 The astronomical means here indicated easily af- 
 ford, althougli the observer should not possess a 
 very extraordinary ability, a certainty of 20 se- 
 conds* for the latitude, and of a third of a minute 
 
 * One of our most celebrated astronomers obser^'es with 
 truth, that even at this day, since the introduction of repeating 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 IX 
 
 in time for the absolute longitude. How many 
 considerable cities are there in Spain, and in the 
 most eastern and northern parts of Europe, which 
 are still far from this accuracy of geographical 
 position ! 
 
 The very trifling expense of the execution of 
 these three journies, above all of the first, would 
 give a new face to the geography of New Spain. The 
 positions of xVcapulco, of Vera Cruz and Mexico, 
 have been repeatedly verified by the operations of 
 Galiano, of Espinosa and Cevallos, of Gama and 
 Ferrer, and by my own. The officers of the 
 royal marines stationed at the port of San Bias, 
 could in a single excursion fix the important 
 positions of the mines of Bolaiios and of the city 
 of Guadalaxara. The astronomical expedition 
 
 circles, there are not three places of the earth the latitude of 
 which is known with the certaintij of a second. In 17/0, the lati- 
 tude of Dresden was nearly three minutes false : that of the 
 observatory of Berlin was uncertain till 1806, for nearly 25 
 seconds. In 1 7go before the observations of Messrs, Barry 
 and Henry, the position of the observatory of Manheim was 
 false by a minute and 21 seconds of latitude, and yet father 
 Christian Mayer had observed with a qua '.rant of Bird of 8 feet 
 radius, (Ephcmcriiles dc Berlin, l/Sl, p. 158, and 17p5, p. 
 96.) Before the observations of Le Monnier, we were ignorant 
 of the true latitude of Paris for nearly 15 seconds. The astrono- 
 mical journal of M. de Zach offers examples which serve to 
 prove that an exercised observer, provided with a good 
 sextant and an exact artificial horizon, may find the true 
 latitude of a place to within seven or eight seconds. 
 
ill tf 
 
 '! ^ 
 
 
 If 
 
 I "■•f. 
 
 V 
 
 X CtOGUAHIK AL JNTRODUCTiON. 
 
 which the government has entrust( d to MM. de 
 Cevallos and Hercra, for surveying the coast 
 of the gulph of Mexico, will determine the mouth 
 of the Rio Huasacuaico to the south-east of 
 Vera Cruz. It would be easy for these able as- 
 tronomers, who are provided with superb English 
 instruments, to ascend this river, to which the pro- 
 ject of a canal of communication between the At* 
 lantic and South seas has given such celebrity ; they 
 would determine the breadth of this Mexican 
 isthmus, in fixing the position of the port of 
 Tehuantepec and of the bar of S. Francisco at the 
 mou<^h of the Rio Chimalapa. 
 
 The means which I propose in this memoir 
 could be easily carried into execution at a small 
 expense. There does not exist on the globe a 
 country affording greater advantages for trigonome- 
 trical o])erations. The great valley of Mexico, 
 the vast plains of Zelaya and Salamanca, level as 
 the surface of the waters which appear to have 
 covered their soil for a long succession of ages ; 
 these plains, elevated 1700 metres* above the level 
 of the ocean, and bounded by mountains visible 
 at great distances, invite the iistronomer to the 
 measurement of several degrees of latitude towards 
 the northern limits of the torrid zone^ In the 
 intendancy of Durango, in a part of that of S. 
 Luis Potosi, triangles of an extraordinary extent 
 might be traced over a surface covered with 
 
 * About 5570 feet. Trans. 
 
(.ko(;raphical introductiox. 
 
 XI 
 
 grasses, and bare of wood ; but to undertake the 
 trigonometric;d survey of the kingdom of New 
 Spain, to wish to extend delicate operations over 
 a surface five times larger than France, is to pre- 
 vent the government from ever possessing a general 
 map of its rich dominions, and to engage the court 
 of Spain in a brilliant undertaking, but an under- 
 taking of too great extent to be ever carried into 
 complete execution. The scrupulous accuracy with 
 which the officers of the Spanish marine examined 
 the smallest sinuosities of the coast of South Ame- 
 rica has been censured*. This work was undoubt- 
 edly both laborious and expensive; it appears to 
 me, however, that it is unreasonable to blame those 
 who presented to his catholic majesty so admirable 
 a project of hydrographical survey. A marii*e 
 chart can never be too minute. The safety of 
 navigation, the facility of recognizing landing 
 places, the necessary means of defence against an 
 enemy who threatens disembarkation, all depend 
 on the most intimate acquaintance with the coast, 
 and with the bottom of the sea. In the interior 
 of a country it is sometimes of small consequence 
 that the position of a city be exactly laid down to 
 a minute of latitude j but on the coast, it is of the 
 
 * One of the most learned geographers of the age, Major 
 Rennel, observes that the English possess very exact charts of 
 the anchorages on the coast of Bengal, while there does not 
 exist any thing like a tolerable chart of the English channel 
 {Description of Hindosiaiif vol. 1, Preface.) 
 
Xll 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 I '^''1 
 
 utmost importance to know the position of a cape, 
 with all the accuracy which astronomical means 
 admit of. In a hydrographical chart all the points 
 should be equally well determined ; for every one 
 of them may serve as a point of departure or ob- 
 servation; and there is none which is not connect- 
 ed with others : while, on the contrary, the maps 
 which represent the interior of a country possess 
 great merit, when they offer a certain number of 
 p'aces whose position has been a tronomically 
 fixed. 
 
 If it is desirable that the Spanish possessions in 
 the interior of Amrrica should not be for some 
 time surveyed with the same minute accuracy 
 which h'.'.s been displayed on the coast; if in the 
 actual state of things it would be more useful 
 merely to execute a [ revisory undertaking, founded 
 on ihe use of sextants and chronometers, on 
 lunar distant es, on observations of satellites, and 
 eclipses, it would be of no less importance to unite 
 to these purely astronomical means such other 
 means as are furnished by the nature of the conn- 
 try and the great elevation of its insulated sum- 
 mits. When we know exaetly the absolute 
 haght of these summits, whether by means of 
 the barometer, or by ge( metrical operations, an- 
 gles of altitudes and azimuths taken with the 
 rising or setting sun may serve to connect these 
 mountains with points whose latitude and longi- 
 tude have been sufficiently verified. This method 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XUl 
 
 furnishes perpendicular bases ; and in estimating 
 how much we may be deceived in the measure- 
 ment of each base, it is easy to conclude by false 
 suppositions wh it influence this error may have on 
 the astronomical position either of the mountain 
 itself, or of the other points which depend on it. 
 An exact knowledge of the inferior limit of 'per- 
 petual snow will often afford the same advantages 
 as the measuiement of an insulated sunimir. This 
 is the method employed by me to verify the dif- 
 ference of longitude between the capital of Mexico 
 and the port of Vera Cruz. Two great volcanos, 
 that of la Puebia, called Popocatepetl, and the peak 
 of Orizava, both visible from the platform of the 
 ancient pyramid of Cholula, serve to connect two 
 places distant from one another more than 16,000* 
 toises. The union of two geometrical measure- 
 ments of the mountains, of the azimuths and an- 
 gles of altitudes calculated by M. Oltmanns, have 
 given the port of Vera Cruz 0' 1 1' Si" to the 
 west of Mexico, while from purely astronomical 
 observations there results a difference of meri- 
 diiins of 0" 1 1' 4?^^ In modifying the former 
 resulc by several secondary operations at the py- 
 ramid of Cholula, we find even 0'' 11' 41, 3'' -, 
 so that in this particular case, on a distance of 
 three degrees, the method of azimuths was only 
 false in timet. 
 
 r 
 
 ♦About 102,400 feet English. Trans. 
 
 t Memoire astronomique sur la difference des meridiens 
 
"hj' 
 
 
 
 ^ I'll/ 
 
 i!,ii 
 
 il' • 
 
 ^\ 
 
 XIV 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 These same Insulated summits, situated in the 
 midst of a vast plain, offer a still surer method of 
 determining in a short space of time, to witbin a 
 few seconds, the longitude of a great number of 
 neighbouring places. Luminous signals, produced 
 by the deflagration of a small quantity of gun- 
 powder, may be observed at gieat distances by 
 persons provided with proper means for finding 
 and preserving the true time. Cassini de Thury 
 and Lacaille were the first who successfully em- 
 ployed this method of luminous signals. M. de 
 Zach has recently proved by hiij operations in 
 Thuringia, that in favourable circumstances it will 
 furnish in a few minutes positions comparable for 
 accuracy to the results of a great number of ob- 
 servations of satellites or solar eclipses. In the 
 kingdom of New Spain the signals might be given 
 at Iztaccihuatl, or Siera Nevada of Mexico j on 
 the rock called The Monk, an insulated summit 
 of the volcano of Toluca, which I reached 29th 
 September, 1803 ; on la Malriche near Tlascalar \ 
 on the Coflfre de Perotte ; and on other mountains 
 whose summits are accessible, and which are all 
 elevated more than from three to four thousand 
 metres* above the level of the sea. 
 
 entre Mexico et Vera Cruz, par MM. Oltmanns et Hum- 
 boldt. {J>ach, Monathliche Correspondenz, Novemb. 1806,. 
 p. 445, 454, 458.) 
 
 * From 9840 to 13,120 feet English. Trans. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTU(>I)U(TrON. 
 
 XV 
 
 The Spanish government having with extraordi- 
 nary liberality made the most important sacrifice! 
 for the perfection of nautical astronomy, and for 
 accurate surveys of the coast, we may expect that 
 its next concern will be the geography of its vast 
 American dominions, for which the royal marine 
 would furnish both instruments, and astronomers 
 skilled in observations. The school for mines of 
 Mexico, in which mathematics are studied in a 
 solid manner, spreads over the surface of this vast 
 empire a great number of young men animated 
 with the noblest zeal, and capable of using the in- 
 struments with which they might be entrusted. 
 It is by analogous means that the English East 
 India Company have surveyed a territory whose 
 surface equals that of England and France united*. 
 We live no longer in times when governmentsdread 
 to expose to foreign nations their territorial wealth 
 in the Indies. The present king of Spain gave 
 orders to publish, at ihe expense of the state, the 
 survey of the coasts and ports 5 without fearing that 
 the most minute plans of the Havannah, of Vera 
 Cruz, and the mouth 6f the Rio Plata, should fall 
 into the hands of the foreign nations whom events 
 have made enemies of Spain. One of the finest 
 maps, drawn up by the Deposito Hydrografico of 
 Madrid, contains the most valuable details regard- 
 ing the interior of Paraguay; details founded on 
 
 * RenneVs Hindostan, vol. i. p. 1 7. 
 
'I. "...,#( 
 
 , « 
 
 ^j 
 
 t'l! 
 
 XYl 
 
 GKOGRAPIilCAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Operations of the officers of the royal marine 
 employed to settle the boundaries between the 
 Portuguese and Spaniards. With the exception 
 of the maps of Egypt and of some parts of the 
 East Indies, the most accurate work which exists, 
 of any European continental possession out of 
 Europe, is the map of the kingdom of Quito, 
 drawn up by Maldonado. Every thing proves, 
 that for these fifteen years past the Spanish go- 
 vernment, far fronfi dreading the j)rogress of geo- 
 graphy, has published all the interesting materials 
 w'hich it possessed on the colonies in the two 
 Indies. 
 
 Having Indicated the means, apparently tlie most 
 proper, for speedily completing the maps of the 
 kingdom of New Spain, I shall give a succinct ana- 
 lysis of the materials employed by me in the geo- 
 graphical work which I offer to the public. 
 
 The general map of the kingdom of New Spain 
 is drawn up, as all the other maps drawn up by 
 me in the course of my expedition are, according 
 to the projection of Mercator, with increasing la- 
 titudes. This projection has the advantage of 
 sliewing at once the true distance of one place 
 from another ; it is at the same time the most 
 agreeable to the navigators who visit the colonies, 
 and who, in fixing the position of their vessel by 
 two mountains seen without difficulty, would wish 
 their survey to correspond with the map. If I had 
 had to choose among the stereographic projections^ 
 
 m 
 
 B 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xvli 
 
 nanne 
 in the 
 eption 
 >f the 
 exists, 
 ut of 
 Quito, 
 )roves, 
 h go- 
 f geo- 
 Lterials 
 le two 
 
 I should have given the preference to Murdoch's, 
 which deserves to be generally followed, The 
 scale of my map is 3'2 millimetres * for every de- 
 gree of the equator. The scale of increasing la- 
 titudes is not fo mded on the tables of Don Jorge 
 Juan, but on those which M. de Mendoza calcu- 
 lated for the spheroid. 
 
 To give a more suitable form to the map of 
 Mexico, the«cale was only extended from the 15** 
 to the 41° of north latitude, and from the 96^ 
 to the 117** of longitude. These limits did not 
 admit of giving in the same map the intendancy 
 of Merida or the peninsula of Yucatan, which 
 belongs to the kingdom of New Spain. To in- 
 clude in the map the most eastern point, which is 
 Cape Catoche, or rather the island Cozumel, seven 
 additional degrees of longitude are requisite, which 
 would have forced me to comprize in the same 
 map a portion of the kingdom of Guatimala, for 
 which I have no data, all Louisiana, all western 
 Florida, a part of the Tennessee, and of the Ohio. 
 
 It is in vain to seek, in this general map of New 
 Spain, the Spanish establishments on the north- 
 west coast of America, establishments which are 
 insulated, and may be considered as colonies de- 
 pendant on the metropolis of Mexico. To exhibit 
 in the same map the mission • of New California 
 would have required an additional eight degrees of 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 * 1.25987 In. English. Trans, 
 C 
 
i'^ 
 
 'iiii: 
 
 .1 
 
 III I I .' 
 
 
 % 
 
 1 
 
 ♦li 
 
 it ii^ 
 
 ;• ^^';; 
 
 ,1^ 
 
 
 II .,''*vJvS 
 
 I i^l 
 
 XVlll 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 longitude ; for the most northern point of the 
 kingdom is the presidio of San Francisco, situated, 
 according to Vancouver, in 37° 48' 30^^ of north 
 latitude, and 124^ 27' 45^ of west longitude. 
 Hence a map of New Spain, to deserve the name 
 of a general map, should embrace the immense 
 countries included within the 89^ and 125® of 
 longitude, and within the 15" and ^8° of latitude. 
 To avoid the inconvenience of representing on a 
 large scale countries which, in a political view, 
 possess by no means the same interest, I wished to 
 compress my labour within narrower bounds. I 
 drew up, in a much smaller form, a second map, 
 which not only exhibits in a coup d'oeil all the 
 territories which depend on the viceroyalty of 
 Mexico, but which may also be consulted by those 
 who wish to examine the different communications 
 projected between the Atlantic ocean and the 
 South sea. The motives which have occasioned 
 this latter map to be extended to the port of Phi- 
 ladelphia, and even to the mouth of the Rio San 
 Juan at Choco, will be explained in the sequel of 
 this work. 
 
 Although, according to the principles often laid 
 down by me, I persist in preferring the new mea- 
 sures to the old, 1 have not however added to my 
 maps the scale of centesimal degrees. The Bureau 
 of Longitudes having constantly followed, both in 
 the Knozvledge of 7'i7wej(Connoissance des Temps) 
 and in the new Astronomical Tables lately pub- 
 
'■;?^ 
 
 geographiOal introduction. 
 
 xix 
 
 of the 
 ituated, 
 f north 
 igitude. 
 e name 
 nmense 
 I25« of 
 atitude. 
 ,g on a 
 1 view, 
 [shed to 
 tids. I 
 id map, 
 all the 
 [alty of 
 y those 
 ications 
 nd the 
 asioned 
 of Phi- 
 tio San 
 quel of 
 
 en laid 
 V mea- 
 to my 
 K'lreau 
 )oth in 
 "emps) 
 J pub- 
 
 -I' 
 
 Ibhed, the old nk«inner of computinf^ the latitudes, 
 a single individual would in vain oppose the tor<> 
 rent, in publishing latitudes expressed in cente- 
 simal parts, it is to be hoped, however, that the 
 introduction of the metrical system, fixed by the 
 arrete of the 13 Brumaire, year IX, uill become 
 gradually general. The degrees of longitude 
 which I indicate are computed to the west of the 
 meridian of the Imperial Observatory at Paris. 
 If the great body of the public were not averse 
 to even the most useful innovations, I should have 
 preferred, to the meridian of Paris, the universal 
 meridian proposed by one of the first geometricians 
 of the age*, founded on the movement of the 
 great axis of the solar ellipsis. This universal 
 meridian is 185" SO' to the east of Paris, which is 
 166" 46' 12// of the ancient sexagesimal division. 
 It passes, consequently, by the South Sea, 1 2' to 
 the east of the isle of Erromanga, which belongs 
 to the archipelago of the Holy Ghost (du Saint 
 Esprit). The introduction of a universal meridian, 
 founded on nature itself, which would :tot shock 
 the national vanity of Europeans, is so much the 
 more to be desired^ that we every day see aug- 
 mented the number of first meridians arbitrarily 
 traced on maps. Spain, for several years back, 
 reckons five : Cadiz, the most in use with naviga* 
 tors ; Carthagena; the new observatory at the isle 
 
 ^ Expv$Uim At Syittmt du Monde, par Laplace, p. ig, 
 
 G SI 
 
m 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 XX 
 
 GHOGRAPIIU A 1. INtllODUC TION. 
 
 of Leon j the college of Nobles at Madrid, intro- 
 duced by the beautiful maps of M. Antillon ; and 
 the point de la Galera at the island of Trinidad* 
 To these five meridians might be added ocher two 
 which pass through the Spauish possessions, and 
 have been adopted by a great number of geogra- 
 phers : I mean the meridian of TenerifFe and o^ 
 ths; island of Fer. The latter occasions inevita- 
 ble confusion, d'Anville placing it between the 
 town of Fer and Cape West. So that there 
 are seven first meridians, without reckoning 
 Toledo, in the sole dominions of the king f 
 Spain. 
 
 I have followed, in the denomination of the 
 seas which wash the coasts of Mexico, the ideas 
 proposed by M. Fleurieu in his observations on the 
 hydrographical division of the globe ; a work in 
 which the most enlarged views are united to a 
 profound historical erudition . The Spanish names 
 have often been added to facilitate the reading of 
 travels written in Spanish. 
 . : In drawing up the map of ^Mexico, I began by 
 assembling together all the points fixed by astro- 
 nomical observations, from which I formed a view, 
 >v'hich, for the better appretiating the degree of 
 (Confidence which the results deserve, indicates the 
 nature of the observation and the name of the 
 observer. The number of these points amounts 
 to 7^, of which 50 are situated in the interior of 
 iliQ country. Of this latter clasa there we'-e only 
 
 il'iiii 
 
V. 
 
 GEOGRAPIIIGAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXI 
 
 rid, intre- 
 ilon; and 
 Trinidad. 
 3i;her two 
 ons, and 
 f geogra- 
 fe and of 
 s inevita- 
 iveen the 
 lat there 
 eckoning 
 king ;f 
 
 n of the 
 the ideas 
 IS on the 
 work in 
 ted to a 
 sh names 
 lading of 
 
 jegan by 
 t>y astro- 
 1 a view, 
 sgree of 
 :ates the 
 : of the 
 imounts 
 terior of 
 B'-e only 
 
 fifteen known before my arrival at Mexico in tlie 
 month of April, 1803. It may be useful to dis- 
 cuss some of the thirty-three points whose position 
 is determined by my own observations, and which 
 are all comprised between the 16^ 50' and 20° o' 
 of latitude, and the 98° 29' and 103° 12' of longi- 
 tude. While we are fixing these positions, we 
 shall enter into some historical details respecting 
 the extraordinary errors which have been propa- 
 gated to this day in the most recent and current 
 maps»^ 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 Several meridian altitudes of the sun and stars 
 gave me for the latitude of the capital at the con- 
 vent of St. Augustin*, 9'^ 25' 45". The longitude 
 deduced from the eclipses of the satellites of Ju- 
 piter, from the distances from the moon to the 
 sun, from transference of the time from Aca- 
 pulco, and from a trigonometrical operation for 
 estimating the difference of meridians between 
 Mexico and the port of Vera Cruz, is C)^ 45 42" 
 or lor 25' 30". I shall observe once for all, that 
 I rely on the numbers which result from the very 
 careful calculations of M. Oltmanns, a distinguish- 
 
 * The great gate of the cathedral church of Mexico is 12" 
 farther north, and 10" farther east, than the convent of St. 
 Aggustin, near which I mads my observations 
 
xxii 
 
 GEOGR^VPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 hi 
 
 
 '^\i^ 
 
 1 Iriiit 
 
 I 1 1' 
 
 I ^n 
 
 ed geometrician, who calculated all the astrono- 
 mical observations made by me since my depar- 
 ture from Paris in 1798, to my return to Bordeaux 
 in 1804. The longitude of Mexico {&" 45' 28") 
 indicated in the new astronomical tables published 
 by the Bureau dcs Longitudes, is founded on an 
 astronomical memoir which I presented to the 
 first class of the institute, the fourth Pluviose, year 
 XIII, in which the calculations of the moon had 
 not be^n corrected by the tables of M. Burg. A 
 year beii ' had fixed on a result which was still 
 nearer to the true longitude ; the medium of my 
 observations printed at the Havannah was 101** 
 20' 5'^ 
 
 Three emersions of the first satellite of Jupicer 
 observed by me t'Jve for middle term, by the ta- 
 bles of M. Delambre, the longitude of 6^ 45' 30"* 
 
 Thirty-two distances from the moon to the sun, 
 calculated by M. Oltmanns, from the newest lunar 
 tables, give for longitude 6'' 45' 54". 
 
 The transference of time from Acapulco gives 
 for the difference of meridians between the port 
 and the capital of Mexico, 2' 54'' in time ; conse- 
 quently, supposing Acapulco 6^ 48' ^^", the longi- 
 tude of Mexico would be &" 45' 29". 
 
 Two observations of satellites, the one at Lan- 
 caster in Pensylvania, the other at the Havannah, 
 both corresponding to the emersion which I ob- 
 served at Mexico, the 2d May, 1803, give in lon- 
 gitude, the one &" 45' SSf, the other 6' 45' 36". 
 
 ^i1 
 
f. 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxiii 
 
 i astrono- 
 ly depar- 
 Bordeaux 
 ' 45' 28") 
 publisher! 
 ed on an 
 d to the 
 lose, year 
 loon had 
 'urg. A 
 was still 
 n of my 
 was 101* 
 
 F Jupiter 
 r the ta- 
 4.5' 30'; 
 the sun, 
 ;st lunar 
 
 CO gives 
 :he port 
 ; conse- 
 le longi< 
 
 at Lan- 
 I'annah, 
 h I ob- 
 in Ion- 
 
 The longitude of Guanaxuato determined by 
 lunar distances, and connected by my chrono- 
 meter with that of Mexico, gives for that capital 
 
 From the trigonometi ical operation, or rather 
 from my attempt to connect the capital with the 
 port of Vera Cruz, by means of the azimuths and 
 angles of altitudes, taken on the volcanos of Orizaba 
 and Popocatepec (according to the calculations of 
 M. Oltmanns, and supposing Vera Cruz 6'' 33' 55"), 
 there results a longitude for Mexico of 6^ 45 96", 
 
 All these results, obtained by ways so various 
 and independent of one another, confirm the lon- 
 gitude that we assign to the capital of Mexico, 
 ^vhich is more than a degree and a half different 
 from what has heen hitherto adopted ; for the 
 Knowledge of Times places Mexico in 1 772j at 
 106° r 0", and again in 1804, at 102° 25' 45". 
 The chart of the gulf of Mexico, published by the 
 Deposito Hydrogrqfico of Madrid in 1 799, gives 
 103° r 27" to the capital ; however, before I began 
 to observe at Mexico, the true longitude was ac- 
 curately enough known by three astronomers 
 whose labours deserve to be better known, two of 
 whom were born in Mexico. MM. Velasquez 
 and Gama, so far back as 1 77S> had deduced from 
 their observation of satellites the longitude of 101* 
 30', but having no^ corresponding observations, 
 and calculating after tlie old tables of Wargentin, 
 they remained uncertain (as they themselves as- 
 
XXIV GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 )!'|i)' 
 
 ''Q 
 
 ^^mi 
 
 i^ 
 
 1 k"^V 
 
 S.' 
 
 sured me) for more than a quarter of a degree. 
 This curious result is contained in a small pamphlet 
 printed at Mexico *, ver^ little known in Europe. 
 Velasquez, director of the supreme tribunal of 
 mines, fixed the longitude of the capital at 1 1° 44' O", 
 as is proved by valuable manuscripts preserved 
 by M. Costanzo at Vera Cruz. In a map of New 
 Spain sketched in 1779, Velasquez gave to Mexico 
 278" 9' of longitude, reckoning from the isle of 
 Ferzrior 51'. He says in a note to this map, 
 " thati before his voyage to California in 1768, all 
 Mexico was placed in the South Sea; that his map 
 is the first which offers the true position of the 
 capital, and that he verified it by a great number 
 of observations at Santa Rosa in California, at 
 Temaacaltepec, and at Guanaxuato." M. Ga- 
 leano, one of the most able astronomers of the 
 royal marine, had also found out the true position 
 of Mexico, ^rhen he traversed the kingdom in 
 1791 to join the expedition of Malaspina. It is 
 true that M. Antillon deduced the longitude of 
 101° 52' 0" from the observations of Galeano, a 
 result which still uI5ers from mine T 48" in time; 
 but I suspect that this difference arises from some 
 trivial error which may have crept into the calcu- 
 
 * Descripcion orthographica universal del eclipse de sol del 
 dia 24 de Junto de 177^ > dedicada al Sr. Don Joacquin Ve- 
 lasquez de Leon, por Don Antonio de Leon y Gama, 177B) 
 p. IV. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXV 
 
 degree, 
 
 imphlet 
 
 Europe. 
 
 mal of 
 
 °44'0", 
 
 eserved 
 
 )f New 
 
 Mexico 
 
 isle of 
 
 s map, 
 
 '68, all 
 
 lis map 
 
 of the 
 
 lumber 
 
 nia^ at 
 
 . Ga- 
 
 of the 
 
 Dsition 
 
 Dm in 
 
 It is 
 
 ide of 
 
 no, a 
 
 time; 
 
 some 
 
 alcu- 
 
 sol del 
 n Ve- 
 
 lation. With the operations of Gama, Velasquez, 
 and Galeano, I was totally unacquainted when I 
 began my operations at Mexico. Moreover the 
 detail of the observations of Don Dionisio (la- 
 leano was only communicated to me by ]\I. 
 Espinosa during the winter of 1804, after my 
 return to Europe. I'hese observations give a lon- 
 gitude apparently much more accurate than the 
 one published by M. Antillon. *' I was ignorant 
 (the learned director of the Deposito ihjdrografico 
 of Madrid writes me) during your residence in 
 Spain in 1 799. of the observations of our common, 
 friend M. de Galeano. 1 hey consist of two emer 
 sions of satellites and the end of a lunar eclipse : 
 they give me lOT 22' 34' zz6" 45' 30'V* But 
 M. Oltmanns found on taking the mediun^ of the 
 three observations, and comparing the eclipse of 
 the moon at five different places in Europe, G^ 4.5' 
 49 ". The difference between my observations and 
 those of the Spanish astronomer, a supposed dif- 
 ference of nearly half a degree, is consequently 
 reduced to less than an arc of two minutes. It is 
 satisfactory to find so great a harmony among ob- 
 servers, who, unknown to one another, employed 
 such different methods. In the very minute maps 
 of Thomas Jeffereys, published in 1 794, Mexico is 
 situated in •20' 2' of latitude, and 102° 52' 47" of 
 longitude ; while M. Arrowsmith, in his beautiful 
 inap of the West Indies in four sheets, makes the 
 
i , I, 
 
 ^K 
 
 .' '"''yi 
 
 m 
 
 xxvi 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 longitude of Mexico 102" 8' 0", and the latitude 
 19° 57', false 32 minutes. 
 
 Several Mexican geometricians of the seventeenth 
 century guessed pretty nearly the true longitude 
 of the capital. Father Diego Rodriguez, of the or- 
 der of N. Senora de la Merced, professor of ma- 
 thematics at the imperial university of Mexico^ and 
 the astronomer Gabriel Lopez de Bonilla, adopted 
 7'' 25' for the difference of meridians between 
 Uranienburg and the capital, from whence there 
 results the longitude of lOr 37' 46"=6'' 46' 29". 
 But Don Carlos de Seguenza*^ the celebrated 
 successor of Rodriguez in the academical chair, 
 was ignorant in 1681 of the observations on which 
 Bonilla founded this result. He published a small 
 treatise on the longitude of the city of Mexico f. 
 He cites in it an observation of a lunar eclipse on 
 the 20th December, 1619, by the engineer Henry 
 Martinez, at Huehuetoca, to the north-west of 
 Mexico. This is the same Dutch engineer who 
 undertook the bold enterprise of the canal called 
 
 * Libra aitronomica y filosofica escrita en 1081, por Don 
 Carlos de Seguenza y Gongora, Catedratico de Matematicas 
 de la Universidad de Mexico, y impresso en la misma Ciudad 
 en i6qo, §. 386. 
 
 f See the work above cited> §.382, 385. I owe my ac- 
 quaintance with thik very rare book of Seguenza to M. Oteiza, 
 who was kind enough to recalculate several old observations of 
 the Mexican astronomers. 
 
 I'l! 
 
 
 (till 
 
GliOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. XXVll 
 
 latitude 
 
 nteenth 
 ngitude 
 ' the or- 
 of ma- 
 ico, and 
 adopted 
 letween 
 :e there 
 S' 29". 
 ebrated 
 t chair, 
 n. which 
 a small 
 
 exicot. 
 ipse on 
 ' Henry 
 (vest of 
 er who 
 called 
 
 por Don 
 ematicas 
 Ciudad 
 
 my ac- 
 
 Oteiza, 
 
 atioDsof 
 
 le Desame de Hitehuetoca, of which more will be 
 said hereafter. The obse^-vation of Martinez, 
 comparing it with that of Ingolstadt, without ap- 
 plying any modifica^i.n, would give 6' 32' 16" 
 for the longitude of Mexico. Compared with 
 Lisbon, the same eclipse gives 6" 22' 31". But 
 as Martinez made use of no telescope, Seguenza 
 supposes that by an effect of the penumbra, the 
 end of the eclipse was 15' sooner. There results 
 from this very arbitrary supposition, Mexico com- 
 pared with Ingolstadt, &" 46' 40", and Mexico 
 compared with Lisbon, iy" 3T 3\"' M. Oltraanns 
 justly observes, that one of the corresponding ob- 
 servations must be 9' false; for the true difference 
 of meridians between Lisbon and Ingolstadt is only 
 r 22* 1 6", while the eclipse of the ijswth December, 
 1619, would give \^ 13 0". Such old and care- 
 less observations can give no certainty ; particularly 
 as the two Mexican geometricians above cited, 
 Rodriguez and Seguenza, were not themselves in 
 a condition to obtain these results. They knew 
 80 little of the difference of meridians between 
 Uranienburg, Lisbon, Ingolstadt, and the isle de 
 Falma, that they concluded from the data indicated 
 in the Libra astronomica y fdosoficaj that Mexico 
 is 283° 38' to the west of the first meridian of the 
 isle de Palma, or gfi** 40'=6'' 26' 40" ; a longi- 
 tude which differs more than a hundred marine 
 leagues from the true one, and more than 240 
 leagues from what was adopted by the geographer 
 
'Ii||!l 
 
 XXVIU GKOGllAPHICAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 m 
 
 r % 
 
 
 f '1,1(1 
 
 1 1 1 '"iVi 
 
 Jean Covens in the middle of the last century. 
 IntheEphcmerides of Vienna, published by Father 
 Hell, in 1772, and in the astronomical tables of 
 Berlin for the year 1 776, we find Mexico at 1 06* 0'. 
 The idea of this too great western longitude is 
 very old. M. Oltmanns found it in the obser- 
 vations * of the Jesuit Father Bonaventura Suarez, 
 who resided at Paraguay, in the city of the holy 
 martyrs Cosme and Damian. This astronomer 
 places Mexico S'' 13't to the west of his observatory, 
 and the latter 3" 52' 23" to the west of Paris 5 from 
 whence results the longitude of Mexico 7^ •^' 23" 
 = 106° 22' 3{i". The Jesuits of Puebla also place 
 the capital, in a Mexican map engraved in 1 755^ 
 at 19** 10' of latitude, and 113*' O' of longitude, 
 that is to say, 240 leagues too far west. 
 
 The account of Chappe's journey, drawn up by 
 M. de Cassini, gives us no accurate information as 
 to the position of the capital. Chappe even re- 
 mained there only four days. He made no astro- 
 nomical observations, and those which M. Alzate 
 communicated to him were not of a nature to re- 
 solve the problem in question. Tins Mexican 
 ecclesiastic, whom the academy of Paris named 
 one of their correspondents, displayed more zeal 
 than solidity in his researches : he embraced too 
 many things at once. His acquisitions were very 
 
 * Epheraerides astronomicse^ aTriesneker, 1803. 
 t Voyage en Californie, 1772, p. 104. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL ifCTRODUCTION. XxLl 
 
 inferior to those of Velasquez and Gama, two of 
 his countrymen, whose true merit has never been 
 s ufficien tly known in Europe. Don Josef Antonio 
 Alzate, and Kamirez in his map of New Spain, 
 published at Paris, pkce Mexico at 104' 9' 0"= 
 6" 56' 3&\ M. de Lalande finds, by the transit 
 of Venus observed in 1769 by Alzate, C" 50' Vi 
 M. Pingre finds 6** 49' 43'. An eclipse of the 
 moon, observed in 1769 by Alzate, gives, calcu- 
 lating only the end by the old lunar tables, 6^' 
 37' 7''. Cassini deduces from two emersions of 
 Jupiter *s satellites, observed by Alzate in 1770, 
 and compared with the old tables by a medium, 
 101*^ 25'=:6" 45' 9''. 
 
 In a memoir published by Alzate on the geo- 
 graphy of New Spain*, he asserts that the longi- 
 tude of Mexico, founded on observations of 
 satellites, is &" 4& 30". 
 
 But in 1786, in a note which accompanies the 
 plan of the environs of Mexico, drawn up by 
 Seguenza, and engraved at Mexico, Alzate fixes 
 the longitude at 100° 30' O'zze'^ 42' 0", adding 
 that this last result, the surest of all, is founded 
 on more than twenty-five eclipses of satellites 
 communicated to the academy of Paris f. 
 
 Hence there is consequently a difference of 
 
 * Gazetta de Mexico, 1772, No. gs, p. 56, 
 
 t Piano de les Arcanias de Mexico por Don Carlos de Se- 
 guenza, reimpreso en 178^* con algunas adiciones de Don 
 Josef Alzate (en la inipr«nta de Don Francisco Range].) 
 
i 
 
 111 
 
 ,;:':m 
 
 iiM 
 
 
 S 
 
 0t 
 
 
 liHi 
 
 lli: 
 
 XXX GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 more than two degrees between the different ob- 
 servations of M. Alzate, without including the 
 result deduced from the eclipse of the moon of the 
 12th December, 1769. It is to be presumed that 
 the observer was not exact as to the time. The 
 longitude established by the satellites may be also 
 too eastern, because the eclipses of the first satel- 
 lite have not been separated from those of the 
 third and fourth. 
 
 The false position so long attributed to the ca- 
 pital of New Spain produced a remarkable effect 
 at the time of the sun's eclipse^ 21st Feb. 1803. 
 The eclipse was total, and threw the public into 
 consternation, because the almanacs of Mexico, 
 calculated on the supposition of &" 49' 43" of lon- 
 gitude, had announced it as scarcely visible. The 
 learned astronomer of the Havannah, Don Anto- 
 nio Roberedo, recalculated this eclipse according 
 to my observations of longitude^. He found that 
 the eclipse would net have been total if the longi- 
 tude of Mexico were farther west than &* 46' 
 
 35", 4z=10r 38'49". 
 
 The latitude of tlie capital of Mexico remained 
 for a long period as problematical as its longitude. 
 In the time of Cortez the Spanish pilots fixed it 
 at 20° 0', as is proved by the map of California, 
 drawn up by Domingo de Castillo in 154), and 
 
 * Aurora, orCorreo politico economico dela Havflna, 1604;. 
 No. 219, p. 13. 
 
'% 
 
 '4 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. XXXl 
 
 published in the Mexican edition of Cortez's 
 letters*. This latitude ^vas preserved by d'An- 
 ville and other geographers. Jean Covens, who 
 increased the longitude of Mexico seven degrees, 
 gives it also a position too northern by 1° 43'. The 
 account of Choppers journey adopts from Alzate 
 19* 5V of latitude. Don Vincente Doz, known 
 for his observations in California, found by a 
 quadrant 19® 21' S'^'t; but in the year 1778, 
 Velasquez and Gama fixed the true position. 
 Don Jose Espinosa found in February 1790, by 
 a sextant of eight inches radius, the cathedral 19^ 
 25' 25^^ of latitude. M. Galeano obtained in 
 1 79 1 , by larger instruments, 19^26' 00^. 
 
 VERA CRUZ. 
 
 Latitude, 19® 11' 59,'. Longitude, 6" 33' 56'^ 
 =:58' 29' 0". This longitude is deduced from a 
 stellar eclipse, observed by M. Ferrer, and calculat- 
 ed by M. Oltmanns, from three eclipses of the 
 first satellite, and from the longitude which my 
 observations assign to the Havannah,and which has 
 been connected by the transference of time to 
 Vera Cruz. It is to be observed, that I indicate 
 
 * Higtoria cle Nueva Espana escrita por Herman Cortes, 
 aumentada por el Illustr. Senor Don Francisco Antonio de 
 Lorenzana. Mexico, 1770, p. 328. 
 
 t Gazetta de Mexico, 1773, p. 56. 
 
i 'Vil 
 
 I' h 1 
 
 ■'m 
 
 ,M 
 
 [l, ^^ 
 
 
 'ihx 
 
 k 
 
 III !!" 
 
 
 is 
 
 
 XXXli 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCriON. 
 
 the position of the most northern part of the city^ 
 the observatory of M. Ferrer being the house of 
 Don Jose Ignacio de la Torre, which is 30'' to the 
 west of the fort of St. Juan d'Uhia* 
 
 This longitude is almost the same with what was 
 found by Don Mariana Isasvirivil, and by other 
 officers of the Spanish marine. It is only five 
 minutes eii arc farther west than what is indicated 
 on the map of the gulf of M'^x'co, published in 
 1799 by the hydrographical board of Madrid. 
 j\'I. Antillon fixes it at 98° 23' 6'^; the Knoivkdge 
 of Times for the year 1808, at 98° 21' W. 
 Don Thomas Ugarte, commodore (Chef dT,s- 
 cadre) in the service of the king of Spain, connected 
 by the transferer :j of time Vera Cruz with Porto 
 Rico. He assigns to the first port 98"* 39' 45'''. 
 M. Ferrer deduced in 1791 and 'i791 the longitude 
 of Vera Cruz from sixty series of distances from the 
 moon to the sun and stars : he obtained as a middle 
 term, 98° 1 8^ 1 C/\ But it would be exceedingly in- 
 teresting to publish a detail of these observations, 
 that they might be recalculated according to the 
 tables of Biirg. The same observation applies to 
 the results published in Vancouver's voyage. 
 
 The city of Vera Cruz has shared the same fate 
 with Mexico and the whole of the new continent. 
 They have been believed 60, nay even 140 leagues 
 farther distant from Europe than they are in reality. 
 Jean Covens placed Vera Cruz at 104° 45^0''''; 
 Alzate, in his map of New Spain, at 101° 50'. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxiil 
 
 the city> 
 house of 
 0'' to the 
 
 vhat was 
 by other 
 )nly five 
 Indicated 
 lished in 
 Madrid. 
 noxvledge 
 21' W^. 
 ef d'Es- 
 Dnnected 
 th Porto 
 
 opgitude 
 from the 
 a middle 
 ingiy in- 
 
 vations, 
 n* to the 
 
 plies to 
 
 ime fate 
 ntinent. 
 leagues 
 reality. 
 45' 0'' ; 
 )\° 20', 
 
 M. Ponne* justly complains of the want of agree- 
 ment amiDng the astronomical observations at 
 Vera Cruz. After a long discussion he fixes on 
 99° 37'. This is nearly the same longitude which 
 d'Anville and the French Neptune adopted, and it 
 is that to which the English astronoaiers have long 
 given the preference. The tables of Hamilton 
 Moore indicate 99° 49' 47"; but Arrowsmith 
 (map of the Spanish possessions, 1 803) makes it 
 98° 40', and nine years before, Mr. Thomas Jef- 
 freys, geographer to the king of England, 100° 
 23' 47". 
 
 If formerly the prevailing error was the assign- 
 ing too great western longitudes to the American 
 ports, the Abbe Chappe fell into tlie contrary 
 extreme : he deduced from his chronometer the 
 longitude of 97" 18' l5"t. If this observer, who 
 possessed more zeal than accuracy, could have 
 taken the distances from the moon to the sun, he 
 would have perceived the error of more than a 
 degree, into which he had been induced by an ex- 
 cess of confidence 'in his chronometer. 
 
 The oldest astronomical observation at Vera 
 Cruz (at the chateau St. Juan de Ulua) is un- 
 doubtedly that of the moon's eclipse in 1577. 
 Comparing the end of that eclipse with a cor- 
 responding observation at Madrid, M. Oltmanns 
 
 * Atlas pour I'ouvrage de TAbbfi Raynal, p. 11 . 
 f Voyage en Californie, p. 102. 
 VOL. I. D 
 
«>u 
 
 XXXlV GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 found a difFerence of meridiatis of 6** 26', and 
 consequently the longitude for Vera Cruz of 
 102^ 30' •. 
 
 The Abbe Chappe found the latitude 19" 9' 38"t, 
 a position too southern by three minutes. I 
 examined the small quadrant of Chappe which 
 remains at Mexico, in the hands of Father Pi- 
 chardo ; and I am by no means astonished, that, 
 with so imperfect an instrument, his observations 
 were so inaccurate. Other geographers formerly 
 placed Vera Cruz 20' too far to the south. The 
 map of New Spain of Alzate indicates even a la- 
 titude of 18" 50' 0". 
 
 '"■Kl 
 
 r !' 
 
 
 r • 
 
 Mi! ' f 
 
 "i)h:\ 
 
 ■'M:l' 
 
 ACAPULCO. 
 
 This port, the finest of all those on the coast of 
 the great ocean, lies according to my obs*^rvations 
 (at the house of the contador Don Baltasar Alvarez 
 Ordono) in 16° 50' 29" of latitude, and 6" 48' 24" 
 = 102° & 0" of longitude. This position was de- 
 duced by M. Oltmanns from twenty-eight dis- 
 tances taken by me from the moon to the sun. 
 Those of the 27th March, 1803, calculated ac- 
 ' cording to the tables of Biirg, gave 6 48'32"j 
 and those of the 28th March 6^ 48' 21". 
 
 The diflference of meridians between Mexico and 
 
 * Memoires de 1' Academic pour t'ann^e 1726. 
 X Voyage en Californie, p. 103. 
 
 't I 
 
 rHJiiiit, 
 
GEOGRAPttlCAL INTRODUCTION. SXXV 
 
 Acapulco is, according to my chronometer, 2' 54" 
 of time. Now Mexico, having been found by the 
 medium of my lunar distances G'' 45' 42" of longi- 
 tude, there would result for Acapulco, excluding 
 every other species of observation, 6'' 48' 48^'. 
 An uncertainty of 1 9" of time is very trifling for 
 the comparison of two longitudes, deduced from 
 simple distances from the moon to the sun. I 
 found Acapulco in 1803, by the lunar tables of 
 Mason, 10!^° 8' 9''. 
 
 This position differs very little from v^'hat is in- 
 dicated by the aclas which accompanies the voyage 
 of the Spanish navigators to the Straits of Fuca, 
 and which is 102" 0' JO" of longitude, and 16° 50' 
 0" of latitude. This atlas is founded on the ope- 
 rations of the expedition of Malaspina. However 
 M. Antillon, in an excellent memoir above cited, 
 gives a result, deduced from t' same operations, 
 which differs more than a ttiird of a degree. He 
 asserts, that the observations in 1 79 ' , by the as- 
 tronomers who embarked in the corvettes la Des- 
 cuberta and la Atrevida^ fixed Acapulco at lO^* 
 210' of longitude ; a result which appears to me 
 less exact, though more conformable to the ma- 
 nuscripts Jeft by these navigators in Mexico. They 
 themselves deduced, from eight series of lunar dis- 
 tances, 102° 26'; from an immersion of the first 
 satellite, 102° 20' 40"; and from the tranference 
 of time* from Guajaquil, 102° 22' 0"; an ad- 
 
 * Thig chronometrical longitude of 102® 22' is also found 
 
 j> 2 
 
?f'^ 
 
 '!„^'''1I 
 
 XXXVl GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I, > ; 
 
 mirable, but perhaps merely apparent, harmony, 
 on account of the errors of the old lunar tables. 
 Besides, the longitude, deduced in 1794 from the 
 operations on board the brigantine Activo, was 
 equally western. This expedition examined the 
 coasts of Sonzonate and Soconusco, and fi: cd the 
 longitude of Acapulco at 102° 2!5' 30" j though I 
 am completely ignorant of the nature of the ob- 
 servations on which this longitude is founded. 
 
 A note in the hand-writing of one of the astro- 
 nomers of the expedition of Malaspina, left at 
 Mexico, bears, that tliey thought themselves war- 
 ranted to deduce, from some eclipses of satellites 
 observed, at the same time, at the capital and Aca- 
 pulco, a difference of meridians of 2' 21" in time. 
 In placing, with the new maps of the Deposito 
 Hydrograjico^ Acapulco at I0'i° 0', we should find 
 Mexico lOr 24' 45', which is, to within about 
 700 toises, the longitude given by the medium 
 of all my operations. I should doubt, however, of 
 the accuracy with which the distance from the capital 
 to Acapulco was deduced. It is probably greater 
 than 2' 21", though perhaps also somewhat less 
 
 
 <iii.i 
 
 v'fc'ili 
 
 in the minute plan of the port of Acapulco, drawn up by the 
 expedition of Malaspina, and copied at the audience of the 
 pilotage of Lima. It appears, in fact, thai the astronomers of 
 this expedition had a^ first adopted much more western posi- 
 tions than those afterwards adopted by the Deposito Hydro- 
 grafico of Madrid. The difference for Acapulco is 20', for 
 Guayaquil 16', for Panama and Realexo i8', en arc. 
 
 ■1 . : 
 
 m 
 
'■ISf, 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxxvii 
 
 armony, 
 * tables, 
 rom the 
 vo, was 
 ned the 
 i: cd the 
 hough I 
 the ob- 
 led. 
 
 he astro- 
 , left at 
 Ives war- 
 satellites 
 md Aca- 
 in time. 
 Deposito 
 )uld find 
 in about 
 medium 
 vever, of 
 e capital 
 greater 
 /hat less 
 
 up by the 
 ice of the 
 nomers of 
 tern posi- 
 o Hydro- 
 s 20', for 
 
 than the 2' 54" given by my chronometer, worn out 
 with five years travelling, and passing rapidly in 
 so mountainous a region from the extreme heatg 
 of the coast, to the frosts of Guchilaque; that is to 
 say, from a temperature of 36° to another of 5° of 
 the centigrade thermometer. 
 
 Formerly Acapulco was placed four degrees 
 further to the west in the South sea. Jean Covens 
 and Corneille Mortier, in their map of the Mexican 
 archipelago, make the longitude of Acapulco 106" 
 10' 0". The old mans of tl.e depot of th: marine 
 make it 104° 0'. This longitude became gradually 
 more eastern. Bonne, in the geographical me- 
 moir annexed to the work of Raynal, gives 103" 
 0': Arrowsmith in 180J makes it 102' 44'. 
 
 The Ktiozvler/ge of the Times (Connoissance des 
 Temps) for the* year 1808, fixes Acapulco very 
 well in point of longitude (102° 19' .'iO"), but as- 
 signs it a latitude too southern by 10'. This 
 error is so much the more striking, as, before the 
 expedition of Malaspina, this port was placed at 
 17° 20', or 17° 30', as is proved by the maps of 
 d'Anville and those of the marine depot. How- 
 ever, Covens makes the latitude 1 6° 7'» while in 
 1540 the pilot Domingo de Castillo gives it at 
 17° 25'. In the time of Herman Cortez, the 
 capital of Mexico was believed to be three degrees 
 to the west of Acapulco, almost north to south 
 with the port de los Angeles. Probably the maps 
 which the Mexicans themselves had constructed of 
 
m 
 
 if'N' 
 
 xxxviii GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION- 
 
 thdr coasts, and which the emperor Montezuma 
 presented to the Spaniards, had an influence on this 
 position. I have myself remarked among the hie- 
 roglyphic manuscripts in the collection of Boturini, 
 preserved in the palace of the viceroy of Mexico, a 
 very curious plan of the environs of the capital. I 
 should add, that long before the observations of 
 the expedition of Malaspina at Acapulco, those 
 who were employed in astronomy at Mexico 
 admitted, as certain, that the capital and port were 
 in the same meridian, 
 
 JOURNEY FROM MEXICO TO ACA- 
 PULCO. 
 
 'St 
 
 m 
 
 n !'i:' II; 
 
 mfm 
 
 .'!:iii' ill. 
 
 Having fixed the position of the three principal 
 places of the kingdom, let us examine the two 
 roads which lead from the capital to the South sea, 
 and to 1 he Atlantic ocean. The first may be named 
 the Asiatic road, and the other the European ^ as 
 these denominations designate the direction of 
 the maritime commerce of New Spain. I de- 
 termined, on these highly frequented roads, seven- 
 teen points either in latitude or longitude. 
 
 Village of Mescala.^^l found its latitude, by the 
 culuiination of Antares, 17° 56' 4", and the longi- 
 tude, by the chronometer, G^ 47' 16", supposing 
 Acapulco 6^ 48' 24'. The city of Chilpanzingo, 
 from angles taken at Mescala, appears to be 17° 
 3& of latitude, and &" 46' 53" of longitude. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 
 
 ntezuma 
 :e on this 
 T the hie- 
 Boturini, 
 Mexico, a 
 apital. I 
 ations of 
 CO, those 
 Mexico 
 port were 
 
 ACA- 
 
 principal 
 the two 
 >outh sea, 
 be named 
 Dpean ^ as 
 ection of 
 Ide- 
 ds, seven- 
 
 de, by the 
 the longi- 
 mpposing 
 janzingo, 
 to be 17° 
 de. 
 
 Venta de Estola^ a solitary house in the midst 
 of a wood near a fine spring. I took several alti- 
 tudes of the sun there : the chronometer gave Q^ 
 46' 56" of longitude. 
 
 The village of Tepecuacuilco. — Latitude found 
 by the method of Douwes, uncertain to the extent 
 of nearly 3', 1 8' 20° O". 
 
 Village of re/»«7o/e/;ec.— Longitude, &" 47' 12". 
 Double altitudes of the sun gave me 1 8°35'0" ; but 
 this latitude, determined under unfavourable cir- 
 cumstances, is uncertain from six to seven minutes. 
 The position of this place is interesting, qn account 
 of the proximity of the great mines of Tasco. 
 
 Pont d'lstla, in the great plains of S, Gabriel, 
 r found it 18- 37' 4 1" of latitude, and &" 46' 19" of 
 longitude, . 
 
 Village of San Angus tin de las Cuesas. — Lon- 
 gitude, 6" 45' 46". Latitude, 19° 18' 37". This 
 village terminates on the west the great valley of 
 Mexico. 
 
 It will be useful, for a minute acquaintance with 
 the country, to add the distances which the 
 natives, particularly the muleteers, who travel as 
 it were in caravans to the great fair of Acapulco, 
 reckon from one village to another. The true 
 distance from the capital to the port being known, 
 and supposing a third more for windings in a road 
 both strait and of easy access, we shall find the 
 value of the leagues in use in these countries. This 
 datum is interesting for geographers, who in re- 
 

 Wii 
 
 wi 
 
 f^ 
 
 % 
 
 >m 
 
 «M 
 
 m 
 
 ■■'m 
 
 w.|i| 
 
 x\ 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION, 
 
 mote regions must avail themselves of simple 
 itineraries. It is evident that the people shorten 
 the leagues as the road becomes more difficult. 
 However, under equal circumstances we may have 
 some confidence in the judgments formed by the 
 muleteers of comparative distances ; they may not 
 know whether their beasts of burden go two or 
 three thousand metres* in the space of an hour, but 
 they learn from long habit if one distance be the 
 third or fourth or the double of another. 
 
 The Mexican muleteers estimate the road from 
 Acapulco to Mexico at 11 leagues. They reckon 
 from Acapulco to the Passo d'Aguacatillo, four 
 leagues ; el Limon, three leagues ; los dos Aroyos, 
 five ; Alto de Camaron, four j la Guarita de los dos 
 Caminos, three j la Moxonera,, one-half; Quaxi- 
 niquilapa, two and a half ', Acaguisotla, four ; 
 Masatlan, four ; Chilpansingo, four ; Sampan go^ 
 three ; Sapilote, four ; Venta Vieja, four ; Mescala^ 
 four; Estola, five; Palula, one and a half; la 
 tranca del Conexo, one and a half; Cuagolotal, 
 one ; Tuspa, or Pueblo nuevo, four ; los Amates, 
 three ; Tepetlalapa, five ; Puente de Istla, four 5 
 Alpuyeco, six ; Xuchitepeque, two ; Cuernavaca, 
 two; S. Maria, ihree fourths ; Guch'ilaqKe, two 
 and a half; Sacapisca, two; la Cruz del Mar- 
 ques, tuo; el.Guarda, two; Axusco, two; San 
 Augustin de las CuevaSy three ; Me.vico, four. In 
 
 I'^t 
 
 u-m 
 
 6561 or 9842 feet English. Trans. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xli 
 
 this itinerary the numbers indicate how many 
 leagues one place is distant from the one which 
 immediately precedes it. Other itineraries, which 
 are distributed to travellers who come by the 
 South sea, e.^timate the total distance at 104 or 
 106 leagues. >^' o\v, according to my observations 
 it is in a straight line 151,766 toises. Adding a 
 quarter for windings, we shall have 189,708 toises, 
 or 1725 toises* for the league of the country. 
 
 JOURNEY FROM MEXICO TO VERA 
 
 CRUZ. 
 
 I determined on this road thirteen points, either 
 by purely astronomical meansjor bygeodesical ope- 
 rations, particularly by azimuths and angles of 
 altitudes. M. Oltmanns deduced from my obser- 
 vations the position of the Venta de Chalco, on 
 the eastern bank of the great valley of Tenoch- 
 titlan, i9M6' %" -, that of la Puebla de los Angeles 
 (near the cathedral) 19° 0' 1 >'' of latitude, and 6" 
 41' al'^zzlOO" 22' 45' of longitude ; of the Venta 
 de Sotto, 1 9'' 26' 30'^ ; of the village of Perote, 
 near the fortress of the same name, 19" 33' 37'' of 
 latitude, and 6** 38' 15'' of longitude; of the vil- 
 lage de las Vigas, 19° 37' 10^''; and finally, the 
 position of the city of Xalapa, 19« 30' 8" of lati- 
 tude, and 6" 37' ()"=99° 15' 0" of longitude. Don 
 Jose Joacquin Ferrer, who, long before me, deter- 
 
 * 11040 feet. Trans. 
 
^i|:/i4 
 
 xIH 
 
 GEOGR A PI lie AL INTUODUCTION. 
 
 to, 
 
 ■I i« 
 
 .' ■• .)\ 
 
 \ 1 
 
 mined several points in the environs of Vera Cruz 
 and Xalappa, found for the last city 19° 31' lO" of 
 latitude, and 99° 15' 3'' of longitude. Both of us 
 observed near the convent of St. Francis. In this 
 fertile and cultivated region, four mountains, three 
 of which are perpetually covered with snow, de- 
 serve the greatest attention. A knowledge of their 
 exact position serves to connect several interesting 
 points. The two volcanoes distinguished by the 
 names of Puebla or Mexico (Popocatepetl and 
 Iztaccihuatl) have been connected with the capital 
 and the pyramid of Cholula. I found the latitude 
 of Popocatepetl 18' 59' 47, and 6" 43' 33"z:100» 
 fj3' 15" of longitude; the latitude of Sierra Ne- 
 vada, or Iztaccihuatl, 19° 10' 0", and 6''43'40"z= 
 1()()° 55' 0" of longitude. M. Costanzo deduced 
 from a series of geodesical operations, 19° 1 T 43' 
 for the latitude of Iztaccihuatl, and 19° 1' 54" for 
 that of Popocatepetl. The operations of this en- 
 gineer having been made by means of a compass, 
 and the magnetic declension depending on a great 
 number of small local causes, we ought to be as- 
 tonished at the accuracy of the results which have 
 been obtained. These two colossal mountains, 
 as well as the Pic d'Orizaba, being visible from 
 the level of the pyramid of Cholula, I endeavoured 
 very carefully to determine the position of this an- 
 cient monument. I found the latitude of the cha- 
 pel which crowns the extremity of the pyramid, 
 19° 2' 6', and 6"^ 42' 14"=100° 33' 30'' of longi- 
 tude. 
 
 I ' » 
 
'!«fc 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xIHi 
 
 a Cruz 
 
 10" of 
 h of us 
 In this 
 s, three 
 »w, de- 
 of their 
 Testing 
 by the 
 stl and 
 capital 
 latitude 
 zzlOO* 
 ra Ne- 
 ' 40 "=: 
 educed 
 1 V 43' 
 54" for 
 his en- 
 mpasSy 
 a great 
 be as- 
 h have 
 [Htains, 
 from 
 voured 
 his an- 
 le cha- 
 ramidy 
 longi- 
 
 M. Ferrer deduced the position of the Cofre de 
 Perote from thegeodesica' operations between TEn- 
 cero and Xalappa, and found 19° 29' 14". I was 
 able, in spite of the rigour of the season, to carry 
 instruments on the seventh of February, 1804, to 
 the top of this mountain, which is .384 metres* 
 higher than the Peak of Teneriffe. I observed 
 there the meridian altitude of the sun, which gave 
 for I'Alto (le los Caxones (43" en arc farther north 
 than the summit or Pena del Cofre) 19 ^9 40" of 
 latitude. The longitude was found by M. Olt- 
 manns, who employed the angles taken by me 
 between the Cofre and the Pic d'Orizava, 6'' 37' 
 55", which differs but 'it)" in time from that fixed 
 by M. Ferrer. 
 
 The exact knowledge of the position of the 
 Pic d'Orizaba is of great importance for naviga- 
 tors on landing at Vera Cruz. The chart of the 
 gulf of Mexico, published in 1799 by the De- 
 posito Hydrografico at Madrid, places this moun- 
 tain a degree too far to the east, at 100° 29' 45" of 
 I Jgitude. Angks of altitudes and azimuth^' 
 taken by ?ne, gave M. Oltmanns 19° 5^' ^1" ofla' 
 titude, afid 99° 35' l5"=6^ 38' lV of longitude. 
 But long before me the Spanish mariners knew 
 the true position of the Pic d'Orizaba. It would 
 appear that the error of the map of the Seno Mexi- 
 cano, which passed into the French mapf , should 
 
 * 1260 feet. Trans. 
 
 t Carte des c6tes du golfe du Mexique, d'apfes les obscfva- 
 tions des Espagnols, An. 9. 
 
xliv 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 )^ 
 
 i ml 
 
 be attributed to some accidental mistake on the 
 part of the engraver. It is corrected in the edition 
 of M. Bausa in 1803. The name of ilie capital 
 of Mexico is effaced in it, and the Pic d*Orizaba 
 is placed at 99* 47' SC' of longitude. M. Ferrer 
 fixes the mountain, as is proved by manuscripts in 
 my possession, drawn up in 1793, at 19° ^2' \'' of 
 latitude, and 99® 35' 35'' of longitude. The same 
 result was also obtained by M. Isasvirivil, whose 
 great accuracy I had occasion to know, having 
 observed along with him at Lima and Callao in 
 1802. 
 
 It appears astonishing that the most recent map 
 which we possess of that part of N^sw Spain which 
 we are analysing, and which bears the name of a 
 justly esteemed author, should be the falsest of all. 
 I speak of the large English map, which has for 
 title. Chart of the West Indies and Spanish Do' 
 rninions in North America^ hy Jrroccsmith, pub- 
 lished in June 1 803. From Mexico to Vera Cruz 
 the names appear to be scattered at ra:ndom. The 
 position of the Pic d'Orizaba is indicated in it in 
 a manner which niiglit prove dangerous to na- 
 vigators. The following table gives the position 
 of the principal points, such as this map, very 
 beautiful in other respects, indicates them. I have 
 added the result of my astronomical observations. 
 The longitudes are reckoned to the east of 
 Vera Cruz, to avoid introducing into this com- 
 parison the absolute position of this port. 
 
 "ii: 
 
 r-iijiiii. 
 
GKOGUAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlv 
 
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 xlvi 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION- 
 
 The errors of latitude are consequently of more 
 than half^ a degree. It is difficult to conceive 
 what is meant to be designed in the map of Ar- 
 rowsmith by the three mountains named Orizaba, 
 False Orizaba, and Volcano of Tlascala. They 
 are all indicated to the north-xcest ot the port of 
 Vera Cruz, while the true Pic d'Orizaba (jmd 
 the Mexicans know but one^ called lu the Az- 
 teque language Citlaltepetl) lies to the south-west 
 of Vera Cruz, between the city of Cordoba and 
 the villages of San Andres, San Antonio, Hua- 
 tusco, and St. Jean Coscomatepec. There is added 
 to the False Orizaba the note " visible to the eye at 
 45 leagues di>5tance/* No . Citlakepetl is the sum- 
 mit which navigators first see in approaching the 
 coast of New Spain ; consequently it might be 
 inferred that the learned English geographer named 
 it False Orizaba, But in this case, the latitude of 
 this problematical mountain would be a degree 
 false, and Orizaba would be seven marine leagues 
 to the north of the city of Xalappa, while in reality 
 it is only twelve to the south-south-west. Or 
 should the Pic d'Orizaba of Arrowsmith be the 
 Colore de Perotte ? But the Coffre lies also to the 
 south-east, and not to the south-west of the village 
 of Perotte. This fable of two mountains of the 
 name of Orizaba is to be found a- so in the atlas 
 of Thomas JefFereys [The IFest^hidian atlas, Lon- 
 don, 1794), where an attempt is made to convey 
 minute information as to the road from Vera Cruz 
 to Mexico. Tiie latitudes are there 36' false. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xlvll 
 
 f more 
 
 )nceive 
 
 of Ar- 
 
 rizaba. 
 
 They 
 
 port of 
 
 a i^nd 
 
 lie Az- 
 
 th-west 
 
 ba and 
 
 Hiia- 
 
 s added 
 
 3 eye at 
 
 le sum- 
 
 ing the 
 
 ght be 
 
 named 
 
 tude of 
 
 degree 
 
 eagues 
 
 reality 
 
 Or 
 
 be the 
 
 to the 
 
 village 
 
 of the 
 
 e atlas 
 
 , Lon- 
 
 :onvey 
 
 a Cruz 
 
 false. 
 
 The difference of longitude between the port and 
 the capital is marked ^2 29' instead of 3° 38' as 
 in the map of Arrowsmith, and instead of 2° 56 
 so" the result of my astronomical observations. It 
 is also very improbable that the Volcano of Tlascala 
 indicated in this new English map, is the Sierra de 
 Tlascala, called in the country Malinche ; for this 
 Sierra is neither very remarkable for its elevation, 
 nor very distant from la Puebla. This confusion 
 is so much the more astonishing, as in 1803 the 
 excellent observations of Don Jose Joacquin Fer- 
 rer, published in 1798, were known in London*, 
 as well as the maps drawn up by the Deposito 
 Hydrograjko of Madrid ; though even M. An- 
 tillon places it in 1802, in his map of North 
 America, la Puebla 32' too much to the south. 
 
 *Ephemeridesgeographiques de M. de Zach, 1798,T. II. p. 
 393. It is from this map that I cite the results obtained by 
 M. Ferrer. They sometimes differ from those indicated in 
 the manuscripts, which that excellent aiid indefatigable ob- 
 server had, probably from less careful calculations, drawn up 
 upon the spot, of which I am in possession of copies. I am 
 bound to make this observation for the sake of those, who, 
 having procured copies of my works, may be astonished at 
 finding numbers in them differing from those now published 
 by me. It is only after calculating carefully every observation 
 that we can arrive at exact results. 
 

 ^*. 
 
 «M, 
 
 ■I'l. 
 
 ' Hi 
 
 '^ ■ lift) 
 
 hi '( 
 
 ml 
 
 Xlviii GEOGRAPHICAL INTllODUCTION. 
 
 POINTS SITUATED BETWEEN MEXICO, 
 GUANAXUATO, AND VALLADOLID. 
 
 In two excursions which I made, the one to 
 the mines of Moran and to the porphyretical sum- 
 mits(organos)of x'lctopanjthe other to Guanaxuato 
 and to the volcano of Jorullo in the kingdom of 
 Mechoachan, I determined the position of ten 
 points^ whose longitudes are almost all founded on 
 the transference of time. These points have en- 
 abled me to give with some accuracy a great part 
 of the three intendancies of Mexico, Guanaxuato, 
 and Valladolid. The longitude of the city of 
 Guanaxuato was verified by distances from the 
 moon to the sun. Its latitude, deduced from the 
 observation of a de la Grue, is !2 1" 0' of\ Foma- 
 chantgaveme 21° 0' 28^ and /3 de la Grue, ^IV 
 0' 8''. The Jesuits in their map, engraved at la 
 Puebla in 1755, placed Guanaxuato at 22° 50' of 
 latitude, and 1 12° SO' of longitude, an error of 9* ! 
 M. Velasquez, who observed the satellites of Ju- 
 piter at Guanaxuato, found this city I'' 48' to the 
 east of Mexico, but at i^0° 45' O'' of latitude, as is 
 proved by his manuscript map of New Spain. This 
 error of latitude is so much the more extraordinary, 
 as the difference in longitude which it indicates is 
 to within an arc of I'', the same with what results 
 from my observations. 
 
 .''I?"<||,|i4i 
 
UEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xWx 
 
 XICO, 
 OLID* 
 
 one to 
 al sum- 
 naxuato 
 jdom of 
 of ten 
 nded on 
 ave en- 
 eat part 
 laxuato, 
 city of 
 om the 
 rom the 
 Foma- 
 ue, 52 r 
 d at la 
 o 50' of 
 r of 9' ! 
 of Ju- 
 ]' to the 
 de, as is 
 1. This 
 dinary, 
 cates is 
 results 
 
 m 
 
 Latitude of Tolfica by ^de la Grue hf 16' U\ 
 by Fomahant, |t/ 16' 3^\ I endeavoured as much 
 as possible constantly to observe the same stars to 
 diminish any error from the uncertamty of the de- 
 clination. 
 
 The position of Nevado de Toluca, the latitude of 
 Patequero, a city situated on the banks of the lake 
 of the same name, of Salamanca, St. Juan del Rio, 
 and Tisayuca, are founded on imperfect observa- 
 tions. There are circumstances in which the me- 
 thod of Douwes gives very inaccurate results ; but 
 in a country presenting so few fixed points we must 
 often be contented with a simple approximation. 
 I think I can venture to assert, that the longitudes 
 of Queretaro, Salamanca, and San Juan del Rio, 
 may be confidently relied on. ■- 
 
 Even in the valley of Mexico there are several 
 very important points, the position of which was 
 determined by Velasquez, the celebrated Mexican 
 geometrician of the eighteenth century. This in- 
 defatigable man executed in 177.'5 an extensive 
 survey along with a trigonometrical operation, to 
 prove that the waters of the lake of Tezcuco might 
 be conducted to the canal of lluehuetoca. M. 
 Oteiza was kind enough to calculate for me the 
 triangles of Velasquez, of which I possess the 
 manuscripts. M. Oltmanns went over the same 
 calculations. He subjected thp positions of the 
 signals to the latitude and longitude which we have 
 here adopted for the convent of St. Augustin in 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 

 Ill"')l 
 
 m> 
 
 \'h\\' 
 
 1 1 li; 
 
 ^i; 1.: 
 
 il ill I 
 
 il 
 
 II 
 
 I 
 
 Jill ill ' •' 
 PHliir^ 
 
 1 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the capital of Mexico. These results of M Olt- 
 manns are contained in the table of geographical 
 positions. No doubt can remain ; s to the oblique 
 distances; but the want of observations of azi- 
 muths gives a little uncertainty to the reduction of 
 the perpendiculars or differences in latitude and 
 longitude. We shall return to this subject in the 
 analysis of the map of the environs of Mexico. 
 
 The seventeen positions fixed by M. Ferrer in the 
 environs of Vera Cruz depend on the longitude of 
 that port. That longitude having been supposed 
 by me 10° 45' farther west than the vSpanish as- 
 tronomer indicates, I have reduced to the meridian 
 of Paris the longitudes published by M. Ferrer, 
 adding 8" AT 15'''' ; for that observer calculated the 
 lunar distances, from the Knowledge of Times, at 
 an epoqua when Cadiz was believed to lie 8° 36' 
 SO'''' to the vj'est of Paris. I have for the same rea- 
 son changed the absolute longitudes of Xalappa, 
 the Cofre de Perotte, and the Pic d Orizaba. M. 
 Ferrer, for instance, places the latter at 90" 48' 23" 
 of west longitude from Cadiz, while from the same 
 meridian he fixes Vera Cruz at 89° 41' 45''. 
 
 OLD AND NEW CALIFORNIA. 
 
 PROVINCIAS 1 TERN AS. 
 
 The north-west part of New Spain, the coast 
 of California, and of what the English call New 
 Albion, contain many points determined by the 
 
M Olt- 
 rraphical 
 ; oblique 
 i of azi- 
 uction of 
 tude and 
 ct in the 
 exico. 
 rrerinthe 
 igitude of 
 supposed 
 panish as- 
 I meridian 
 II, Ferrer, 
 pulatedthe 
 Times, at 
 lie 8" 36' 
 
 same rea- 
 
 Xalappa, 
 jaba. M. 
 )0^ 48' 2S" 
 
 the same 
 
 i5". 
 
 lA. 
 
 the coast 
 
 call New 
 
 kd by the 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 li 
 
 
 most exact geodesical and astronomical operations 
 ofQuadra,Galeano,and Vancouver. Few European 
 charts are better established than those of Western 
 America, from Cape Mendocino to Queen Char- 
 lotte's Straits. 
 
 Cortez, after setting on foot two voyages of 
 discovery in 1532, under Diego Hurtado de Men- 
 doza, Diego Becerra, and Hernando de Griscalva, 
 examined himself in 1533 the coast of California, 
 and the gulf which has since very justly borne the 
 name of the sea of Cortez*. In 1542 the in- 
 trepid Juan Rodriguez Cobrillo pushed as far north 
 as 44" of latitude; the Sandwich Islands were 
 discovered by Juan Gaetan ; and in 1582 Fran- 
 cisco Gali discovered the north-west coast of 
 America under 57° 30' of latitude ; so that long be- 
 fore the intrepid Cook made this part of the great 
 ocean to be known, which cost him his life, the 
 same regions had been visited by Spanish naviga- 
 tors. But very often the rapid promulgation of 
 discoveries does not depend upon him who makes 
 them. Yet the merit of a private citizen is inde- 
 pendent of the false policy of a government, which 
 from an ignorance of its own interest would pre- 
 vent a nation from enjoying the glory vs'hich it 
 has earned. But this subject, equilly delicate and 
 interesting, has been treated witli great discern- 
 ment, in the historical introduction to the voyage 
 
 ^Gomara /f»^ cap. 12. 
 E 2 
 
Hi 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ] H 
 
 liU. 
 
 
 K^' 
 
 'y^' 
 
 of Marchand, and in the introduction to the ac- 
 count of the Spanish expeditions undertaken for 
 the discovery of the Straits of Fuca. 
 
 The observation of the transit of Venus in 17^9, 
 occasioned the voyage of MM. Chappe, Doz, and 
 Velasquez, three astronomers, of whom the first 
 was a Frenchman, the second a Spaniard, and the 
 third a \' ;xican, and, what is more, the pupil of a 
 very intelligent Indian of the village of Xaltocan. 
 Before, however, the arrival of these astronomers 
 in California, the true latitudes of Cape San Lucas 
 and the mission of St. Rose had already been found 
 by Don Miguel Costanzo, at presenj: general of 
 brigade and head of the corps of engineers. This 
 respccLable officer, vvho displays the greatest zeal 
 for the geography of the country, found by gno- 
 mons and English octants of a very perfect con- 
 struction, San Jose to be 23° '2' 0" ; and Cape San 
 Lucas, '>2° 48' 10". Till then it was believed, as 
 is proved by the chart of Alzate, that San Jose lay 
 in 2'2° 0' of latitude. 
 
 The detail of the observations of the Abbe 
 Chappe does not inspire much confidence. Pro- 
 vided with a large quadrant of three feet radius, 
 Chappe found the latitude of San Jose by Arcturus 
 23" 4' 1"5 by Antares, 23° 3' F/. The medium 
 of all the stellar observations differs from the result 
 of the passages of the sun through the meridian 
 by 31". There are some of the solar observations 
 which differ from one another l'*19''. M. Cas- 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 llii 
 
 the ac- 
 ken for 
 
 n 1769, 
 3z, and 
 the first 
 and the 
 jpil of a 
 ahocan. 
 Dnomers 
 n Lucas 
 ;n found 
 neral of 
 i. This 
 test zeal 
 by gno- 
 ect con- 
 'ape San 
 ieved, as 
 Jose lay 
 
 le Abbe 
 e. Pro- 
 radius, 
 A.rcturus 
 medium 
 le result 
 neridian 
 ervations 
 M. Cas- 
 
 
 sini, however, calls them " very exact and very 
 accordant*". 1 cite these examples, not for the 
 sake of discrediting astronomers who have so many 
 titles to our esteem, but to prove that a sextant of 
 five inches radius would have been more useful to 
 the Abbe Chappe than his quadrant of three feet 
 radius, difficult both to place and to verify. Don 
 Vicente Doz placed San Jose at 23V5' 15" latitude. 
 The longitude of this celebrated village in the an- 
 nals of astronomy was deduced from the transit 
 of Venus, and from the eclipses of Jupiter's satel- 
 h'tes, observed by Chappe, and compared with the 
 tables of Wargentin. M. Cassini fixed it by a 
 medium at 7*> 28' 10", or 11'/ 2' 30". Father 
 Hell adopted 7*" 37' 57" for San Jose. The longi- 
 tude which results from Chappe*s observations is 
 3'> 1 2' farther east than the one adopted in 1 768 in 
 the map of Alzatef. I\I. Velasquez too, the Mexi- 
 can astronomer, constructed a small observatory 
 in the village of St. Anne, where he observed by 
 himself the transit of Venus, communicating the 
 result of his observation to M. Chappe and Don 
 Vicente Doz. 1 his result, published by M. de 
 Cassini, agrees very well with the manuscript ob- 
 servations which I procured at Mexico, and might 
 
 * Voyage en Californie, p. 106. 
 
 f Nouvelle Carte de rAmtrique Septentrionale, dedite a 
 I'Aeadcmie Koyale des Sciences de Paris par Don Joseph An- 
 toine de Alzate et Ilamiret^ 1/08. 
 
1 1 
 
 •^-w^ 
 
 Uv 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Liiii'ii 
 
 serve to determine the longitude of St. Anne. 
 Moreover, M. Velasquez, before the arrival of the 
 Abb6 Chappe, knew the enormous error in the 
 longitude of California ; he had observed eclipses 
 of Jupiter's satellites in 1768 at the mission of 
 Santa Rosa*; and he communicated to the Euro 
 pean astronomers^ the true longitude before they 
 had time to make the slightest observations. 
 
 The position of Cape San Lucas, called in Cor- 
 tez's time Santa de San Jagof has been determined 
 by the Spanish navigators. I found in manu- 
 scripts! preserved in the archives of the vice- 
 
 m 
 
 P' 
 
 * Estado de la Geografia de la Nueva Espana y modo de 
 perfeccionar la por Don Jose Antonio de Alzate (Periodico 
 de Mexico, Diciembre 1772, No. 7, p. 55.) 
 
 t Mapa de California por Domingo de Castillo, 1541 . 
 
 % M, Aranza, viceroy of Mexico, employed M. Casasola, 
 lieutenant defregate of the royal marine, to unite in four ma- 
 nuscripts whatever was connected with the navigations per- 
 fr rmed to the north of California, under the viceroys Buca- 
 relli^ Florez> and Revillagigedo. These works consist, 1st, in 
 an atlas of twenty-six maps drawn up from the observations of 
 MM. Perez, Canisarez, Galeano, Anadra, and Malaspina; 2d, 
 in a large folio volume, entitled, Compendia historico de las 
 Navegaciones sobrc las castas septentrionalcs de California or' 
 denado en 1^99 en la ciudad de Mexico; 3d, in the voyage 
 to the north-west coast of America, performed by Don Juan 
 Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, commanding the frigates Sta. 
 Gertrudis, Aranzasa, Princesa, and the goellette Activa, 1792 } 
 and, 4th, in a Ricanociemiento de las quatros Establecimientos 
 Russos al Norte de la California en 17 SS, a curious expedition 
 executed by order of the viceroy Floret, and described by 
 

 A'^^^^^B 
 
 > Anne. 
 
 
 al of the 
 
 
 r in the 
 
 v^^^^^H 
 
 eclipses 
 
 '!,'^^^B 
 
 ssion of 
 
 ''HH^I 
 
 le Euro 
 
 
 3re they 
 
 
 s* 
 
 s- '- 
 
 in Cor- 
 
 A 
 
 ermined 
 
 
 i manu« 
 
 *''^^^^l 
 
 [le vice- 
 
 
 modo de 
 
 w9^l 
 
 Periodico 
 
 '1 
 
 a : * 
 
 41. 
 
 
 Casasolaj 
 
 v/ 
 
 four ma- 
 
 
 ions per- 
 
 
 )ys Buca- 
 
 
 st, Ist^ in 
 
 
 vations of 
 
 ' '\ ' 
 
 pina; 2d, 
 
 
 CO de las 
 
 
 furnia or- 
 
 % 
 
 e voyage 
 
 
 )on Juan 
 
 
 gates Sta. 
 
 ■ 
 
 /a, 1 792} 
 
 
 ximentos 
 
 
 spedition 
 
 
 ;ribed by 
 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Iv 
 
 royalty of Mexico, and compiled by order of the 
 Chevalier d'Aranza, that M. Quadra found Cape 
 St. Lucas 2'i* 5'i' of latitude, and 4° 40' to the west 
 of the port of S. Bias, which, in placing S. Bias 
 with Malaspinain J 07° 41' SO", gives 112' 21' 30" 
 for the most southern cape of California. The 
 expedition of Alalaspina fixed (according to M. 
 Antillon) Cape S. Lucas at i2^ 59' of latitude, and 
 112" 16' 47" of longitude. This chronomeirical 
 position was also adopted in the atlas wliich ac- 
 companies the voyage of the Spaniards to the Straits 
 of 1 uca ; it is, however, 17' 15" more western than 
 that published (on what authority I know not) in 
 the Knmvltdge of Times iox 1808. I have adopted 
 a difiference of meridian between San Jose and the 
 Cape of 14' 17"; but it is to be observed, that 
 these two points having never been connected to- 
 gether, but fixed singly by independent observa- 
 tions, there may be an error in the distance. From 
 what 1 have gathered from those who have visited 
 these arid desert regions, it would appear that the 
 ditierence of longitude is somewhat greater. In 
 the dme of Cortez, Cape S. Lucas was believed to 
 be 22° of latitude, and 10° 50' to the west of the 
 meridian of Acapulco, a relative longitude which 
 is correct to within nearly half a degree. 
 
 Don Antonio Bonilla. Part of these valuable materials has 
 been given to the public in the Relacion del Viage de las Ga^ 
 letas Sutil if Mcxicana, published at Madrid in 1 802. 
 
■ 1 , i 
 
 Ivi 
 
 CxEOCRAPHIC A L 1 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ii'lHli 
 
 The coast of New Cnlifornia has been explored 
 \^th the greatest minuteness by the Spa i h ex* 
 pc idon of the galleys Sulil ad Mc.v'nand 'n 
 179'.*, ad the countyfrom i^O" of latitu('e, or 
 from the mission of S. Domingo, by the expedition 
 of Vancouver. Malaspin i and the unfoi tunate 
 La Pey ouse had also made observations at Mon- 
 terey. Though it may be supposed that the di- 
 rection of the coasts i-.nd the differences of lon- 
 gitudes of several points are perfectly determined, 
 it is difficult to fix their ahsolutc longitudes ; for 
 the observations of lunar distances by Vancouver 
 place the north west coast of America 28' to the 
 cast of the position in longitude assigned to it by 
 Cook and Aialaspina's expedi'" ^n*. It would be 
 very curious to examine the influence of the new 
 lunai tables of Biirg on these obs( rvations of the 
 English navigator. I have given the preference to 
 the absolute longitude of Monterey, deduced from 
 the operations of Malaspina, not only bee ause it 
 is founded on eclipses of stars and satellites, but 
 particularly because the Spanish obs rvations con- 
 nect as it were, by transference of the time, N ew 
 California with the old. The corvettes la Discu- 
 brerta and I'Atrevida, commanded by Don Alex- 
 andro Malaspina, determined chronometrically the 
 difference of longitude between Acapulco, S. Bias, 
 Cape S. Lucas, and Monterey. In adopting the 
 
 * Voyage de Vancouver autour du monde, T. II. p. 46. 
 
 1 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ivii 
 
 
 n 
 
 more eastern position of the latter port, that is to 
 say, what is given by Vancouver, the geographer 
 is uncertain as to tlie situation of the soutliern 
 coast. To avoid this difficulty, 1 have followed 
 JVialaspina in placing Monterey at 36" 35' 45" of 
 latitude, and 1'24'* '23' U' of longitude*. La Pey- 
 rousef found the longitude by lunar distances 
 I'J J" .'J4' 0", by the chronometer 124" 3' 0"J. Van- 
 couver deduced a longitude of ]2^>" 54 30'''' from 
 1200 distances of the moon from the sun. As 
 the latter had leisure to survey the situation of the 
 coast with the most scrupulous accuracy, I have 
 ventured to re y on the difference of longitude iix- 
 dicated by him between Monterey and the mis- 
 sions of S. Diego, S. Juan, S. Buenaventura, S. 
 Barbara, and S. Francisco. In this manner the 
 positions of all these points have been connected 
 with that of Monterey. Had I, however, traced 
 all the north-west coast from the sole observations 
 of Vancouver, 1 should have been tempted to ren- 
 der the longitude of Cape S. Lucas more eastern. 
 It is sufficient to have here indicated the striking 
 difference which yet subsists, notwithstanding the 
 great paius bestowed, between the English and 
 
 * Analysis de la Carta de Antillon, 1803, p. 50. 
 
 t Voyage, T. III. p. 304. 
 
 X M Triesnecker, in correcting the result obtained by La 
 Peyrouse, found by means of the lunar observations of Green- 
 wich the longitude 123° 42' 12" in place of 123° 34' Ql' (Zach 
 Corr. T. 1. p. 173.) 
 
w: 
 
 m 
 
 mH 
 
 I' 
 
 Iviii 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Spanish operations. I have reason to believe that 
 the absolute positions laid down by us for Aca- 
 pulco, S. Bias, and Cape Lucas, are sufficiently 
 correct, and that the error of + 28' en arc exists 
 farther to the north. A false supposition in the 
 diurnal course of a chronometer, and the state of 
 the old lunar tables of Mayer and Mason^ nday 
 have contributed to this error. 
 
 After discussing the positions which are founded 
 on astronomical observations by experienced ob- 
 servers, I pass to those which may be regarded as 
 doubtful, on account of the imperfection of the 
 instruments, the want of confidence which the 
 names of the observers inspire, and of our ignorance 
 wliether the results have not been drawn from 
 manuscripts inaccurately copied. What follows^ 
 is the substance of what I have been able to collect 
 from these astronomical observations : they must 
 be employed with caution ; but they are valuai)le 
 for the geography of a region hiclierto so little 
 known. 
 
 The Jesuits are entitled to the praise of bavmg 
 been the first who examined the gulf of California 
 or the sea of Cortez. Father Kin, formerly pro- 
 fessor of mathematics at liigolstadt, and the 
 declared enemy of the Mexican geometrician 
 Siguenza, against whom he composed several writ- 
 ings, arrived in 1701 at the junction of the great 
 rivers Gila and Colorado. He fixed by an as- 
 tronomical ring the latitude of this junction at 
 
 1. 
 
 ■i: 
 
 i 
 
 A 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 lix 
 
 35* 30'. I see from a manuscript map drawn up 
 in 1541 by Domingo de Castillo, found in the 
 archives of the family of Cortez, that at this 
 epoqua two rivers were already known, which ap- 
 peared to unite under the latitude of J3" 40% and 
 were called Rio deBuena,Guia, and Brazode Mira« 
 flores. Three years before, in 1 538, Father Pedro 
 Nadal found by the meridian altitude of the sun, 
 the junction of the Gila and Colorado, 35'' O'. 
 Fray Marcos de Niza made it 54** 30', It was 
 undoubtedly on these grounds that Delisle adopted 
 34° in his maps : but in a work printed at Mexico*, 
 recent observations are cited, made by means of 
 an astronomical ring by two well instructed fathers 
 of St, Francis, Fray Juan Diaz, and Fray Pedro 
 Font ; observations which agree with one another, 
 and which would seem to prove that the junctions 
 are much more southern than has hitherto been 
 believed. In 1774, Father Diaz obtained at the 
 mouth of the Gila, two days successively, 32* 44 
 Father Font found there, in 177^5, 3i" 47'. The 
 former asserts also, that from a simple consider- 
 ation of the road followed by him, that is to say, 
 a consideration of the rhombs and distances, it is 
 impossible that the junctions can be at 35' of lati- 
 tude. The positions which Father Font assigned 
 in 1777 to the missions of Monterey, S, Diego, 
 and S. Francisco, and which differ but a few mi- 
 
 * Cronka Serafica de Queretaro, p. 11, 17<)2, Prohgo. 
 
 ■ J 
 
■II p' 
 
 S^' 
 
 Ix 
 
 GEOGR 'PHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 nutcs from the result of Vancouver and Malas- 
 pina's observations, would seem to testify in favour 
 of the accurary of his labours, provided these 
 fathers did not copy the data furnished to them by 
 their pilots. Besides it is certain that a zeal- 
 ous observer may, with very imperfect means, 
 procure often very satisfactory results. The lati- 
 tudes obtained by Bouger in the Rio de la Mag- 
 dalena, with a gnomon from seven to eight feet 
 in height, and employing for a scale pieces of 
 reeds, differ only from four to fire minutes from 
 what I found fifty-nine years afterwards by means 
 of excellent English sextants. 
 '■ However, Father Font appears to have been less 
 fortunate with his astronomical ring in fixing the 
 latitude of the mission of S. Gabriel at .'J2° 37', 
 that of S. Antonio de los Robles at 3(5° 2', and 
 that of Luis Obispo at 35" 1 /'. Comparing these 
 positions with the atlas of Vancouver, I find that the 
 errors are sometimes -f- 1* 1 1', sometimes — 23'. 
 It is true the English navigator did not himself 
 visit these three missions, bu* he connected them 
 with the neighbouring coast, the situation of which 
 he examined. I'rom hence may be seen how much 
 we ought to be on our guard against observations 
 made with astronomical rings. Fray Pedro 1 ont 
 visited also the site of the ruins called /i/s Casus 
 frr amies ; and he found them 33" 30', This posi- 
 tion, were it exact, would be very important ; for 
 it is the site of an ancient cultivation of the human 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL mXRODUCTION. 
 
 Species. "We mu:t not, however, confound this 
 second abode of the Azteques from which they 
 passed from Tarahumara to Colhuacan*, with the 
 Casas grandes, or the third abode of the Azteques, 
 situated to the south of the presidio of Yanos, in 
 tlie intendancy of New Biscay. I could wish to 
 know the observations of the Jesuit Father Juan 
 Hugarte, who discovered, according to M. An- 
 tillon, the errors in the mrps of California. Fie is 
 even said to have first discovered that this vast 
 country v^^as a peninsula ; but in the sixteenth cen- 
 tury nobody in Mexico den-ed this fact, which 
 was long afterwards doubted in Europe t» 
 
 I reckon among the operations somewhat doubt- 
 ful, those which were executed by several Spanish 
 engineer officers in the frequent and laborious visits 
 which they made to the small forts situated on 
 the northern frontiers of New Spain. I procured 
 at Mexico the itineraries of brigadier Don Pedro 
 de Rivera, drawn up in 1724; those of Don Ni- 
 cholas Lafora, who accompanied the Marquis dc 
 Rubi in his researches, in 1765, as to a line of de- 
 fence for the provincias internas ; and the manu- 
 
 I 
 
 '.-ill 
 
 * In the original, dt la quelle Us passirent d< la Tarahumara ^ 
 Colhuacan. Translator. 
 
 t In 1539, Francisco deUlloa, in an expedition undertaken 
 at the expense of Cortez, explored the gulf of California to 
 the mouths of the Rio Colorado. The idea of California's be- 
 ing an island has its date only in the seventeenth century. 
 {AntUlon, Anali/sis, p, 4/, No. 55). 
 
Xll 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION- 
 
 script travels of the engineer Don Manual Mas- 
 caro from Mexico to Chihuahua and Arispe *• 
 These respectable travellers assure us, that they 
 made observations of the meridian altitude of the 
 sun. I know not what instruments they made 
 use of; and it is to be feared that the manuscripts 
 which came into my hands are not always exactly 
 copied ; for having taken the trouble to calculate 
 the latitudes by the rhombs and distances indicated, 
 I found results which coincided very ill with the 
 latitudes observed, MM. Bauza and Antillon at 
 Madrid made the same observation, I regret that 
 none of the observations of latitude of the engineer 
 officers are connected witli places whose position 
 has been determined by M. Ferrer or myself. 
 M. Mascaro indeed observed at C^eretaro. We 
 differ lo' in the latitude of that cityj but my re- 
 
 ■* 1 . Derotero del Brigadier Don Pedro de Rivera en la visita 
 que hizo de los Presidios de las Fronteras de Nueva Esparia 
 en 1724. — 2. Itinerario del mismo autor de Zacatecas a Ja 
 Nueva Biscaya. — 3. Itinerario del misnio autor desde el Pre- 
 sidio del Paso del Norte hasta el de Janos.— 4. Diaria de Don 
 Nicolas de Lafora en su Viage a las Provincias Internas en 
 1766.— 5. Derotero del mismo autor de la villa de Chihuahua 
 al Prtjsidio del Paso d«l Norte. — 6. Derotero de Mexico a 
 Chihuahua per el Yngeniero Don Manuel Mascaro en 1778. 
 — 7« Derotero del mismo autor desde Chihuahua a Arispe 
 Mission de Sopora. — 8. Derotero del mismo autor desde 
 Arispe a Mexico en 1785. The originals of these eight ma- 
 nuscripts are preserved in the archives of the vicero/alty oi 
 Mexico. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ixiii 
 
 « 
 
 suit being founded on a method analogous to 
 Douwes', is doubtful to nearly the extent of 2', 
 Notwithstanding these uncertainties, the mate- 
 rials which I have spoken are of great use to 
 those who would draw up maps of a part of the 
 world so little visited by people of information. 
 We shall content ourselves with discussing some of 
 the most important points. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson in his classical work on Virginia 
 has discussed the position of the Presidio de S. Fe 
 in New Mexico ; he believes it to lie in 38° 10' of 
 latitude ; but striking a medium between the di- 
 rect observations of M. Lafora and Fathers Velez 
 and Escalante, we shall find 36° 12'. JVJM. Bauza 
 and Antillon, by a union of ingenious combina- 
 tions, and by connecting S. Fe with the Presidio 
 de r Altar, and this again with the coast of ? nora, 
 found S. Fe de Nueva Mexico 4** 21' to the west 
 of the capital of Mexico*. The map of M. An- 
 tillon gives five degrees of difference. Without 
 possessing any knowledge of the labours of these 
 Spanish geographers, I arrived, by a different way, 
 at a still greater result. I fixed the longitude of 
 Duranga by a lunar eclipse observed by Doctor 
 Oteyza ; this position agrees with the one adopted 
 by M. Antillon ; now, supposing the latitude of 
 Durango 24°30', and that of Chihuahua, the capital 
 of New Biscay M where M. M^scaro observed for 
 
 In ■' ll 
 
 I- ,. 
 
 i 
 
 ^ Analytis dt k Carta, p. 44. 
 
ii,*li| 
 
 pi« 
 
 Ixiv 
 
 lii 
 
 ¥,t 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a long time, 28" 45', I have thus been able to 
 estimate the value of the leagues indicated in the 
 Itinerary of Brigadier Ribera. The distances and 
 rhombs gave me by graphical construction the 
 difference of the meridians of Durango and Chi- 
 huahua 53', from whence there results a difference 
 of longitude between Mexico and Santa Fe of 5° 48'. 
 It is natural enough that this difference should ap- 
 pear greater than what is indicated by MM. Bauza 
 and Antillon, for these estimable geographers 
 place the capital of Mexico 37' en arc too far to 
 the west. The position assigned by them to Santa 
 Fe depends, however, more on the longitudes of S. 
 Bias and Acapulco than on that of Mexico. I 
 found Santa Fe at 107° 13' of absolute longitude, 
 MM. Bauza and Antillon at 107° ii'*, a longitude 
 extremely probable, but 5° 28' more eastern than 
 what is to be found in the map of west Louisiana 
 published at Philadelphia in 1803. The same 
 map is nearly four degrees false in the position of 
 Cape Mendocino, notwithstanding the observa- 
 tions of Vancouver and the Spaniftrds. On 
 the other hand, M. Costanzo concluded from 
 a great number of combinations, that Santa Fe 
 and Chihuahua were 4° 57' and Arispe 9' 5' to the 
 west of Mexico. In all the old manuscript maps 
 which I have consulted, particularly in those con- 
 structed since the return of M. Velasquez From 
 California, Durango is placed three degrets to 
 the east of the Parrai and of Chihuahua. Vclas- 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ixv 
 
 quez reduced this difFerence of meridians to an 
 arc of three minutes ; but a graphical method, 
 founded on itineraries, gives me 50'. 
 
 I was equally well pleased to see that on an- 
 other point of the geography of New Spain, my 
 combinations conducted me to tlie same result that 
 had been obtained by the learned astronomers of 
 Madrid. My map constructed at Mexico, the 
 same year in which M. Antillon published his 
 Analytical Memoir*, indicates, as is proved by 
 the copies deposited in Mexico, the difterence of 
 meridians of Tampico and Mazatlan, (that is to 
 say, the breadth of the kingdom from the At- 
 lantic ocean to the South Sea, to be 8° (>. MM. 
 Bausa and x\ntillon found it 8'^ 120', while the 
 map of Lafora gives IT 4.5', and that of the West 
 Indies by Arrowsmith, 9^ 1'. In my map I have 
 connected Tampico with the Bar de Santander, 
 of which the longitude was observed by M. 
 Ferrer, supposing, agreeably to the maps of the 
 marine depot of Madrid, Tampico l(V east of the 
 Bar. We shall return in the sequel to the position 
 of this port. 
 
 The latitude of t!ie city of Zaeatecas, cele- 
 brated for the great wealth of its mines, was 
 determined by the Count de Santiago de lu Li\- 
 
 * Analysis de los fundamentos de la Carta vK? la America 
 leptentrionai. 
 
 vur. 1. p 
 
 1 
 
 m 
 
 
 if 
 
Ixvi 
 
 GEOGRAPHLCAL INTRODUCTtON' 
 
 If 
 
 guna, not by astronomic;il rin:vs, or by gnomons, 
 but by means of several q ladrants of ^rom hree 
 to four feet radius, constructed in the country 
 itself: it was found "^3° 0'. Don Fr;ni sco 
 XavierdeZarria concluded, from vari^uis gnomi- 
 cal observations, the latitude to be '2-/' 5' 6". I hese 
 observations are to be found in a work almost 
 unknown in Europe, the Chronicle publ shed 
 by the fathers of S. Francis of C^ieretajo at 
 Mexico. Zacatecas was formerly bellevtd iiaif 
 a degree farchcr north, as is proved by a small 
 Table of Latitude, published at Mexico, by Don 
 Diego Guadalaxara, for the use of those desirous 
 of constructing gnomons. The Coun* de la La- 
 guna asserts, that he found the longitude of Za- 
 catecas 4° 3' to the west of Me iio ; but this 
 result is probably very false. After fixing the 
 position of Guanaxuata by the chronometer, 
 and by lunar distances, I deduc' d from rhombs 
 and rs imated itinerary distances, a difference of 
 meridians of 2° 32'. The calculations of M. 
 Mascaro's itinerary give 3° 45'. As to the ab- 
 solute loniritude, the count fixes it in a manner 
 cqua.lly e>roneous. He pretends to have con- 
 cluded from a corresponding observation of an 
 eclipse at Bologna, that Zacatecas is T*" 13' 50" to 
 the west of that city, which would give 7^ IS' 59' 
 of longitude for Zacatecas, and consequently 7 
 3' 39" (in place of &" 45' 42") for Mexico. Can 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Ixvii 
 
 an error have glided into the figures ? Perhaps 
 the difference of meridians is 7*" 30' in place of 
 T 50'. 
 
 The longitude of Durango should be very 
 nearly 105° 55'. Don Juan Jose Oteyza, a young 
 Mexican geometrician, the benefit of whose abi- 
 lities I have often experienced in the course of 
 my operation, observed there (at I'Hacienda 
 del Ojo, 38' to the east of Durango) the 
 termination of an eclipse of the moon, which, 
 compared with the old tables of Mayer, gave the 
 result which we have already indicated. The 
 author even did not consider it as completely 
 accurate. M. Friesen concluded from the rhombs 
 and distances indicated in the itineraries of Bri« 
 gadier Rivera and M. Mascaro, that this longi- 
 tude was 5° 5' to the east of Mexico, consequently 
 106" 30'. The latitude of Durango appears suf- 
 ficiently doubtful. Rivera and his companion 
 Don Francisco Alvarez Bareiro pretend to have 
 found it, by meridian altitudes of the sun, 24'' 
 38' J Lafora, in 1766, 24° 9' j but we do not know 
 what instruments these engineers made use of. 
 If the latitude which the Count de la Laguna, 
 M. Zarria, and the engineer Mascaro assign to the 
 city of Zacatecas is exact, that of Durango, de- 
 duced from the rhombs ahd distances, should be 
 nearly 24** 25'. 
 
 There are several places in the northern pro- 
 vinces of New Spain, where the three engineers 
 
 F 2 
 
 II) 
 
 ii 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
Ixviii GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 already cited made observations successively ; thh 
 circumstance gives somewhat more confidence in 
 the medium result. 
 
 Chihuahua, — Latitude, 29° li' according to 
 Rivera, 28° 45' according to Mascaro. Longi- 
 tude deduced from the rhombs and distances, o° 
 25' to the west of Mexico. 
 
 Santa /'e.— Latitude, SG" 28' by Rivera, 36' 
 lO'byLafora. Longitude by approximation, 5" 
 48' in relation to the meridian of Mexico. 
 
 Presidio cle Jams. — Latitude, 31° 30' by Rivera, 
 SO" 50' by Mascaro. Longitude, somewhat doubt- 
 ful, 7° 40' to the west of Mexico. 
 
 ^m/)t\— Latitude, 30" 30' by Rivera, SO' 3Q' 
 by Mascaro. Longitude by approximation, 9* 
 53' (from Mexico). 
 
 Geographical combinations founded on itinera- 
 ries give an additional probability to the follow- 
 ing positions, of which MM. Mascaro and Rivera 
 determined the Lititude. These results, adopted 
 in my map, agree with what was obtained by 
 MM. Bausa and Antillon. We differ, however, 
 nearly a degree in the absolute lonoitude of 
 
 uatrd in the province of Sonora, 
 
 Arispc 
 
 ,ty 
 
 as well as in the longitude of the Passo del Norte, 
 New Me' ico. But I have to rent at. that a 
 
 in 
 
 part of these differences arises from M. Antillon 's 
 placing in his map Mexico, Acapulco, and the 
 mouth of Rio Gila more to the eastward than I 
 have done. 
 
n 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Ixix 
 
 PLACES. 
 
 N. latitude. 
 
 West longi- 
 tude from 
 Mexico, 
 
 Guadalaxara - - 
 
 21° 9' 
 
 3° 
 
 57' 
 
 Real del Rosario 
 
 23° 30 
 
 0.O 
 
 / 
 
 I' 
 
 Presidio del Pasagc 
 
 25" 28' 
 
 4° 
 
 b' 
 
 Villa del Fuerte 
 
 20° 50' 
 
 9° 
 
 5' 
 
 Real de los Alamos 
 
 27° 8' 
 
 9° 
 
 58' 
 
 Presidio de Buenavista 
 
 27° 45' 
 
 11° 
 
 
 Presidio del Altar - 
 
 31° 2' 
 
 2" 
 
 41' 
 
 Passo del Norte 
 
 32° 9' 
 
 5° 
 
 38' 
 
 On the formation of militia (tropas de milkiu) 
 in the kingdom of New Spain, there was drawn 
 up a map of the province of Oadrtca, in which se- 
 veral places are found marked whose latitude (ac- 
 cording to a remark of the autlior) had been 
 observed astronomically. I do not know if these 
 latitudes are founded on meridnm altitudes taken 
 with gnomons. The map bears the name of M. 
 Don Pedro de Laguna, lieutenant-colonel in the 
 service of his Catholic majesty. These QleyQn 
 
 in 
 
Ixx 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 points are partly situated on the coast between the 
 two ports of Acapulco and Tehuantepec, partly 
 near the coast in the interior of the country. 
 Proceeding from west to east we find 
 
 PLACES. 
 
 LATITUDE. 
 
 Ometepec - - - 
 
 16° 37' 
 
 Xamiltepec - - 
 
 16- 7' 
 
 Barra de Manialtepec 
 
 150 47' 
 
 Pochutla - - - 
 
 15" 50' 
 
 Puerto Guatulco 
 
 15° 44' 
 
 Guiechapa - - 
 
 15° 25' 
 
 In la Misteca alta the position has been deter- 
 mined of 
 
 S. Antonio de las Cues at ] 8^ 3' of latitude. 
 
 Teposcolula - - - - 17^ 18'. 
 
 Nochistlan - - . . 17^ 16'. 
 
 We may add the village of Acatlan in the in- 
 tcndancy of !a Puebla at 17* 58', and the city of 
 Oaxaca at 16** 54' of latitude. These determina- 
 tions, if they have any degree of accuracy, are so 
 much the more precious, that from la Puebla de 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Ixxi 
 
 los Angeles to the isthmus of Panama, there was 
 not hitherto a single point in the interior of the 
 country whose latitude was astronomically deter- 
 mined. What gives us a certain degree of reli- 
 ance on these positions, is the harmony which 
 prevails between the latitudes assigned in the map 
 of Don Pedro Laguna and in those of M. Antillon, 
 to the city of Tehuantepec and to Puerto Escon- 
 dido. Hence the Spanish navigators at pre- 
 sent place the former port at 16" 2'/, and the 
 latter, which is in the neighbourhood of the village 
 of Manialtepec, at 15*^ 50' of latitude. 
 
 Hitherto we have discussed positions founded 
 on astronomical observations, more or less worthy 
 of the geographer's confidence ; there remains for 
 us to indicate the maps, almost wholly manuscript, 
 which we have employed for the diflferent ports of 
 the general map of New Spain. 
 
 As to the bearings and sinuosities of the western 
 coast washed by ti. ^ great ocean, from the port of 
 Acapulco to the mouth of the Rio Colorado, and 
 to the volcanos of the Virgins in California, i have 
 followed the map which accompanies the account of 
 the voyage of the Spanish navigators to the Straits 
 cf Fuca. This map, published in i802 by the 
 marine depot at Madrid, is founded on the opera- 
 tions of the corvettes of Malaspina ; but the coast 
 which stretches to the south-east of Acapulco Is 
 $till very imperfectly known. Ihe map of North 
 
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 33 WIST t?AiN f TK2CT 
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Ixxii 
 
 C;i:OGUAPIII('AL INTUODUCTIOX. 
 
 I 
 
 America by M. Antillon was consulted in its con- 
 struction. '1 here is ground for complaint against 
 the inaccuracy with which the eastern coast of 
 Mexico to the north of \'era Cruz has been 
 hitherto surveyed. The j)art contained between 
 the mouths of the Rio Bravo del Norte and the 
 Mississipi is almost as little known as the eastern 
 coast of Africa between Orange River and Fish- 
 Bay. Ihe expedition of MM Cev alios and lle- 
 rera, provided with superb astroaotnical instru- 
 ments, is engaged in taking exact plans of thusc de- 
 sert and arid regions. Meanwhile i have toliow- 
 ed, for the detail of the eastern co;ist. the map of 
 the gulph of Mexico, published by order of the 
 king of Spain in 1799, and retouched in I8().i. I 
 have however corrected sestral points iroiu the 
 excellent observations of M. Feirei , already cited. 
 This ablj observer, having placed the port of 
 Vera Cruz 9 45' less to the west than is done by 
 me, I have reduce 1 the positions of the places 
 determined by him in the envirc nr of Vera Cruz, 
 to the longitude resulting from the calculations of 
 M. Oltmanns. The error of thi- old maps con- 
 sisted especially in t];e longitude of the Bar of 
 Santander, which, according to M. Fen e, is 1" 45' 
 15" to the west of Vera Cruz, while the map of 
 
 1 :i 
 
 1 / J t»,» 
 
 r 4 k* • '.* 
 
 •iiu 
 
 * Carta esferica que comprehende las cos! as del Si»no 
 Mexicano, construida en el Deposito Hidrogralico de Madrid, 
 
 \79d' , _ . 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODlJCriON. Ixxiil 
 
 the Deposito admits 1' 23' of difference of longi- 
 tude. I have constantly followed the observations 
 of M. Ferrer, in reducing the longitude of Ta- 
 nuagua on that of Santander. 
 
 Ihe territory comprised between the ports of 
 Acapulco and Vera Cruz, between Mexico, Gua- 
 naxuata, the valley of S^antiago and Valladolid, 
 between the volcano of Jorulio and the Sierra de 
 Toluco, is constructed from a great number of 
 geodoicalsuiveys, taken by me either with a sex- 
 tant or the graphometer of Adinis. The part con- 
 tained between Mexico, Zacatecas, Fresnillo, Som- 
 brevete, and Durango, is founded on a manuscript 
 plan whi( h M.Oteyza had the goodness to con- 
 struct ibr me, from materials collected by him in 
 his journey to Durango. Having marked with 
 great exactness the rhombs and the distances esti- 
 II ate; I from the pace of the mules, his plan merits 
 undoubtedly some confidence, particularly as the 
 positions of Guanaxuata and S. Juan de Tlio were 
 corrected by direct observations of my own, inde- 
 pendent of one another. By this means it became 
 easy to convert time into distance, and to ascertain 
 the value of the leagues of the country. . ..- . .^ . 
 
 The journals of MM. Rivera, Lafora, and Mas- 
 caro, which we have already cited, were of assist- 
 ance for the provincias iiifu'nas, particularly for 
 the routes from Durango to Chihuahua, and from 
 thence to Santa Fe and Arispe in the province of 
 Sonora. However, these materials could only be 
 
 i 
 
(I 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
 Ixxiv GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 employed after long discussions and comparisons 
 with the data collected by M. Vela>quez in his 
 expedition to California. The routes of Rivera 
 very often differ a good deal from those of M. 
 Mascaro ; and we are particulirly embarrassed as 
 to the difference of meridians between Mexico and 
 Zacatecas, or between Santa Fe and Chihudhua, 
 as we shall afterwards have occasion to expl lin. 
 
 The geography of Sonora has been rectified by 
 M. Costanzo. This philosoplier, as modest as he 
 is profound, has for thirty years been collecting 
 whatever is connected with the geographical ivnow- 
 ledge of this vast kingdom, lie is the only en- 
 gineer officer who has addicted himself to discus> 
 sions on the difference in longitude of the most 
 distant points from the capital. He has himself 
 formed very interesting plans, in which we may per- 
 ceive how far ingenious combinations may, to a 
 certain point, supply the want of astronomical 
 observations. I render this justice to M. Costanzo 
 with the more pleasure, as I have seen many manu- 
 script maps in Mexico, of which tlie scales of lon- 
 gitude and latitude appeared merely as an accidental 
 ornament. 
 
 The following is an enumeration of the maps and 
 plans consulted by me for the detail of my map ; I 
 think I have brought together every thing of im- 
 portance which existed up to 1804. 
 
 Carte manuscrite de la Nouvelle EspagnCj dres» 
 sie par ordre du vke-roi Buccarelli^ par MM. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. IXXT 
 
 Costanzo et Mascaro*. It comprehends the im- 
 mense space between the 39° and 42" of latitude, 
 and extends from Cape Mendocino to the mouth of 
 the Mississipi. Much care appears to have been 
 bestowed on this work, which has served me for 
 the Moqui, for the environs of the Rio Nabajoa, 
 and for the route of the Chevalier la Croix in 
 1778, from Chihuahua to Cohahuila and Texas. 
 
 Mapa del Azobispado de Mexico^ por Don Jose 
 Antonio de Alzate^y a manuscript map drawn up 
 in 1768, and revised by the author in 177^, and 
 which, so far at least as I have examined it, is very 
 bad. Several mining places are to be found in it, 
 which are interesting for the mineralogist. 
 
 I have made no use of the map of New Spain, 
 published at Paris in 1765, by M. de Fer, nor of 
 that of Governor Pownall, published in 1777, nor 
 even of the map of Siguenza, which the academy 
 of Paris engraved under the name cf Alzate, and 
 vt'hich has been hitherto looked on as the best map 
 of Mexico. 
 
 Carte generate de la nouvelle-Espagnel from 
 the 140 to the 27' of latitude, drawn up by M, 
 
 iili 
 
 ''!. 
 •'\\ 
 
 m 
 
 * Manuscript map of New Spain constructed by order of 
 the Viceroy Buccare)li> by MM. Costanzo and Mascara 
 Trans, 
 
 •f Map of the archbishopric of Mevco« by Don Joseph 
 Antonio de Alzate. Tram. 
 
 X General map of New Spain. 
 
Ixxvi GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Costanzo. This manuscript map is valuable for 
 an acquaintance with the coast of Sonora. 1 con- 
 sulted it also for the part which stretches out from 
 Acapulco to Tehuantepec. 
 
 Carte manuscritc dts cotes (lipids Acapulco 
 jmqu a So}7zo?iate*f executed by the brigantine 
 Jctivo, in i794. 
 
 Carle manuscrite de toiite la nouvelle Espagne, 
 dressee par M. Velasquez, en I772t- It com- 
 prises the countries situated between the 1 9° and 
 34° of latitude, between the mouth of the Rio 
 Colorado, and the meridian of C holula. It was 
 destined to exhibit the situation of the most re- 
 markable mines of New Spain, particularly those 
 of Sonora. .-. . -* -<4 i . .... . : t 
 
 Carte manuscrite d'uue partie de la Noiccelle 
 Espagne\^ from the parallel of Tehuantepec to 
 that of Durango, drawn up by order of the vice- 
 roy Revellagigedo, by Den Carlos de Urutia. 
 This is the only map of the country which exhi- 
 bits the division into intendancies, and it has been 
 very useful to me in this respect. 
 
 Mapa de la Frovincia de la Compania de Jesus 
 de Nueva £spa7ici\\^ engraved at Mexico in 1765. 
 
 * Manuscript map of the coast from Acapulco to Sonzo- 
 nate. Trans. 
 
 f Manuscript raap of the whole of New Spain, drawn up 
 by M. Velasquez in 17/2. Trans. 
 
 X Manuscript map of a part of New Spain. Trans. ■■, i^ 
 
 II Map of the Jesuits' province of New Spain. Trans, 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Uxvil 
 
 :l 
 
 Is it by mere accident that this map, so bad in other 
 respects, places Mexico at 278° '26' of longitude, 
 while the same capital is fixed at :270'' of longitude, 
 in the map which bears the title of Mapa dt (lis- 
 tancias de los lugares pr'utdpales dc Niteva Es" 
 pam*f engraved by the Jesuits at la Puebla de los 
 Angeles, in 1 755 ? 
 
 r found at Rome, Provincia Me.vicana apud 
 Indos ordinisCarmelitarum (erecta 1588 J Romce 
 1738. Mexico is there placed in 20° 28' of la- 
 titude ! 
 
 Father Pichardo de San Felipe Neri, a very 
 well informed ecclesiastic, who possesses the small 
 quadrant of the Abbe Chappe, was so kind as to 
 furnish me with two manuscript maps of New 
 Spain, the one by Fela.squez^ and the other by 
 Alzate, They both differ from the map engraved 
 by the academy of Paris, and are curious, as they 
 exhibit the situation of several remarkable mining 
 places, f « 
 
 Environs dc Mexico; a map of Siguenza, re- 
 published by Alzate in 1786. Another map of 
 the valley of Mexico is to be found annually in 
 the almanac, entitled la Quia de Fores teros (the 
 Stranger's Guide) ; it is by M. Mascaro. Neither 
 these two plans, nor the one published by Lopez 
 in 1 785, exhibit the lakes in their actual situations. 
 
 % 
 I 
 
 
 
 * Map of distances of the principal places of New Spain. 
 Trans. 
 
hXTlli GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the map of Lopez, the degrees of longitude are 
 marked on the meridian, a strange mistake for a 
 geographer to the king ! 
 
 Carte detullUe des environs du doctor^ du Rio 
 Moctezuma (^rhich receives the waters of the 
 canal of Huehuetoca), et de Zimapan par M, 
 Mascaro*. The environs of DitrangOy of TolucUy 
 and of Temascaltepecy are to be found carefully 
 represented in plans constructed by M. Juan Jose 
 Oteyza. 
 
 Carte manuscrite de tout le royaume dc la Nou- 
 velle Espagna depuis le 16^ au 40** de latitude, 
 par Don Antonio Forcada y la Plaza f 1787 1- 
 This map appears to be ably constructed. Those 
 who know the localities entertain the same opinion 
 of the manuscript map of the audience of Guada- 
 lajpara, drawn up by M. Forcada in 1790. 
 
 Carte du pays compris entre le meridien de 
 Mexico et celui de Vera Cruz, dressie par Don 
 Diego Garcia Condel^ lieutenant colonel and 
 director of highways. This manuscript map is 
 founded on the joint observations of M. Costanzo 
 and M. Garcia Conde. It is a series of triangles 
 
 '* Minttte map of the environs of the Doctor, of the Rio 
 Moctexuma, and of Zimapan^ by M. Mascaro. Trans. 
 
 t Manascript map of the whole kingdom of New Spain, 
 by Don Antonia Forcada y la Plaza, 1787* Trarts. 
 
 X Map of the country comprised between the meridians of 
 Mexico and Vera Cms, ponttructed by Don Diego Garcia 
 Conde. Tram. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. IXXIX 
 
 measured by the graphometer and compass. This 
 work was executed with great care ; and it exhibits, 
 above all, a great minuteness in the part which in- 
 cludes the slope of the Cordillera from Xalappa 
 and Orizaba to Vera Cruz. 
 
 Carte des routes qui vont de Mexico a la Puebla, 
 aunordet au sud de la Sierra Nevada* y drawn 
 up by order of the viceroy the Marquis de 
 Branciforte, by Don Miguel de Costanzo. 
 
 Plan manuscrit des environs de Vera Cruz'f,'-^ 
 
 It extends to Perote, and indicates at the same 
 
 time the diflFerence of the roads projected from 
 
 Xalappa to Vera Cruz. 
 
 Carte manuscrite du terrain contenu entre Vera 
 Cruz et le Rio Xamappa, 1796|. 
 
 Carte manuscrite de la pracince de Xalappa, 
 a*oec les environs detailUs de V Antigua et de la 
 Nueva Fera Cruz ||. 
 
 Carte manuscrite de la protoince d*Oaxaca et de 
 toute la cdte, depuis Acapuico a Tehuantepec 
 dress6e par Don Pedro de la Laguna^.-^This 
 
 * Map of the roads from Mexico to la Paebla> to the npv&x 
 and south of the Sierra Nevada. Trans, 
 
 t Mamiscript plan of the eoviroas of Vera Cruz. Tlrant. 
 
 X Manuscript map of the country between Vera Cruz andi 
 the Rio Xamappa, 1796. Trans. 
 
 n Manuscript map of the province of Xalappa, with a detail 
 of the environs of Antigua and la Nueva Vera Cms. Thnw. 
 
 ^ Manuscript map of the province of Oaxaca and the whole 
 coast from Acapuico toTehuaotepec, dnwn up by Doo Fedro 
 de la Laguna. Trans, 
 
 I! 
 
 i! 
 
 
 
 pi 
 
IXXX GFOGIlAl'lilCAI, IN'niODUCTION. 
 
 map is founded on eleven po itions, which are as- 
 serted to have been determined in latitude, by 
 direct observations. As to the Rio Huasacualco, 
 celebrated from the project of a canal to unite the 
 South Sea with the Atlantic Ocean; 1 have as- 
 signed to it the coiir. e which I found traced in the 
 plans of the two engineer officers, Don Auguslin 
 Cramer^ and Don Miguel del Corral. These 
 plans are preserved in the archives of the viceroyal- 
 ty of Mexico. 
 
 Mapa anonimo de la Sierra Gorda, dans la pro- 
 vince de Nuevo Santander *, fiom the 21° to the 
 29° of latitude, a manuscript map painted on vel- 
 lum, and ornamented with figures of Indian sa- 
 vages. It is very exact for the environs of Sotto 
 la Marina and of Camargo. ^ v » . 
 
 The course of the rivers contained between the 
 Rio del Norte and the mouth of the Kio Sabino 
 was copied from a manuscript map which General 
 Wilkinson communicated to me at Washington, on 
 his return from Louisiana. - . , . 
 
 Mapa de la Nueva GalUzia^ ; a manuscript 
 map constructed in 1794 by M. Pagaza^ from 
 his own observations and the map of M. Forcada. " 
 
 Carte de la province de Sonora et de la Noiwclk 
 Biscai/el, dedicated to M. d'Azanza, and con- 
 
 * Anonymous map of the Sierra Gorda, in the province of 
 Nueva Santatider. Trans. 
 
 f Map of Nueva Gallizia. Trans, 
 
 t Map of the province of Sonora and of New Biscay. Trans. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Ixxxi 
 
 Structed at Cadiz, by the engineer Don Juan 
 tie Pagaza, This manuscript map, four feet in 
 length, is very minute as to the mountainous 
 places, where the savage Indians conceal them- 
 selves for excursions and attacks on travellers. It 
 is also very minute as to the environs of the Passo 
 del Norte, and particularly as to the desert territory 
 called the Bolson de Afapimi, 
 
 Carte manuscrite de la Sonora *, from the 27 • 
 to the 36* of latitude, dedicated to Colonel Don 
 Jose Tienda de Cuet-vo, The author of this map 
 appears to have been a German Jesuit, who had 
 resided in the Pimeria alia, that is to say, in the 
 most northern part of the province of Sonora. 
 
 Carte manuscrite de la Pimeria alta^. — It ex- 
 tends to the Rio Gila. The famous ruins of the 
 Casas grandes are placed there at 3Qi" 20" of lati- 
 tude, an error of three degrees ! 
 
 Mapa de la California, a manuscript map of 
 Fathers Francisco Garces and Pedro Font, 1777. 
 It has also been engra,ved at Mexico, but with an 
 error of a diminution of three minutes for all the 
 latitudes. It is interesting for la Pimeria alta and 
 the Rio Colorado. 
 
 Carta geograjica de la Costa occidental de la 
 California que sc discuhrid en los anos 1769 y 
 1 775, por Don Francisco de Bodega y Quadra y 
 Don Jose Canizares, desde los 17 hasta los 58 
 
 * Manuscript map of Sonor?. Trans, 
 f Manuscript map of the Pimeria alta. 
 VOL. 1. # 
 
 II 
 
 
 ] 
 
 ■1 
 
IxMCli G >GRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 grados*. — ^This small map, engraved in 1788 
 by Manuel Villavicencio at Mexico, is drawn up 
 on the meridian of S. Bias. It must interest those 
 who study the history of discoveries in the great 
 ocean. 
 
 7'he gulf of' Cortez appears very much detailed 
 in the map of California, which accompanies the 
 Noticia de la Calij'ornia del Padre Fr. Aliguel 
 Venegas, 17^7$ but the true position of the mis- 
 sions actually existing in this peninsula is indi- 
 cated in the map subjoined to the life of the Fa- 
 ther Fray Junipero SerrUy printed at Mexico in 
 
 1787. 
 
 Carte manuscrite de la province de la Nouvelle 
 Biscaye^^ from the 23** to the 37*» of latitude, 
 drawn up in 1 792 by the engineer Don Juan 
 de Pagaza Urtundua, from information obtained 
 at Chihuahua. This curious work was executed 
 by order of M. de Nava, captain-general of the 
 pr&vincias internas. It served me for the whole 
 intendancy of Durango ^ though the environs of 
 the town of Durango do not appear very ac- 
 curate. 
 
 Carte manuscrite des frontieres septentrionales 
 
 * Geographical map of the western coast of California, dis- 
 "■overed in 1769 and 1775, by Don Francisco de Bodaga j 
 Quadra and Don Jose Canizares, from the 17" to the 58°. 
 Trail*. 
 
 f Manuscript map of the province of New Biscqr. Trans, 
 
 
GEOCRAnilCAL INTRODUCTION. Ixxxiil 
 
 de la rionxiHc Kspagne'^, from the 23" to the 37* 
 of latitude, by the engineer Don Nicolas Lafora, 
 It develops the plan of defence of the Marquis de 
 Rubi, and served me for verifying the situation of 
 the snull torts named Presidios. I saw a copy of 
 this STime map, three metresf in length, in the 
 archives of the viceroyalty, 
 
 AJopa del Nuevo Mexico \y from the 2})^ to the 
 42° of hititude. This manuscript mnp is very mi- 
 nute with regard to the countries situated under the 
 parallel of 4 1% It contains details as to the lake 
 dcs Timpanos^nSt and the sources of the Rio Colo- 
 n/r/r> and the Rio del Norte, . . , 
 
 Carte du nouvcau MeaiquCy grav&e en 1 lO^ypar 
 Lopez {{ . I have made no use of it. It appears ex- 
 ceedingly defective as to the sources of the Rio del 
 Norte. The countries situated between these 
 sources and those of the Missoury are better de- 
 tailed in a Map of Louisiana published at PhUaceU 
 phia in 1803. 
 
 I flatter myself that, notwithstanding great im- 
 perfections, my general map of New Spain has two 
 essential advantages over all those which have hi- 
 therto appeared. It exhibits the situation of three 
 
 * Manuscript map of the northern frontiers of New Spain. 
 Trans. 
 f Nine feet ten inches English. Trans. 
 X Map of New Mexico. Trans, 
 
 II Map of New Mexico, engraved in 179^ by Lopez. 
 Trans. 
 
 o2 
 
 i 
 
 •• I'i 
 
 P 
 
 I 
 
Ixzxiv GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 hundred and twelve mines, and the new division of 
 the country into intendancies : those mines which 
 have been worked ?re there indicated from a cata- 
 logue which the supreme tribunal of mines caused 
 to be drawn upon the spots, through the whole ex- 
 tent of that vast empire. I have distinguished by 
 particular signs the places which are the seats of the 
 Deputaciones de Minas, and the sites of the mines 
 which depend on them. The catalogue with which 
 I was furnished very often marked the rhomb and 
 the distance from some more considerable town. 
 These notes I combined with what I found in the 
 old manuscript maps, among which those of Ve- 
 lasquez were of the greatest assistance to me. 
 This labour was equally minute an< \ troublesome. 
 When any map did not bear the name of the 
 mine, I placed it simply according to the situation 
 in the catalogue, reducing the itinerary distances 
 or leagues of the country into absolute distances, 
 from combinations furnished by analogous cases. 
 The population of New Spain being concentrated 
 on the great interior plain of the central chain, it 
 follows that the map of Mexico is covered very un- 
 equally with names. It must not however be sup- 
 posed that there are d'siricts entirely uninhabited, 
 wherever the map indicates neither ^illage nor 
 hamlet. I wished only to enter places whose po- 
 sition was the same in several manuscript maps 
 from which I laboured ; for the most part of the 
 American maps, executed in Europe, are filled with 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. IxxxV 
 
 names whose existence Is unknown in the country 
 itself. These errors are perpetuated, and it often 
 becomes extremely difficult to conjecture their 
 origin. I chose rather to leave a vacant space in 
 my map than to draw from suspicious sources. 
 
 The indication of the chains of mountains 
 presented difficulties which can only be felt by 
 those who have been themselves employed in con- 
 structing geographical maps. I preferred hatch' 
 ings (hachures) in orthographical projection, to 
 the method of representing mountains in profile. 
 This last, the oldest and most imperfect of all, 
 occasions a mixture of two sorts of very heteroge- 
 neous projections. Yet I will not dissemble that 
 this inconvenience is almost balanced by a real ad- 
 vantage. The old method furnishes signs which 
 announce vaguely " that tie country is hilly, that 
 there exists mountains in such or such a province.** 
 The more this hieroglyphical language is vague 
 the less it exposes to error. Ihe method of 
 hatching, on the contrary, forces the drawer to say 
 more than he knows, more than it is even possible 
 to know of the geological constitution of a vast 
 extent of territory. To look at the last maps of 
 Asia Minor and Persia, one would believe that 
 learned geologists have ascertained the relative 
 height, the limits, and direction of the mountains. 
 M^e discover there chains which wind and branch 
 out like rivers ; we are tempted to believe that the 
 Alps and Pyrenees are less known than these 
 
 'i\ 
 
 'ill 
 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
Ixxxvi GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 distant countries. However, well informed peo- 
 ple tKrho have gone through Persia and Asia 
 Minor assert, that the grouping of the mountains 
 there differs entirely from the form in which they 
 appear in the large map of Asia, published by 
 Arrowsmith, so often copied both in France and 
 Germany. 
 
 The waters undoubtedly in some sort give the 
 delineation of the country ; but the courses of ri- 
 vers merely indicate the difference of level which 
 exists in the extent of territory through which they 
 run. A knowledge of the great vallies or of the 
 basins ; an examination of the points where rivers 
 take their rise, are certainly extremely interesting to 
 a hydrographical engineer; but it is a false appli- 
 cation of the principles of hydrography, when geo- 
 graphers attempt to determine the chains of moun- 
 tains in countries of which they suppose they know 
 the course of the rivers. They suppose that two 
 great basins of water can only be separated by 
 great elevations, or that a considerable river can 
 only change its direction when a group of moun- 
 tains opposes its course. They forget that fre- 
 quently, either on account of the nature of the 
 rocks, or on account of the inclination of the 
 strata, the most elevated levels give rise to no ri- 
 ver, while the sources of the most considerable 
 rivers are distant from the high chains of moun- 
 tsuns. Hence the attempts which have been hi- 
 therto made to construct physical maps from 
 
/ ' 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Ixxxvii 
 
 theoretical ideas have never been very successful. 
 For the true configuration of the earth is so much 
 the more difficult to be discovered, as the pela- 
 gick currents, and the greater number of the rivers 
 which have changed the surface of the globe, have 
 totally disappeared. The most perfect acquaint- 
 ance with those which have existed, and those 
 which actually exist in our days, might instruct us 
 as to the slope of the vallies, but by no means as 
 to the absolute height of the mountains, or the po- 
 sition of their chains. 
 
 I have traced on my map of New Spain the 
 direction of the Cordilleras, not from vague sup- 
 positions or hypothetical combinations, but from a 
 great variety of data furnished by persons who 
 had visited the Mexican mines. The most ele- 
 vated groupe of mountains is to be found in the 
 environs of the capital, under the 1 9^ of latitude. 
 I examined myself the part of the Cordilleras 
 of Anahuac, between the parallels of 16" 5.0' 
 and !^r 0', for a breadth of more than 140 
 leagues. It was in this region that I made 
 the greatest number of barometrical and geo- 
 desical measurements, of which the results serv- 
 ed for my geological sections. The manuscript 
 maps of M. Velasquez, and of MM. Costanzo and 
 Pagaza, were of great use to me for the northern 
 provinces. M. Velasquez, director of the Tri- 
 bunal de Mineridy travelled over the greater part 
 of New Spain f and he traced on the map which 
 
 i-l 
 
 ! 
 
 
 i 
 
 h- 
 
Ixxxviii GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 we have already cited the branches of the Sierra 
 Madre de Anahuad the eastern branch which 
 runs from Zimapan towards Charcas and Monte- 
 rey, in the small kingdom of Leon, and the west- 
 ern branch which extends from Boianos to the 
 Pr'^sidio de Fron^eras. The manuscript memoirs 
 of M Sunnenschniidt, a learnec Saxon mineralo- 
 gist, who visited the mines of Guanaxuato, Zaca- 
 tecas. Chihuahua and Catorce, and the labours of 
 M. dtl Rio, professor in the school for mines of 
 Mexico, and of Don ^ 'incente Valencia, residing at 
 Zav at cas, have also furnished me with veiy useful 
 information. I owe much also to the celebrated 
 D'Elhuyar at Mexico j M, Chovell at Viilalpando; 
 M. Abad at Valladolid; M Anza at Tasco; Co- 
 lonel Obregon at Catorce ; and a great number of 
 rich proprietors of mines and religious missionaries, 
 who were so good as to take an interest in my 
 work. Notwithstanding all the pains I took to 
 be informed as to the direction of the chains of 
 mountains, I am far from regarding this part of 
 my work as perfect. Occupied these twenty years 
 in examining mountains and collecting materials for 
 a geological atlas, I well know how hazardous an 
 undertaking it is to trace the mountains on an ex- 
 tent of territory of 11 8,000 square leagueis. 
 
 1 could have wished to draw up on a large scale 
 two maps of New Spain, the one physical, the 
 other purely geographical ; but I was afraid of 
 rendering the work too voluminous. The hatch- 
 
/ / 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. Ixxxix 
 
 ings which designate the slope and undulation of 
 the ground, afford at the same time a shade to 
 the maps overcharged with names. These names 
 become not unfrequently illegible, when an en- 
 graver attempts to produce a grand effect by the 
 distribution of chiaro scuro. Hence the geogra- 
 pher who has carefully discussed the astronomical 
 position of the places becomes uncert lin whether 
 he ought to preserve distinctness of character, 
 or render more perceptible the relative height of 
 mountains. One of the most beautiful maps which 
 was ever published in France*, the one drawn 
 up in the war depot in i 804, sufficiently proves 
 how difficult it is to reconcile two opposite inte- 
 rests, the interest of the geologist and that of the 
 astronomer^ The fear of giving too great an ex- 
 tent to my work, and the difficulties attending the 
 publication ol an atlas of which no government 
 defrays the expense, made me abandon a project 
 which I had once formed of joining to each section 
 of territory a physical map in a horizontal pro- 
 jection. 
 
 * We have discussed in the eighth chapter the extraordi- 
 nary regularity in the position of the Mexican volcanoes. I 
 am uncertain as to the longitude of the Pic de Tancitaro, 
 which has been twice surveyed from a distance. I fear some 
 error has crept in at copying the angles ; but the latitude of 
 this Pic ig sure enough to within about eight minutes. 
 
 il 
 
 
 H 
 
 i[ 
 
 11 
 
 Sll 
 
xc 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTllODUCTION. 
 
 II. MAP OF NEW SPAIN AND THE CONTER- 
 MINOUS COUNTRIES ON THE NORTH AND 
 EAST. 
 
 I have already explained the motives by which 
 I was induced to curtail my large nrip of New 
 Spain within too nnrrow limits for reprLsenting, 
 on the same plate, tlic whole extent of the king- 
 dom from New California to the intendancy of 
 Merida. The second rnap is destined to remedy 
 this inconvenience. It shows at once, not only 
 all the provinces which depend on the viceroy 
 of Mexico and the two commandants cf the 
 provinc'ms internal, but also the island of Cuba, 
 whose capital may be considered as the military 
 port of New Spain, Louisiana, and the Atlantic 
 part of the United States. This map was drawn 
 up by M. Poirson, an able engineer of Paris, 
 from materials furnished to hipi by M. Olt- 
 manns and me. It embraces the immense extent 
 comprehended between the 15*^ and 42'* of latitude, 
 and the 75° and 130° of longitude. At first I 
 meant to extend this map to the south as far as the 
 mouth of the Rio San Juan, for the sake of indi- 
 cating different canals, of which the construction 
 was proposed to the court of Madrid, and which 
 would serve to establish the communication be- 
 tween the two seas, to be discussed in the second 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ZCi 
 
 chapter of this work. But on perceiving that the 
 peninsula of Yucatan, and the coast of Monterey, 
 would not be represented with the developement 
 which they deserved, I chose rather to preserve a 
 larger scale, and to extend my map no farther 
 south than the gulf of Honduras. 
 
 The principal part, that which comprehends 
 the kingdom of New Spain, is a faithful copy of 
 my large map, ot which I have given an analysis. 
 The Yucatan was added from the map of the 
 gulf of Mexico, published by the Deposito Hy- 
 (trografico of Madrid. New California was taken 
 from the atlas which accompanies the account of 
 the voyage of the corvettes Sntil and Med'icana, 
 and from a memoir of M. Espinosa, printed in 
 iSOG, entitled, Memoria sohre las obscrvaciones 
 astronomicas que han servido de fundamento a las 
 carta,s de la costa N. 0. de America, publicadas 
 por la direccion de trabajos hidrograjicos. When 
 this memoir gave different results from those con- 
 tained in the Relacion del viage a Fuca, they were 
 preferred as founded on more solid bases*. The 
 
 * I have placed Monterey in latitude SQo 35' 45", and lon- 
 gitude 124« 12' 23", and Cape S. Lucas in latitude 22° 52' 
 33", longitude 112° 14' 30". The longitude of Monterey 
 which I have definitively adopted with M. Espinosa, differs 
 less from that of Vancouver than the result published by M. 
 Antillon. The difference between the opinion of the Spanish 
 navigator and that of the English navigator is only an arc of 
 IS' as already stated. (Here it is of importance to observe, 
 that the commencement of this geographical -introductioQ, 
 
 
 I m 
 
 III 
 
 ill 
 
 ly 
 
 W] 
 
 
 
xcu 
 
 GliOGUAPHICAT, INTRODUCTION. 
 
 work of M. Espinosa served me also for the small 
 group of islands, named by M. Collnett the ar- 
 chipelego of Kevillagigedo,in honour of a Mexicai^ 
 viceroy. 
 
 I'he islands of San Benedicto, Socorro, Rocca 
 partida and Santa Rosa, situated between the 18^ 
 and 20° of latitude, were discovered by the 
 Spanish navigators in the commencement of the 
 sixteenth century. Hernando de Grixalva dis- 
 covered in 1533 the island of Santo Tomas, now 
 named ls)e del Socorro. In 1542, Ruy Lopez de 
 Villalobos landed on a small island, to which he 
 gavethenameoflaNublada. He indicated very well 
 its true distance fro u the inland of Santa Tomas. 
 This Nublada of Villalobos is nov/ called San Be- 
 nedicto. It is not so certain that the Rocca par- 
 tida of the same navigator is the island of Santa 
 Rosa of the modern hydrographers, for the great- 
 est confusion prevails as to the position of this 
 rock. Juan Gaetan* places it even two hun- 
 dred leagues to the west of the island of Santa 
 Tomas. 
 
 This last island is marked at 1 g 45' of latitude^ 
 and as a shallow of thirty-six miles in length, on 
 the map of Domingo de Castillo drawn up in 
 
 from p. i. to p. xxxiii. was composed at Berlin in the month 
 of September 1807, and that the remainder was published in 
 the spring of 1809). 
 
 * Ramusio, 1. 1, p. 375 (edition of Venice^ I6l3). 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ••• 
 XCIU 
 
 1541, and found in the archives of the family of 
 Cortez at Mexico. Since that time the groupe of 
 islands of Revillagigedo has only been thrice seen; 
 namely, by the pilot Don Josef Camacho, in 1 779> 
 in a navigation from San Bias to New California ; 
 by captain Don Alonzo de Torres, in 1 79^, in a 
 voyage from Acapulco to San Bias ', and lasdy, by 
 M. Collnett* in 179*1. The observations of these 
 three navigators are extremely discordant. Yet it 
 would appear that M. Collnett has fixed exactly 
 enough the posidon of the Isle del Socorro, 
 from several series of distances of the moon from 
 the sun. It is from these same distances calculated 
 by Mason's tables that the whole groupe of islands 
 has been thrown too far east. 
 
 As to the countries conterminous with New 
 Spain, we have used for Louisiana the fine map of 
 the engineer Lafond ; and for the United States the 
 map of Arrowsmith, rectified from the observa- 
 tions of Rittenhouse, Ferrer, and Ellicott. The 
 posidons of New York and Lancaster were dis- 
 
 II i 
 
 * Collnett's voyage to the South Sea, p. 107. M. Collnett 
 finds the latitude of Cape San Lucas 22° 45', and the longitude 
 1 12<» 20' 15". This latitude appears to be nearly seven minutes 
 false ! The mountain of San Lazaro, whose poution is fiXed 
 by M. Collnett at 25° 15' of latitude, and 1 14° 40' 15" (p. 92 
 and 94.) is undoubtedly not the same as that which UUoa 
 called, in 1539, Cape of San Abad^ and which I have placed 
 (after M. Espinosa) in 24« 47' latitude, and 1 14*' 42' 30" Ion- 
 |;Uude. _ . 
 
Xav GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cussed by M. Oltmanns in a scientific memoir in- 
 serted in the second volume of my collecdon of 
 Astronomical Observations, p. 92. The same 
 work contains the materials which have served for 
 the island of Cuba. It would be superfluous to 
 enter into greater details on a part which is merely 
 an accessory of this map. Several points situated 
 in the interior of the island of Cuba, and on the 
 southern coast, between the ports of Batabano and 
 Trinidad, were fixed by the astronomical observa- 
 tions which I made there, in 1801, before my de- 
 parture for Carthagena. 
 
 III. iMAP OF THE VALLEY OF MEXICO, OR, THE 
 ANCIENT TENOCHTITLAN. 
 
 Few countries inspire so varied an interest as the 
 valley of Tenochtitlan. It is the site of an ancient 
 civilization of American people. Recollections, 
 the most affecting, are associated, not only with 
 the city of Mexico, but with more ancient monu- 
 ments, the pyramids of Teotihuacan, dedicated to 
 the sun and moon, of which a description will be 
 given in the third book of this work. Those who 
 have studied the history of the conquest, delight 
 to trace the military positions of Cortez, and of the 
 Tlascaltec army. The naturalist contemplate* 
 with interest the immense elevation of the Mexican 
 •oil, and the extraordinary form of a chain of 
 porphyritic and basaltic mountains, which sur* 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xcv 
 
 round the valley like a circular wall. He per- 
 ceives that the whole valley is as the bottom of a 
 dried up lake. The basins of fresh and salt 
 water which fill the centre of the plain ; and the 
 five marshes of Zumpango, San Christobal, Tez- 
 cuco, Xochimilco, and Chalco, are to the eye of 
 the geologist the small remains of a great mass 
 of water, which formerly covered the whole valley 
 of Tenochtitlan. The works undertaken for the 
 preservation of the capital from the danger of 
 inundations, if they do not oifer to the engineer or 
 hydraulic architect models for imitation, are at 
 least objects worthy of fixing his attention^. 
 
 Notwithstanding the interest which this country 
 offers^ in the triple relation of history, geology, 
 and hydraulic architecture, there exists no map 
 from the inspection of which any idea can be 
 conceived of the true form of the valley. The 
 plan of the environs of Mexico, published at Ma- 
 drid by Lopez in 17 S5, and that of the Guia dc 
 Foresteros de Mexico^ are founded on an old plan 
 of Siguenza, drawn up in the seventeenth century. 
 These sketches certainly do not merit the name of 
 
 * See what I afterwards say on the position of the old citj 
 of Mexico ; on the pyramids of Teotihuacan ; on the position 
 of the lakes ; on the artificial canal (Desague) by which the 
 waters of the valley are drawn off into the gulf of Mexico, on 
 the two plains of Cholida and Toluca, of which a part is also 
 comprised in my map of the valley of Tenochtitlan^ chap. 
 
 VIII. 
 
I ■ 
 
 XCVI 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 topographical maps; for they neither represent 
 the accual situation of the capital, nor the state of 
 the lakes in the time of Montezuma. cr,. 
 
 The plan of Siguenza, which is only twenty-one 
 centimetres by sixteen*, is entitled, Alapa dc lets 
 aguas que per el circulo de noventa leguas vienen 
 a la iaguna de Tezcuco, delineado por Don Carlos 
 de Siguenza y Gongora^ reimpreso en Mexico con 
 algumis adiciones en 1786, por Don Joseph Alzate, 
 The scale of latitudes and longitudes attached by 
 M. Alzate to this plan of Siguenza is defective 
 in construction to the extent of more than an arc 
 of three minutes. The absolute longitude of the 
 city, asserted by the learned Mexican to be the 
 result of twenty-one observations of satellites of 
 Jupiter, and believed by him to have been approroed 
 of and verified by the Academy of Sciences at Paris» 
 is a degree false. This plan of M. Alzate has 
 be;:'n servilely copied by all the geographers who 
 have attempted to publish maps of the valley of 
 Mexico. It gives the direct distance 
 
 a From the summit of the volcano of Popo- 
 catepetl to the village of Tesayuca, situated at the 
 northi rn extremity of the valley, an equatorial arc 
 of 1° r. (True distance O" 53'.) 
 
 b From the centre of the city of Mexico to 
 Huehuetoca, where the canal for the discharge of 
 the lakes commences, 0* 32^ (True distance o" 23'.) 
 
 -■I',' 
 
 * Eight inches by gix. Tram. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. XCVll 
 
 •I 
 
 c From Mexico to Chiconautla, O" 20', (True 
 distance 0" 15'.) •' 
 
 d From the rock (Penol) de los Barios to Zum. 
 pango, 0"* H'l. (True distance 0« 'JW) 
 
 e From the Penol de los Banos to San Chrii;to- 
 bal, 0° J 3'. (True distance 0° 8'.) 
 
 J^ From the village of Teliuiloyuca to Tezcuco 
 0' 29'. (True distance 0° <2l'.) 
 
 Here are errors of 16,()00,'even of 20,000* me- 
 tres, in distances which M. Velasquez, in a geodc- 
 sical operation in 177^, had measured with great 
 accuracy, jnd as to which there does not remain 
 a doubt of a hundred metres f. And yet M. 
 Alzate might have availed himself of the triangles 
 of Velasquez, as was done by Don Luis Martin, 
 M. Oltmanns, and myself, in constructing the map 
 which is inserted in this work. 1 made no astro- 
 nomical observation at Pachuca, but I did so at the 
 Real de Meran, whose latitude is greater than that 
 of Pachuca. I found the latitude of Moran 20'' 
 10' 4^, and yet M. Alzate makes Pachuca 20* U'. 
 The old city of Tula is placed in his map too far 
 north by nearly a quarter of a degree. 
 
 The plan of M. Mascaro, published in the Guia 
 de Mexico (Alapa de Uta cercanias de Mexico) 
 only fourteen centimetres by ten|, consequently it 
 is about twelve times smaller than the one annexed 
 
 * About twelve miles and a half. Trans. 
 
 f Aboubt 109 yards. Trans. 
 
 I About five iucbes aud a half by four. Tmns. 
 
 VOL. i. 
 
 H 
 
 I ill! 
 
 ii 
 
 I i''n 
 
 ,!il 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 I v. 
 
 ! :* 
 
 m 
 
XCVlU GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 to this worlv. It may be considered as a copy of 
 the plan of Siguenza and Alzate. The northern 
 part of the valley has, however, been somewhat 
 straitened. The summit of the volcano of Popo- 
 catepetl is distant from Huehuetoca, according to 
 Father Alzate, 1° 1-V; and according to M. Mas- 
 caro 1° 11'. The true distance is 1^ 1', which 
 results from connecting, by the triangles of Ve- 
 lasquez, Huehuetoca with the rock de los Baiios, 
 and this rock, by my astronomical observations, 
 and by several azimuths, with the volcano of Po- 
 pocatepetl and the pyramid of Cholula,^ 
 
 There exist maps, according to which the waters 
 of the lakes adjoining the city of Mexico do not 
 run north-east towards the gulf of Mexico, as is 
 really the case, but north-west to the South Sea. 
 This error is to be found along with many others 
 in the map of North America, published at London 
 ' by M. Bower, geographer to the king. 
 
 On my arrival at Mexico in the spring of the 
 year 1800, I conceived the project of drawing up 
 a map of the valley of Tenochtitlan. I proposed 
 to fix, by astronomical observations, the limits of 
 this valley, which has the form of a lengthened 
 oval. I took besides a great number of angles 
 of positions, from the tower of the cathedral of 
 Mexico, the summit of the porphryry bills of 
 Chapoltepec, and the Penol de los Banos, the 
 Venta de Chalco, the summit of the mountain 
 of Chicle, Huehuetoca, and Tissayuca. The 
 position of the two volcanos of la Puebla and 
 
I I 
 
 GEOGUAPHICAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 xcia 
 
 the peak of Axusco was determined by a particular 
 hvpsometrical method, that is to say, by angles of 
 altitude and aziimths. Having very little time to 
 bestow on this work, i ^ould not fla.ter myself 
 with bringing together in my map the great num- 
 ber oF small Indian vllages, with which the banks 
 of the lakes are covered. My principal aim was 
 carefully to ascertain the form of the valley, and to 
 draw up the physical map of a country in which 
 I had measured a great number of elevations by 
 means of the barometer. 
 
 Circumstances of a favourable nature have en- 
 abled me to publish a topograpliical map from 
 accurate materials. A respectable character, who, 
 by a union rarely to be found in any country, pos- 
 sesses with a large fortune a strong love for the 
 sciences, M. Don Jose Maria Fagoaga, wished to 
 leave me a precious memorial of his country, in 
 giving me at my departure from Mexico the 
 sketch of a plan of the valley. On his invitation, 
 one of my friends, Don Luis Martin, as good a 
 mineralogist as he is an able engineer, drew up a 
 map from the geodesical operations carried on at 
 different times between the city of Mexico and 
 the village of Huehuetoca, on account of the canals 
 of Tezcuco, San Christobal, and Zumpango. M. 
 Martin joined to these materials a pat t of the sur- 
 veys communicated to him by me, in subjecting 
 the delineation to the astronomical observations 
 made by me at the extremities of the valley. The 
 
 H 2 
 
 in 
 
 i|U: 
 
 m 
 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 numerous excursions which he had undertaken 
 from a zeal for geology, enabled him to express^ 
 with a great deal of truth, tiie form and the re- 
 lative height .of the mountains which separate the 
 plain of Mexico from those oK Tula, Puebla, and 
 Cuernavaca. 
 
 This map, which I owe to the obliging friendship 
 of M. de Fagoaga, is not, however, the one which 
 is inserted in this work. On examining and com- 
 paring it carefully, both with the triangulation 
 of M Velasquez, the detail of which I possess in an 
 crlginal manuscript, and with the table of astrono- 
 mical positions ascertained by my observations, I 
 perceived that the eastern bank of the lake of 
 Tezcuco, and the whole northern part of the val- 
 ley, required considerable alterations. M. Martin 
 himself discovered the inaccuracy of his first 
 sketch, and I engaged M. Oltmanns to reconstruct 
 under his eye the map of the valley from the ma- 
 terials which I ha'^ 'collected. * Every point was 
 separately discussed ; and when several surveys 
 disagreed with one another, the mean term was 
 adopted. 
 
 The following is the chain of the triangles mea- 
 sured by M. Velasquez, in 1773, from the rock of 
 the baths (Penol de los fianos), near the city of 
 Mexico to the mountain of Sincoque, to the north 
 of Huehuetoca. The angles were measured with 
 an excellent English theodolite of ten inches di- 
 ameter, provided with two glasses of twenty-eight 
 inches in length. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
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 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
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 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
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 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 M. Velasquez measured two bases, the one of 
 .3702t Mexican varas in the plain, frequently in- 
 undated, which separates the village of San C hris- 
 tobal, and the hill of Chiconautla ; and the other 
 of 4474 varas on the causeway which leads from 
 the capital to the sanctuary of S. Miguel de Gua- 
 dalupe. The second ba?e was even measured 
 twice. In resolving successively the series of tri- 
 angles according to these values, we shall find the 
 direct distance from the cross of the mountain of 
 San ChrisLobal to the crest (Creston) of the Loma 
 de Chiconautla. One of the bases gives for this 
 distance 14099 varas, another gives 14101. The 
 third triangle "nd the three last have each an ob- 
 tuse angle, but in these same triangles an error of 
 a minute in the sharpest angle would but produce 
 a difference of three or four varas on the length of 
 the sides. Hence this operation is very valuable 
 for the topography of Tenochtitlan. 
 
 Particular signs indicate on my map the posi- 
 tions which are founded on the triangulation of 
 M. Velasquez, and those which I determined as- 
 tronomically. We have added the results of my 
 measurements with the barometer, calculated ac- 
 cording to the co-efficient of M. Ramond. To 
 facilitate the use of the map to those who study 
 the history of the conquest, I have placed the an- 
 cient Mexican names, beside the names at present 
 in use. I have endeavoured to be very exact iu 
 
1 1 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Cf 
 
 the Azteque orthography, following only Mexi- 
 can authors, and not the works of Solis, Robert- 
 son, Raynal and Pauw, who disfigure the names 
 of cities and provinces, like those of the kings of 
 Anahuac. 
 
 IV. MAP, EXHIBITING THE POINTS WHERE 
 COMMUNICATIONS HAVE BEEN PROJECTED 
 BETWEEN the' ATLANTIC OCEAN AND 
 SOUTH-SEA. 
 
 This map was drawn up for the sake of offering to 
 the "eye of the reader in one view the nine points 
 which present means of communication between 
 the two oceans. It will serve to explain what I 
 have said in the second chapter of the first book. 
 1 have represented in nine assembled sketches the 
 points of separation between the Ounigigah and 
 the Tacoutche-Tesse, and those between the Rio ~ 
 Colorado and the Rio del Norte ; the isthmuses 
 of Tchuantepec, Nicaragua, Panama, and Cupicaj 
 the river of Guallaga, and the gulf of S. George ; 
 and lastly, the ravin from the Raspadura to the 
 Choco, by which, since 1788, boats have passed 
 from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. The most 
 interesting sketches are those of the small canal of 
 derivation from the Raspadura and the isthnius of 
 Tehuantepec. I have traced the course of the 
 rivers Huasacualco (Guasacualco) and 1 himalapa 
 from materials which I found in the archives of 
 the viceroyalty of Mexico, and particularly from 
 
 
evi 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the plans of the engineers Don Miguel del Coral 
 and Don Augustin Cramer, whom the viceroy 
 Revillagigedo sent to the spot, 'i he distances were 
 recdfied by itineraries very recently drawn up since 
 the indigo of Guadmala came to pass through the 
 forest of Tarifa, which is a new road opened to 
 the commerce of Vera Cruz. 
 
 V. PLAN OF THE PORT OF VERA CRUZ. 
 
 This work would undoubtedly appear incom- 
 plete, if it did not contain the plan of the port 
 from which all the Mexican wealth flows into 
 Europe. To this day Vera Cruz is the only port 
 which can receive European vessels of war. The 
 plan which I publish is an exact copy of the one 
 drawn up in 1798 by M. Orta, captain of the port 
 of Vera Cruz. I have diminished the scale by 
 one half, and added a few notes on the longitude, 
 winds, atmospheric ddes, and on the quantity of 
 rain which falls annually. The mere sight of 
 this plan proves the difficulty of every military at- 
 tack against a country, which on its eastern coast 
 offers no other she Itc r to vessels than a dangerous 
 anchorage among shallows. 
 
 The double lines drawn on the plan of the port 
 indicate the direction which vessels intending to 
 anchor ought to follow. Whenever the pilot dis- 
 covers the edifices of Vera Cruz, he should take 
 care that the tower of the church of St. Francis 
 

 GEOGnAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cvu 
 
 cover the tower of the cathedral. He will continue 
 this route till the salient angle of the bastion of S. 
 Crispin appear behind the bastion of St. Peter, 
 He should then tack to the larboard, placing the 
 prow towards the Isle of Sacrifices. Buoys {palos 
 de marcci')h2ive been placed on the shallow of laGa!* 
 lega near the point of the Soldado, to avoid the 
 two dangerous rocks, called l,a.va de Fuera and de 
 Dentro, 
 
 VI. PHYSICAL VIEW OF THE ORIENTAL DE- 
 CLIVITY OF THE TABLE LAND OF ANAHUAC. 
 
 The horizontal projections known by the name of 
 geographical maps, give but a very imperfect idea 
 of the inequalities of surface and physiognomy of 
 a country. The undulations of the surface (mouve" 
 mens du terrain), the form of the mountains, 
 their relative height, and the rapidity of the de< 
 clivities, can only be completely represented in 
 vertical sections. A map drawn up on the ingenious 
 plan of M. Clerc* supplies to a certain degree the 
 
 •i 'm 
 
 i\ 
 
 ri. ' 
 
 * This learned geographical engineer, who presides over to- 
 pography in the Ecole Polytechnique, possesses in an eminent 
 manner the talent of representing the figure of a countty. 
 Nobody ever reflected more than he has done on the means of 
 expressing undulations of surface, and a work which he 
 means to publish on the construction of maps, and on the con- 
 struction of relievvs, will form an aera in the history of 
 topography. 
 
 ■iil! 
 
• •• 
 
 CVlll 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 place of a relievo ; and lines drawn on a plane 
 which has but two dimensions may produce the 
 same effect as a model in relievo, if the extent of 
 ground represented is not too great, and if it is 
 thoroughly known in all its parts. But the dif- 
 ficulties are almost insurmountable when the ho- 
 rizontal projection embraces a hilly country of a 
 surface of several thousand square leagues. 
 
 In the most inhabited region of Europe, for 
 example, in France, Germany, or j'ngland, the 
 plains which are the seat of cultixation are only 
 elevated, in general, a hundred*, or two hundred 
 metiesf above one another. Their absolute 
 heiglits are too inconsiderable to have any sensible 
 influence on tlie climatej. Hence an accurate 
 knowledge of these elevations is much less in- 
 terest ng to the cultivator than to the naturalist ; — 
 and hence also, in the maps of Europe, the geo- 
 graphers merely indicate the most elevated chains 
 
 * About 328 feet. Trans. ♦ 
 
 f About G56 feet. Trans, 
 
 X The interior of Spain presents a very striking exception j 
 the soil of the Castiles in the environs of Madrid being six 
 hundred metres of absolute elevation (about 1900 feet). See 
 my memoir on the configuration of the soil of Spain^ inserted 
 in the itinerary of M. Alexandre de Laborde, T. I. p. CXLVii, 
 CLVi. From the data contained in that memoir, the small 
 geological map attached to the interesting Rapport sur Vim" 
 portation des Merinos, "par M. Poyfere de Cere, I8O9, was drawn 
 up. It is to be regretted, however, that this map was not 
 4rawn up in all itg parts according to the same scale of elcvatioa. 
 
I I 
 
 .1 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CIS 
 
 of mountains. But in the equinoxial region of 
 the new continent, particularly in the kingdoms of 
 New Grenada, Quito, and Mexico, the temperature 
 of the atmosphere, its state of dryness or humidity, 
 the kind of cuhivation followed by the inhabitants., 
 all depend on the enormous elevation of the plains 
 which stretch along the lidges of the Cordilleras. 
 The geological constitution of these countries 
 is an object equally important for the statesman 
 and the naturalist ; from whence it follows 
 that the imperfection of our graphical methods 
 is much more sensible in a map of New Spain 
 than in a map of France. Hence, to give a com- 
 plete idea of the countries examined by me, of 
 which the soil possesses so extiaordlnary a con- 
 figuration, I have been compelled to recur to me- 
 thods hitherto unattemptcd by geographers, be- 
 cause the most simple ideas are usually those which 
 occur the last. 
 
 I have represented whole countries, vast extents 
 cf territory in vertical projections, in the manner 
 jn which the section of a mine or canal is drawn*. 
 The principles on which similar physical views 
 ought to be constructed are detailed in my Essay 
 on geolo^icdl pasigrap/ij/. As the places of which 
 
 * The first attempt made by iiie in this way was the physical 
 map of the river de la Madakinc, engraved, in 1801, against 
 my will at Madrid. See my ilccueil d' Observations astro" 
 nomiques, vol. i. p. S'O. 
 
tx 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION-. 
 
 it is important to know the ihsolme height are 
 rarely to be found on the sptuf line, the section is 
 composed of several planes, whi h differ in their 
 direction, or rather of one pi .;ui w ich exhibits 
 the average parallel line of dire cnon on which the 
 perpendiculars fall. In the IeSl c ise the distances 
 exhibited by the physical map difltr from the ab- 
 solute distances, particularly when the mean direc- 
 tion of the points whose heiglit and position have 
 been determined deviates considerably from the 
 direction of the plane of projection. 
 
 In sections of whole countries, as in sections of 
 canals, the scale of distances cannot be equal to 
 the scale of elevations. If we were to attempt to 
 give the same magnitude to these scales, we should 
 be forced either to make the drawings of an im- 
 moderate length, or to adopt a t^cale of elevation 
 so small that the most remarkable inequalities of 
 the soil would become insensible. I have indicated 
 on the plate by two arrows the heights which 
 the Chimborazo and the city of Mexico would 
 have, if the physical view were subjected to the 
 same standard in all its dimensions. We see that 
 in this case an elevation of .500 metres* would not 
 occupy in the drawing more than the space of a 
 millimetre!. But in employing for itinerary dis- 
 
 * About 1 640 feet. Tram. 
 t .03937 of an inch. Trans. 
 
m 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cx! 
 
 tances the scale of elevations exhibited in the plates 
 VI, VII, VIII, which is nearly 270 metres* to 
 the centimetref, a plate would be requisite of more 
 than 1.5 metresj in length, to represent the extent 
 of country comprised between the meridians 
 of Mexico and Vera Cruz ! Hence from this 
 inequality of scales, my physical map<^, as well 
 as the sections of canals and roads, drawn up by 
 engineers, do not exhibit the true declinations of 
 the soil, but these declinations, according to 
 the nature of the projections employed, appear 
 more rapid in the designs than they are in nature §• 
 This inconvenience is increased if the plains of a 
 great elevation are of very small extent, or if they 
 are separated by deep and narrow vallies. It is 
 from the proportion which the scales of distance 
 and eleva^on bear to one another that the efiect 
 produced by the section of a country principally 
 depends. I shall not enter here into a minute 
 discussion of the principles followed by me in this 
 kind of map. Every graphical method should be 
 subject to rules, and it appeared to me so much the 
 more necessary to point out some of these rules in 
 this place, as the imitations of my views recently 
 published are arbitrary pit ejections on planes 
 abounding with curves, of which nothing indicates 
 
 ♦ About 885 feet. Trans, 
 
 t .3p371 of an inch. Trans. 
 
 X About 55 feet. Trans. 
 
 I Set my Eisai sur la geographie des plantes, p, 39. 
 
 1 
 
 
 ''i 
 
 Ml 
 
 f 
 
CXll 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the directioQ in relation to the great circles of the 
 sphere. 
 
 Physical maps in vertical projections can only 
 be constructed on knowing, for the points through 
 which the plan of projection passes, the three co- 
 ordinates of longitude, latitude, and elevation above 
 the level of the ocean ; and it is only in uniting 
 barometrical measurements with the results of as- 
 tronomical observations, that the section of a 
 country can be drawn. I'his kind of projection 
 will become more frequent in proportion as tra- 
 vellers shall addict themselves more assiduously to 
 barometrical observations. But few provinces of 
 Europe at this day offer the necessary materials for 
 constructing views analogous to those published 
 by me of equinoxial America. 
 
 The construction of the sections, plates vi, vir, 
 VIII, are abvsolutely uniform. The scales are the 
 same in all the three views ; the scales of distance 
 are to those of height nearly as one to twenty-four. 
 The three maps indicate the nature of the recks 
 which compose the surface of the soil. Ihis 
 knowledge is interesting to agriculturists j and it 
 is also useful to engineers employed in construct- 
 ing roads or canals. 
 
 I have been blamed for not exhibiting in these 
 sections the superposition or situation of the se- 
 condary or primitive strata, their inclination or 
 their direction. I had particular reasons for not 
 mdicating these phenomena. I possess in my 
 
■Ilv 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CXIU 
 
 itineraries, all the necessary geological materials for 
 forming hat are usually called mineralogical 
 maps. - A great number of thee materials were 
 published by me in my recent work on the mea- 
 surement of the Cordillera of the Andes ; but on 
 mature examination I adopted the resolution of 
 separating entirely the geological sections which 
 display the superposition of rocks from the phy- 
 sical views which indicate inequalldes of surface. 
 It is very difficult, I had almost said impossible, to 
 construct a geological section of an extensive coun- 
 try, jf this section must be subjected to a scale of 
 elevation. A stratum of gypsum of one metre* 
 thick is often more interesting to a geologist than 
 an enormous mass of amygdaloid or porphyry j 
 for the existence of these very slender strata, and 
 the manner in which they lie, throw light on the 
 relative antiquity of formations. How then shall 
 we trace the section of entire prov^'nces, if the 
 magnitude of the scale is to be such as to exhibit 
 masses so inconsiderable ? How shall we indicate 
 in a narrow valley, in that of Paj^agayo, for ex- 
 ample, (Plate VII.) in a space of onef or two mil- 
 limetres of breadth, which the valley occupies in 
 the drawing, the different formations which repose 
 on one another? 'J hose who have reflected on 
 graphical methods, and endeavoured to improve 
 
 * 39.371 inches. Trans. 
 
 t A millimetre contaioi .03937 of an inch. Trans. 
 VOL. I. I 
 
 '^1 
 
 i 
 
 !( 1 
 
 I ! 
 
 ' fl 
 
CXIV 
 
 GEOGIlAPIilCAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 them, will feel, like myself, that these methods 
 can never unite every advantage. A map, for in- 
 stance, overcharged with signs, becomes con- 
 fused, and loses its principal advantage, the power 
 of conveying at once a great number of relations^ 
 The nature of the rocks and their mutual super- 
 position interest the geologist much more than 
 the absolute elevation of formations and thickness 
 of strata. It is sufticient if a geological section 
 expresses the general aspect of the country, and 
 it is only in freeing it from scales of height and 
 distance that it can indicate luminously the phe- 
 nomena of stratification, which it is of importance 
 for geologists to know. 
 
 The physical view of the eastern declivity of 
 New Spain is ':omposed of three sections, which 
 I have distinguished by different colours. The 
 cities of Mexico, and la Puebla de los Angeles, 
 and the small hamlet of Cruz Blanca, situated 
 between Perote and las Vigas, are tlie points in 
 which the intersection of the three planes of pro- 
 jei tion is made. I have added the longitude and 
 latitude of these points, the medium direction of 
 each section, and its length in French leagues of 
 twenty-five to the degree. 
 
 Ihe two great volcanos on the east of the valley 
 of Tenochtitlan, the Pic d'Orizaba, and the Coffre 
 de Perote, were placed in the drawing according 
 to their true longitudes. We have represented 
 them as they appear when a thick fog covers their 
 
 *C| 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cxv 
 
 base, and when their summits are seen above the 
 clouds. Notwithstanding the enormous breadth 
 of these colossal mountains, we have not dared to 
 represent their whole contours, on account of the 
 great inequality of the scales of height and dis- 
 tance. These volcanos would have disfigured the 
 view, rising like so many slender columns above 
 the plain. I have endeavow^d to represent very 
 exactly the strange form, I had almost said the 
 particular physiognomy, of the four great moun- 
 tains of the Cordillera of Anahuac ; and I flatter 
 myself that those who travelled from Vera Cruz 
 to Mexico, and wV'o have been struck with the 
 wonderful aspect of these majestic mountains, will 
 perceive tl at the contours are exhibited with pre- 
 cision in this plate, and in No. ix and x. 
 
 That the reader may fix in his mind some im- 
 portant facts of physical geography, ,wt; have 
 marked on the two sides of the views, near the 
 scales of elevation, the height of the Chimborazo, 
 and of several mountains of the Aliis end Pyrenees ; 
 that of the limit of perpetual snows under the 
 e ;mtcr, under the parallel of Quito, and the 45* 
 cripJit >de; the middle temperature of the air at 
 the ioof and on the slope of the Cordilleras ; and 
 lastly, the elevadons at which certain Mexican 
 plants begui to be seen, or cease to vegetate in the 
 mountainous part of the country. Several of these 
 phenomena are even repeated in all the maps ; a 
 vspetition analogous to what all the thermometer 
 
 I AiV. 
 
 ! \ 
 
 ■5" 
 
CXVl 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL IN'IROnUCTlON- 
 
 scales formerly exhibited, which indicated, though 
 very inaccurately, the maximum and minimum of 
 temperature observed under such or such a zone. 
 I believed that these sections^ which have some 
 analogy with the large view in my (ieography of 
 Plants, might perhaps contribute to propagate the 
 study of the natural history of the globe. 
 
 VII. PHYSICAL VIEW OF THE WESTERN DE- 
 CLIVITY OF THE TABLE-LAND OF NEW 
 SPAIN. 
 
 This and the prec Jing view, and tlie section of 
 the valley of Tenochtitlan (Plate viii.) are drawn 
 up all thiee according to the piincipl slaid down 
 by me in discussing the section nf the eastern slope 
 of the Cor<.illeras. I have framed on ciie ;^ame 
 scale Plates vii and viii, that they ma/ all be 
 unit d at pleasure into one, which will then extend 
 from the Atlantic Ocean to the South Sea, and 
 which will develope to the geologist the extra- 
 ordinary conformation of the whole country. 
 
 It may be necessary to observe to those who 
 wish to unite the sections vii and \ tii, in cutting 
 the two vertical scales on which the heights of 
 Puy-de-D6me and Vesuvius are marked, that the 
 planes of projection of these sections intersect each 
 other almost at right angles, in the centre of the 
 city of Mexico. The medium direction of the 
 first section, which is itself composed of different 
 
I 
 
 T 
 f 
 
 e 
 h 
 e 
 
 e 
 X 
 
 i 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cxvu 
 
 planes, is from east to west; the medium direction 
 of the second, the road from Mexico to Acapulco, 
 is from S.S.W. to N.N. W. 'Ihe prolongation 
 of the first section would extend nearly by Pas- 
 cuaro and Zapotlan, to the \'illa de la Purificacion. 
 This p.lane prolonged to the west would terminate 
 on the shores of the South Sea, between Cape Cor- 
 rientes, and the port de la N'avidad. As New 
 Spain swells out singularly in this western direc- 
 tion, it would follow that the descent of the Cor- 
 dillera, from the valley of Tenochtitlan to the 
 plains of the intcndancy of Guada axara, would 
 be twice the length of the road from Mexico to 
 Acapulco, sketche ! in plate vii. Theba:ometiical 
 measurements which I made betv^een Valladolid, 
 Pascuaro, Ari ', and Ocambaro, prove, that in 
 tracing this transversal section in the direction of 
 the parallels of 19 or ^0 degrees, the central plain 
 would preserve the grt at elevaiion of •iOOO'^ metres 
 for more than sixty leagues to the west of the city 
 of Mexico, while, in the direction of the section, 
 No. VII, the plane never reaches this elevation, 
 after leaving the valley oi Tenochtitlan towards the 
 
 s.s.vv. 
 
 Yet a section directed from east to west, from 
 Vera Cruz to the small port de la Navidad, is far 
 from giving a juster idea of the geological constitu- 
 
 * 6500 feet. Trans, 
 
 HI 
 
 It 
 
 1 t 
 
 m 
 
CXVIU GEOGilAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tion of New Spain than the reunion of my two 
 sections, No. vii and viii. A simple consideration 
 of the true direction of the Cordillera of Anahuac 
 is sufficient to prove what I advance. The central 
 chain of the mountains runs from the province of 
 Oaxaca to that of Durango, from the S.E. to the 
 N.W. ; consequently, the plane of projection, to be 
 perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the Cor- 
 dillera, should not be placed parallel to the equator, 
 but drawn from the N.E. to the S.W. By re- 
 flecting on the particular structure and limits of 
 the groupe of mountains, in the neighbourhood of 
 the capital of Mexico, we shall find that the re- 
 union of the two sections. No. VII and viir, gives a 
 less imperfect representation of the conformation of 
 the country than we should be tempted to believe 
 from purely theoretical ideas. In this mountainous 
 region between the 1 9^ and 20*^ of latitude, no- 
 thing announces a longitudinal crest. There are 
 none of those parallel chains which geologists al- 
 ways admit in their works, and which geographers 
 represent in the most arbitrary manner, in their 
 maps of the two continents, like ranges of elevated 
 dikes. The Cordillera of Anahuac increases to- 
 wards the north, from whence the inclined planes 
 formed by the eastern and western declivities are 
 not parallel to one another in their middle direction. 
 This direction is almost N. and S. along the coast 
 of the gulf of Mexico, while it is S.E. and N.W. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CXIX 
 
 in the declivity opposite the Great Ocean. Hence 
 the sections, to be perpendicular to the lines of 
 declivity, cannot be in the same plane of projection. 
 
 VIII. PHYSICAL VIEW OF THE CENTRAL 
 TABLE-LAND OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 The section of the road leading from Mexico 
 to the mines of Guanaxuato, the richest of the 
 known world, was drawn up under my eye at 
 Mexico, by M. Raphael Davalos*, a pupil of the 
 school of mines, and a very zealous young man. 
 This drawing displays to the naturalist the great 
 elevation of the table-land of Anahuac, vhich 
 extends to the north much beyond the torrid zone* 
 The extraordinary configuration of the Mexican 
 soil recalls the elevated plains of central Asia. It 
 would be interesting to contiime my section from 
 Guanaxuato to Durango and Chihuahua, pavticu- 
 larly to Santa Fe in New Mexico. For the table- 
 land of Anahuac, as we shall hereafter prove t, 
 preserves towards the north for an extent of more 
 
 M 
 
 i '1^ 
 
 1'' 
 
 i 
 
 
 * M. Davalos, as well as M. Juan Jose Rodriguez, a native 
 of the Parral, in the provindas interna^, aid uell informed in 
 physical science, were so good as to assist me for several 
 months in the construction of a great number of geological maps 
 which will be afterwards published. I am pleased to have 
 an opportunity of giving a public testimony of my gratitude 
 to gentlemen so distinguished for their talents and application. 
 
 f Book I. and book III. 
 
cxx 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 than two hundred leagues more than 2000*, and 
 for an extent of five hundred leagues more than 
 800 1 metres of absolute elevation. 
 
 IX. PICTURESQUE VIEW OF THE VOLCANOS 
 
 OF :mexico or la PUEBLA. 
 
 This plate and the immediately following one 
 were destined at first to appear in the physical atlas, 
 which will accompany the historical account of 
 my travels in the equinoxial regions. 1 mean to 
 unite in that atlas such sketches as will show the 
 physiognomy of the colossal summits which crown 
 the ridge of the Cordilleras, and form as it were 
 their crest. I thought that these contours, com- 
 pared witli those in the excellent itinerary of M. 
 Ebel, or the beautiful drawings of M. Osterwakl, 
 might prove interesting to the geologists who wish 
 to study comparatively the Alps of Switzerland, 
 and the Andes of Mexico and Peru, 'i hough the 
 object of the work wliich I now publish is more 
 to describe the territorial riches than the geological 
 constitution of New Spaia, I liave thoug'it proper to 
 add to the Mexican atlas the picturesque views No. 
 IX and X, to serve as a supplement to the map 
 of the valley (Plate in.), and to give a more lively idea 
 of the beauty of the situation of the city of Mexico. 
 These same summits, the Popocatepetl aiid che 
 Citlaltepetl, the first of which is visible at ^iexicO 
 
 * 6560 feet. Trdtis. 
 
 t 2024 feet. Trans, 
 
GEO(niAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CXXl 
 
 and Cholula, and the second at Cholula and Vera 
 Cruz, served me to verify the meridian difference 
 of the city of Mexico and the port of Vera Cruz 
 by a method very advantageous, but hitherto little 
 followed; that of perpendicular bases, azimuths, 
 and angles of altitude*. 
 
 The city of Mexico is nearer by one half to thef 
 two Nevudos de la Pit eh/a than the citico of Bern 
 and Milan are to the central chain of the Alps. 
 This great proximity contributes much to give an 
 awful and majc'tic aspect to the Mexican vol- 
 canos. The contours of their sumniits, covered 
 with eternal snow, appear so much the more 
 inarked, as the air through which the eye receives 
 the rays is more rare and transparent. The snow 
 is of a most extraordinary brilliancy, particularly 
 when it descends from a sky of which the blue is 
 always deeper than that of the sky which we see 
 from our plains of the temperate zone. The ob- 
 server finds himself, in the city of Mexico, in a 
 stratum of air, whose barometrical pressure is only 
 585 millimetres |\ It is easy to conceive, that the 
 extinction of light must be very trifling in an at- 
 mosphere so little condensed, and that the summit 
 of the Chimborazo, or the Popocatepetl, seen from 
 the plains of Riobamba or Mexico, must exhibit 
 
 * See above, p. xxiii. and my Recueil d* observations astro* 
 nomiques, vol. I. p. 373. 
 
 f Nearly twenty-three inches. Trans, 
 
 m\ 
 
 SI 
 
 i 
 
CXXll Or.OGRAPJIlCAL INTRvODUCTlON, 
 
 more distinct con^ours than if they were seen at the 
 same distance from the shores of the ocean. 
 
 The Iztaccihmtl and the Popocafepeil,o{ which 
 the latter has the conical form peculiar to the Co- 
 topaxi and the Peak of Orizaba, are called in- 
 distinctly in the country the volcanos of la Puebla 
 or Mexico, because they are equally well distin- 
 guished from these two cities. I have no doubt 
 that the Iztaccihuatl, which Cardinal Lorenzana 
 calls Zihuallepec, is an extinguished volcano^ but 
 no Indian tradition goes back to the time when 
 this mountain, which in its contours resembles the 
 volcano of Pichincha, vomited forth fire. The same 
 observation applies to the Nevada de Toluca. The 
 Spaniards have been in the habit, from the first times 
 of the conquest, of naming every insulated summit 
 mlcariy which enters into the region of perpetual 
 snow. The words Ncvado and l^olcan are fre- 
 quently confounded : I have even heard at Quito, 
 the strange expreffions Volcan de Nieve and Folcan 
 de Fuego *. The Cotopaxi, for example, is re- 
 puted a Jire-volcanOj because its periodical erup- 
 tions are known, while the Corazon and the 
 Chimborazo are called snozv-rokamsy because the 
 natives suppose that the fire is concealed in thcnv 
 In the kingdom of Guatimalaf, and in the Philip- 
 
 * Snow-volcano and fire-volcano. Tratis. 
 t " En Goatemala hay dos volcanos, uno de fuego y otro 
 de agua." (Lorenzana^ in a note to the Letters of Cortes.) 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION- CXXIU 
 
 pine Islands, they call water-foolcanos (volcanes cle 
 aguaj those \vhich inundate the surrounding coun- 
 try. From these examples, we may see that the 
 word volcan, in Spanish maps, is frequently used 
 in a sense quite different from what is understood 
 by it among the other nations of Europe. 
 
 M. Don Luis Martin dre^v the volcanos of la 
 Puebla as they appear in a clear day from the 
 Terrace of the School of Mines— ( ^etniriario Real 
 de Mhieriay A justly celebrated artist, who ho- 
 nours me with a particular friendship, M. Gmelin 
 of Rome, was obliging enough to retouch the 
 drawing of M. Martin, and my sketch of the Pic 
 d'Orizaba. The contours were nowise altered, and 
 I have no doubt that the hand uf a great master 
 will easily be perceived in the distribution of shade, 
 as well as in the effect of the chiaroscuro. 
 
 It may be useful to observe, that the volcanos of 
 la Puebla were drawn in the month of January, in 
 a season when the inferior limit of perpetual snow 
 almost descended to the height of the summit of 
 the Peak of TenerifFe, or to 3800 metres of ab- 
 solute elevation *. During my stay at Mexico, I 
 saw such immense falls of snow in the mountains, 
 that the two volcanos were almost united by 
 one band of snow. The maximum f of ele- 
 vation of the region of snow, which I found in the 
 
 * About 10460 feet. Tram. 
 f See book i. chap. ii. 
 
 
 M 
 
 I't n 
 
 :! 
 
CXXIV GKOGRAPIIICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 month of November 1803, was nearly 4.^60 
 metres*. 
 
 The Sierra Nevada, or Iztaccihuatl, is only a 
 few metres higher than Mount Blanc ; but the 
 Popocatepetl surpasses Mount-Blanc 6i5 metresf 
 in height. Besides, the plain which extends from 
 the city of Mexico to the foot of the volcanos is 
 itself more elevated than the summit of Mount- 
 d*Or, and the famous passages of the lesser St. 
 Bernard, Mount Cenis, Simplon, and the ports of 
 Oavarnie and Cavarcre. 
 
 It was between these two volcanos of la Puebla 
 that Cortes passed with his troop and six thou- 
 sand Tlaxaltecs, on his first expedition against 
 the city of Mexico. Duiing this severe march, 
 the valorous Diego Ordaz, to give the natives a 
 proof of his courage, attempted to reach the sum- 
 mit of the Popocatepetl. Though he did not suc- 
 ceed in his undertaking!, the emperor Charles 
 V. gave him permilfion to enter a volcano in his 
 coat of arms. 1 will not now agitate the question 
 which is so often the subject of dispute at Mexico, 
 namely, whether Francisco Montario, after the 
 taking of the capital, in 15,52, drew the sulphur 
 employed in tbe fabrication of powder from the 
 
 * 1-I956feet. Trans. 
 t 2050 feet. Trans. 
 
 X Cartas dc Cortes, p. 313 and 380; Clavigero, III. p. 68, 
 and 16'2, 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cxxv 
 
 crater of Popocatepetl, or from some lateral cre- 
 
 vice. 
 
 II''! 
 
 I 
 
 X. PICTURESQUE VIEW OF THE PIC D'OJUZABA. 
 
 The Pic d'Orizaba, on the po ition of which 
 Mr. Arrowsmith and other geographers have 
 thrown so much confusion in their maps, is as ce- 
 lebrated among navigators as the Pic of TenerifFe, 
 the Silla of Caraccas, the Table Mountain, or the 
 Pic S. Hie. I have drawn it as it appears in the 
 road from Xalappa to the vill ige of Oatept c 
 (Huatepetjue', near the Harro de Santiago. From 
 this station nothing is discovered but the part 
 which is covert'd with perpetual snow. The first 
 plane of my d awing is a thick i'oiest of liquid- 
 ambar styraciflua, melastomes, strawberry trees, 
 and pipers, it is very remarkable that the two 
 largest Mexican volcaiios, the Popocatepetl and 
 the Citlaltepetl, have both the crater incl md to 
 the south-east. Vte find in geneial, that in the 
 equinoxial region of New Spain the mountains 
 decline most rapidly towards the gulf of Mexico, 
 and that tiie ridges of rocks are most frequently 
 directed from the N. W. to the S. E. For the 
 better di:.tincti(/n of active from extinguished vol- 
 canos, I have ventured to add a small column of 
 smoke to tlie drawings of the Pic d'Orizaba and 
 the great volcano of Puebla, though 1 never ob- 
 served any smoke either from Xalappa or Mexico. 
 
CXXVl GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 M. .^ompland and myself saw a mass of ashes and 
 very dense vapours issue from the mouth of the 
 Popocatepetl on the 24th January, 1804, in the 
 plain of Tetimpa, near San Nicholas de los Ran- 
 chos, where we made a geodesical survey of the 
 volcano. The Pic of Orizaba, called also by the 
 Indians Pojauhtecatl or Zeiictepetl^hdid its strong- 
 est eruptions between 1545 and 1566. 
 
 Eight years before my arrival at Mexico M. 
 Ferrer measured the Ctilaltepetl, in taking angles 
 of altitude at a great distance from the summit of 
 the volcano, near I'Encero. He gives it, m ? me- 
 moir inserted in the transactions of the society of 
 Philadelphia, the height of 5450 metres*. My 
 measurement makes it 155 metres t lower. This 
 measurement was taken in a small plain near Xa- 
 lappa, where the angle of elevation of the summit 
 is only 3*^ 43' 48''. However, notwithstanding the 
 extraordinary constancy of refractions in the tro- 
 pics, and notwithstanding all the Care which I took 
 during the whole course of the expedition, I do 
 not entertain the belief that I have been able to 
 ascertain the height of a single American moun- 
 tain, as accurately as the height of several moun- 
 tsuns of Europe were ascertained by the geodesical 
 operations of MM. Tralles, Delambre, Zach and 
 Oriani. It is with these delicate operations, as 
 with the chemical analysis of muierals ; they are 
 
 * 17876 feet. Trans. 
 
 f 508 feet. Tram. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION- CXXVU 
 
 never executed with great precision, but when we 
 enjoy complete tranquillity, and the leisure which 
 a traveller can seldom find in distant climates. 
 
 XT. PLA.\ OF THE PORT OF ACAPULCO. 
 
 The commerce of New Spain has but two open- 
 ings, the ports of Vera Cruz and Acapulco Py 
 the former the commerce is carried on with 
 Europe, the coast of Caraccas, the Havannah, the 
 United ^>tates, and Jamaica. The latter is the 
 cemral point of the Sorth Sea and Asiatic com- 
 merce. It receives the vessels which come 
 from the Paili pirie Islands, Peru, Guayaquil, 
 Panama, and the north-west coast of North Ame- 
 rica. 
 
 It would 1)6 difficult to find two harbours which 
 exhibit so grea^ a contrast. The port of Acapulco 
 appears an immense basin, dug by the hand of 
 man, while the port of Vera Cruz does not even 
 deserve the name of road. It is a disagreeable an- 
 chorage nmong shallows. 
 
 The plan which I now give of the port of Aca- 
 pulco was never published, though many copies of 
 it exist in America. It was taken in 1701, by the 
 officers embarked with Malaspina, in the corvette? 
 Descubierta and Atrevida. I suppose that the 
 drawing was executed in the DeposUo Hydrogrd' 
 jico of Madrid. This drawing agrees very well 
 
 1 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 ■til''' 
 
 'ji 
 
 III! 
 
 I <l 
 
 I: 
 
 I «» 
 
 
 t tv 
 
cxxviii 
 
 GEOGRAPniCx\L INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with anoiher plan of Malaspina, of more than a 
 metre '^ in length, which I examined at Acapulco 
 while I was there in 1 803. 
 
 The longitude Mhich I assign to the port of 
 Acapulco is greater than what is adopted in the 
 Voijage of la Sut'il and iMe.vicana to the Straits of 
 Ftiau But according to a posterior memoir in- 
 serted in the almanack of Cadiz, the astronomers 
 of the Di'poiito IlydrogTaJlco of Madrid now 
 adopt a position for Acapulco much more >yest- 
 ern than mine. It is the same with what my 
 chronometer gave,on reducing Acapulco to Mexico, 
 and neglecting the lunar distances observed on the 
 27th and 28th of March, 1803. 
 
 M. Espinosa found Acapulco west from Paris, 
 by transference of time from the port of San Blast, 
 102° 17' 2i"; by two satellites of Jupiter, observ- 
 
 * 39.371 inches. Trans. 
 
 f It must be remarked, that the longitude of San Bias is 
 only founded on two celestial observations, a satellite com- 
 pared with the tables, and a lunar eclipse. The results of 
 these two observations differ in an arc of 5' 43". The memoir 
 of M. Espinosa affords an instructive example of the extreme 
 prudence requisite in the use of the chronometer, if the chro- 
 nometrical longitudes be not verified by other observations 
 purely celestial. In Malaspina's expedition, four of Arnold's 
 chronometers gave to port Mulgrave, to within 9', the same 
 longitude of Ua' 38' 57"', and yet it has been proved by lunar 
 distances that the true longitude is 142° 0' 27''. The four 
 chrononoeters had all changed their diurnal motion at the same 
 time. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. CXXIX 
 
 cd simultaneously at Greenwich and Paris, 102^ 
 24' lo''''; and by eight satellites compared with the 
 corrected tables, 1 02° 15' kl" ; the mean term of 
 which is 102° 19' 8'''', the longitude adopted by M. 
 Antillon in the analysis of the map of America. 
 There were observed besides during the stay of 
 Malaspina*s expedition at Acapulco, in 1 79 1 » two 
 stellar eclipses, for which there were however no 
 corresponding observations in Europe. Captain 
 Don Juan Tiscar calculated them from the tables 
 of Biirg. He found Acapulco, by the eclipse of 
 the 19th February, 102" 9' 45'^, and by the eclipse 
 of the 15th April, 102° 35' 45". Distances of 
 the moon from the sun, taken the 1 2th February, 
 but calculated by groups, and without correct- 
 ing .the situation of the moon by the observation 
 of a passage to the meridian, gave 102° 24' 37"'. 
 
 Here are a great number of determinations by 
 very different means ! All of them give a longitude 
 sotmxohat more western than the result of my own 
 observations, which I adopted btioie I had any 
 knowledge of the interesting memoir of M Espi- 
 nosa. Stellar eclipses are certainly preferable to 
 every other species of observation, if they are con- 
 ducted under favourable circumstances. But the 
 results of the eclipses of the two stars observed 
 at Acapulco differ from one another, according 
 to the calculation.of M. Tiscar, 26', and according 
 to M. Oltmanns in an arc of 5'. The Spahi?ih 
 astronomers admit a very great error of the tables 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
 Sifes 
 
 .fi.j 
 
 \i 
 
 4i 
 
 
CXXX GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTIONv 
 
 for the first satellite. They make it 35" in time, 
 while M. Oltmanns, on comparing the tables of 
 Delambre with observations from the month of 
 January to the month of May 1791, finds the error 
 of the tables only — T\ 6 for the immersions, and 
 —14" for the emersions. He believes, agreeably 
 to the calculations published 'w the second volume 
 of our collection of astronomical observations, that 
 the true mean term of the observations of Malaspi- 
 na's expedition is 102° 14' 30', and that by merely 
 allowing half the value to our observations, we 
 might fix the longitude of Acapulco at 102° 9' 
 33'' : that is to say, that it would be three minutes 
 and a half further west than is indicated in my 
 map. We ought not to be astonished at these 
 doubts which remain as to the position of a port of 
 the South Sea, when we consider that the bngitude 
 of Amsterdam was uncertain till a few years ago, 
 not for three or four minutes, but the third part of 
 a degree. 
 
 XII. MAP OF THE DIFFERENT ROUTES BY 
 WHICH THE PRECIOUS METALS FLOW FROM 
 ONE CONTINENT INTO THE OTHER. 
 
 The quantity of gold and silver annually sent 
 by the New Continent into Europe amounts to 
 more than nine-tenths of the produce of the 
 wlj^le mines in the known world. The Spanish 
 colonies, for example, furnish annually three mil* 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. CXXXl 
 
 lions and a half of marcs of silver *, while in 
 the whole of the European states, including 
 Asiatic Russia, the total annual produce of the 
 mines scarcely exceeds! the suni of three hundred 
 thousand marcs |. A long stay in Spanish Ame- 
 rica enabled me to procure more exact information 
 with respect to the metallic wealth of Mexico, 
 Peru, New Grenada^ and the viceroyalty of 
 Buenos Ayres, than is to be found in the works 
 of Adam Smith, Robertson, or Raynal. From 
 thence I might naturally have entered into an 
 investigation of the accumulation of the precious 
 metals in the soudi and south-east of Asia ; but a 
 problem so important as this may constitute cie 
 subject of a particular memoir. I have thought 
 proper to exhibit here the principal results of my 
 researches, in a small map sketched at sea in 1 804, 
 on my passage from Philadelphia to France. This 
 map indicates the flux and reflux of the precious 
 metals. We observe in general that they move 
 from west to east ; a motion the reverse of that of 
 the ocean, atmosphere, and the civilization of our 
 species! 
 
 * 2,370,040 Troy pounds. Trans* 
 
 f See, as to the mines of Europe, the excellent statistical 
 table of the produce of mines, annexed to the Memoire general 
 sur les Mines, par M, Heron de VillefossSf p. S40. (Paris 190(^7 
 •hez Fr. SchoelL) 
 
 t 203,130 pounds Troy. Trans, 
 
 K2 
 
 nrm 
 
 
 "I I 
 
 i 
 
 ill 
 
 ■m 
 
eXXXll GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XIIL FIGURES REPRESENTING THE SURFACE 
 OF NEW SPAIN, AND OF ITS INTENDANCIES, 
 THE PROGRESS OF MINING, AND OTHER 
 OBJECTS RELATIVE TO THE EUROPEAN CO- 
 LONIES IN THE TWO INDIES. 
 
 The collected figures in this plate serve to ex- 
 plain what is afterwards said* on the extraordinary 
 disproportion between the extent of the colo- 
 nies and the surface {area) of the European 
 mother countries. The inequality of the territo- 
 rial division of New Spain has been rendered sen- 
 sible in representing the intendandes by squares 
 inscribed above one another. This graphical me- 
 thod is analogous to what M. Playfair first em- 
 ployed, in a very ingenious manner, in his commer- 
 cial and political atlas, and in his statistical maps 
 of Europe. Without attaching much importance 
 to these sketches, I cannot regard them as mere 
 trifles foreign to science. It is true the map which 
 AI. Playfair gives of the national debt of England 
 brings to mind the section of the Pic of TenerifFej 
 but natural philosophers have long indicated by 
 similar figures the state of the barometer and 
 mean temperature of months. It would be ri- 
 diculous to endeavour to express by curves,^ moral 
 ideas, the prosperity of nations, or decay of their 
 
 -^ Chap. i. and chap. viii. 
 
GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. CXXXUl 
 
 literature; but \^hatever relates to extent and 
 quantity may be represented by geometrical figures ; 
 and statistical projections which speak to the senses 
 "without fatiguing the mind, possess the advantage 
 of fixing the attention on a great number of im- 
 portant facts. 
 
CXXXIV GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
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 GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. CXXXVU 
 
 Names of observers and 
 remarks. 
 
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 EASTERN COA.iT OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
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 North point of the Conboy 
 
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 Shallow of Diez Brazas 
 
 Small island to the S. W. of the triangle 
 
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CXXXVUl GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
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GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION. CXXXIX 
 
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 I*! "1 
 
 VOLr I. 
 
POLITICAL ESSAY 
 
 ON THK 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 I ARRIVED at Mexico by the South Sea iti 
 March 1 805, and resided a year in that vast king- 
 dom. I had recently visited the province of Ca- 
 raccas, the banks of the Oronooko, the Rio Negro, 
 New Granada, Quito, and the coast of Peru ; and 
 I could not avoid being ftruck with the contrast 
 between the civilization of New Spain, and the 
 scanty cuhivation of those parts of South America; 
 which had fallen under my notice. This contrast 
 excited me to a particular study of the statisticks 
 of Mexico^ and to an investigation of the causes 
 which have had the greatest influence on the pro- 
 gress of the population and national industry. 
 
 My situation offered me every means for attain** 
 ing this end. No printed work could furnish me 
 
 h a 
 
POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 with materials, but I had at command a great 
 number of manuscript memoirs, of which an active 
 curiosity had spread copies through the most 
 remote parts of the Spanish colonies. I compared 
 the results of my own researches with those con- 
 tained in the official papers which I had many 
 years been collecting. A short, but interesting 
 stay, which I made in 1 804 at Philadelphia and 
 Washington, enabled me also to draw comparisons 
 between the actual ftate of the United States and 
 that of Peru and Mexico. 
 
 Thus my geographical and statistical materials 
 swelled to too great a bulk to admit of entering 
 their results in the historical account of my travels. 
 I flattered myself with the hope that a particular 
 work, under the title of Political Essay on the 
 Kingdom of New Spain, might be received with 
 interest at a time when the new continent more 
 than ever attracts the attention of Europeans. Se- 
 veral copies of the first sketch of this work, which 
 I drew up in Spanish, exist in Mexico, and in the 
 peninsula. Believing that it might be useful to 
 those called to the administration of the colonies, 
 who often, after a long residence, have no precise 
 idea of the state of those beautiful and extensive 
 regions, I communicated my manuscript to all who 
 desired to study it. From these reiterated com- 
 munications I received many important correc- 
 tions. Even the Spanish government honoured 
 
KINGDOM OF NEWS PAIN. S 
 
 my researches with a particular attention; and 
 they have furnished materials for several official 
 papers on the interests of the commerce and ma- 
 nufacturing industry of the colonies. 
 
 The work which I now publish is divided into six 
 grand sections. The first book consists of general 
 considerations on the extent and physical aspect of 
 New Spain. Without entering into any detail of 
 descriptive natural history (a detail reserved for 
 other parts of my work) I have examined the in- 
 fluence of the inequalities of the soil on the cli- 
 mate, agriculture, commerce, and defence of the 
 coasts. The second book treats of the general 
 population and division of the casts. The third 
 presents a particular statistical view of the intend- 
 ancies, their population, and area, calculated from 
 the maps drawn up by me from my asironomical 
 observations. I discuss in the fourth book the 
 state of agriculture, and of the metallic mines; 
 and in the fifth, the progress of manufactures and 
 commerce. The sixth book contains researches 
 into the revenues of the state^ and the military de- 
 fence of the country. 
 
 Notwithstanding the extreme care which I be- 
 stowed in verifying the results, I have no doubt of 
 having committed many very serious errors, which 
 will be pointed out in proportion as my work bhall 
 excite the inhabitants of New Spain to study the 
 state of their country. I rely, however, on the 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 '■'■''' !*» 
 
 if 
 
.4 POLITICAL ESSAY, &©. 
 
 indulgence of those who know the difficulties of 
 researches of this nature, and who have compared 
 together the statistical tables which annually ap- 
 pear in the most civilized countries of Europe. 
 
BOOK 1. 
 
 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE EXTENT AND 
 PHYSICAL ASPECT OF THE KINGDOM OF NEW 
 SPAIN. INFLUENCE OF THE INEQUALITIES OF 
 THE SOIL ON THE CLIMATE, AGRICULTURE, 
 COMMERCE, AND MILITARY DEFENCE OF THE 
 COUNTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Extent of the Spanish possessions in America. Comparison of 
 these possessions with the English colonies , and toith the Asiatic 
 part qf the Russian empire. Denominations of New Spain, 
 and qf Anahuac, Boundary of the empire of the Aztec 
 
 Icings, 
 
 Before entering on a political view of the king- 
 dom of New Spain, it may be of importance to 
 bestow a rapid glance on the extent and popula- 
 tion of the Spanish possessions in the two Ame- 
 ricas. We must generalize our ideas, and consider 
 each colony in its relations with the neighbouring 
 colonies and with the mother country, if we would 
 obtain accurate results, and assign to the country 
 described the place to which it is entitled from its 
 territprial wealth. 
 
 The Spanish possessions of the new continent 
 occupy the immense extent of territory comprised 
 
 m 
 
 ; iii' 
 
POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book I. 
 
 I 
 
 between the 41° 43' of south latitude, and the 
 37° 48' of north latitude. This space of seventy- 
 nine degrees equals not only the length of all 
 Africa, but it even much surpasses the breadth of 
 the Russian empire, which includes about a hun- 
 dred and sixty-seven degrees of longitude, under 
 a parallel of which the degrees are not more than 
 half the degrees of the equator. 
 
 The most southern point of the new continent 
 inhabited by the Spaniards is fort MauUin, near 
 the small village of Carelmapu *, on the coast of 
 Chili, opposite to the northern extremity of the island 
 of C/iiloe, A road is opening from Valdiyia to 
 this fort of Maulim; a bold but useful undertak- 
 ing, as a stormy sea prevents navigators for a great 
 part of the year from landing on so dangerous a 
 coast. On the south and south-east of fort Maul* 
 li?ff in the gulfs of Ancud and Reloticavi, by 
 "which we reach the great lakes of Nahuelhapi and 
 Todos los Santos, there are no Spanish establish- 
 ments ; but we meet with them in the islands 
 near the eastern coast of Chiloe, even in 43° 34' of 
 south latitude, where the island Cay I'm (opposite the 
 lofty summit of the Corcobado) is inhabited by 
 several families of Spanish origin. 
 
 The most northern point of the Spanish colonies 
 is the mission of San Francisco^ on the coast of 
 New California, seven leagues to the north-west of 
 
 * See note A^ at the end of the woxV., 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 Santa Cruz, The Spanish languap,e is thus spread 
 over an extent of more than 1 900 leagues in length. 
 Under the wise administration of Count Florida 
 BUmca^ a regular communication of posts was 
 established from Paraguay to the north-west coast 
 of North America ; and a monk in the mission of 
 the Guaranis Indians can maintain a correspond- 
 ence with another missionary inhabiting New 
 Mexico, or the countries in the neighbourhood of 
 Cape Mendocin^ without their letters ever passing 
 at any great distance from the continent of Spanish 
 America. 
 
 The dominions of the king of Spain in America 
 exceed in extent the vast regions possessed by the 
 Russian empire, or Great Britain, in Asia. I 
 thought, therefore, that a view of these diiFerences 
 and of the striking disproportion between the area 
 and the population of the mother country, com- 
 pared with those of the colonies, could hardly fail 
 to be interesting. To make this disproportion 
 appear still more palpable, I have formed, accord- 
 ing to exact scales, the drawings in the la it plate. 
 A red parallelogram which serves for the base, re- 
 presents the surface of the mother countries ; and 
 a blue parallelogram which reposes on the ba^e, 
 indicates the area of the Spanish and English pos- 
 sessions in America and Asia. These views, simi- 
 lar to those of M. Play fair, have something fear- 
 ful in them, particularly when we fix our eyes on 
 the grand catastrophe represented in the fourth 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 ■1*1 
 
 
 tsi,! f 
 
 Uit 
 
8 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON TIIK [book i. 
 
 figure, of which the memory is still recent among 
 us. This plate alone should suggest important 
 considerations to those who superintend the pros- 
 perity and tranquillity of the colonies. The dread 
 of a future evil is undoubtedly in itself a motive 
 of no great dignity ; but it is a powerful motive of 
 vigilance and activity for great political bodies, as 
 well as for simple individuals. 
 
 The Spanish possessions in America are divided 
 into nine great governments, which may be re- 
 garded as independent of one another. Of these 
 nine governments,, five, viz. the viceroyalties of 
 Fcrii rnd of Nezo Grenada y the capitanias gent" 
 rales oiGuatimala, of Portorico, and of Caraccas, 
 are wholly comprised in the torrid zone ; the four 
 other divisions, viz. the viceroyalties of Alexico 
 and Buenos Ay res, the capitanias generales of 
 Chili and Havannah, including the Floridas, are 
 composed of countries of which a great part is si- 
 tuated without the tropics, that is to say, in the 
 temperate zone. We shall afterwards see that this 
 position alone does not determine the nature of the 
 productions of these fine regions. Tha union of se- 
 veral physical causes, such as the great height of the 
 Cordilleras, their enormous masses, the number of 
 plains, elevated more than from two to three thou- 
 sand metres * above the level of the ocean, give to 
 a part of the ecjuinoxial regions a temperature 
 
 * From 0'56l to 9842 feet. Trans, 
 
«HAP. I.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 adapted to the cultivation of the wheat and fruit 
 trees of Europe. The geographical latitude has 
 small influence on the fertility of a country, where, 
 on the ridge and declivity of the mountains, nature 
 exhibits a union of every climate. 
 
 Among the colonies subject to the king of 
 Spain, Mexico occupies at present the first rank, 
 both on account of its territorial wealth, and on 
 account of its favourable position for commerce 
 with Europe and Asia. We speak here merely of 
 the political value of the count }^, considering it in 
 its actual state of civilization, which is very su- 
 perior to that of the other Spanish possessions. 
 Many branches of agriculture have undoubtedly 
 attained a higher degree of perfection in the pro- 
 vince of Caraccas than in New Spain. The fewer 
 mines a colony has, the more the industry of the 
 inhabitants is turned towards tlie productions of 
 the vegetable kingdom. The fe rtility of the soil 
 is gretiter in the provinces of Cumana, of Nezv 
 Barcelona, a^d Venezuela ; and it is great r on 
 thje brinks of the lower Orinoco, and in the 
 northern part of New Grenada, than in the king- 
 dom of Mexico, of which several regions are bar- 
 ren, destitute of water, and incapablf of vegetation. 
 But on considering the greatness of the pc mlation 
 of Mexico, the number of considerable cities in 
 the proximity of one another, the enormous value 
 of the metallic produce, and its influence on the 
 {Eommerce of Europe and Asia j in short, on ex- 
 
 « 
 
 ■|!i-,':s 
 
 i-i 
 
 ■| 
 
 
 lH^ 
 
 if 
 
 
r 
 
 10 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book t. 
 
 amining the imperfect state of cultivation observ- 
 able in the rest of Spanish America we are tempted 
 to justify the preference which the court of Madrid 
 has long manifested for Mexico above its other 
 colonies. 
 
 Thede nomination of New Spain designates, in 
 general, the vast extent of country over which 
 the viceroy of Mexico exercises his power. Using 
 the word in this sense, we are to consider as 
 northern and southern limits the parallels of the 
 S8th and 10th degrees of latitude. But the cap- 
 tain-general of Guatimala, considered as admi- 
 nistrator, depends very little on the viceroy of New 
 Spain. The kingdom of Guatimala contains, 
 according to its political division, the governments 
 of Costa Rica and of Nicaragua. It is conter- 
 minous with the kingdom of New Grenada, to 
 which Darien and the isthmus of Panama belong. 
 Whenever in the course of this work we use the 
 denominations of New Spain and Me.vico, we 
 exclude the captania-general of Guatimala^ a 
 country extremely fertile, well peopled, compared 
 with the rest of the Spanish possessions, and so 
 much the better cultivated as the soil, convulsed 
 by volcanos, contains almost no metallic mines. 
 We consider the inter. dancies of AJerida and 
 Vaxaca as the most southern, and at the same time 
 the most eastern parts of New Spain. The con- 
 fines which separate Mexico from the kingdom of 
 Guatimala are washed by the Great Ocean to the 
 
« )' 
 
 CHAP. I.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 11 
 
 cast of the port of Tehuantepecy near la Barra de 
 Tonala, They terminate on the shore of the 
 Atlantic, near the bay of Honduras. 
 
 The name of New Spain was at first only given 
 in the year 15 1 8 to the province of Yucatan , wliere 
 the companions in arms of Grijalva were astonished 
 at the cultivation of the fields and the beauty of 
 the Indian edifices. Cortez^ in his first letter 
 to the emperor Charles V. in 1520, employs the 
 denomination of New Spain for the whole empire of 
 Montezuma. This empire, if we may believe Solis, 
 extended from Panama to Nezv California. But 
 we learn from the diligent researches of a Mexican 
 historian, the abbe Clavigero*, that Montezuma 
 the sultan of Tenochtitlan had a much smaller 
 extent of country under his dominion. His 
 kingdom was bounded towards the eastern coast 
 by the rivers of Guasacualco and Tuspan^ and 
 towards the western coast by the plains of Soc * 
 nuscOy and the port o( Zacatula, On looking into 
 my general map of New Spain, divided into in- 
 tendancies, it will be found, that according to these 
 limits, the empire of Montezuma included only 
 the intendancies of Ftra Cruz, Oaxaca, la Puebla^ 
 Mexico, and Valtadolid. I think its area may be 
 estimated at 15,000 square leagues. 
 
 Towards the beginning of tiie Kith century, the 
 
 * Dissertazione topra i cnufm di ^nahuac. See Sloria antka 
 id Mesnico. T. IV. p. 'i05. 
 
 'Mf 
 
 
 <% «: 
 
 4 
 
 W 
 
12 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book f. 
 
 river oi Santiago separated the agricultural nations 
 of Mexico and Mechoacan from the barbarous 
 and pastora? hordes called Otomites and Ci- 
 citnecs. These savages frequently carried their 
 incursions as far as I'ula, a town situated near the 
 northern bank of the valley of Tenochtitlan. They 
 occupied the plains of Zelaya and Salamanca^ now 
 admired for their fine cultivation, and the multitude 
 of farms scattered over their surface. 
 
 Neither should the denomination of Anahuac 
 be confounded with that of Nezv Spain, Before 
 the conquest all the country between the 14th 
 and i^lst degrees of latitude was included under 
 the name of Anahuac. Besides the Aztec em- 
 pire of Montezuma, the small republics of Tlax^ 
 callan and CholoUan^ the kingdoms of Tezcuco (or 
 Acolhoacan) and Mechuacan, which comprised 
 part of the intendancy of Valladolid, belonged to 
 the ancient Anahuac. 
 
 Even the name Mexico is of Indian origin. It 
 signifies in the A:^tec language the habitation 
 of the God of war, called Mexitli or Huitzilo- 
 pochtli. It appears, however, that before the 
 year 1530 the city was more commonly called 
 Tenochtitlan than Mexico. Cortez'^y who had 
 mr.de very little progress in the language of the 
 country, called the capital, through corruption. 
 
 * Historia de Nueva Espana, por Lorenzaua (Mexico, 1770* 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 13 
 
 Temixtitmi, These etymological observations will 
 not be found too minute in a work which treats 
 exclasively of the kingdom of Mexico. The auda- 
 cious man who overturned the Aztec monarchy 
 considered this kingdom sufficiently extensive to 
 advise* Charles V. to unite the title of emperor of 
 New Spain to that of Roman emperor. 
 
 We are tempted to compare together the extent 
 and j^opulation of Mexico, and that of two empires 
 with which this fine colony is in relations of union 
 and rivalry. Spain is five times smaller than 
 Mexico. Should no unforeseen misfortunes occur, 
 we may reckon that in less than a century the 
 population of New Spain will equal that of the 
 mother country. The United States of North 
 America since the cession of Louisiana, and since 
 they recognize no other boundary than the Rio- 
 Bravo del Norte, contain 240,000 square leagues. 
 Their population is not much greater than that of 
 Mexico, as we shall afterwards see on examining 
 carefully the population and the area of New 
 Spain. 
 
 If the political force of two states depended solely 
 on the space which they occupy on the globe, and 
 
 i^...,! 
 
 i 
 
 
 ■* Cortez says, in his first letter, dated from Villa .Segura 
 de la Frontera, the 30th October, 1520 : •' Las cosas de esta 
 iv, ra son tantas y tales que Vuestra Alteza se puede entituKir 
 ^ nuevo Emperador de ella, y con titulo y non nuMH^* nicrito, 
 ^ueel de Alemana, que por lagracia de Dios, Vuegira Sacra 
 Magestad possee." (Lorenzaua, p. 38.) 
 
 lis 
 
14 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book t. 
 
 on the number of their inhabitants ; if the nature 
 of the soil, the configuration of the coast ; and if 
 the climate, the energy of the nation, and above 
 all the degree of perfection of its social institutions, 
 were not the principal elements of this grand dy- 
 namical calculation, the kingdom of New Spain 
 might, at present, be placed in opposition to the 
 conisderation of the American republics. Both 
 labour under the inconvenience of an unequally 
 distributed population ; but that of the United 
 States, th^gh in a soil and climate less favoured 
 by nature, augments with an infinitely greater 
 rapidity. Neither does it comprehend, like the 
 Mexican population, nearly two millions and a 
 half of aborigines. These Indians, degraded by 
 the despotism of the ancient Aztec sovereigns, 
 and by the vexations of the first conquerors, 
 though protected by the Spanish laws, wise and 
 humane in general, enjoy very little, however, of 
 this protection, from the great distance of the 
 supreme authority. The kingdom of New Spain 
 has one decided advantage over the "United States. 
 The number of slaves there, either Africans or of 
 mixed race, is almost nothing ; an advantage which 
 the European colonists have only begun rightly to 
 appretiate ^ince the tragical events of the revolution 
 of St. Domingo. So true it is, that the Tear of 
 physical evils acts more powerfully than moral 
 con-iderations on the true interests of society, or 
 the principles of philanthropy and of justice, so 
 
 VOL. 
 
CHAP. I.] 
 
 KlNGDOxM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 15 
 
 often the tlieme of the parliament, the constituent 
 assembly, and the works of the philofjophers. 
 
 The number f African slaves in the United States 
 amounts to more than a million, and constitute 
 a oixt • part of t'.e whole popu ation. 1 he so^ thern 
 states whose influence is increased since the ac^ 
 qiil'^ition of Louisiana', very inconsiderately increase 
 the annual importation of these negroes it is not 
 yet in the power of C(^ngress, nor the chief of the 
 confederation (a magistrate* whose name is dear 
 to the truo friends of humanity), to opp' se this 
 augmentation, and to spare Ky that means much 
 distress to the generations to come. 
 
 ' i 
 
 * The present president, Mr. Thomas Jefferson, author of 
 the excellent Essay on Virginia. . •' : . 
 
 J> i!) 
 
 VOL. I, 
 
 M 
 
 M 
 
 *'! ^' 
 
 »"*i 
 
 \m 
 
 '%% *: 
 
 \M 
 
 • i 
 
16 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE C»«>o« »' 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cot^guration of the coast.-^Points where the two seat are haat 
 distant from one another.—^enerat considerations on the pos* 
 »bility of uniting the South Sea and Atlantic Ocean.'-^liivert 
 of Peace and Tacoutche^Tesse.^-Sources of the Rio Bravo 
 and Rio Colorado.'-^Isthmus if Teh uantepec,-^ Lake qf Nica* 
 rc^ua.^^hthmus of Panama.'^ Baif of Cup%ca.'-*Canal of 
 Choco,r—Rui Guattaga. — Gu(f of St. George. 
 
 The kingdom of New Spain, the most northern 
 part of all Spanish Am rica, extends from the Kith 
 to the 38th degree of latitude. The length of 
 this vast region in the direction of S.S.E. to N.N. 
 \V. is nearly 270 myriametrcs (or 610 common 
 leagues; ; its greatest breadth is under the parallel 
 of the 30th degree. From the Red River of the 
 province of Te.vas (Rio-Colorado) to the isle of 
 Tiburoriy on the coast of the intendancy of Sonora^ 
 the breadth from east to west is 160 myriametres 
 (or 364 leagues). 
 
 The part of Mexico in which the two oceans, 
 the Atlantic and the South-Sea, approach the 
 nearest to one another, is unfortunately not that 
 part which contains the two ports of Acapulco 
 and Vera Cruz, and the capital of Mexico. There 
 are, according to my astronomical observations, 
 from Acapuko to Mexico an oblique distance of 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 17 
 
 2" 4(y IfV', (or 1..55S8.5 toise.*j } from Mexico to 
 Vera Cruz r 57' 9^ (or 1,58574 toises|); and 
 from the port of Acapulco to the port of Vera 
 Cruz, in a direct line, 4° 10' T* It is in these 
 distances that the old maps are most faulty. From 
 the observations published by M, de Casaini, in 
 the account of the voyage of Chappe, the distance 
 from Mexico to Vera Cruz appears 5° !(/ of 
 longitude, instead of T 5'/^ the real distance 
 between these two ^reat cities. In adopting for 
 Vera Cruz the longitude given by Chappe, ; nd 
 for Acapuko that of the map of the Dcpdt drawn 
 up in 1784^ the breadth of the Mexican isthmus 
 betwixt the two ports would be 175 leagues, 
 75 leagues beyonii the truth. 
 
 The isthmus of Tehuantepec, to the S E. of the 
 port of Fera Cruz, is the point of New Spain in 
 which the continent is narrowest. From the At- 
 lantic Ocean to the South-Sea the distance is 45 
 leagues. The approximation of the sources of 
 the rivers H uaaacualco and Chimalapa s ems to 
 favour the project of a canal for interior naviga- 
 tion ; a project with which the Count of Revilla- 
 gigedo, one of the most zealous viceroys for the 
 public good, has been for a long time occupied. 
 When we come to spe.^k of the intendancy of 
 Oaxaca, we shall return to this object, so important 
 to all civilized Europe. W^e mu^t confine our- 
 
 * 997664 feet. Trans, f 1014860 feet. Tran$. 
 
 M 2 
 
 ft 
 
 :>• N 
 
 '^^■i 
 
 
 
 -I 
 
 % i 
 
 ■?i';:^i 
 
 Vl'' 
 
 m 
 
 
 
18 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 selves here to the problem of the cornmtmcathn 
 betzceen the nvo set/s, in all the generality of which 
 it is susceptible. We shall present in one view 
 nine points, several of which are not sufficiently 
 known in Europe, and all offer a greater or less 
 probability either of canal > or interior river com- 
 munications. At a time when the New Continent, 
 profiting by the misfortunes and perpetual dissen- 
 tions of Europe, advances rapidly towards civil- 
 iz tion ; and when the commerce of China, and 
 the north-west coast of America, becomes yearly of 
 greater importance, the subject which wc here 
 summarily discuss is of the greatest interest for 
 the balance of commerce*, and the political pre- 
 ponderancy of nations. 
 
 1 hese nine points, which at different times have 
 fixed the attention of statesmen and merchants in 
 the colonies, present very different advantages. 
 We shall range them according to their geogra- 
 phical position, beginning with the most northern 
 part (if the New Continent, and following the 
 coasts to the south of the island of Chiloe. It can 
 only be after having examined ail the projects 
 hitherto formed for the communication of the two 
 seas, that the government can decide which of 
 
 * It may b« necessary to inform the reader, that he is in- 
 debted for this term, at present in some sort of disrepute from 
 the proscription of political economists, however much the 
 idea may still haunt the wise heads of our commercial men, to 
 the author and not to me. Trails, 
 
CHAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 ly 
 
 then merits the preference. Before this examina- 
 tion, exact materials for which are not yi^t col- 
 lected, it would be imprudent to cut canals in the 
 isthmuses oi Guaaacuittco or (^(oiama. 
 
 1. Under the J4* 3^ of north latitude, in the 
 parallel of Queen Charlotte* s Island^ the sources 
 of the river of Peace, or Ouniiiiga/f, approach to 
 within seven leagues of the .sources of the Tucoutclte 
 Tesse, supposed the same with ihe river otColamh/a. 
 The first of t! ese rivers discharges itself into the 
 Nor hern Ocean, alter having mingled its waters 
 with those of the Slave Lul>e, and the river 
 IVlackenzi^'. The second river, Colombia, enters the 
 Pacific Ovea^i, near Cape rj'isjpp'dinmcnt, to the 
 south of Nootka Sound, according to i he celebrated 
 voyag r V ncouver, under the 46" i9 of latitude. 
 The CordilKra, r>r chain of the slony moutiiahtfi, 
 abou.wling i.i coal, was found I y M. t'iedter to 
 be clevacedin some placis ;;5i0 English feet*, or 
 550 toises above the neighbouring plains. It se- 
 
 * If it be trie that this cham of mountains enters the region 
 ,of per;.etual snow (Mackenzie, vol. Jil p Jo I), their a/Mo/w/e 
 lieight should be at least Irom IQtX) to i iOv> loiaes (from jiQQ 
 to ,040 English feet); trom whence it would fc^liow, either 
 that the neighbouring plains, (n wliich M. Fiedler was ta- 
 tioned to euablish his measurements, are eh vatcd from -jSO 
 to 550 toises above the levtl of the sea, or that the summits, of 
 which this traveller indicates the height, are not the most 
 elevated of the. chaia crossed by Mackenzie. 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 1. 
 
 \':^4 
 
 ii 
 

 ^ \^ ^ 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-S) 
 
 &c 
 
 
 K<^ 
 
 
 •^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 4^ 
 
 1.0 
 
 1.1 
 
 11.25 
 
 ltt|21 125 
 mm fn2 
 iM 12.0 
 
 lit 
 
 
 PhotDgraphic 
 
 Sdmces 
 
 Corporation 
 
 ^ 
 
 H>^ 
 
 i\ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 >^"°^^<^' ^ 
 
 ^.V^ 
 
 23 WIST ((IAIN STRin 
 
 Wf\:i;frBR,N.Y. MSM 
 i;?!*) i72-4S03 
 

20 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE Lbook i. 
 
 parates the sources of the rivers of Peace and 
 Colombii. According to Mackenzie's account, 
 viho passed this Cordillera in the month of August, 
 1 TQ'^y it is practicable enough for carririges, and 
 the mountains appear of no very gnat elevation. 
 To avoid the great winding of the Colombia, 
 another communication still shorter might be 
 opened from the soujxes of the Tacoutche T^sse 
 to the Salmon river, the mouth of which is to the 
 east of the Princess Rot/al Island^, in the 52° 26' 
 of latitude. Mackenzie rightly observes, that the 
 government vhich should open this communica- 
 tion between the two oceans, by forming regular 
 establishments in the interior of the country, and 
 at the extremities of the rivers, would get posses- 
 sion of the whole fur trade of North America, 
 from the 48* of latitude to the pole, excepting ^ 
 part of the coast which has been long included in 
 Russian America. Canada, from the multitude 
 and course of its rivers, pre'^ents facilities tor in- 
 ternal commerce similar to those of Oritntat Hi" 
 beria. The mouth of the river Colombia seems 
 to invite Europeans to found a fine c olony there ; 
 f< r its banks afford fertih- land in abundance co- 
 vered with superi) timber It mi. st be allowed, 
 however, tl.at notwithstanding the (xamintition 
 by Mr. Broughton, we still know but a very small 
 part of Colombia^ which, likr the Severn and the 
 T names, appears of a disproportionate contraction 
 
CRAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SP^IN. 
 
 SI 
 
 as it leaves tlie coast. Every geographer who care- 
 fully compares Mackenzie's maps with Vancouve. 's, 
 will be astonished that the Cubmbm in descend- 
 ing from these atony mountuinfi^ which we cannot 
 help considering as a prolongation of the .-iiides 
 of Mexico, should ti averse the chain of moun- 
 tains wh c^ approach ihe shore of the Great Ocean, 
 whose principal summits are Mount St. IJden znd 
 Mount Rainier, But M. A/aite- Brun hus istart* 
 ed important doubts concerning the identity of 
 the Tacoutche Tesse and the Rio Colombia, He 
 cvtn presumes th it the former discharges itself 
 into the gulf o^ California *-, a bold supposition, 
 which would give to the Tacoutche Jesse a course 
 of an enormous length. It must be allowed that 
 all that part of the west of Nortk America is still 
 but very imperfectly known. 
 
 Jn the dif of latitude, the Nelson river, the 
 Saskashazvan, and the Missouryy which may be 
 regarded as one of the principal branches of the 
 Mississippi^ futni^h equal facilities of communi- 
 cation with the Pacific Ocean. All these rivers 
 take their rise at the foot of the Stony Mountains, 
 But we ha\e not yet sufficient acquaintance with 
 the nature of the ground through which the coin* 
 munication is proposed to bi established, to pro* 
 nounce upon the utility of these projects. 1 he 
 journey of Captain Lewis, at the e3i|)enie of the 
 
 m 
 
 
 %4. 
 
 ltd 
 
 • Geogr. MAthtm. toL XV. p. 117< 
 
m 
 
 •POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 Anglo-American gov rninent, on the N^issisippi 
 and the Missoury, nia thro ^ considerable: li^ht 
 on this interesting poblem. 
 .2. Under the 'U° c/f liititudc, the sources of 
 the liio (h'i >\<r/\ or nio / /<«. , a C( nsider<ibie 
 river which Howsiiiro ihe culf of iviexicD, .re .nly 
 separated from ihe sources (J he ti o < f/o , ,/> by 
 a niouiiiainous tract of frou) twelve o thirteen 
 leaj^: es o[ breadth, "i Im tj act i-> the c nrinuation 
 ct the Cotii.Ua'ci of the t 'V//. , which sr etche^ 
 ♦ towards the Sn rr(f l'tr<:' an i the lak. of JiifipOf 
 vogos, celebrated in the Mexican history. The 
 Rio 6'. il.jniLl and the Uio S, Xiixicr ae the prin- 
 cipal souices of the river / ai^i'tinaiKi'S^ which, with 
 the Rio uc Na/j(fjoii^ forms the Rio C< iuru.:'o , the 
 latter has its emhuchurt in t'»e gulf of Califuinia. 
 These regions, abounding in ro( k sa!t, were ex- 
 latnined in 17/7 by two travellers full of zeal and 
 intrepidity, monks of the order ot' St. Fraucis, Fa- 
 ther Eacalante and Father Aiaonio Vdtz. But 
 however interesting the Rio Za^uanauaa and the 
 Rio del Norte may one day become for the internal 
 commerce of this northern part of iNew Spa n, and 
 however easy the carriage may be across the moun- 
 tains, no conununication will ever result from it 
 comparable to that opened directly from sea to 
 
 jea. 
 
 , «17 -'It 
 
 ^v.- ; ^n' ihitid ia4':r 
 
 ;"i>OU 
 
 S. The isthmus of Tehufintepec comprises, un- 
 der the i6° of latitude, the sources of the Rio 
 Huasacualco^ ^hich is discharged into the gulf of 
 
CHAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 23 
 
 Mexico, and the sources of the Rio de Chlmalapa* 
 The waters of this last river mix with those of the 
 Pacific Ocean near the Barm de ^V. Fran isco. 
 I consider here the Rio del Passo as the principal 
 source of the river HuasacuaLoy ahhough the 
 latter only takes its name at the Passo de la Fa- 
 bricu, after one of its arms, which comes troin 
 the mountains de los Mt.rcs^ imites with the Rio 
 ■ del' Passo. We shall examine afterwards the pos- 
 sibility of cutting a caiial, (;f from six to seven 
 leagues, in the fo; sts of Tanfa. We shall merely 
 observe litre, t' ar since, in iTQ"^', a road has been 
 opened which k<iJs by land from the port of /r- 
 hiia/if peCy to Lhe Kinharcadvro de la Cruz (a road 
 completed in : SO^O J ^^^ ^'^ Huasacualco forms, 
 in realii.y, a commercial communication between 
 the two oceans. During the cour>e of \ he war with 
 the Englisii, the indigo of GuatuniUi, the most 
 precious of all known indigos, came by ti e way 
 of ti)is isthmus to the port cf I era Cruz, and 
 from thence to Europe. 
 
 . , 4. The great lake of Nicaragua communi- 
 cates not only with the lake of Leon^ but also on 
 the east, by the river of San Juan^ with the sea of 
 the Aui /V/t'.v. The communication with the P..cific 
 Ocean would be efftxted in cutting a canal ;icros8 
 the isthmus which separates the lake from the gulf 
 of Papagai/o, On this strait isthmus are to be 
 found the volcanic and isolated summits of Bom- 
 bacho {zt 1 1'* 7' of latitude), of Gyengi^ia, and pf 
 
 i 
 
 II 
 
 n 
 
 
24 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 the Papagayo (at 10" 50' of latitude). '1 he old 
 maps point out a communication by water as exist- 
 ing across the isthmus from the lake to the Great 
 Occ:an. Other maps, somewhat newer, represent a 
 ri.er under the name of Rio Partido^ which gives 
 one of its branches to the Pacific Ocean, and the 
 other to the lake of Nicaragua ; but this divided 
 stream does not appear en the last maps published 
 by the Spaniards and English. 
 
 '\ here are in the ai chives of NTarlrid several 
 French and English memoirs*, on ti e possibility 
 of he j'inction of the lake of Nicaragui with the 
 Pacific Ocean. The commerce carried on by the 
 English on the coast of Mosquitua hus greatly 
 contributed to give celebrity to this project of 
 communication between the two seas. In none of 
 the memoirs which have come to my knowledge is 
 the principal point, the height of the ground in 
 the isthmus, sufficiently cleared up. 
 
 From the kingdom of New Grenada to the en- 
 vircns of the capital of Mexico, there is not a sin- 
 gle mountain, a single level, a single city, of which 
 ue know the elevation above the level of the sea. 
 Does there exist an uninterrupted chain of moun> 
 tains in the provinces of Veragua and Nicaragua f 
 
 * Memoire snr le pasiage de la mer du Sud a la mer du 
 Nord, par M. la Bastide, en 179I. Voyage de Marcband, 
 vol. i. p. 5b5. Mapa del Golfo de Mexico por Thomai Lope« 
 y Juan de la Cvca, 1755. 
 
CHAP. IT.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 25 
 
 Has this cordillera^ which is supposed to unite 
 the Alt Jes of Peru to the mountains of Mexico, its 
 central chain to the west or the east of the lake of 
 Nicaragua ? Would not the isthmus of Papagayo 
 rather present a h Uy tract than a continued Cor- 
 dillera? These are problems whose solution is 
 equally interesting to the statesman and the geo- 
 graphical naturalist ! 
 
 There is no spot on the globe so full of volcanos 
 as t-h:s part of America, from the 1 r or id" of 
 latitude \ but do not these conical summits form 
 groupes which, separately from one another, rise 
 from the plain itself? We ought not to be as- 
 tonished that we are ignorant of these very im- 
 portant facts ; we shall soon see thac even the 
 height of the mountains which traverse the isthmus 
 of Panama is not yet known. Perhaps the com- 
 munication of the take of Nicaragua with the 
 Pacific Ocean could be carried on by the lake of 
 Leon^ by means of the river To.sta, which, on th6 
 road from Leon to Realeao^ descends from the 
 ▼olcano of Telica, Jn fact, the ground appears 
 there very little elevated. The account of the 
 voyage of Dampier leads us even to suppose that 
 there exists no chain of nv unlains between the 
 lake of Nicaragua and the South Sea. *' The coast 
 of >^ico}a," sa' s this g eat navigator, ^' is low, 
 and covered at full tid-. To arrive frrm Realexo 
 to Leon, we must go twenty miles across a coun- 
 try flat and covered with mangle trees." The 
 
 I 
 
 ill 
 
 i ':<>. \ 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 r 
 
 I'll" 
 
 
lil * 
 
 26 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 city of Leon itself is situated in a savanna. There 
 is a small river which, passing near Rea'.exo, might 
 facilitate the communication between the latter port 
 and that of Leon *. From the west bank of the 
 lake of Nicaragua there are only four marine 
 leagues to the bottom of the gulf of PapogayOy 
 and seven to that of Nicoya^ which navigacor^s 
 call la Calo'cra. Dampier says expressly that the 
 ground between la Caldera and tlie lake is a little 
 hilly, but for the greatest part level and like a 
 savanna. 
 
 - The coast of Nicaragua is almost inaccessible 
 in the months of August, September and October, 
 on account of the terrible storms and rains j in 
 January and February, on account of the fu- 
 rious north-east and east-jiorth-east winds called 
 Papagayos, 'Jhis circumstance is exceedingly 
 inconvenient for navigation. The port of TC" 
 huantepec^ on tie \s\hmu% oi Guasacualcoy is not 
 more favoured by nature ; it gives its name to the 
 hurricanes which blow from the north-wet, and 
 which frighten ve.^.^els from landing at the small 
 ports of Sabina.s 2ind rejjtoaa, < •» ^ -,' . *. 
 
 6. The isthmua of Famima was crossed for the 
 first time by Vasco Nuikz de Balboa, in 15 iS. 
 Since this memorable epocha in the history pf 
 geographical discoveries, the project of a canal hp5 
 
 >l I'l ». >\ f T . 
 
 i^V . l:U I'nt t r -f \>i .vfii- :f; 
 
 * Collection of Dampier's and Wafer's voyages, vol. i. p. 
 
CHAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 27 
 
 decupled every mind ; and yet at this day, after 
 the lapse of 300 years, there neither exists a sur- 
 vey of the ground, nor an exact determination of 
 the positions of Pamtma and Portohdb, The 
 longitude of the first of these two ports has been 
 found with relation to Carthagena ; the longitude 
 of the second has been fixed from Guayaquil. 
 The operations of FiJalgo and Alalaspina are 
 undoubtedly deserving of very great confidence ; 
 but errors are insensibly multiplied, when by chro- 
 nometrical operations from the isle of Trinidad 
 to Poriobello, and from Lima to Panama^ one 
 position becomes dependant on another. It would 
 be important to carry the time directly from Pa^ 
 nama to Portobello, and thus to connect the ope- 
 rations in the South Sea with those which the 
 Spanish government has carried on in the Atlantic 
 Ocean. Perhaps MM. Fidaigo, Tiscar, and No' 
 guera, may one day advance with their instru- 
 ments to the southern coast of the istlimus, while 
 MM. Colmenares, Irasvirivil/, and Quartara, 
 shall carry their operations * to the northei n coast. 
 To form an idea of the imcertainty which still 
 
 ; ^4. 1 i. '%. ^^^ 
 
 - * These officers of the Spanish marine were charged with 
 •urveying the northern and western coasts of South America, 
 The expedition of Fidalgo was destined for the coast situated 
 between the islt of Tniuiad and Portohtllo, the expedition of 
 Culmenares for the coast of C/iili, and the expedition of Moru' 
 Itda and Quartara for the part between Guayaquil and 
 
 ilMl 
 
 I 
 
n 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [»ook i. 
 
 prevails as to the form and breadth of the isthmus 
 (for example towards Nata)^ we have only to 
 compare the maps of Lopez with those of Arrow- 
 smith, and with the more recent ones of the Di- 
 posito Hydrogrujico of Madrid. The river Cha- 
 gre^ which flows into the sea of the Antilles to 
 the west of PortobcUo^ presents, notwithstanding 
 its sinuosities and its rapids, great facility for com- 
 merce \ its breadth is JliJO toises at its mouth, and 
 20 toises near Cruccsy where it begins to be na- 
 vigable. It requires four or five days at present 
 to ascend the Hio Chagre from its mouth to 
 Cruces, If the waters are very high, the current 
 must be struggled with for ten or twelve days. 
 From Cruces to Panama merchandizes are trans- 
 ported on the backs of mules, for a space of five 
 small leagues. The barometrical heights related 
 in the travels of UUoa * lead me to suppose that 
 there exists in the Uio Chagre^ from the sea of the 
 Andlles to the EmbarcaJcrOy or rent a dt Cruces, 
 a difference of level of from 35 to 40 toises. 'i his 
 must appear a very small difTerence to those wlio 
 have ascended the Rio Chagre; they forget that the 
 force of the current depends as much on a gieat 
 accumulation of water near the sources, as on the 
 general descent of the river ; that is to say, of 
 the descent of the Rio Chagre above Cruces, 
 On comparing the barometrical survey of Ulloa 
 
 Observations astrooocQiqum d'UUoa, p. 97* 
 
I< 
 
 CHAP. It.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 99 
 
 with that made by myself in the river of Mag' 
 deUrii we perceive that the elevation of Graces 
 above the ocean, far from being small, it, on 
 the contrary, very considerable. The fall of the 
 Riodc la Madelena from Honda to the dyke of 
 Ala hates J near Barrancas^ is nearly Wo toises* j 
 and this distance nevertheless is no" as we might ^ 
 suppose four times, but eight timers, greater than 
 that of Cruces at thejhrt of Chagrc, 
 
 The engineers in proposing to the court of 
 Madrid that the river Cfiagre should serve for 
 establishing a communication between the two 
 oceans, have projected a canal from the venia dc 
 Cruces to Panama, This canal would have to 
 pass through a hilly tract, of the height of which 
 we are completely ignorant. We only know 
 that, from Cruces, the ascent is at first rapid, and 
 that there is thin a descent for several hours to- 
 wards the South Sea. It is very astonishing, that 
 in crossing the isthmus neither La Condamine nor 
 Don George Juan and L'Uua had the curiosity to 
 observe their barometer, for the sake of inform- 
 ing us what is the height of the most elevated 
 point on the route of the casde of Chagre at 
 Panama. These ill ustrious savans sojourned three 
 months in that interesting region for the commer- 
 cial world ; but their stay has added little to the 
 old observations which we owe to Dampkr and 
 to fVq/er, However, it appears beyond a doubt 
 
 * 1088 feet. Trans. 
 
 Hi 
 
 ^ 
 
 m' 
 
 1 
 
50 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 t I 
 
 that we find the principal Cortlillern, or rathtr a 
 range of hills that may be regarded as a pro- 
 longation of the Amies of Vcrr Grenada^ towards 
 the South Sea, between Criues and Panmnn, It 
 is from thence that the two oceans are said to be 
 discernible at the same time, which would only 
 require an absolute height of 290 metre;* *. 
 However, Liontl IVajcr complains that he could 
 not enjoy this interesting spectacle. He assures 
 us^ moreover, that the hills which form the central 
 chain are separated from one a*. '.other by vallies 
 which allow /r^fe course for passage of the ri- 
 vers t- If this last assertion be founded, we might 
 believe in the possibility of a canal from Cruets to 
 Panama^ of which the navigation would or.ly be 
 interrupted by a very few locks. 
 
 There ai^e other points where, according to me- 
 moirs drawn up in 1528, the isthmus has been- 
 proposed to be cut, for example in joining the 
 sources of the rivers called Caimlto and Rio 
 GrandCi with the Rio Trimdad. The eastern part 
 of the isthmus is the narrowest, but the ground 
 appears to be also most elevated there. This is at 
 least what has been remarked in the frightful road 
 travelled by the courier from Portobello to Panama,. 
 
 Li J i' 
 
 iMt.T 
 
 * (J47 English feet. Trans. ' ' 
 
 •j- Description of the isthmus of America, 17 29, p» 2^7* 
 Near the town of Panama, a little to the north of the port, is 
 the mountain oi UAncon, which, according to a geometrical 
 measurement, is 101 toises (046 feet) in height. UUoa, vol. i. 
 p. 101. 
 
1 
 
 CHAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 3\ 
 
 a two days journey, which goes by the \illage of 
 Pequeniy and is full of the greatest difficulties. 
 
 In everv age and climate, of two neighbouring 
 seas, the one has been considered as more elevated 
 than the other. Traces of this vulgar opinion are 
 to be found among the ancients. Stvabo relates, 
 that in his time the gulf of Corinth near Lechaeum 
 was believed to b< above the level of the sea of 
 Cenchreae. He is of opinion* that it would be 
 very dangerous to cu: the isthmus of the Pelopo- - 
 nesus in the place where the Corinthians, by means 
 of particular machines, had established a portage. 
 In America, the South Sea is generally supposed to 
 be higher at the isthmus of Panama than the At- 
 lantic ocean. After a struggle of several days 
 against the current of the Rio Chagre, we naturally 
 believe the ascent to be greater than the descent 
 from the hills near Cruces to Panama. Nothing, 
 in fact, can be more treacherous than the estimates 
 which we are apt to form of the diflference of level 
 on a long and easy descent. I could hardly believe 
 my own eyes at Peru, when I found, by means 
 of a barometrical measurement, that the city of 
 Lima was 91 toisesf higher than the po;t of Cal- 
 lao. An earthquake must cover entirely the rock 
 of the isle San Lorenzo witli water befoie the 
 
 I 
 
 ill 
 
 I 
 
 Vi 
 
 * Strabo, lib. i. ed. Siebenkees, v. I. p. 146. Livivs, lib. 
 42. cap. 16. 
 
 + 582 feet. Trant, 
 
 voL« I. ir 
 
 v\ 
 
 w\ 
 
32 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i, 
 
 ocean can reach the capital of Peru. The idea of 
 a difference of level bttween the Atlantic and 
 South Sea has been combated by Don (Jtorge 
 Juan, who found the he ght of the column of 
 mercury the same at the mouth of the Chagrc and 
 at Panama. 
 
 The imperfect'on of the meteorological instru- 
 ments then in uae, and the m ant of every sort of 
 thermometiical correction of the calculation of 
 heiglits, might also gi\e rise to floubts. These 
 doubts h.ive acquired additional foree since the 
 French engine ers, in the expedition to Egypt, 
 found the lied Sea six toises * higher than the 
 Mediterranean, Till a geometrical survey l)e ex- 
 ecuted in the isthmus itself, we can only have re- 
 course to barometrical measurements. Ihose 
 made by me at the mouth of the Rio Sinu in the 
 Atlantic Sea, and on the coast of the South Sea 
 in Peru, prove, with every allowance for tem- 
 perature, that if there is a difFerc nee of level be- 
 tween the two seas, it ca. not exceed six or seven 
 metres f. 
 
 When we consider the effect of the current of 
 rotation J, which carri s the waters from east to 
 west, and accumulates them towards the coa t of 
 Costa Ricca and Feragua^ wt are tempted to ad- 
 
 * 38 feet. Trans. f 1<) or 22 feet. Trans. 
 
 X I call current of rotation the general motion from east to 
 west, observed in the part ot the ocean cuuipiiseU iu the torrid 
 zone. 
 
CHAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAt?^. 
 
 ^5 
 
 ihit, contrary to the received opinion, that the 
 Atlantic 'S a little higher than the South Sea. 
 Trivial cau es of a' local nature, .such as the dbn- 
 figu.ation of the oast, currents and winds (as 
 in the St aits of Bobelmamkl), may trouble the 
 equilibrium which ought necessarily to exist between 
 all the parts of the ocean. As the tides rise at 
 Portobello to a thirl part of a mrtVe *, and at 
 Panama to four or five metres t, the levels of the 
 two n ighbouring seas ought to vari/ with the 
 different esiahiishments of the ports. But ihesef 
 trivial inequalities, far from obstructing hydra u- 
 lical operations, would even be favourable for 
 sluices. 
 
 We cannot doubt that if the istfimils of Prt- 
 nama were once buist iy some similar catastrophe 
 to that wl- ch opene.l the columns of Hercules }, 
 thf cutrei t of rotauon in place of ascending to- 
 D(^ard^ the gulf of X/exico, and issuing through 
 the canal of Bahama, would follow the same pa- 
 rallel from the coast of Paria to the Philippine 
 islands. The effect of this opening, or new strait, 
 would exenU much beyond the banks of New- 
 Joundlam/, and would cither occasion the dis- 
 appearance or diminish the celerity of the Hot- 
 water ri» er, known by the name of Gutf'Stream §,' 
 
 * 13 inches. Trans. f 13 or 1 6 feet. Trans, 
 
 t Diodorus Siculus, lib. iv. p. '2,26. lib. xvii. p. 333. edit* 
 
 Rhodom. ' . " 
 
 ^ The Gulf-strtam, oil which Franklin and afterwards 
 
34 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book f. 
 
 which leaving Florida on the north-east, flows in 
 the 43^ of ladtucle to the east, and especially the 
 south-east towards the coast of Africa. Siich 
 would be the effects of an inundation antilogous 
 to that of which the memory has been preserved 
 in the traditions of the Samothradans, But shall 
 ^e dare to compare the pitiful w>^rks of man with 
 canals cut by nature herself, with straits like the 
 Hellespont and the Dardanelles ! 
 
 Strabo * appears inclined to believe that the sea 
 will one day o[.en the isthmus of Suez, No such 
 catastrophe can be expected in the isthmus of 
 Panama^ unless enormous volcanic convulsions, 
 very improbable in the actual state of repose of our 
 planet, should occasion extraordinary revolutions. 
 A tongue of land lengthened out from ease to west 
 in a direction almost parallel to that of the current 
 of rotation escapes ^^ it were, tbe shcck of the 
 waves. The isthmus of Panama would be se« 
 riously threatened, if it extended from south to 
 
 Williams, have left ns luch valuable observations, carries ra- 
 pidly the tropical waters to the northern latitudes. It is occa- 
 lioned by the current of rotation which strikes against the 
 coasts of Feragua and Honduras, and ascending towards the 
 gulf of Mexico, between Cape Catoche and Cape St. Antoine, 
 issues through the canal of Bahama. It is owing to this mo- 
 tion that the vegetable productions of the Antilles are carried 
 to Norway, Ireland, and the Canaries. See the second volume 
 of my voyage to the tropics, chap. I. 
 * Stoibo^ cd. Siebenkeei^ T. I. p. 15€. 
 
<«AP. 11.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 S5 
 
 north, and was situated between the port of O/r- 
 th(fgfl and the mouth of the Rio San Juan^ if the 
 narrowest part of the new continent lay between 
 the 1 0" and the U" of latitude. 
 
 The navigation of the river Chagre is difficult, 
 both on account of its sinuosities and the celerity 
 of the current, frequently from one to two metres 
 per second *, '1 hi se ^inuositi. s however afford a 
 counter current ^ by meansof wh ch the small ves- 
 sels called bongos^ and chatas^ ascmd the river, 
 either ^ith oars, poles, or touinji*. Were these 
 sinucsiti .s to be cut, and the old bed of the river 
 to be dried up, this advantage would cease, and 
 it would be infinitely difficult to arrive from the 
 North Sea to Cruces. 
 
 From all the information which I could procure 
 relating to this isthmus, while I remained at Car* 
 thagcna and Guayaquil, it appears to me, that the 
 expectation of a canal of seven metro s t m depth, 
 and from twenty-two to twenty-eight mtt:es J in 
 breadth, which, like a pass or a strait, should go 
 from sea to sea^ and admit the vessels \\ hich sail 
 from Europe to the East indies, ought to be 
 completely abandoned. The elevation of the 
 ground would force the engineer to have recourse 
 either to subterraneous gailer.es, or to the system 
 
 * From 3.28 to 6.56 feet. Trans^ 
 
 f 22 feet 1 1 inches. Tran$. 
 
 \ From 72 feet 2 inches, to 91 feet 10 inches. 
 
 
 i 
 
 r4 
 
 I 
 
 Trans, 
 
56 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book 1. 
 
 of sluices ; and the merchandizes destined to pas^ 
 the isthmus of Panama could only therefore b? 
 transported in flat-bottom'^d boats unabh^ to keep 
 the sea. Entrepots at Panamaand Porto bello would 
 be requisite. Every nation. which wisl^d to trade 
 in thi way would be dependent on the masters of 
 the isthmus and canal ; and this would be a very 
 great inconvenience for :he vessels despatched 
 from Europe. Supposing then that this canal 
 were cut, the greatest number of tlicse vessels 
 would probably continue their vojage round Cape 
 Jtiarn. We see that the passage of the Sound is 
 still frequented, notwithstand ng the existence of 
 the h' ijatr canal, which connects the ocean witli the 
 Baltic sea. .,.,....., 
 
 ' It would be otherwise with the productions of 
 western America, or the i;Oods sent from Europe 
 to the coast of the Pacific Ocean. 1h se goods 
 would cross the isthmus at less expense, and with 
 less danger, particularly in time of war, than in 
 douLHng the southern extremity of the new con- 
 tinent. In the present state of things, the carriage 
 of three quintals on mule-l)ack from Huhuttia \.q 
 Portohello costs from three to four piastres 'from 
 12s. 6d. to iCs. 8d.) But the uncultivated state 
 in which the government allows the isthmus to 
 remain is such, that the carriage of the copper of 
 ChiU, the q-.inquina of Peru, and the 60 or 
 70,000 vanegas of cacao * annually exported 
 
 * A vanega weighs 110 Caotilian pounds. 
 
iHAP II ] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 37 
 
 by Guayaquil, across this neck of land, requires 
 many more beasts of burden than can bj pro- 
 cured, so that the slow and expensive navigation 
 round Cape Horn is preferred. 
 
 In ] 8()-2 and 1 80.*?, when :he Spanish commerce 
 was every wheie harassed by the i nglish cruizers, 
 a great part of the cacao was caried across the 
 kingdom of New Spain, and embarked at Fera 
 Cruz for Cadiz. 'I hey prefer; ed the passage from 
 Giioyaquil to Jcapii/co, and a land journey of a 
 hi'n'red lea<;ues from Avajiulco to Viru CritZy to 
 the danger of a long navigation by Cape Horn, 
 and the difficulty of .struggling wiih the current 
 along the coasts of Peru and Chili. This example 
 proves, that, if t!ie constn ction of a cana! across 
 the isuhm. s of Panama, or that of Guasacu..ko, 
 abounds with too hiany difficulties from the mul- 
 tiplicity of sluices, the commerce of America would 
 gain the mnst important advantages from good 
 » causeways, carried from Tclniantepcc to the Em- 
 barcadero de la Cruz, and from l^anamu to Par- 
 tohetlo. It is true that in the isriimiis, the pas- 
 turage * to this day is very unfavomab'e to the 
 nourishment and multi|.lication of cattle; but it 
 would be eisy, in so fertile a soil, to toim savan- 
 nas by cutting down fore sts, or to cultivate the 
 
 *Tlie assertion of Raynal (T. IV. p. 150) that domestic 
 animals transported to Portobello lose their fecundity, should 
 be considered as totally di^stitute of truth. 
 
38 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book I. 
 
 paspalum purpureum^ the milium nigricans, and 
 particularly the medicago sativa^ whicli grows 
 abundantly in Peru in the warmest districvs. The 
 introduction of camels would be ctill a surer 
 means of diminishing the expense of carriage. 
 These land ships, as they are called by the orien- 
 tals, hitherto exist only in the province of Carac- 
 casy and were brought there from the Canary 
 islands by the Marquis de Toro. 
 
 Moreover, no political consideration should 
 oppose the progress of population, agriculture, 
 commerce and civilization, in the isthmus of Pa- 
 nama. The more this neck of land shall be cul- 
 tivated, the more resistance will it oppose to the 
 enemies of the Spanish governmeUv. The events 
 which took place at Buenos Ay res prove the ad- 
 vantages of a concentrated population in the case 
 of an invasion. If any enterprising nation wished 
 to b.come possessed of the isthmus^ it could do so 
 with the greatest ease at present, when good and 
 numerous fortifications are destitute of arms to 
 defend them. 1 he unhtalthiuess of the climate, 
 though now tiuch diminished at Portobdlo, would 
 alone oppose great obstacles to any military un- 
 dertaking in the isthmus. It is from St* Charles 
 de ChiioCj and not from Panama, that Peru can 
 be attacked. It requires from three to five 
 months to ascend from Panama to Lima. But 
 the whak' and cachalot fishery, which in 18o3 
 drew 60 Engiitih vessels to the South Sea, and 
 
CHAP. II.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 59 
 
 the facilities for the Chinese commerce and the 
 furs of Nootka Sound, are baits of a very seduc- 
 tive nature. They will draw, sooner or later, the 
 masters of the ocean to a point of the globe de- 
 stined by nature to change the face of the com* 
 mercial system of nations. 
 
 6. To the south-east of Panama, following the 
 coast of the Pacific Ocean, from Cape S, Miguel 
 to Cape Corientes^ we find the small port and bay 
 of Cupica. The name of this bay has acquired 
 celebrity in the kingdom of New Grenada^ on 
 account of a new plan of communication between 
 the two seas. From Cupica^ we cross, for five or 
 six marine leagues, a soil quite level and proper 
 for a canal, which would terminate at the Embar' 
 cadero of the Rio Naipi, This last river is na- 
 vigable, and flows below the village of Zitara 
 into the great Rio Atrato, which itself enters the 
 Atlantic Sea. A very intelligent Biscayan pilot, 
 M. Gogueneche, was the first who had the merit 
 of turning the attention of government to the bay 
 of Cupica, which ought to be for the new con- 
 tinent what Suez was formerly for Asia. M. 
 Gogueneche proposed to transport the cacao of 
 Guayaquil, by the Rio Naipi to Carthagena, 
 The same way offers the advantage of a very quick 
 communication between Cadiz and Lima. In- 
 stead of despatching couriers by Carthagena^ 
 Sania Fe^ and QuitOy or by Buenos Ayres and 
 Mendaza^ good quick sailing packet-boats should 
 
 
 '111 
 
40 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 be sent from Cupica to Peru, If this plan were 
 carried into execution, the viceroy of Lima would 
 have no longer to wait five or six months for the 
 orders oi his court. Besides, the environs of the 
 Bay of Cupica abounds with excellent timber fit 
 to be carried to Lima. We migi^t almost say 
 tliat the ground between Cupica and the mouth 
 of tlie rltrato is the only part of all America 
 in wh ch the chain of' the Andes is entirely 
 broken. ' 
 
 7. I > the interi >r of the province of Choco, the 
 small lavine (Q^iebras'a) de la Raspadurdy unites 
 the neighbouring sources of the Rio de Noanftma, 
 c: lied also Rio San Juan^ and the small river 
 Quito. '1 lit latter, the Rio Jnda^eda and the 
 R Zitara^ form the Rio d^Atrato which dis- 
 charges itself into the Atlantic Ocean, whiie the 
 Rio ^"^an Juati flows into tie South St a. A monk 
 of great acti ity, curd of ti.e village of Nfiviu/^ 
 employed hi ^ pari hiouLrs to dig a small canal in the 
 ravine c/e la iiaspuuuia^ by nie.tns or" which, when 
 the rains are abundant, c: noes loaded with cacao 
 puss from tua to .\ca. This interior communica- 
 tion has existed since 1788, unknown in Lurope. 
 The small canal of Kaspatiura uni.es, o.i the coasts 
 of the two oceans, two points 7^ leagues distant 
 from one another. 
 
 8. in the \\P of south latitude, two or three 
 days journey from Lima, we reach the banks of 
 the Rio Gualluga \^or Huallaga), by which we 
 
 A 
 
 ■V 
 
^HAP. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 41 
 
 may witliout doubling Cape Horn arrive at the 
 banks of the ara/id Para in Brazil. The sources 
 .even of the Rio Huanuco* >Nhich runs into the 
 Giialiagf/, are only four or five leau,ue8 distant 
 from the source of the Rio Huaura, which flaws 
 into the Pacific Ocean. The Rio Xauxa^ also, 
 .which contributes to form the Apuremac and the 
 Ucayale^ has its rise near the source of the Rio 
 Rimac. The height of the Cordillera, and the 
 nature of the ground, render the execution of a 
 ,canal impossible ; but the construction of a com- 
 modious road, from the capital of Peru to the Rio 
 (Iti HuanacOy would facilitate the tran port of goods 
 to Europe. The great rivers Ucaijiile and GuaU 
 laga would carry in five or six weeks the produc- 
 tions of Peru to the mouth of the Amazons^ and 
 to the neighbouring coasts of Europe, while a 
 passage of four months is requisite to convey 
 the same goods to the same p(nnt, in doubling 
 Cape Horn. The cultivation of the fine re- 
 gions situated on the eastern declivity of the 
 Andes, and the prosperity and wealth of their in- 
 habitants, depend on a^ree navigation of the river 
 
 * See the maps given by Father Sohrevwla,- in the third vo- 
 lume of an excellent literary journal published at Lima, under 
 the title of Mercurio Pcrunano. The work of Skinner^ on 
 Peru, is an extract from this journal, of which some volumes, 
 unfortunately not the most interesting, have found their waj 
 to London. I deposited the whole work in the king's library, 
 at Berlin. 
 
 ..li 
 
 ^f 
 
 iii^ 
 
43 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book I. 
 
 of the Amazons. This liberty, denied by the 
 court of Portugal to the Spaniards, might have 
 been acquired in the sequel to the events which 
 preceded the peace of 1 80 1 • 
 
 9. Before the coast of the Patagonians was suf- 
 ficiently knov\n, tiie Gulf of St. George^ situated 
 between the 45" and the 4?** of south latitude, was 
 supposed to enter so far into the interior of the 
 country, as to communicate \Aith the arms of the 
 sea which interrupt the cominuity of the western 
 coast, that is to say, with the coast ojiposite to the 
 archipelago of Chaifamupu. Were this supposi- 
 tion founded on solid bases, the vessels destined 
 for the South Sea m'ght cross South America 7° 
 to the north of the Straits of Magellan^ and shorten 
 their route more than 700 leagues In this way, 
 navigators might avoid the dangers which, not- 
 withstanding the perfection of nautical science, 
 still accompany the vo} age round Cape Horn and 
 along the Patagonian coast, from Cape Pilares 
 to the parallel of the Chonos inlands, 'i hese iJeas, 
 in 1 7}iO, occupied the attention of the court of 
 Madrid. M. Gil Lemos^ viceroy of Peru, an up? 
 right and zealous administrator, equipped a small 
 expedition under the orders of J/. Aloraleda *y to 
 
 * Don Jose de Moraleda y Montero visited the arcbipelagoi 
 of Chiloe and Chonos, and the western coast of the Pat^o- 
 nians, from 1 78? down to 1 796. Two very interesting manu- 
 scripts, drawn up by M. Moraleda, are to be found in the 
 archives of the viceroyalty of Lima: the title of the ont is, 
 
I 
 
 CHAT. II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 A$ 
 
 examine the southern co ist of Chili I saw the 
 instrucuons that he received at L ma, which re- 
 commended to him the greatest secrecy in case he 
 should be happy enough to discover a annmuni* 
 cation between the txco seas. But M. Moraleda dis- 
 covered in 1793, that the £*/e;o ^/t* Ay^en, visited 
 before him in 1763 by the Jesuits, faiheis Jose 
 Garcia and Juan Vkuu /, was of all the arms of 
 the sea that in which t!ie waters of th ' ocean ad- 
 vance the farthest towards the east. Yet it is but 
 eight leagues in Lngth, and terminates at the isle 
 de la CruZy where it receives a small river, near a 
 hot spring. Htnce the canal of Aysen, situated 
 in the 45** 28' of latitude, is still S8 leagies distant 
 from the Gulf of St. George. This gult was ex- 
 actly surveyed by the expedit on ot Malaspina. 
 In the year 1746 a communication was, m the 
 same manner, suspected in Europe between the bay 
 of St, J alien (latitude 60° 63') and the Great 
 Ocean. 
 
 I have sketched in one plate the nine points which 
 appear to afford means of communication between 
 
 Viage al Reconocimiento de los Isf >5 de Chilnt, 1 78(5 ; the other 
 comprehends the Reconucimunto del Archipelago de Ins Chonos 
 y Costa occidental Patagomcu^ 1 7^2 — 1 y^Q. Curious and in- 
 teresting extracts might be published from these journals* 
 which contain details regarding the cities de los Cesares and de 
 TAvguello, which are said to have been founded in 15.34, and 
 are placed by apocryphal accounts between 42*^ and 4^° of 
 south latitude. 
 
 i 
 
 ;i 
 
 
 
44 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iodt ii 
 
 the two oceans, by the junction of neighbouring 
 rivers, either bv canals or carriage-roads between 
 the places where the rivers become navigable. 
 These sketches are not of equal accuracy, astro- 
 nomically considered; but I wished to save the 
 reader the labour of seeking in several maps what 
 may be contained in one ; and it is the duty of the' 
 government which possesses .the finest and most 
 fertile part of the globe to perfect what I have' 
 merely hinted at in this discussion. Two Spanish' 
 engineers, MM. Le Maur, drew up superb plans' 
 of the canal ile ios Guhiex, projected for traversing 
 the whole island of CuOa, from Hat aha nn to the 
 Havannah, A similar survey of the ist^hmus of 
 GuasacualcOf the lake Nicaragua, of the country 
 between Cruces and Faharna^ and between L-upica 
 and the Rio Naipi, would direct the statesman in his 
 choice, and enable him to decide, if it is at Mexico' 
 or Darien that this undertaking should be exe«« 
 cuted; an undertaking calculated to imtnortalize 
 a government occupied with the true interests of 
 humanity. 
 
 The long circumnavigation of South America 
 would then be less frequent ; and a communication 
 would be opened for the goods which pass from^ 
 the Atlantic Ocean to the South bea. The time- 
 is past * " when Spain, through a jealous policy, 
 
 * M. de Fleurieu, in his learned notes on the Voifage de 
 Marchand, T. L p. 566. . . , 
 
CHAF. II.] KINGDOM O: NEW SPAIN. 
 
 A5 
 
 refused to other nations a thoroughfare through 
 the possessions of which she so long kept the 
 world in ignorance." Those who are at present 
 at the head of the government are enlightened 
 enough to give a favourable reception to the liberal 
 ideas proposed to them ; and the presence of a 
 stranger is no longer regarded as a danger for the 
 country. 
 
 Should a canal of communication be opened be- 
 tween the two oceans, the productions of Nooika 
 Sound and of China will be brought more than 
 2000 leagues nearer to Europe and the United 
 States. Then only can any great changes be ef- 
 fected in the political state of Eastern A-sia^ for 
 this neck of land, the barrier against the waves 
 of the Atlantic Ocean, has been for many ages 
 the bulwark of the independence of China and 
 Japan, 
 
 \- 
 
 '11 
 
 
46 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book. i. 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 Physical aspect of the kingdom of New Spain compared with thai 
 of Europe and South America. — Inequalities qf the soil. — In- 
 Auence qf these inequalities on the climate, cultivation, and 
 military defence of the country. — State of the coasts. 
 
 We have hitherto considered the vast extent and 
 the boundaries of the kingdom of New Spain. 
 We have examined its lelations with the other 
 Spanisl possessions, and the advantages which the 
 configui: cion of its coasts aflfjrd for communica- 
 tions between the Atlantic and the Sou>h Seas. 
 Let us now give a physical vie > of the country; 
 and consider for a while the inequ::licies of its soil, 
 and the iiifluence of that inequality on the climate, 
 cultivation, and military defence ot Mexico We 
 shall merely exhibit general results. The details 
 of natural history are foreign to statistics ; but we 
 cannot form an exact idea of tlie territorial wealth 
 of a state, without knowmg the structure of its 
 mountains, the height of the great inteiio plains, 
 and the temperature proper for those regions, in 
 which the climates succeed, as it were, by strata, 
 one above another. 
 
 When we take a general view of the whole sur- 
 face of Mexico, we see that one half is situated 
 under the burning sky of the tropics, and the 
 other belongs to the temperate zone. The latter 
 
CHAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 47 
 
 contains 60,000 square leagues, and comprehends 
 the provincias internas, both those which are 
 under the immediate administration of* the viceroy 
 of Mexico ^for example, the new kingdom of 
 Leon, and ihe province of New Santander), and 
 those goveined by a particular commandant-ge- 
 neral. The influence cf this commandant extends 
 over the intendancies of Durango and Sonoia, and 
 the provinces of Cohahuila, Texas, and New 
 Mexico, regions thinly inhabited, which go all 
 under the dLiiignztion of provincias intenias dc la 
 commendancia general^ to distinguish them from 
 the provincias internas del vireynato. 
 
 On the one hand, small portions of the northern 
 provinces of Sbnora and New Santander pass the 
 trojic of Cancer; and on the other, the southern 
 inter.dancies of Guadalaxara, Zacatecas, and S. 
 Luis tie P( tosi (particularly the ell^ irons of the ce- 
 lebrated mines of Catorce) extend a little to the 
 north of this limit *. We krtow, however, that 
 the physical c Hmace of a cpuntry does not altoge- 
 ther depend on its distance from the pole, but 
 also on its elevation above the level of the hea, 
 proximity to the ocean, configuration, and a great 
 number of other local circumstances. Hence, of 
 
 * There is an oversight in the original in this place; for 
 the fact is literally the reverse. The northern provinces ot" 
 Sonera and New Santander stretch as far north as 38°, and 
 part of the southern intendancies of Guadalaxara, Zacatecas, 
 and S. Luis de Potosi^ lie nuuth of tlrc tropic of Cancar. Tvam, 
 VOL. I. O 
 
 I (1 
 
 ! i 
 
 •W. 
 
 i i- 
 
 I 1 
 
48 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 the 50,000 square leagues situated in the. torrid 
 zone, more than three-fifths enjoy rather a cold or 
 temperate than a burning climate. The whole 
 interior of the viceroy alty of Mexico, especially the 
 interior of the countries comprized under the an- 
 tient denominations of Anahuac and Mechoacan, 
 probably even all New Biscay, form an immense 
 plain elevated 2000 or 2500 metres * above the 
 level of the neighbouring seas. 
 
 There is scare ely a point on the globe where the 
 mountains exhibit so extraordinary a construction 
 as in New Spain. In Europe, Switzerland, Sa- 
 voy, and the Tyrol, are considered very elevated 
 countries ; but this opinion is merely founded on 
 the aspect of the groups of a great number of sum- 
 mits perpetually covered with snow, and disposed 
 in parallel chains to the great central chain. Thus 
 the summits of the Alps rise to 3900 and even 4700 
 metres t, vsrliile the neighbouring plains in the can- 
 ton of Berne are not more than from 400 to 600 J 
 feet in height. The former of these numbers 
 (400), a very moderate elevation, may be consi- 
 dered as that of the most part of plains of any consi- 
 derable extent in Suabia, Bavaria, and New Silesia, 
 near the sources of the Wartha and Piliza. In 
 Spain, the two Cactilles are elevated more than 
 580 metres (360 toises) §. The highest level in 
 
 * 6561 and 8301 feet. Trans. 
 t 12794 and 15419 feet. Trans, 
 t 1312 and 1968 feet. Trans, 
 
 § 1902 feet. Trans. 
 
CHAP, in.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 49 
 
 France is Auvergne, on which the •Mont d'Or, the 
 Cantal, and the Puy de Dome repose. The ele- 
 vation of this level, according to the observarions 
 of M* de Buch, is 7i^0 metres (:i7o toises) *. These 
 examples strve to prove that in general the ele- 
 vated surfaces of Europe which exhibit the aspect 
 of plains, are seldom more than from 100 to 800 
 metres! (200 to 400 toises) higher than the level 
 of the ocean. 
 
 In Africa, perhaps, near the sources of the 
 Nile J, and in Asia, under the 34" and 3',' of 
 north latitude, there are plains analoLiOus to those 
 of Me^;ico; but the travellers who have visited 
 Asia have left us completely ignorant of the eleva- 
 tion of Thibet. 1 he elevation of tlie great desert 
 of Cobi, to the nordi-west of China, exceeds, ac- 
 coiding to Father Duhalde, 1400 metres §. Co- 
 lonel Gordon assured M. Lcibiliardiere, that 
 from the Cape of Good Hope to the 2 ^ of 
 south latitude the soil of Africa rose gradually t ) 
 ^\ OO metres || of elevation ^. This face, as new as 
 it is curious, has not been confirmed by other na- 
 turalises. 
 
 The chain of mountains which form the vast 
 
 . 91 
 
 * 2360 feet. Trons. -f From 1 .12 to 2fJ.>4 feet. Tmni. 
 
 i According to Bruce (vul iii. p. 642, t)5i, and 7 2', the 
 sources of the Nile, in Gogam, are more th.m 3200 metres 
 (10,5(0 feet) iiigher than the level of the Mediterranean. 
 
 § 561' feet. 'J'rans. \\ C5(Ji f-'et. Traru. 
 
 1 Labillaidiere, t. i. p. 8f). 
 
 O ^i 
 
 
 
50 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 plain of Mexico is the same with what, under th6 
 name of the Andes, runs through all South Ame- 
 rica ; but the coi^struction, I may say the skeleton, 
 (Charpente) of this chain varies to the south and 
 north of the equator. In the southc rn hemisphere, 
 the Cordillera is every where torn and interrupted 
 by crevices like open furrows not filled with hete- 
 rogeneous substances. If there ai^ phins elevated 
 from 2700 to 3000 metres * (1400 to 1500 toises), 
 as in the kingdom of Quito, and farther north in 
 the province of los Pastos, they are not to be com- 
 pared in extent with those of New Spain, and are 
 rather to be considered as longitudinal vallies 
 bounded by two branches of the great Cordillera 
 of the Andes : while in Mexico it is the very ridge 
 of the mountains which forms the plain, and it is 
 the direction of the plain which designates as it 
 were that of the whole chain. In Peru, the most 
 elevated summits constitute the crest of the Andes ; 
 but in Mexico these same summits, less colossal it is 
 true, but still from 4900 to 5400 f metres in height 
 (2500 to 2770 toises), are either dispersed on the 
 plain, or ranged in lines which bear no relation of 
 parallelism with the direction of the Cordillera. 
 Peru and the kingdom of New Grenada contain 
 transversal vallies, of which the perpendicular 
 depth is sometimes 1 400 1 metres. The existence 
 of these vallies prevents the inhabitants from tra- 
 
 * From 1062910 11811 feet. Trans. 
 
 t From 1607s to 17715 feet. Trans, t 4854 feet. Trans. 
 
CHAP, in.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 61 
 
 veiling except on horseback, a-foot, or carried on 
 the shoulders of Indians (called cargadoi^es) \ but 
 in the kingdom of New Spain carriages roll on to 
 Santa Fe in the province of New Mexico, for a 
 length of more than 1000 kilometres or 500 
 leagues. On the whole of this road there were 
 few difficulties for art to surmount. 
 
 The table-land of Mexico is in generiil so little 
 interrupted by vallies, and its declivity is so gen- 
 tle, that as far as the city of Durango, in New Bis- 
 cay, 140 leagues from Mexico, the surface is con- 
 tinually elevated from J 700 to 2700* metres 
 above the level of the neighbouring ocean. Ihis 
 is' equal to the height of Mount Ceftis, St. Go- 
 thard, or the Great St. Bernard. That I might 
 examine this geoloj^ical phenomenon with the at- 
 tention which it deserves, 1 executed five barome- 
 trical surveys. The first was across the kingdom 
 of New Spain, from the South Sea to the Mexican 
 Gulf, from Acapulco to Mexico, and from Mexico 
 to Vera C'uz. The second survey extended 
 from Mexico by Tula, Queretaro, and Sala- 
 manca to Guanaxuato. The third comprehend- 
 ed the intenduncy of Valladolid, from Gua- 
 naxuato to the volcano of Jorullo at Pascuaro. 
 The fourth extended from Valladolid to Toluca, 
 and from thence to Mexico. Lastly, the fifth in- 
 cluded the environs of Moran and Actopan, The 
 number of points of which 1 determined the height, 
 
 * From 5576 to 885(3 feet. Traus. 
 
 i 
 
 i'i- 
 
52 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 either barometrically or trigonometrically, amounts 
 to 208 ; and they are all distributed over a surface 
 comprehended between the l6" 50' and 'iJl'* of 
 north latitude, and the \0'2° S' and ys' 28' of west 
 longitude from Paris. Beyond these limits I know 
 but of one place of which the length was accu- 
 rately ascertained, and that is the city of Durango, 
 elevated, according to a deduction from a mean ba- 
 rometrical altitude, 2000 * metres above the level 
 of the .*^ei'. Thus the table-land of Mexico prcr 
 serves its extraordinary elevation much farther 
 north than the tropic of Cancer. . . 
 
 These measurements of heights, with the astro- 
 nomical olfservations which I made on the same 
 extent of ground, have enabled me to construct 
 the physical maps which accompany this work. 
 "They contain a series of vertical sections. 1 have 
 endeavoured to represent whole regions by a me- 
 thod which has hitherto been only employed for 
 mines, or small portions of ground through which 
 canals are intended to pass. In the statistics of 
 the kingdom of New Spain, we must confine our- 
 selves to plans likely to attract interest from views 
 of political economy. The physiognomy of a 
 country, grouping of mountains, extent of plains, 
 elevation which determines its temperature; in 
 short, whatever constitutes the construction of the 
 globe, has the most essential influence on the pro- 
 
 * 6561 feet. Trans. 
 
CHAP. Ill 3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 53 
 
 gress of population and welfare of the inhabitants. 
 It influences the state of agriculture, which muse 
 vary with the difference of climate, the means of 
 internal commerce, the communications which de- 
 pend on the nature of the territory, and the military 
 defence on which the external security of the 
 colony depends. In these relations alone ex- 
 tensive geological views can interest the statesman, 
 when he calculates the force and lerritoridl wealth 
 of a nation. 
 
 In South America, the Cordillera of the Andes 
 exhibits at immense heights plains completely level. 
 Such is the plain of ddQo * metres elevation oii 
 which the city of Santa Fe de Bogota is built. 
 Wheat, potatoes, and chtnopodiurn quliwa^ are there 
 carefully cultivated. Such is also the plain of 
 Caxamarea, in Peru, the ancient residence of the 
 unfortunate Atahualpa, of 27501 metres elevaticn. 
 The great plains of Antisana, in the middle of 
 which rises the part of the volcano which pene- 
 trates the region of perpetual snow, are 4l00{ 
 metres higher than the level of the ocean. These 
 plains exceed in length the summit of the Pic of 
 Tencrifie by 38 9 § metres j and yet they are so 
 level, that at the aspect of their natal soil, those 
 who inhabit these countries have no suspicion of 
 the extraordinary situation in which nature has 
 placed them. But all the plains of New Grenada, 
 
 * 84-13 feet. 
 X 13451 feet. 
 
 Trans. 
 Trans . 
 
 t 9021 feet. 
 § 1541 feet. 
 
 Trans. 
 Trans, 
 
 I 
 
M 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 (^ ito. or Peru, do not exceed forty square leagues. 
 Ot d fficult access, and separated from one another 
 by jTofound vallies, they are very unfavourable 
 for the transport of goods and internal commerce. 
 Crowning insulated summits, they form as it were 
 islots * in the middle of the aerial ocean. Those 
 "w ho inhabit these frozen plains remain concentrated 
 there, and dread to descend into the neighbouring 
 regions, where a suffocating hrat prevails prejudi- 
 cial to the primitive inhabitants of the higher 
 Andes. 
 
 In Mexico, however, the soil assumes a different 
 aspect. Plains of a great excent, but of a surface 
 no less uniform, are so apj roxirna ed to one an- 
 other, that they form but a single plain on the 
 lengthened ridge of the Cordillera j such is 
 the plain which runs from the 1 8*» to the 40° of 
 north latitude. Its length is equ ;1 lO the distance 
 from Lyons to the tropic of Cancer, which tra- 
 verses the great African desert. Tiiis extraordi- 
 nary plain appears to decline insensibly towards 
 the north. No measurement, as we have already 
 remarked, was ever made in New Spain beyond 
 the city of Durango; but travellers observe that 
 the ground lowers visibly towards New Mexico, 
 and towards the sources of the Kio Colorado. 
 Three sections accompany this essay, one longi- 
 tudinal and directed from south to north: it re- 
 
 * Small islands. 
 
cHAr. in.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 66 
 
 presents the ridge of the mountains in their pro- 
 longation towards the Rio Bravo. The two others 
 are transversal sections from the coast of the Pa- 
 cific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. All three 
 show at a glance the difficulty which the extra- 
 ordinary configuration of the country opposes to 
 the transport of productions from the interior to 
 the commercial cities of the coast. 
 
 In travelling from the capital of Mexico to the 
 great mines of Guanaxuato, we remain at first for 
 ten leagues in the valley of Tenochtitlan, elevated 
 2277 * metres above the level of the sea. The 
 level of this beautiful valley is so uniform, that the 
 village of Gueguetoque, situated at the foot of the 
 mountain of sincoque, is only lenf metres liigher 
 than Mexico. The hill of Barientos is merely a 
 promontory which stretches into t!ie valley. From 
 Gueguetoque we ascend near Botas to Puerto de 
 los Reyes, and from thence descend into the valley 
 of Tula, which is I \5 metres (2i2 toises)| lower 
 than the valley of Tenochtitlan, and across which 
 the great canal of evacuation of the lakes San Chris- 
 toval and Zumpango passes to the Rio de Mocte- 
 zuma and the G ulf of Mexico. To arrive at the 
 bottom of the valley of Tula, in the great plain of 
 Queretaro, we must pass the mountain of Calpu- 
 
 * 7468 feet. Trara. \ 32.8 feet. Trans. 
 
 % Here there is evidently a mistake, for 115 metres do not 
 correspond to 323 toises; the value of the first is 3^6 feet, and 
 of the latter 1430 feet. Trans, 
 
S6 
 
 POLITICAL FSSAY ON THE [book t. 
 
 lalpan, which is only i:J79 metres * (2686 toises f) 
 above the level of the sea, and is consequently less 
 elevated than the city of C^ito, though it appears 
 the highest point of the whole road from Mexico 
 to Chihuahua. To the north of this mountainous 
 country the vast plains of S. Juan del Kio, C^ere- 
 taro, and Zelaya begin, plains covered with vil- 
 lages and considerable cities. Their mean height 
 equals Puy de Dome in Auvergne, and they are 
 near thirty leagues in length, extending to the foot 
 of the metaliferous mountains of Guanaxuato. 
 Those who have travelled into New Mexico assert 
 that the ret of the way resembles what I have de- 
 scribed and represented in a particular section. 
 Immense plain?, appearing like so many basins of 
 old dried up lakes, follow one another, and are 
 only separated by hills which hardly rise ^00 or 
 2.>0 J metres at most above the bottom of these 
 basons. I shall exhibit in another work (in the 
 Atlas to the historical account of my travels) the 
 section of the four plains which surround the ca- 
 pital of Mexico. The first, which comprehends 
 the valley of Toluca, 2600 § metres ( 1340 toises); 
 the second, or the valley of Tenochtitlan, 2274 || 
 
 •4522 feet. Trans. 
 
 f This number, which does not correspond with the me- 
 tres, should evidently be 086. Trans. 
 X 656 or 820 feet. Trans. 
 .§ 8529 ^eet. Trans. 
 II 7459 feet. Trans. . .., r 
 
HAP. m.] KINGDOM 01' NEW SPAIN. 
 
 57 
 
 metres (1168 toiscs) ; the third, or the valley of 
 Actopan, 196G* metres (1009 toises) j and the 
 fourth, the valley of Istla, 98 1 1 metres ( ■>04 
 toises) of elevation. These four basins diffir as 
 much in their climate as in their elevation above 
 the level of the sea ; each exhibits a different cul- 
 tivation : the first, and least elevated, is adapted 
 for the cuhivation of sugar j the second, cotton; 
 the third, for European grain j and the fourth, for 
 agava plantations, which may be considered as the 
 vineyards of the Aztec Indians. 
 
 The barometrical survey which I executed from 
 Mexico to Guanaxato proves how much the con- 
 figuration of the soil is favourable in New Spain 
 for the transport of goods, navigation, and even 
 the construction of canals. It is different in the 
 transversal sections from the Atlantic to the South 
 Sea. These sections show the dii^culties opposed 
 by nature to the communication between the inte- 
 rior of the kingdom and the coast. They every 
 where exhibit an enormous difference of level and 
 temperature, while from Mexico to New Biscay 
 the plain preserves an equal elevation, and conse- 
 quently a climate rather cold than temperate. 
 From the capital of Mexico to Vera Cruz, the de- 
 scent is shorter and more rapid than from the same 
 point to Acapulco. We might almost say, that 
 the country has a better military defence from na- 
 
 * 6447 feet. Trans. 
 
 t 3247 feet. Trans. 
 
5H 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book I. 
 
 ture against the people of Europe than against the 
 atttack of an Asiatic enemy ; but the constancy of 
 the trade winds, and the great current of rotation 
 which never ceasts between the tropics, almost anni- 
 hilate every political influence which China, Japan, 
 or Asiatic Russia in the succession of ages might 
 wish to ixercise over the New Continent. 
 
 Taking our direction from the capital of Mexico 
 toward;;, the east in the road to Vera Cruz, we must 
 advance sixty marine leagues before arriving at a 
 valley, of which the bottom is less than 1000* 
 metres ioOO toises) higher than the level of the sea, 
 and in which,, con>equently, oaks cease to grow. 
 In the Acapulco road, descending from Mexico to- 
 wards the South Sea, v\ e arrive at the same tem- 
 perate regions in le>s than seventeen leagues. The 
 eastern declivity of the Cordillera is so rapid, that 
 wlicn once we begin to descend from the grrat 
 central plain, v^^e continue the descent till we ar- 
 rive at the eastern coast. 
 
 '1 he western coast is furrowed by four very re- 
 markable lon,>,itudinal vallies, so regularly di- posed, 
 that those which are neare^t the ocean are even 
 deejier than those more re a) ote from it. Casting 
 our eyes on the section drawn up by me from 
 exact measurements, we shall observe, that from 
 the plain of Tenochtitlan the traveller first de- 
 scends into the valley of Istla, then into that of 
 
 * 3260 feet. Trans. 
 
ch4P. Ill] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 59 
 
 Mascala, then into that of Papagallo, and lastly, 
 into the valley of Peregrine. The bottom of these 
 four basins rise 981,514, 170, and 1.08 metres* 
 (504, ^265, 98, and S'2 toises) above the level of tlie 
 ocean. The deepest are also the narrowest. A 
 curve drawn over the mountains which separate 
 these vallies, over the Pic of the Marquis (the old 
 camp of Cortes), the summits of Tasco, Chilpan- 
 singo, and Posquelitos, would preserve an equally 
 regular progress. We might even be tempted to be- 
 lieve that this regularity is conformable to the type 
 generally followed by nature in the construction of 
 mountains ; but the aspect of the Andes of South 
 America will soon destroy these systematic de- 
 lusions. Many geological considerations prove to 
 us, tliat at the formation of mountains, causes ap- 
 parently very trivial have determined the accumu- 
 lation of matter in colossal summits, sometimes 
 towards the centre ^ and sometimes on the edges of 
 the Cordilleras. 
 
 Thus the Asiatic road differs very much from 
 the European. For the space of 7!^, 5 leagues, 
 the distance in a straight line from Mexico 
 to Acapulco, we continually ascend and descend, 
 and arrive every instant from a cold climate in 
 regions excessively he :. Yet the road of Acapulco 
 may be made fit for carriages. On the contrary, 
 of the 84,5 leagues from the capital to the port of 
 
 ffi 
 
 * 5217, 1685, 557, and 518 feet. Tram. 
 
60 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book I. 
 
 Vera Cruz, 140* belong to the great plain of 
 Anahuac. The rest of the road is a laborious and 
 continued descent, particularly from the small for- 
 tress of Perote to the city of Xalappa, and from this 
 site, one of the most beautiful and picturesque in 
 the known world, to la Rinconada. It is the 
 difficulty of this descent which raises the carriage 
 of flour from Mexico to Vera Cruz, and prevents 
 it to this day from competing in Europe with the 
 flour of Philadelphia. There is actually at present 
 constructing a superb causeway along this eastern 
 descent of the riordillera. This work, due to the 
 great and praiseworthy activity of the merchants 
 of Vera Cruz, will have the most decided influence 
 on the prosperity of the inhabitants of the whole 
 kingdom of New Spain. The places of thousands 
 of m ules will be supplied by carriages fit to transport 
 merchandises from sea to sea, which will connectj 
 as it were, the Asi;itic commerce of Acapulco with 
 the European commerce of Vera Cruz. 
 
 We have already stated that in the Mexican pro- 
 vinces situated in the torrid zone, a space of ^.:j,00(/ 
 square leagues enjoys a cold, rather than a tem- 
 perate climate. All this great extent of country 
 is traversed by the Cordillera of Mexico, a chaiii 
 of colossal mountains which may be considered as 
 a prolongation of the Andes of Peru. Notwith- 
 
 * Here is evidently a mistake, 140 cannot be a part of u-1,5. 
 Tram. 
 
CHAP. Ill] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 61 
 
 Standing their lowness in Choco, and the province 
 of Darien, the Andes traverse the isthmus of Pa- 
 nama, and recover a considerable height in the 
 kingdom oi Guatiinala. Sometimes their crest 
 approaches the Pacific Ocean, at othtr times it oc- 
 cupies the centre of the country, and sometimes it 
 approaches the gulf of .Mexico. In the kingdom 
 of Guatimala, for example, this crest, jagged with 
 volcanic cones, ruTis alcxig the western coast from 
 the lake of Nicaragua towards the bay of Tehuan- 
 tepeci but in the province of Oaxaca, between 
 the sources of the rivers Chimalapa and Guasacu- 
 alco, it occupies the centre of the Mexican isthmus. 
 From the 18i° to the SI*" of latitude, in the inten- 
 dancies of la Puebla and Mexico, from Misteca to 
 the mines of Zimapan, the Cordillera stretches 
 from south to north, and approaches the eastern 
 coast. 
 
 In this part of the great plain of Anahuac, be- 
 tween the capital of Mexico, and the small cities 
 of Xalappa and Cordoba, a groupe of mountains 
 appears which rivals the mosc elevated summits of 
 the new continent. It is enough to name four 
 of these Colossi* whose heights were unknown 
 
 I 
 
 * Excepting the Cofre de Perote, these four measurements 
 are all geometrical; but the bases being from 11 to 1200 
 toises elevated above the level of the sea, this first part of the 
 total height was calculated according to (he barometrical for- 
 mula of M. Laplace. The word Popocatepetl is derived from 
 popocani smoi.e, and tcpetl mountain ; and Iztaccihuatl from 
 
 ■'If, ^. 
 
 ■?' A .7 
 
62 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book I. 
 
 before my expedition; Popocatepetl, 5400 metres 
 (or '47? 1 tolses) ; Iztaccihuatl, or the white woman, 
 4786 metres (or 2455 toises) ; Citlaltepetl, or the 
 Pic d'Orizaba, 5295 metres (or 2717 toises) ; and 
 Nauhcampatepetl, or the Cofre de Perote, 4089 
 metres (or 2089 toises)*. This groupe of volcanic 
 mountains bears a strong analogy with that of the 
 kingdom of Quito. If the height attributed to 
 Mount St. Elie f be exact, we may admit that it i& 
 only under the 19^ and 60° of latitude ihat moun- 
 tains in the northern hemisphere reach the enor- 
 mous elevation of 5400 metres above the level of 
 the ocean. 
 
 Farther f.o the north of the parallel of I P% near 
 the celebrated mines of Zimapan and the Doctor, 
 situatcil in the intendancy of Mexico, the Cor- 
 dillera takes the name of Sierra Madre j and then 
 
 iztac white, and ciuatl woman. Citlaltepetl signifies a moun- 
 taii» brilliant as a star, from citlaltiue star, and tcpetl mountain ; 
 for the Pic d'Orizaba appears at a distance like a star when 
 it emits fire. Nauhcampatepetl is derived from Navhcampa, 
 any thing square. It alludes to the form of the small por- 
 phyriticalrockat the summit of the mountain of Ferote, which 
 the Spaniards compare to a coffer (See the Vocabulary of the 
 Aztec Language by Father Alonzo de Molina, published at 
 Mexico in 1571, p. 63). 
 
 * 17716, 15700, 17371, and 13414 feet. Trans. 
 
 fThe Spanish navigators found, in 1791, by precise means 
 its height above the level of the sea to be 279a toises (17875 
 English feet) while it is said in the account of the voyage of 
 I.r. Perouse to be only 19SO toises (12672 iiset). ; 
 
CHAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 63 
 
 leaving the eastern part of the kingdom it runs to 
 the north-west, towards the cities of San Miguel 
 el Grande and Guanaxuato. To the north of 
 this last city, considered as the Potosi of Mexico, 
 the Sierra Madre becomes of an extraordinary 
 breadth, ft divides immediately into three branches, 
 of which the most eastern runs in the direction of 
 Charcas and the Real de Catorce, and loses itself 
 in the new kingdom of Leon. The western branch 
 occupies a part of the intendancy of Guadalaxara. 
 After passing Bolanos it sinks rapidly, and 
 stretches by Culiacan and Arispe, in the inten- 
 dancy of Sonora, to the banks of the Rio Gila. 
 However, it acquires again a considerable degree 
 of height under the 30° of latitude in Taraliumara, 
 near the gulf of California, where it forms the 
 mountains de la Primeria alta, celebrated for the 
 gold washed down from them. The third branch 
 of the Sierra Madre, which may be considered as 
 the central chain of the Alexican Amks^ occupies 
 the whole extent of the intendancy of Zacatecas. 
 We may follow it through Durango and the Parral 
 in New Biscay, to the Sierra de los Mimbres (si- 
 tuated to the west of the Rio grande del Norie), 
 From thence it traverses New Mexico, and joins 
 the crane mountains (Montagnes de la Grue) and 
 the Sierra Verde. This mountainous country, si- 
 tuated under the 40° of latitude, was examined in 
 1777 by Fathers Escalante and Font. The Rio 
 Gila rises here, of which the sources are near 
 
 VOL. I. p 
 
 I 
 
 1 1- 
 
64 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [BOOK 
 
 those of the Rio del Norte. It is the crest of this 
 central branch of the Sierra Madre which divides 
 the waters between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. 
 It was a continuation of this branch which Fidler 
 and the intrepid Mackenzie examined under the 
 50" and 55** of north latitude. 
 
 We have thus sketched a view of the Cordilleras 
 of New Spain. We have remarked that the coasts 
 alone of this vast kingdom possess a warm climate 
 adapted for the productions of the West Indies. 
 The intendancy ol Vera Cruz, with the exception 
 of the ih'A ivhich extends from Perote to the 
 Pic d'Oriz Yucatan, the coast of Oaxaca, the 
 maritime provmces of New Santander and Texas, 
 the new kingdom of Leon, the province of Coha- 
 huila, the uncultivated country called Bolson de 
 Mapimi, the coast of California, the western part 
 of Sonora, Cinaloa, and New Gallicia,the southern 
 regions of the intendancies of Valladolid, Mexico, 
 and La Puebla, are low grounds intersected with 
 very inconsiderable hills. The mean temperature 
 of these plains, of those at least situated within the 
 tropics, and whose elevation above the level bf 
 the sea does not exceed ^^00* metres, is from 25° 
 to 26°t of the centigrade thermometer ; that is to 
 say, from 8" to O'' t gJ*eater than the mean heat of 
 Naples. 
 
 * 984 feet. Trans. 
 
 X From 14° to lO° of Fahrenheit. 
 
 t 77° of Fahrenheit's. Trans. 
 Trans, ' 
 
MAP. 111.] KINGDOiM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 65 
 
 These fertile regions, which the natives call 
 Tkrras calicntes^ produce in abundance sugar, 
 indigo, cotton, and bananas. But when Europeans, 
 not seasoned to the climate, remain in these coun- 
 triv°s for any time, particularly in populous cities, 
 the)' become the abode of the yellow fever, known 
 by the name of black vomiting, or vomito prkto. 
 The port of Acapulco, and the vallies of Papagayo 
 and Peregrino, are among the hottest and un- 
 healthy places of the earth. On the eastern coast 
 of New Spain, the great heats are occasionally 
 interruited by strata of cold air, brought by the 
 winds from Hudson's Bay towards the parallels of 
 the Havannah and Vera Cruz. These impetuous 
 winds blow from October to March ; they are 
 announced by the extraordinary manner in which 
 they disturb the regular recurrence of the small 
 atmospherical tides*, or horary variations of the 
 barometer ; and they frequently cool the air to 
 ^^uch a degree, that at Havannah the centigrade 
 thermometer descends to O^t, and at Vera Cruz 
 to 16° I ; a prodigious fall for countries in the torrid 
 zone. 
 
 On the declivity of the Curdillera, at the eleva- 
 tion of 12 or 1500 § metres, there reigns perpetu- 
 
 I 
 
 '€1 
 
 * I have explained this phenomenon in the first volume of 
 my Travels (Phi/sique generale), p. 92, 94. 
 t ?.2° of Fahrenheit. Trans. % ^° of Fahrenheit. Trans, 
 § From 3936 to Ag'iO feet. Tratis. 
 
 P 2 
 
 . *. •» 
 
06 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book r. 
 
 ally a soft spring temperature, which never variei 
 more than four or five degrees (seven or nine of 
 Fahrenheit). The extremes of heat and cold are 
 there equally unknown. The natives give to this 
 region the name of Tierras templadas, in which 
 the mean heat of the whole year is from 20" to 
 2 1°*. Such is the fine climate of Xalappa> Tasco» 
 and Chilpansingo, three cities celebrated for their 
 great salubrity, and the abundance of fruit trees 
 which grow in their neighbourhood. Unfor- 
 tunately, this mean height of I'^OO nrjetresf is the 
 height to which the clouds ascend above the plains 
 adjoining to the sea ; from which circumstance 
 these temperate regions, situated on the declivity 
 (for example, the environs of the city of Zalappa), 
 are frequently enveloped in thick fogs. 
 
 It remains for us to speak of the third zone, 
 known by the denomination of Tierras frias. It 
 comprehends the plains elevated more than 2200 1 
 metres above the level of the ocean, of which the 
 mean temperature is under 17°§. In the capital of 
 Mexico, the centigrade thermometer has been 
 known to fall several degrees below the freezing 
 point ; but th:<« is a very rare phenomenon ; and 
 the winters are usually as mild there as at Naples. 
 In the coldest season, the mean heat of the day is 
 
 ♦ From -68° to 70» of Fahrenheit. Trant, 
 
 t 4264 feet. Trans, $7217 feet. Tram, 
 
 1 62° of Fahrenheit. Trans. 
 
OHAP. III.] tCINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 67 
 
 from 13" to 14**. In summer the thermometer 
 never rises in the shade above 24 °t. The mean 
 temperature of the whole table-land of Mexico is 
 in general 17" J which is equal to the temperature 
 of Rome. Yet this same table-land, according to 
 the classification of the natives, belongs, as we 
 have already stated, to the Tierras frias ; from 
 which we may see that the expressions, hot or 
 cold, have no absolute value. At Guayaquil, 
 under a burning sky, the people of colour com- 
 plain of excessive cold, when the centigrade ther* 
 mometer suddenly sinks to 24^§, while it remains 
 the rest of the day at 30° ||. 
 
 But the plains more elevated than the valley of 
 Mexico, for example, those whose absolute height 
 exceeds 2500 metres^, possess, within the tropics, 
 a Tude and disagreeable climate, even to an inha- 
 bitant of the north. Such are the plains of Toluca, 
 and the heights of Guchilaque, where, during a 
 great part of the day, the air never heats to more 
 than 6* or 8° **, and the olive tree bears no fruit, 
 though it is cultivated successfully a few hundred 
 metres lower in the valley of Mexico, 
 V All these regions called cold enjoy a mean tem- 
 perature of from 11° to 13" ft, equal to that of 
 
 * From 55° to 70° of Fahrenheit. TVan*. 
 175" of Fahrenheit. Trans. J 62° of Fahrenheit. Tram, 
 § 75° of Fahrenheit. Trans, \\ 86° of Fahrenheit. Trans. 
 If 8201 feet. Trans. * * 43° or 46° of Fahrenheit. Trans. 
 1 1 From 5 1° to 55° of Fahrenheit. Trans. 
 
: 
 
 68 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [l^OOK I. 
 
 France and Lombardy. Yet the vegetation is less 
 vigorous, and the European plants do not grow 
 with the same rapidity as in their natal soil. The 
 winters, at an elevation of 2500 metres, are not 
 extremely rude ; but the sun has not sufficient 
 power in summer over the rarefied air of these 
 plains to acceLrate the development of flowers, 
 and to bring fruits to perfect maturity. This 
 constant equality, this want of a strong ephemeral 
 heat, imprints a peculiar character on the climate 
 of the higher equiitoxial regions. Thus the cul- 
 tivation of several vegetables succeeds worse on the 
 ridge of the Mexican Cordilleras than in plains 
 situated to the north of the tropic, though fre- 
 quently the mean heat of these plains is less than 
 that of the plains between the 19° and 22° of lati- 
 tude. . . 
 
 These general coPiSiderations on the physical 
 division of New Spain are extremely interesting in 
 a political view. In France, even in the greatest 
 part of Europe, the employment of the soil de- 
 pends almost entirely on geographical latitude; 
 but in the equinoxial regions of Peru, New Gre- 
 nada, and Mexico, the climate, productions, aspect, 
 I may say physiognomy, of the country, are solely 
 modified by the elevation of the soil above the 
 level of the sea. The influence of geographical 
 position is absorbed in the effect of this elevation. 
 Lines of cultivation similar to those drawn by 
 Arthur Young and M. Decandolle on the hori- 
 
CHAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 GO 
 
 zontal projections of France can only be indicated 
 on sections of New Spain. Under the 19° and 
 22° of latitude, sugar, cotton, particularly cacas 
 and indigo, are only produced abundantly at an 
 elevation of from 6 to 800* metres t' The 
 wheat of Europe occupies a zone on the declivity 
 of the mountains, which generally commences 
 .at 1400 metres, and ends at 3000 } metres. The 
 , banana tree (musa paradmaca), the fruit of 
 which constitutes tlie principal nourishment of all 
 the inhabitants of the tropics, bears almost no 
 fruit above ]550 metres ^ j the oaks of Mexico 
 grow only between 800 and 3000 metres || ; and 
 the pines never descend towards the coast of Vera 
 Cruz farther down than 1 850^9 nor rise near 
 the region of perpetual snow to an elevation of 
 more than 4000 * * metres ft. 
 
 The provinces called internas^ situated in the 
 temperate zone (particularly those included be- 
 
 
 'A 
 
 i * From 1968 to 2624 feet. Trans, 
 
 1 1 speak here merely of the general distribution of the ve- 
 getable productions. I shall afterwards specify places where, 
 favoured by a particular exposure, sugar and cotton may be 
 cultivated 1/00 metres (5576 l^ct) above the ocean. 
 
 X 4592 and 9842 feet. Trans. § 5084 feet. Trans. 
 
 II Between 2624 and 9842 feet. Trans. 
 
 ^6068 feet. Trans. =** 13123 feet. Trans. 
 
 t f The reader may consult the section of the road from 
 Mexico to Vera Cruz (plate VI.), and the agricultural scale in 
 my essay on the geography of plants, p. 189. 
 
■ 
 
 70 
 
 POLITICAL KSSAY ON THE 
 
 [book I. 
 
 tween the 30° and 38° of latitude) enjoy, like the 
 rest of North America, a climate essentially different 
 from that of the same parallels in the old continent, 
 A remarkable inequality prevails between the 
 temperature of the different seasons. German 
 M^inters succeed to Neapolitan and Sicilian sum^ 
 mers. It would be superfluous to assign here 
 other causes for this phenomenon than the great 
 breadth of the continent and its prolongation to- 
 ' wards the north pole., This subject has been 
 discussed by enlightened natural philosophers, par^ 
 ticularly by M. Volney, in his excellent work on 
 the soil and climate of the United States, with all 
 the care which it deserves. I shall merely observe 
 that the difference of temperature observable be- 
 tween the same latitudes of Europe and America, 
 is much less remarkable in those parts of the new 
 continent bordering on the Pacific Ocean than in 
 the eastern parts. M. Barton has proved, from 
 the state of agriculture and the natural distribution 
 of vegetables, that the Atlantic provinces are much 
 colder than the extensive plains situated to the 
 west of the Alleghany mountains. ^ 
 
 A remarkable advantage for the progress of 
 national industry arises from the height at which 
 nature, in New Spain, has deposited tne precious 
 metals. In Peru the most considerable silver 
 mines, those of Potosi, Pasco, and Chota, are 
 immensely elevated very near the region of per- 
 petual snow. Ifi working them, men, provision^. 
 
CHAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NFAV SPAIN. 
 
 71 
 
 and cattle must all be brought from a distance. 
 Cities situated in plains, where water freezes the 
 whole year round, and where trees never vegetate, 
 can hardly be an attractive abode. Nothing can 
 determine a iree-man to abandon the delicious 
 climate of the vallies to insulate himself on the 
 top of the Andes but the hope of amassing wealth. 
 But in Mexico, the richest seams of silver, those 
 of Guanaxuato, Zacatecas, Tasco, and Real del 
 Monte^ are in moderate elevations of from 1700 
 to 2000 metres*. The mines are surrounded with 
 cultivated fields, towns, and \ illages ; the neigh- 
 bouring summits are crowned with forests ; and 
 every thing facilitates the acquisition of this sub* 
 terraneous wealth. 
 
 In the midst of so many advantages bestowed 
 by nature on the kingdom of New Spain, it suffers 
 in general, like Old Spain, from the want of water 
 and navigable rivers. The great river of the north 
 (Rio Bravo del Norte) and the Rio Colorado, are 
 the only rivers worthy of fixing the attention of 
 travellers, either for the length of their course, or 
 the mass of water which they pour into the ocean. 
 The Rio del Norte, from the mountains of the 
 Sierra Verde (to the east of the lake of Timpan- 
 ogos) to its mouth in the province of New San* 
 tander, has a course of 512 leagues. The course 
 pf the Rio Colorado is Q50. But these two riveis, 
 
 *1i 
 
 m 
 
 • from 5576 to 6561 feet. Traat, 
 
t *' 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [dock I. 
 
 situated in the most uncultivated part of the king- 
 dom, can never be interesting for commerce, till 
 great changes in the social orJer, and other fa- 
 vourable events, introduce colonization into these 
 fertile and temperate regions. These changes are 
 not perhaps very distant. The l)anks of the Ohio 
 were even in 1797 so thinly inhabited*, that thirty 
 families could hardly be found in a space of 130 
 leagues, while the habitations are now so multi- 
 plied that they are never more than one or two 
 leagues distant from one another. 
 
 In the whole equinoxial part of Mexico there 
 are only small rivers, the mouths of which are of 
 considerable size. The narrow form of the con- 
 tinent prevents the collection of a great mass of 
 water. The rapid declivity of the Cordillera 
 abounds more properly with torrents than rivers. 
 Mexico is in the same state with Peru, where the 
 Andes approach so near to the coast as to occasion 
 the aridity of the neighbouring plains. Among 
 the small number of rivers in the southern part 
 of New Spain, the only ones which may in time 
 become interesting for interior commerce are, 1. 
 The Rio Guasacualco, and the Rio Alvarado, 
 both to the south-east of Vera Cruz, and adapted 
 for facilitating the communication with the king- 
 dom of Guatimala ; 2. The Riu de Moctezuma, 
 which carries the waters of the lakes and valley of 
 
 * Voyage de Mickaux a Vouest des Monts Alkghanjjs, p. 115. 
 
tiiAf. HI.] KIXGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 73 
 
 Tenochtitliin to the Rio de Panuco, and by which, 
 forgetting that Mexico is 2277 metres* elevated 
 above the level of the sea, a navigation has been 
 projected between the capital and the western 
 coast ; 3, The Uio de Zacatiila ; 4. The great 
 river of Santiago, formed by the junction of the 
 rivers Lerma and las Laxas, which might carry 
 the flour (.f Salamanca, Zelaya, and perhaps the 
 whole intendancy of Guadalaxara, to the port of 
 San Bias, or the coast of the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 The lakes with which Mexico abounds, and of 
 which the most part appear annually on the de- 
 pline, are merely the remains of immense basins 
 of water, which appear to have formerly existed pn 
 the high and extensive plains of the Cordillera. 
 I sl.all merely mention in t'lis physical view the 
 great lake of Chapala in New Gallicia, of nearly 
 160 square leagues, double the size of the lake of 
 Constance ; the lakes of the valley of Mexico, 
 which include a fourth part of its surface ; the 
 lake of Patzcuaro, in the intendancy of ^Valladolid, 
 one of the most picturesque situations which I know 
 in either continent ; and the lakes of Mextitlan 
 and Parras in New Biscay. 
 
 The interior of New Spain, especially a great 
 part of the high table-land of Anahuac, is destitute 
 of vegetation ; its arid aspect brings to mind in 
 some places the plains of the two Castilles. Se- 
 
 
 
 • 7468 feet. Tratu. 
 
 
74 
 
 POLITICAL KSSAY ON THE 
 
 fuOOK 1. 
 
 veral causes concur to produce this extraordinary 
 tftect. The evaporation which takes place on 
 great plains is sensibly increased by the great 
 elevation of the Mexican Cordillera. On the other 
 hand, the country is not of sufficient elevation for 
 a great number of summits to penetrate the region 
 of perpetual snow. This region commences under 
 the equator at 4800 metres * (2460 toises), and 
 under the 45'* of latitude at 2550 1 metres (1300 
 toises) above the level of the sea. In Mexico the 
 eternal snows commence, according to my mea- 
 surements in the 19° and 20^ of latitude, at 4600 \ 
 metres (2350 toises) of elevation. Hence, of six 
 cdossal mountains which nature has ranged in the 
 same line, between the parallels of 19^ and 19t% 
 only four, the Pic d'Orizaba, Popocatepetl, Iz- 
 taccihuatl, and the N'^vado de Toluca, are covered 
 with perpetual snow, while the two others, the 
 Cofre de Perote, and the Volcan de Coliroa, 
 remain uncovered the greatest part of the year. 
 To the north and south of this parallel of grtat 
 elevations^ beyond this singular zone, in which the 
 new Volcan de JoruUo is also ranged, there are no 
 mountains which exhibit the phenomenon of per- 
 petual snow. 
 
 These snows, at the period of their minimum^ 
 in the month of September, never descend in the 
 
 • 15747 feet. Trans, f 8365 feet. Tram^ 
 
 X 15091 feet. Trans. 
 
•HAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN; 
 
 75 
 
 parallel of Mexico below 4500 metres"^* But ia 
 the month of January they fall as low as 3700 
 metres t : this is the period of their maximum. 
 The osdllation of the limits of perpetual snow is, 
 copf'quently, under the latitude of 19°, from one 
 season to the other 800 metres j:; while under 
 the equator it never exceeds 60 or 70 metres §• 
 We must not confound these eternal snows with 
 the snows which in winter accidentally fall in much 
 lower regions. Even this phenomenon, like every 
 other in nature, is subject to immutable laws 
 worthy of the investigation of philosophers. This 
 ephemeral snow is never observed under the 
 equator below S800 or 3900 metres ||; but in 
 MexicO) under the latitude of 18" and 22° it is 
 commonly seen at an elevation of 3000 metres %, 
 Snow has even been seen in the streets of the ca* 
 pital of Mexico at 2277** metres, and 400 
 metres ft lower in the city of Valladolid. 
 
 In general, in the equinoxial regions of New 
 Spain, the soil, climate, physiognomy of vegetables, 
 all assume the character of the temperate zones. 
 The proximity of Canada, the great breadth of 
 the new continent towards the north, the mass of 
 
 * 14;63 feet. Trans^ f 12138 feet. Trans. 
 
 X 2624 feet. Trans, § 1 96 or 229 feet. Trans. 
 
 [j From 12466 to 12794 feet. Traits. 
 19842 feet. Trans. ♦•7468 feet. Trans. 
 
 ft 6156 feet. Trans, 
 
70 
 
 rOLltlCAL ES3AY ON THE 
 
 [book f- 
 
 snows with which it is covered, occasion in the 
 IVlexican atmosphere frigorifications by n5 means 
 to be expected in these regions. 
 . If the table-land of New Spain is singularly 
 cold in winter, its temperature is, on the other 
 hand, much higher in summer than what was 
 found by the thermometrical observations of 
 Bouguer and La Condamine in the Andes of 
 Peru. The great mass of the Cordillera of Mex- 
 ico, and the immense extent of its plains, produce 
 a reverberation of the solar rays, never observed 
 in mountainous countries of greater inequality. 
 This heat, and other local causes, produce the 
 aridity of these fine regions. 
 
 To the north of 20% from the 22*^ to the 30" of 
 latitude, the rains which only fall in the months of 
 June, July, August, and September, are very un- ' 
 frequent in the interior of the country. We have 
 already observed that the great height of this table- 
 land, and the small barometrical pressure of the 
 rarefied air, accelerate the evaporation. The as- 
 cending current or column of warm air which 
 rises from the plains prevents the clouds from 
 precipitating in rain to water a land, dry, saline, 
 and destitute of vegetation. 1 he springs are rare 
 in mountains composed principally of porous 
 amygdaloid, and fendilated (fendiUe) porphyry. 
 The filtrated water, in place of collecting in small 
 subterraneous basins, is lost in the crevices which 
 old volcanic revolutions have opened, and only is- 
 
cHAi». III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 77 
 
 sues forth at the bottom of the Cordillera. It forms 
 a great number of rivers on the coast, of which 
 the course is very short on account of the con- 
 figuration of the country. 
 
 The aridity of the central plain, the want of 
 trees, occasioned, perhaps, in a good measure by 
 the length of time the great vallies have remained 
 covered with water, obstruct very much the work- 
 ing of the mines. These disadvantages have aug- 
 mented since the arrival of Europeans in Mexico, 
 who have not only destroyed without planting, but 
 in draining great extents of ground have occa- 
 sioned another more imp()rtant evil. Muriate 
 of soda and lime, nitrate of potash, and other saline 
 substances, cover the surface of the soil, and 
 spread with a rapidity very difficult to be explained. 
 Through this abundance of salt, and these efflores- 
 cences, hostile to cultivation, the table-land of 
 Mexico bears a great resemblance in many place$ 
 to I'hibet and the saline steppes of central Asia. 
 In the valley of Tenochtitian, particularly, the 
 steriHty and want of vigorous vegetation have been 
 sensibly augmenting since the Spanish conque i ; 
 for this valley was adorned with beautiful verdure 
 when the lake occupied more ground, and the 
 clayey soil was washed by more frequent inunda- 
 tions. 
 
 Happily, however, this aridity of soil, of Vv iUch 
 we have been indicating the principal physical 
 causes, is only to be found in the most elevated 
 
 :m 
 
 
 ''♦•V 
 
 
78 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book t* 
 
 plains. A great part of the vast kingdom of New 
 Spainbelongs to the most fertile regions of the earth. 
 The declivity of the Cordillera is exposed to hu- 
 mid winds and frequent fogs ; and the vegetation 
 nourished with these aqueous vapours exhibits an 
 uncommon beauty and strength. The humidity 
 of the coasts, assisting the putrefaction.of a great 
 mass of organic substances^ gives rise to ma- 
 ladies, to which Europeans and others not sea- 
 soned to the climate are alone exposed ^ for under 
 the burning sun of the tropics the unhealthiness 
 of the air almost always indicates extraordinary 
 fertility of soil. Thus at Vera Cruz the quantity of 
 rain in a year amounts to r",62*, while in France 
 it scarcely amounts to 0"',80t. Yet with the 
 exception of a few sea-ports and deep vallies, where 
 the natives suffer from intermittent fevers. New 
 Spain ought to be considered as a country remark- 
 ably salubrious. 
 
 The inhabitants of Mexico are less disturbed by 
 earthquakes and volcanic explosions than the in- 
 habitants of Quito, and the provinces of Guatimala 
 and Cumana. There are only five burning vol- 
 canoes in all New Spain, Orizaba, Popocatepetl, 
 and the mountains of Tustla, Jorullo, and Colima. 
 Earthquakes, however, are by no means rare on the 
 coast of the Pacific Ocean, and in the environs of the 
 capital 'f but, they never produce such desolating 
 
 * 63.780 inchea. Trans, f ar.-^pG inch. s. Tram, 
 
CHAP, rii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 79 
 
 effects at have been witnessed in the cities of Liraa, 
 RioLamba, Giiatimala, and Cumana. On the 
 14th September, 1759, a horrible catastrophe took 
 place : the volcanos of Jorullo burst, and was seen 
 suiTounded with an innumerable multitude of 
 small smoking cones. Subterraneous noises, so 
 much the more alarming as they were followed 
 by no phenomenon, were heard at Guanaxuato in 
 the month of January 1784. All these pheno-' 
 mena seem to prove, that the country between the 
 parallels of 1 8° and i22° contains an active internal 
 fire, which pierces, from time to time, through fhe 
 crust of the globe, even at great distances from the 
 sea shore. 
 
 The physical situation of the city of Mexico 
 possesses inestimable advantages, if we consider it 
 in the relation of its communication with the rest 
 of the civilized world. Placed on an isthmus, 
 washed by: the South Sea and Atlantic Ocean, 
 Mexico appears destined to possess a po\;rerful 
 influence over the political events which agitate the 
 two continents. A king of Spain resident in the 
 capital of Mexico, might transmit his orders in 
 five weeks to the Peninsula in Europe, and in six 
 weeks to the Philippine islands in Asia. The vast 
 kingdom of New Spain, under a careful cultivation, 
 would alone produce all that commerce collects 
 together from the rest of the globe, sugar, cochi- 
 neal, cacao, cotton, coffee, wheat, hemp, flax, silk, 
 oils, and wine. It would furnish every metal with- 
 
 VOL. I. Q. 
 
 m 
 
 )K 
 
 
80 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 out even the exception of mercury. Superb tim- 
 ber and an abundance of iron and copper would 
 favour the progress of Mexican navigation; but 
 the state of the coasts and the want of ports from 
 the mouth of the Rio i\lvarado to the mouth of 
 the Rio Bravo, oppose obstacles in this respect 
 which would be difficult to overcome. 
 
 These obstacles, it is true, do net exist on the 
 coast of the Pacific Ocean. San Francisco in New 
 CalifoFnia^ San Bias in the intendancy of Gua- 
 dalaxara, near the mouth of the river Santiago, 
 and especially Acapulco, are magnificent ports. 
 The last, probably formed by a violent earth- 
 quake, is one of the most admirable basins in the 
 whole world. In the South Sea there is only Co- 
 quimbo on the coast of Chili which can be com- 
 pared with Acapulco ; yet in wihter,^ during great 
 hurricanes, the sea becomes very rough in Aca- 
 pulco. Farther south we find the port of Ria- 
 lexo, in the kingdom of Guatimala, formed, like 
 Guayaquil, bya large and beautiful river. Son- 
 zonate is very much frequented during the fine 
 season, but it is merely an open road like Tehuan- 
 tepec, and is consequently very dangerous in winter. 
 
 When we examine the eastern coast of New 
 Spain we see that it does not possess the same 
 advantages as the western coast. We have already 
 observed, that, properly speaking, it possesses no 
 port ; for Vera Cruz, by which an annual com- 
 merce of fifty or sixty millions of piastres is car- 
 
 t| 
 tl 
 
CHAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 81 
 
 ried on, is merely a bad anch )rage between the 
 shallows of la Caleta, la Gallega, and la Lavan- 
 dera. The physical cause of this disadvantage is 
 easily discovered. The coa;t of Mexico, along 
 the Mexican gulf, may be considered as a dike 
 against which the trade winds, and perpetual mo- 
 tion of the waves from east to west, throw up the 
 sands which the agitated ocean carries along. This 
 current of rotation runs along South America 
 from Cumana to the isthmu-; of Darien ; it ascends 
 towards Cape Catoche, and after whirling a long 
 time in the Mexican gulf, issues through the canal 
 of Florida, and flows towards the banks of New- 
 foundland. The sands heaped up by the vortices 
 of the waters, from the peninsula of Yucatan to 
 the mouths of the Rio del Norte and the Mis- 
 ' sissipi, insensibly contract the basin of the Mexican 
 gulf Geological facts of a very remarkable na- 
 ture prove this i;. crease of the continent ; we see 
 the ocean every where retiring. M. Ferrer found 
 near Sotto la Marina, to the east of the small 
 town of New Santander, ten leagues in the interior 
 of the country, moving ^ands filled m ith sea shells. 
 I myself observed the same thing in the environs 
 of Antigua and New Vera Cruz. The rivers 
 vrhich descend from the Sierra Madre and enter 
 the Atlantic Ocean have in no small degree con- 
 tributed to increase the sand banks. It is curious 
 to observe that the eastern coasts of Old and New 
 Spain are equally disadvantageous for navigation. 
 
 m 
 
 
82 
 
 POLITICx\L ESSAY ON THE [book |. 
 
 The coast of New Spain, from the 18' to the 26^ 
 of latitude, abounds with bars ; and vessels which 
 draw more than 3'2 centimetres * of water, can- 
 not pass over any of these bars, without danger of 
 grounding. Yet obstacles like these, so unfavour- 
 able for commerce, would at the same time facir 
 litate the defence of the country against the am- 
 bitious projects of a European conqueror. 
 
 The inhabitants of Mexico, discontented with 
 the port of Vera Cruz, if we may give the name 
 of port to the most dangerous of all anchorages, 
 entertain the hope of finding out surer channels 
 for the commerce with the mother country. I 
 shall merely name the mouths of the rivers Alva- 
 rado and Guasacualco to the south of Vera Cruz ; 
 and to the north of that city the Rio Tampicp, 
 and especially the village of Sotto la Marina, near 
 the bar of Santander. These four points have 
 long fixed the attention of the government ; biit 
 even there, however advantageous in other re- 
 spects, the sand banks prevent the entry of large 
 vessels. These ports would require to be artifi- 
 cially corrected ; but it becomes necessary in the 
 first place to enquire if the localities are such as 
 to warrant a belief that this expensive remedy 
 would be durable in its effects. It is tq be ob- 
 served, however, that we still J^now too little pf 
 the coasts of New Santander and Texas, particur 
 
 J' ^» . 
 
 ♦ 12,598, say laf inches. 
 
CHAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 83 
 
 larly that part to the north of the Lake of S, 
 Bernard or Carbonera, to be able to assert that 
 in the whole of this extent nature presents the 
 same obstacles and the same bars. Two Spanish 
 officers of distinguished zeal and astronomical 
 knowledge, MM. Cevallos and Herrera, have en- 
 gaged in tliis interesting and useful investigation. 
 At present Mexico is in a military dependence on 
 the Havannah, which is the only neighbouring 
 port capable of receiving squadrons, and the most 
 important point for the defence of the eastern 
 coast of New Spain. Accordingly, the govern- 
 ment, since the last taking of the Havannah by 
 the English, has been at enormous expenses in 
 increasing the fortifications of the place. Sensible 
 of its true interests, the court of Madrid has wisely 
 laid it down as a principle, that the dominion of 
 the island of Cuba is essential for the preservation 
 of New Spain. : r ; 
 
 A very serious inconvenience is common to the 
 eastern coast, and to the coast washed by the Great 
 Ocean, falsely called the Pacific Ocean. They 
 are rendered inaccessible for several months by 
 violent tempests, which effectually prevent all na- 
 vigation. The north winds (los nortcs), which 
 . are north-west winds, blow in the gulf of Mexico 
 from the autumnal to the spring equinox. These 
 winds are generally moderate in the months of 
 September and October : their greatest fury is in 
 
8i 
 
 POLITICAL l^SSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 the month of \ larch ; and they sometimes last to 
 April. Those navigators who have long frequent- 
 ed the port of Vera Cruz know the symptoms 
 of the coming tempest as a physician knows the 
 symptoms of pn acute malady. According to the 
 excellent observations of M, Orta, a great change 
 in the barometer, and a sudden interruption in the 
 regular recurrence of the horary variations of that 
 instrument, are the sure forerunners of the tempest. 
 It is accompanied by the following phenomena. 
 At first a small land wind (terralj blows from 
 the west-north-west ; and to this terral succeeds a 
 breeze, nrst from the north-east and then from the 
 south. During all this time a most suffocating 
 heat prevails ; and the water dissolved in the air 
 is precipitated on the brick walls, the pavement, 
 and iron or wooden balustrades. The summits 
 of the Pic d'Orizaba and the Cofre de Perote, 
 and the mountains of Villa liica, particularly the 
 Sierra de San Martin, which extends from Tustla 
 to Guasacualco, appear uncovered with clouds, 
 while their bases are concealed under a veil of 
 demi-transparent vapours. These cordilleras ap- 
 pear projected on a fine azure ground. In this 
 state of the atmosphere the tempest commences, 
 and sometimes with such impetuosity, that before 
 the lapse of a quarter of an hour it would be 
 dangerous to remain on the mole in the port of 
 Vera Cruz. All communication between the city 
 
 "^vl 
 
CHAP. III.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 85 
 
 and the castle of S. Juan d'Ulua is thenceforth 
 interrupted. These north wind hurricanes gene- 
 rally remain for three or four days, and sometimes 
 for ten or twelve. If the north wind change into 
 a south breeze, the latter is very inconstant, and 
 it is then probable that the tempest will recom- 
 mence ; but if the north veers to east by the 
 north-east, then the breeze or fine weather is 
 durable. During winter we may reckon on the 
 breeze continuing for three or four successive days, 
 an interval more than sufficient for allowing any 
 vessel leaving Vera Cruz to get out to sea and 
 escape the sand banks adjoining to the coast. 
 Sometimes even in the months of May, June, July 
 and August, very strong hurricanes are felt in the 
 gulf of Mexico. They are called nortcs de 
 liueso Colorado ; but fortunately they are not very 
 common. The periotls in which the black vomit- 
 ing (yelloxv fever) and tempests from the north 
 prevail at Vera Cruz do not coincide, conse- 
 quently the European who arrives in Mexico, and 
 the Mexican whose affairs compel him to embark, 
 < to descend from the table-land of New Spain 
 to the coast, have both to make their election 
 between the danger of navigation and a mortal 
 disease. 
 
 . ^ The western coast of Mexico is of very danger- 
 ous navigation during the months of July and 
 August, when terrible hurricanes blow from the 
 
 s 
 '■?} 
 
 I.I 
 1'.' 
 
 ¥1 
 
 A.V.1 
 
 t 
 
 ■i.. 
 
POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book i. 
 
 south-west. At that time, and even in September 
 and October, the ports of San Bias and Acapulco 
 are of very difficult access. Even in the fine 
 season, from the month of October to the month 
 of May (veratw de la imir del Sar)^ the tranquillity 
 of the Pacific Ocean is interrupted on this coast 
 by impetuous winds from the north-east and the 
 north-north-east, known by the names of papa' 
 gallo and tehuamepec, ; \\\ i : ■ . 
 
 Having myself experienced one of these tem- 
 pests, I shall in another place proceed to examine 
 whether these purely local winds are the effect of 
 the neighbouring volcanos, as some navigators 
 seem to think, or whether they proceed from the 
 narrowness of the Mexican isthmus. We might 
 be led to believe that the equilibrium of the at- 
 mosphere being disturbed in the months of Ja- 
 nuary and February on the coast of the Atlantic, 
 the agitated air flows back with impetuosity to- 
 wards the Great Ocean. According to this sup- 
 position, the Tehuantepec is merely the effect, or 
 rather the continuation of the north wind of the 
 Mexican gulf and the brisottes of St. Martha* 
 It renders the coast of Solinas and la Ventosa 
 almost as inaccessible as that of Nicaragua and 
 Guatimala, where violent south-west winds pre- 
 vail during the months of August and September, 
 known by the name of tapayaguas* 
 
 These south-west winds are accompanied with 
 
 
CHAP, in.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 87 
 
 thunder and excessive rains, while the tehuante- 
 pec and papagallos * exert their violence during" 
 a clear and azure sky. Thus at certain periods 
 almost all the coasts of New Spain are dangerous 
 for navigators. 
 
 * The papagallos blow particularly from Cape Blanc de 
 Nicoya (latitude 9° 30) to r£n:^enada de S. Catharina (lati- 
 tude 10' 45'). 
 
 # 
 
n 
 
 BOOK If. 
 
 GENERAL POPULATION OF NEW SPAIN. DIVI- 
 SION OF THE INHABITANTS INTO CASTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 General enumeration in 1793. Progress qf llie popidatioa £a 
 the ten following years. Proportion of births to burials. 
 
 The physical view which we have been rapidly 
 sketching proves, that in jVIexico, as elsewhere, 
 nature has very unequally distributed her benefits. 
 But men, unable to appreciate the wisdom of this 
 distribution, neglect the riches which are within 
 their reach. Collected together on a small extent 
 of territory, in the centre of the kingdom, on the 
 very ridge of the Cordillera, they have allowed the 
 regions of the greatest fertility and the nearest to 
 the coast to remain waste and uninhabited. 
 
 The population of the United States is concen- 
 trated in the Atlantic division, that is to say, the 
 long and narrow district between the sea and the 
 Alleghany mountains. In the capitania general 
 of Cai^ccas, the only inhabited and well cultivated 
 
 
 m 
 
 wm 
 
 H)/ 
 
 11 
 
 ^B» 
 
 m 
 
 HkV 
 
 m^ 
 
90 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 , districts are those of the maritime regions : — in 
 Mexico improvement and civilization are banished 
 into the interior of the country. In this the 
 Spanish conquerors have merely trod in the steps 
 of the conquered nations. The Aztecs, origin- 
 ally from a country to the north of the Rio Gila, 
 perhaps even emigrants from the most northern 
 parts of iVsia, in their progress towards the south 
 never quitted the ridge of the Cordillera, preferring 
 these cold regions to the excessive heat of the 
 coast. 
 
 That part of Anahuac which composed the 
 kingdom of Montezuma on the arrival of Cortez 
 did not equal in surface the eighth part of the 
 present kingdom of New Spain. The kings of 
 Acolhuacan, Tlacopan, and Michuacan, were in- 
 dependent princes. The great cities of the Az- 
 tecs, and the best cultivated territories were in 
 the environs of the capital of Mexico, particularly 
 in the fine valley of Tenochtitlan. This alone 
 was a sufficient reason to induce the Spaniards to 
 establish there the centre of their new empire ; but 
 they loved also to inhabit plains whose climate re- 
 sembled that of their own country, and where they 
 could cultivate the wheat and fruit trees of Europe. 
 Indigo, cotton, sugar and coffee, the four great 
 objects of West Indian commerce, were to the 
 conquerors of the sixteenth century of very infe- 
 rior interest j they sought after the precious metals 
 
CHAP. IV.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 91 
 
 only with avidity, and the search for these metals 
 fixed them on the ridge of the central mountains of 
 ; New Spain. 
 
 It is equally difficult to estimate with any degree 
 of certainty the number of inhabitants of the 
 Jtingdom of Montezuma, as to ascertain the an- 
 cient population of Egypt, Persia, Greece, or 
 Latium. The extensive ruins of towns and vil- 
 lages observed in Mexico under the 18° and Sif of 
 latitude, undoubtedly prove that the former popu- 
 lation of that part of the kingdom was much 
 greater than the present. This interesting fact is 
 confirmed by the letters from Cortez to Charles 
 the I iith, the memoirs of Bernal Dias, and a great 
 number of other historical monuments*. But 
 when we reflect how diflicult it is even in our 
 days to acquire accurate statistical information, we 
 need not be astonished at the ignorance in which 
 we are left by the authors of the sixteenth century, 
 as to the ancient population of the West Indies, 
 Peru, and Mexico. We see in history, on the one 
 hand, conquerors eager to make the most of the 
 fruit of their exploits j and the Bishop of Chapa and 
 a small number of benevolent men, on the other, 
 employing, with a noble ardour, the arms of elo- 
 quence against the cruelty of the first colonists. 
 
 M 
 
 * See the judicious observations of the Abbe Clavigero on 
 the ancient population of Mexico, directed against Robertson 
 and Pauw. Sturia antka di Messico, t. IV. p. 232» 
 
92 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book n. 
 
 All parties were equally interested in exaggerating 
 the flourishing state of the three newly discovered 
 countries. The fathers of St. Francis boasted of 
 having alone baptized from the year 1524 to 1540 
 more than six millions of Indians, and, what is 
 more, of Indians who merely inhabited the parts 
 most adjacent to the capital. 
 
 A striking example may serve to shew us how 
 circumspect we ought to be in yielding implicit 
 faith in the numbers found in the old descriptions 
 of America. It has recently been printed *, that 
 in the enumeration of the inhabitants of Peru, 
 made by the archbishop of Lima, Fray Geronimo 
 de Loaysa, in 1551, were found 8,285000 In- 
 dians. This is an afflicting fact for those who 
 know that in 1 793, on a very exact enumeration 
 ordered by Gil-Lemos, the viceroy, the Indians of 
 the present Peru (since the separation of Chili and 
 Buenos Ayres) did not exceed 600,000 individuals. 
 Here we might be tempted to believe that 
 7,600,000 Indians had disappeared from the face 
 of the globe. Luckily, however, the assertion of 
 the Peruvian author is entirely false; for on the 
 most careful investigation of the archives of Lima 
 by Father Cisneros, it has been discovered that the 
 existence of eight millions in 1551 rests on no 
 historical document. M. Feyjoo, the author of 
 
 . * Rdacion dc la dudad de TruxiUo por cl Doctor Fc^oo, 
 1763» p. 29. 
 
CHAP. IV.] KINGDOM or NEW SPAIN. 
 
 93 
 
 the statistical account of Truxillo, has even since 
 declared that this bold assertion was merely 
 founded on a supposititious calculation, from the 
 enumeration of so many ruined towns, since the 
 epoch of the conquest. These ruins appeared to 
 him demonstrative of an immense population in 
 Peru at a remote period. It frequently happens, 
 however, that the examination of an erroneous 
 opinion leads to some important truth. Father 
 Cisneros, on rummaging in the archives of the 
 sixteenth century, discovered that the viceroy 
 Toledo, very justly regarded as the Spanish le- 
 gislator of Peru, reckoned in 1575, in the ex- 
 amination of the kingdom which he made in per- 
 son from Tumbez to Chuquisagua (which is 
 nearly the present extent of Peru), only about a 
 million and a half of Indians. 
 
 Nothing in general is more vague than the 
 judgment which we form of the population of a 
 newly discovered country. The celebrated Cook 
 estimated the number of inhabitants of Oteheite 
 at 100,000 ; the protestant missionaries of Great 
 Britain suppose a population of 49,000 souls ; 
 Captain Wilson reduces it to 16,000; and M. 
 Turnbull has attempted to prove that the real 
 number of inhabitants does not exceed 5,000, I 
 cannot allow myself to believe that these differ- 
 ences are the effect of a progressive depopulation. 
 The maladies with which the civilized nations of 
 Europe infected these once happy countries must, 
 
 m 
 
 
 ;4 
 
 'hm 
 
 m 
 
POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ri. 
 
 no doubt, have caused a depopulation ; but it could 
 never have been so rapid as to carry oiF in forty 
 years nineteen-twentieth parts of the inhabit- 
 ants*. ,■••■'■•' ^■' ' ' ' ■ 
 
 .:» 
 
 We have already mentioned that the environs 
 of the capital of Mexico, and perhaps all the 
 countries under the domination of Montezuma^ 
 were probably much more populous formerly than 
 
 * Captain Cook may have somewhat exaggerated the num- 
 ber of inhabitants of Otaheite ; but when we consider that he 
 did not form his estimate so much from conjectural circum- 
 stances as from having seen the whole population of the 
 island^ drawn to the coast -by the novel appearance of the 
 strangers, pass, as it were, in review before him, we shall be 
 perhaps rather inclined to acquiesce in this estimate. We 
 shall be tl)e more induced to this when we consider how near 
 soldiers or sailors, accustomed to form rapid estimates of the 
 numbers of masses of men, often approach to the truth. 
 Besides Captain Cook was in general extremely sober and mo- 
 derate in his judgments. . i« 
 
 That the population, then, has declined prodigiously is almost 
 certain } and it is no less certain, that whatever produced the 
 physical alteration in the inhabitants related by Vancouver, 
 must have contributed in no small degree to the decline. This 
 navigator, as is well known, twice visited the island. In the 
 first voyage when he accompanied Cook, the beauty of the in- 
 habitants, particularly the females, was universally remarked; 
 but in the last voyag ^, in which wetre several of those who bad 
 been, as well as Vancouver, of the former, they all agreed that 
 the appearance of the people was totally changed^ and they 
 did not discover a single woman in the island who was not 
 deformed and ugly. Trans. 
 
«HAp. IV.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 95 
 
 at present^ ; but this great" population was con- 
 centrated in a very small space. We observe 
 (and the observation is consoling for humanity) 
 that not only has the number of Indians been on 
 the increase for the last century, but that the 
 whole of the vast region which we designate by 
 the general name of New Spain is much better 
 inliabited at present than it was before the arrival 
 of the Europeans. The first of these assertions is 
 proved by the state of the capitation which we 
 shall afterwards give ; and the last is founded on 
 a very simple considerarion. In the beginning of 
 the sixteenth century, the Otomites, and other 
 barbarous people, occupied the countries situated 
 to the north of the rivers Panuco and Santiago ; 
 but since an improved cuhivation of the soil and 
 civilization have advanced towards New Biscay 
 and the prov'mcias internas^ the population has 
 increased there with the rapidity every where re- 
 marked where a nation of shepherds is replaced 
 by agricultural colonists t» 
 
 * Clavigero, Storia antica di Messico, t. I. p. 36. 
 
 f The author may be very probably in the right j yet it is 
 but an indifferent proof that the population of the whole king- 
 dom has increased, because, in those places where shepherds 
 have given place to agriculturists, the population has been 
 rapidly increasing. By a similar mode of reasoning, it may be 
 concluded that the population of Britain is on the decline, 
 because the population of the highlands of Scotland, con- 
 verted from agriculture to sheep farming, is on the decline. 
 Trans. 
 
 YOL. T. 11 
 
 IS 
 
 
 
 ^Bn^', 
 
 
 HI, 
 
 ^iiH 
 
 
 'iSk^ 
 
 mk' 
 
 
 
 
 Ht|i^5' 
 
 
 4''i 
 
d6 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY dN tHE [eook rr. 
 
 Politico-oeconomical investigations, grounded on 
 exact numbers, were very unusual in Spain even 
 before Campomanes, and the minister Count Flo- 
 rida Blanca. We arc not then to be astonished 
 that the archives of the viceroyalty of Mexico 
 contain no enumeration before 1794, when the 
 Count de Revillagigedo, one of the wisest and 
 most active administrators, had resolution enough 
 to undertake it. In the operations regarding the 
 population of Mexico, by order of the viceroy 
 Pedro Cebrian Count de Fuenclara, in 1742, the 
 number of families only was estimated ; and what 
 has been preserved to us by Villa Seiior is 
 both incomplete and inaccurate. Ihose who 
 know the difficulties of an enumeration in the 
 most cultivated countries of Europe, who know 
 that the economists assigned only eighteen millions 
 of inhabitants to all France, and that it has been 
 even recently disputed if the true population of 
 Paris * were /iOO,()()() or 800,000, will easily ima- 
 gine what powerful obstacles are to be overcome 
 in a country, where those who are employed are 
 little skilled in such kind of statistical researches. 
 Hence the viceroy Revillagigedo was unable to 
 terminate his undertaking ; ard it appears that the 
 enumeration was not completed in the two intend- 
 
 * La population habituelle de cette grande capitale 
 paroit Stre de 547,000 habitans. Peuchet, Stat, de la France, 
 
 p. 93. *. 
 
 chn 
 latic 
 638J 
 ancil 
 
«HAP. iv] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 m 
 
 ancies of Guadalaxara and Vera Cruz, and in the 
 small province of Cohahuila. 
 
 The following is a state of the population * of 
 New Spain, from the notices transmitted by the 
 intendants and governors of provinces to the vice- 
 roy, previous to the 12th May, 1794 : 
 
 Names of the intendancics and governments in POPULATION | 
 
 which the enumeration was completed iji 
 1793. 
 
 or the intend- 
 nnries and go- 
 VL'rnments. 
 
 or the capitals 
 
 Mexico 
 
 1,162,886* 
 
 112,926 
 
 Puebla .... 
 
 566,443 
 
 52,717 
 
 Tlascala 
 
 59,177 
 
 3,357 
 
 Oaxaca 
 
 411,366' 
 
 i9y06g 
 
 ValladoHd 
 
 289,314 
 
 17,093 
 
 Guanaxuato . * 
 
 397,924 
 
 32,098 
 
 ,San Luis Potosi , , 
 
 242,280 
 
 S,571 
 
 Zacutecas .... 
 
 118,027 
 
 25,495 
 
 Durango .... 
 
 12:i,866 
 
 11,027 
 
 Sonera .... 
 
 93,396 
 
 
 Nuevo Mexico . , 
 
 30,953 
 
 1 
 
 The two Californias 
 
 12,666 
 
 ' 
 
 Yucatan 
 Total population of New Spain de- 
 
 358,261 
 
 28,392 
 
 
 duced from the enumeration of 
 
 
 i 
 
 1793 
 
 3,865,529 
 
 
 In a report to the king, Count de 
 
 
 
 Revillagigedo estimated the inteadan- 
 
 
 
 It) "'ii'iinrns. 
 
 cy of Guadalaxara at 485,OliO'> 
 
 ^ 
 
 • 
 
 Intendancy of Vera Cruz at 120,C00 > 
 
 618,000 
 
 
 Province of Cohahuila at 1 3,000 J 
 
 
 
 Approximative result of the enume- 
 
 • - 
 
 t 
 
 ration in 1793 , . . 4,4P3,529inbabitPnts| 
 
 * I publish this state from a copy preserver! in rhe ar- 
 chiveiscf the viceroy. 1 observed that other copies • . ^ rcu- 
 lation in the country contain different numbers ; for example, 
 638,771 oouls for the intendancy of la Paebla, including the 
 ancient republic of Hascala. 
 
 r2 
 
 *«? 
 
 m 
 
 % 
 
9« 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book >r. 
 
 This result exhibits the minimum of population 
 admissible at the period. The central govern- 
 ment, particularly the administrations spread over 
 the interior of the country, soon perctived how 
 far they were from the end which they had in 
 view. In the new continent, as well as in the 
 old, every enumeration is considered by the people 
 as a sinister presage of some financial operation. 
 In the fear of an augmentation of imposts, every 
 head of a family endeavoured to diminish the num- 
 ber of individuals of his house, of which he was 
 to furnish a list. The truth of this assertion is 
 very easily demonstrable. Before the enumeration 
 of the Count deRevillagigedo,the capital of Mexi- 
 co, for example, was believed fo contain '200,000 
 inhabitants. This estimate mi^iit be exaggerated ; 
 but the tables of consumption, the number of 
 births and burials, aiid the comparison of these 
 numbers with tliose of the great ci'ies of Europe, 
 all tended lo prove thiit tlie population of Mexico 
 exceeded at least 135,00 ) souls , and yet the table 
 printed l-y order of the viceroy in 1790 exhibits 
 only I l'i,9 6. in smaller cities, easier to becon- 
 trouled, ti e error was still more considerable. 
 Those also who followed in detail the dissection of 
 the registers of 1 7 1)3, judged that the number of 
 inlabitants who ha I withdrawn themselves from 
 the general enumeration could by no means be 
 compensated by those, who, wandering about 
 witiiout any fixed domicile, had beeu several times 
 
CHAP. IV.] KINGDOM OF >:EW SPAIN. 
 
 99 
 
 included in it. It was supposed that a si\th or a . 
 seventh part ought at lease to be added to the sum 
 total, and the population of all New Spain was 
 accordingly estimated at "i, 200,000 souls. 
 
 The viceroys who succeedtd to the Count de 
 Re illagigedohave never renewed the enumeration j 
 and since that time, the government has paid very 
 little attention to statistical researches. Several 
 memoirs drawn up by intendants on the ac ual 
 state of the country confided to their care contain 
 exactly the same numbers as the table of 179-3, as 
 if the population could have remained the same 
 for ten years. It is certain, however, that this 
 population has made the most extraordinary pro- 
 gress. The augmentation of tiihes and (jf the In- 
 dian capit uion, and of all the duties on consump- 
 tion, the progress of agriculture and civilization, 
 the aspect of a country covered with n( wly con- 
 structed houses, announce a rapid increase in every 
 part of the kingdom. How are we to concive 
 then that social institutio! s can be so defective, 
 and a government so iniqi-itous, as to pervert the 
 order of nature, and prevent the progressive mul- 
 tiplication of our species in a fertile soil and tem- 
 perate climate ? Happy the portion of the globe 
 wheie a peace of th ee centuri s has almost effaced 
 the very recollection of the crimes product; I by the 
 fanaticism and insatiable avarice of the first con- 
 querors! , ( 
 
 In order to draw up a table of the population 
 
 :^4 
 
 ^ti'' 
 
 vil 
 
 > "''I 
 
100 
 
 POLITICAL F5SAY ON THE [book ii 
 
 in ] ^Ofiy and to exhibit numbers as near to the 
 truth as possible, it was necessary to augment the 
 result of the last enumeration: 1. with that part 
 of the inhabitants omitted t be entered in the lists ; 
 and 2. with the excess of the births above the bu- 
 rials. I wished rather to adopt a ntr .! er below the 
 actual population, than to hazard suppositions 
 which might appear extra'a; aat. I have therefore 
 lowered the esti ated niiinber ofinh bltants omit- 
 ted iu the general ceuius, arid in place of a sixth 
 adopted a tenth. 
 
 As to the progressive ^ll';Tr>cn^atlOT^ cX t^-e po- 
 pulation since 1793 to tiie epoch of my jounvy, 
 I have fixed if ffom ?U'Tideat data. Throat h '.ho 
 particular kindness v/ith v/hich I was honoured by 
 a respectable prelaf-e, tlie present Aixbbishop jf 
 Mexico*, i was enabled to ci^ter Iruo njinutc in- 
 vestigations on the relation between the births <u)d 
 deaths, according to the difference of climatts of 
 the central table-land and the regions adjacent to 
 the coast. Several parish priests (cures) inters 
 ested in the solution of so important a problem as 
 the augmentation or diminution of our species, en- 
 gaged in a very laborious undertaking* They 
 communicated to me the number of baptisms and 
 burials, yearly, from 17«52 to 180:2 j and from the 
 
 I- ' 
 
 * Don Francisco Xavier de Lizana. I am also indebted for 
 very important documents to Don Pedro de Fonte, provisor of 
 the archbishopric. See note lit at the end of the work. 
 
ciiAr. iv.J KhNGDOM 0¥ SEW SPAIN. 
 
 lOJ 
 
 whole of these minute registers, which I have pre- 
 served, it appears that the proportion of the births 
 to the deaths is nearly as 170 : 100. I shall 
 merely here adduce a few examples to confirm 
 this assertion ; and they are so much the more in- 
 teresting as we have yet no statistical data on the 
 relation of the deaths to the births under the tor- 
 rid zone. 
 
 In the Indian village of Singuilucan, eleven 
 leagues north from the capital, there were from 
 1750 to 1801, in all, 19o0 deaths, and 45(it) births: 
 inde, excess of deaths 2610. 
 
 In the Indian village of Axapuzco, thirteen 
 leagues north from Mexico, there were, from the 
 period when this village was separated from the 
 parish of Otumba, i. e. from 17t)7 to 1797, in all, 
 35 1 1 deaths, and 5528 burials ; consequently ex- 
 cess of the births, 201 7. 
 
 In the Indian village of Malacatepec, twenty - 
 eight leagues west from the valley of Tenochtitlan, 
 there were, between 1752 and 1802, in all, 13,734 
 births, and 10,529 deaths. Excess of births 3205. 
 
 In the village of Dolores, from 175() to ISO J, 
 there were, in all, 24,123 deaths, and 61,258 
 births; hence the extraordinary excess of 37,135 
 births. 
 
 In the city of Guanaxuato, there were, from 
 1797 to 1802, 12,666 births, and 6^94 deaths; 
 or an excess of S3 72 births. 
 
 In the village of Marfil, near Guanaxuato, there 
 
 
 M 
 
 I 
 
 i'l 
 111 
 
102 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book n. 
 
 were in the same space of time 3702 births, and 
 1904 deaths ; or an excess of 1798 births. 
 
 In the village of St. Anne, near Guanaxuato, 
 there were in five years 3629 births, and 1857 
 deaths, consequently an excess of 1772 births. 
 
 At Yguala, a village situated in a very warm 
 valley near Chilpanzingo, there were during ten 
 years 337S births, and 2595 deaths, or an excess 
 of 978 births. 
 
 In the Indian village Colima) a, situated on a 
 very cold plain, there were, during ten years, o475 
 births, and 2602 deaths, or an excess of 2673 
 births. 
 
 ' In the jurisdiction of the city of Queretaro, 
 there were, in 1 793, 5064 births in all, and 2678 
 deaths, or an excess of 2386 births. 
 
 These examples prove that the relation of the 
 deaths to the births is very different according to 
 the climate and salubrity of the air. It is. 
 
 At Dolores 
 
 
 ~ 100 : 253 
 
 Singuilucan 
 
 Caliniaya 
 
 Guanaxuato 
 
 f * 
 
 = 100 : 234 
 = 100 : 202 
 3 JOO • 201 
 
 Sta. Ana 
 
 
 = 100 : 195 
 
 Marfil 
 
 
 = 100 : 194 
 
 (^cretaro 
 
 t $ 
 
 = 100 : 188 
 
 Axapuzco # 
 Yguala i 
 Malacatepec 
 Panuco 
 
 k \ 
 
 = 100 : 157 
 = 100 : 140 
 = 100 : 134 
 = 100 : 123 
 
&HAt. IV.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 103 
 
 The mean term of these eleven places would be 
 100 to i'S:i ; but the proportion which may be 
 regarded as suitable for the whole population 
 appears to me to be J 00 : 1 70. In the United 
 States of America, it is as 100 : 201. 
 
 It appears that on the high plain of the Cordil- 
 lera the excess of births is greater than towards 
 the coast, or in the very warm regions. What a 
 diflference between the villages of Calimaya and 
 Yguala ! At Panuco, where the climate is as hot 
 as at Vera Cruz, although the mortal disease of 
 black vomiting has never ye: been known there, 
 the number of births from 1795 to 1802 was 
 1224, and the number of deaths, 988 ; so that we 
 have here the unfavourableproportionof 1 00 to 1 23. 
 Hindostan and South America, particularly the 
 province of Cumana, the coast of Coro, and the 
 plains (llanos) of Caraccas, sufficiently prove that 
 heat alone is not the cause of this great mortality. 
 In climates very warm and at the same time very 
 dry the hmnan species enjoys a longevity perhaps 
 greater than what we observe in the temperate 
 zones. Th'.s is especially the case whenever the 
 temperature and climate are excessively variable. 
 The Europeans who transport themselve at an age 
 somewhat advanced into the equinoxiaf part of the 
 Spanish colonies attain there for the n>ost part (o 
 a great and happy old age. At Vera Cruz, in the 
 midst of the epidemical black vomit in^s^ the na- 
 
 
 mm 
 
104 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 tives and strangers seasoned for several years to the 
 climate enjoy the most perfect health. 
 
 In general, the coasts and arid plains of equato- 
 rial America should be looked upon as healthy, 
 notwithstanding the excessive heat of the sun, 
 whose perpendicular rays are reflected by the soil. 
 Individuals come to maturity, particularly those 
 who approach to old age, have little to fear from 
 these regions, of w hich the unhealthiness has been 
 unjustifiably exaggerated. The chief mortality is 
 among the children and young pec pie, particularly 
 in those parts, where the climate is at once very 
 warm and very humid. Intern, ittent fevers pre- 
 vail all along the coast from Alvarado to Tamia- 
 gua, Tampico, and even to the plains of New 
 Santander. The western declivity of the Cordillera 
 of Mexico, and the shores of the South Sea, from 
 Acapulco to the ports of Colima and San Bias, are 
 equally unhealthy. We may compare this humid, 
 fertile and unhealthy territory to the maritime 
 part of the province of Caracas, from New Barce- 
 lona to Porto Cabello. Tertian fevers are the 
 scourge of these countries, adorned by nature with 
 the most vigorous vegetation, and rich in every 
 useful production. This scourge is so much the 
 more cruel, as the natives abandon in the most 
 shocking manner all those who are affected. The 
 children especially fall victims to this neglect of 
 the Indians. In these hot and humid regions, the 
 
 at] 
 
CHAF. IV.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 105 
 
 mortality is so great that the population makes no 
 sensible progress; while in the cold regions of New 
 Spain (and these regions compose the greatest part 
 of the kingdom) the proportion of the births to 
 the deaths is as UJO to 100, or even as i^OO to 
 100. 
 
 The proportion of the births and deaths to the 
 population is more difficult to estimate than even 
 the proportion between the births and deaths. In 
 countries where the laws tolerate only one religion, 
 and where the priest (cure) draws a part of his 
 revenues from the baptisms and burials, we may 
 know exactly enough the excess of the births 
 above the deaths ; but the number which expresses 
 the relation of the deaths to the whole population 
 is affected by a part of the uncertainty which en- 
 velopes the population itself. In the town and 
 territory of Queretaro, the population is reckoned 
 at '^0,000. if we divide this number by 5064 
 births and '^678 deaths, we shall find that for every 
 fourteen persons one is born, and that for every 
 twenty-six one dies. At Guanaxuato, including 
 the adjacent mines of St. Anne and Marfil, in a 
 population of 60,100, there are communibi(S annis 
 (assuming the mean term of five years) c3998 births 
 and iOl I deaths. For every fifteen, then, one is 
 born, and every twenty nine one dies. 1 lie rela- 
 tion of ihe births or deaths to the whole population 
 is in Europe much less favourable to the augment- 
 ation of the species. In France, for example, the 
 
 y 
 
 i 
 
 •■^<''? 
 
 <i.(i 
 
 hL 
 
106 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book n. 
 
 births are as one to QSv'tt, and the deaths as one to 
 30-r^. This is the precise result deduced L7 M. 
 Peuchet from the tables of births, marriages, and 
 deaths, drawn up in the year nine, in 98 depart- 
 ments, by order of the minister of the interior. 
 Farther north, in the Prussian monarchy, there 
 were in 1802, for nine millions' of inhabitants, 
 4;36,6l6 births, and 282,10.9 deaths: hence the 
 births are one in 20 and the deaths one in 32. 
 But in Sweden, a country less favoured by nature, 
 according to the tables of M. Nicander, the most 
 exact and extensive that were ever drawn up, the 
 births are one in 30, and the deaths one in 39. 
 
 It appears, in general, that in the kingdom of 
 New Spain the proportion of the births to the po- 
 pulation is one in 1 7, and of the deaths one in 30. 
 We may estimate tlie present number of births at 
 nearly 350,000, and the deaths at 200,000. This 
 excess of births in favourable circumstances, that 
 is to say, in years without famine, epidemical small- 
 pox, or matlazahuall^ the most mortal disease of 
 the Indians, is nearly l.>0,0()0. In general, we ob- 
 serve every where on the globe that the population 
 augments with a prodigious rapidity in countries 
 still thinly inhai>itt d, with an eminently fertile soil, 
 a soft and equal temperature, and p r icularly 
 where there is a robust race of mtu incited by na- 
 ture to mariiage at a very eaiiy age. 
 
 The parts of Kurope in which cultivaiion only 
 commenced i"i. the last hait of the past century 
 
CHAP. TV.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 lo: 
 
 afford very striking examples of this excess of 
 births. In West Prussia there were in 1 784, in a 
 population of /> 6(^,000 inhabiiants, 27,134 births, 
 and 15,669 deaths. These numbers give the pro- 
 portion of births to deaths 36 to t>0, or 1 80 : 100, a 
 proportion equally favourable with that of the In- 
 dian villages situated in the central plain of Mexico. 
 In the Russian empire, in 1 806, the births amount- 
 ed to 1,361,1.34, and the deaths to 818,433. The 
 same causes every where produce the same 
 effects. The newer the cultivation of a country 
 is, so much the easier is subsistence on a soil newly 
 torn up, and consequently so much the more rapid 
 the progress of population. To confirm this thesis, 
 we have only to cast our eyes over the proportions 
 of the biiths to the deaths in the foilowini* table. 
 
 In France . i = 
 
 110 : 
 
 100 
 
 Engla.id * , . = 
 
 120 : 
 
 100 
 
 Sweden . • = 
 
 130 : 
 
 100 
 
 Finland . . = 
 
 i60 : 
 
 100 
 
 Ru sian empire . . = 
 
 166 : 
 
 100 
 
 West Prussia . . = 
 
 180 : 
 
 100 
 
 Government of Tobolsk, ac- 
 
 
 
 cbrding to M. Hermann = 
 
 210 : 
 
 100 
 
 Several places in the table- 
 
 ' 
 
 
 land of Mexico \ = 
 
 230 : 
 
 100 
 
 * EsJay on the principles of population^ by M. Malthus, 
 one of the most profound works in politicsd ewuuiuy which 
 has ever appeared. — ; * ,» 
 
 
 'i I 
 
 t 
 
 vS^l 
 
 
108 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it, 
 
 United States (state of 
 
 New Jersey) . . = 300 : 100 
 The data which we have taken for the propor- 
 tion of the births to the deaths, and of both to the 
 whole population, prove that if the order of na- 
 ture were not inverted from time to time by some 
 extraordinary cause, the population of New Spain 
 would double every nineteen years *. In a period 
 of ten years it should have augmented V^V* ^^ 
 the United States we have seen the population 
 double, since 1784, every twenty or twenty-three 
 years. The curious tables published by Mr. Sa- 
 muel Blodget in his Statistkal Manual for the 
 United States of America (1806), show that in 
 some states this liappy cycle is only thirteen or 
 fourteen years. In France the population would 
 double in the space of ^ 1 4 years, if no war or no 
 contagious disease were to diminish the annual ex- 
 cedent of the births. Such is the difference be- 
 tween countries already very populous, and those 
 which have yet but a nascent industry. 
 
 * Let p represent the actual population of a country, n the 
 proportion of the population to the births, d the proportion of 
 the deaths to the births, and k the number of years at the end 
 of which it is wished to estimate the population, we shall have 
 the state of the population at the epoqua A:, expressed by p 
 (l +«(1 — rf))^; so that if we would know in how many 
 years the population doubles, this number of yean It will be 
 
 expressed by k =_^^|_^ 
 
CHAP. IV.] KINGIXDM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 109 
 
 -The only true sign of a real and permanent in- 
 crease of populatic/n is an increase in the means of 
 subsistence. This increase, this augmentation of 
 the produce of agricuhure, is evident in Mexico ; 
 and appears even to indicate a much more rapid 
 progress of population than has been supposed, in 
 deducing the population of 1 805 from the imper- 
 fect enumeration of 1793. In a catholic country, 
 the ecclesiastical tenths are, as it were, the ther- 
 mometer by which we may judge of the state of 
 agriculture ; and these tenths, as we shall after- 
 wards state, have doubled in less than 24 years. 
 
 All these considerations suffice to prove that in 
 admitting .7,800,000 inhabitants for the kingdom 
 of Mexico at the end of the year 180,% I have 
 taken a number, which, far from being exaggerated, 
 is probably much bdoxv the e.vist'mg population. 
 No public calamity has afflicted the country since 
 the enumeration of 1793. If we add, 1st, a tenth 
 for the individuals not included in the enumera- 
 tion, and i^d, two tenths for the progress of popu- 
 lation in ten years, we suppose an excess of births 
 which is less bv one half than the result of the 
 parish registers. Acco.ding to this supposition 
 the number of inhabitants would double every SQ 
 or 40 years. Yet well informed persons who 
 have attentively observed the progress of agricul- 
 ture, increase of villages and cities, and the aug- 
 mentation of all the revenues of the crown de- 
 pending on the consumption of commodities, are 
 
 If' h ' 
 
 ■■mv 
 
 -m 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 ■^i 
 
 m 
 
 W 
 
 1 
 
Lo 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [Book it 
 
 tempted to believe that the population of Mexico 
 has made a much more rapid progress. I am far 
 from pronouncing on so delicate a matter : it is 
 enough for me to have exhibited a detail of the 
 materials hitherto collected, which may lead to 
 accurate results. I consider it as extremely pro- 
 bable, that the population of Mexico in 1808 
 exceeds 6,.5(){),()00. In the Russian empire, of 
 which the political and moral state bears, in many 
 respects, a strong analogy to the country we are 
 describing, the increase of population from the 
 excess of births is much more rapid than what we 
 admit for Mexico. According to the statistical 
 work of M. Ileruunuiy the enumeration of ;7ti.3 
 gave 14,7'^6,()00 souls. The result of that made 
 in 1785 was nearly '.^5,677,000 ; and the total 
 p(ipulation of Russia in 1805 was estimated at 
 40,000,000. Yet what obstacles does not nature 
 oppose to the progress of population in the most 
 northern parts of Europe and Asia ! And what a 
 contrast between the fertility of the Mexican soil, 
 enriched with the most precious vegetable pro- 
 ductions of the torrid zone, and the sterility of 
 plains for more than hdlf the year^ buried under 
 ice and snow. 
 
CHAP, v.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 Ill 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Maladies which pcriodicaUy arrest the progress qf population.-^ 
 Small'poXf natural and inoculated.— Cow-pox.-— 'Matlazahuatl, 
 —■Famine. — Health of miners. 
 
 It remains for us to examine into the physical 
 causes which almost periodically arrest the pro- 
 gress of Mexican population. These causes are 
 the small-pox, the cruel malady called by the In- 
 dians Matlazahuail, and especially famine, of 
 which the efifects are felt for a long time. 
 
 The smalUpox, introduced since 1.520, appears 
 only to exercise its ravages every seventeen or 
 eighteen years. In the equinoxial regions it 
 has, like the black vomiting and several other 
 diseases, its fixed periods, to which it is very re- 
 gularly subjected. We might say that in these 
 countries the disposition for certain miasmata is 
 only renewed in the natives at long intervals ; for 
 though the vessels from Europe frequently intro- 
 duce the germ of the small-pox, it never becomes 
 epidemical but after very marked intervals ; a sin- 
 gular circumstance, which renders the disease so 
 much the more dangerous for adults. The small- 
 pox committed terrible ravages in 1 763, and es- 
 pecially in 111% in which year it carried off in 
 the capital of Mexico alone more than nine 
 
 YOL. I. s 
 
112 
 
 POl.rnCAL ESSAY ON THE [uook ix. 
 
 thousand persons. Every evening tumbrels passed 
 through the streets to receive the corpses, as at 
 Philadelphia during the yellow fever. A great 
 part of the Mexican youih was cut down that 
 year. 
 
 'J he epidemic of 1797 was less destructive, 
 chiefly owing to the zeal with which inoculation 
 was propagated in the environs of Mexico, and in 
 the bishopric of Mechoachan. In the capital of 
 this bishopric the city of Valladolid, of 6800 in- 
 dividuals inoculated only 170, or '2i per eent. died j 
 and we mu^t also observe, that several of those 
 who perished were inoculated at a time when they 
 were probably already infected in the natural man- 
 ner, lifteen in the hundred died of individuals of 
 all ages, who without being inoculated were vic- 
 tims of the natural small-pox. Several individuals, 
 particularly among the clergy, displayed at that 
 period a very praiseworthy patriotism, in arresting 
 the progress of the disease by inoculation, i 
 shall merely mention the names of two enlightened 
 men, M. de Reano, intendant of Guanaxuato, and 
 Don Manuel Abad, penitentiary canon of the 
 cathedral of Valladolid, whose generous and dis- 
 interested views were constantly directed towards 
 the public good. There were then inoculated in 
 the kingdom between 50 and 60,000 individuals. 
 
 But in the month of January 1804, the vaccine 
 inoculation was even introduced at Mexieo through 
 the activity of a respectable citizen, Don 1 homa« 
 
 t( 
 tl 
 n 
 1< 
 
 €3 
 
CHAP. T.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 113 
 
 Murphy, who brought several times the virus 
 from North America. This introduction found 
 few obstacles ; the cow-pox appeared under the 
 aspect of a very trivial malady ; and the small- 
 pox inoculation had already accustomed the In- 
 dians to the idea that it might be useful to submit 
 to a temporary evil for the sake of evading a 
 greater evil. If the vaccine inoculation, or even 
 the ordinary inoculation, had been known in the 
 nivv world in the bixteenth century, several mil- 
 lions of Indians would not have perished victims 
 to the small-pox, and particularly to the absurd 
 treatment by which the disease was rendered so 
 fatal. To this disease the fearful diminution of 
 the number of Indians in California is to be as- 
 cribed. The ships of war commissioned to carry 
 the vaccine matter into America and Asia arrived 
 at V^vdi Cruz shortly after my arrival. 
 
 JJon Antonio I'almis, physician general of this 
 expedition, visited Portorico, Cuba, Mexico, and 
 the Philippine islan ' - ; and his stay at Mexico, 
 where nevertheless the cow-pox was known before 
 his arrival, contributed singularly to facilitate the 
 propagation of this salutaiy preservative. In the 
 principid cities of the kingdom vaccine commit- 
 tees were formed (juntas ct/tt rules) ^ composed of 
 the most enlightened individuals, who, by vaccinat- 
 ing monthly, preserve the miasma from being 
 lost. It s so much the less liable to be lost, as it 
 exists in 'he country. M. I'aimU- discovered it 
 
 s 9 
 
 
 IX' 
 

 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 #^^"^ <-n.^^ 
 
 {< 
 
 ^ 
 
 4^ 
 
 1.0 
 
 1.1 
 
 ■50 ^^" !■■ 
 
 m m 
 
 Z l£& |2.0 
 
 ■ 22 
 
 — M 
 
 
 
 '/ 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 
 23 WBY l^.^.r < STMIT 
 
 WieSTM.N.V. MSM 
 
 (716)«73-4S03 
 
 '^ 
 

114 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 in the environs of Valladolid, and in the village of 
 Atlisco, near la Puebla, in the udders of the 
 Mexican cows. The commission having fulfilled 
 the beneficent views of the king of Spain, we may 
 indulge a hope that through the influence of the 
 clergy, and especially of the religious missionaries, 
 Yaccination will be gradually introduced into the 
 tery interior of the country. The voyage of M. 
 Valmis will thus remain for ever memorable in 
 the annals of history. The Indies saw for the 
 first time those vessels, which were formerly 
 freighted only with instruments of carnage and 
 destruction, bearing about the germ of relief and 
 consolation to distressed and suffering humanity. 
 
 The arrival of the armed frigates in which M. 
 Valmis made the circuit of the Atlantic and Pacific 
 Oceans gave rise on several coasts to one of the 
 most simple^ and therefore most affecting, cere- 
 monies. The bishops, military governors, and 
 persons of greatest distinction, repaired to the 
 shore, where they took in their arms the children 
 who were to carry the cow-pox to the indigenous 
 Americans and the Malays of the Philippine 
 islands, and,followed with public acclamations, they 
 laid at the foot of the ^Itar those precious pre- 
 servative deposits, returning thanks to the Supreme 
 Being for having been the witnesses of so happy an 
 event. We must have some knowledge of the 
 ravages occasioned by the small-pox in the torrid 
 zone, and especially among a race of men whose 
 
•HAP. v.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 115 
 
 physical constitution seems adverse to cutaneous 
 eruptions, in order to feel all the importance of M. 
 Jcnner's discovery. It is a much greater blessing 
 for the equinoxial part of the new continent than 
 for the temperate climate of the old. 
 
 It may be useful to relate here a fact of some 
 importance for those who take an interest in the 
 progress of vaccination. It was unknown at Lima 
 till the month of November 1 802. At that period 
 the small.pox prevailed on the coast of the South 
 Sea. A merchant vessel, Santo Domingo de la 
 Calzada^ put into Lima in the passage from Spain 
 to Manilla. An individual had had the good 
 sense to send by this vessel vaccine matter to the 
 Philippine islands. They availed themselves of 
 this opportunity at Lima ; and M. Unanue, pro- 
 fessor of anatomy, and author oF an excellent 
 physiological treatise on the climate of Peru*, 
 vaccinated several individuals by means of the 
 matter brought by the merchant vessel. No 
 pustule appeared ; and the virus appeared either 
 altered or too weak. However, M. Unanue having 
 observed that all the vaccinated individuals had a 
 very mild small-pox, employed this variolous mat- 
 
 * This work, which displays an intimate acquaintance with 
 the French and English h'terature, bears the title of Obser- 
 vaciones sobre el clima de f/nmi y sus injlucncias en los scref 
 organizados en §special el hombre, por el Dr, B, Hipolito Una- 
 uue, Lima, 1806. 
 
116 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book li- 
 
 ter to render, if possible by the ordinary inocula- 
 tion, the disease less fatal. He thus perceived in 
 an indirect Tvay the effects of a vaccination sup- 
 posed to have failed. 
 
 It was accideiiially discovered in the course 
 of the same epidemic in 1802, that the bene- 
 ficent effect of vaccination had been long 
 known to the country pen; le among the Peruvian 
 Andes. A negro slave had b.en inoculated for 
 the small-pox in the house of the Marquis de 
 Valleumbroso who showed no symptom of the 
 disease. They were going to repeat the inocula- 
 tion, when the young man told them that he was 
 certain of never having the small-pox, because in 
 milking cows in the Cordillera of the Andes, he 
 had had a sort of cutaneous eruptions, caused, as 
 the Indian herdsmen said, by the contact of certain 
 tubercules sometimes found on the udders of 
 cows. Those who have had this eruption, said 
 the negro, never take the small-pox. The Afri- 
 cans, and especially the Indians, display great sa- 
 gacity in observing the . character, habits, and 
 diseases of the animals m ith which they live. We 
 need not therefore be astonished, that, on the in- 
 troduction of horned cattle into America, the lower 
 people remarked that the pustules on the udders 
 oF cows communic itcd to the herdsmen a species 
 of benignant smallpox, and tlpiat those once in- 
 fected are secure from the general contagion dur- 
 ing the epochs when the disease is epidemical. 
 
CHAP, v.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 Jl' 
 
 The matlazahuatl^ a disease peculiar to the 
 Indian race, seldom appears more than once in a 
 century. It raged in a particular manner in lo45, 
 I57t), and I7'i(3. It is cailed a plague by the 
 Spanish authors. As the latest epidemic took 
 place at a time when medicine was not considered 
 a science, even in tiie capital, we have no exact 
 data as to the iiiatUtuihiiatt. It bears 'certainly 
 some analogy to the yellow fever or black vomit- 
 ing ; but it never attacks white people, whether 
 Europeans or descendants from the natives. Ihe 
 individuals of the race of Caucasus * do not ap- 
 pear subject to this mortal typhus, while, on the 
 other hand, the yellow fever or black vomiting very 
 seldom attacks the Mexican Indians. '1 he prin- 
 cipal site of the vomito prkto is the maritime re- 
 gion, of which the climate is excessively warm 
 and humid ; but the matlazahaatl carries terror 
 and destruction into the very interior of the coun- 
 try, to the central table-land, and the coldest and 
 most arid regions of the kingdom. 
 
 Father Torribio a Franciscan, better known by 
 
 _■ ♦ 
 
 * Who are the individuals of the race of Caucasus ? The 
 Europeans. So at least we learn from the context where they 
 are opposed to the Mexican Indians. This involves the theory 
 of the mountains of Asia being the nursery of the old con- 
 tinent. Every one however will not so easily be able to un- 
 derstand Europeans by this denomination. Such attempts 
 to elevate the style, at the expense of perspicuity, can never 
 enough be reprobated. Trans, 
 
 tHK 
 
118 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 his Mexican name of Motolinia, asserts that the 
 small-pox at its introduction in 1520, by a negro 
 slave of Narvaez, carried off the half of the in- 
 habitants of Mexico. Torquemada advances the 
 hazardous opinion that in the two matlazahuatl 
 epidemics of 1545 and 15/(3, 800,000 Indians 
 died in the former and 2,000,000 in the latter. 
 But when we reflect on the difficulty with which 
 we can at this day estimate, in the eastern part of 
 Europe, the number of those who fall victims to 
 the plague, we shall very reasonably be inclined 
 to doubt if the viceroys Mendoza and Almanza, 
 governors of a recently conquered country, were 
 able to procure an enumeration of the Indians cut 
 off by the matlazahuatl. I do not accuse the 
 two monkish historians of want of veracity ; but 
 there is very little probability that their calculation 
 is founded on exact data. 
 
 A very interesting problem remains to be re- 
 solved. Was the pest, which is said to have de- 
 solated from time to time the Atlantic regions of 
 the United States before the arrival of the Euro- 
 peans, and which the celebrated Rush and his 
 followers look upon as the principle of the yellow 
 fever, identical with the matlazahuatl of the Mex- 
 ican Indies ? We may hope that this last disease, 
 should it ever re-appear in New Spain, will be 
 heieafter caret ully obsel-ved by the physicians* 
 
 A third obstacle to the progress of population 
 in New Spain, and perhaps the most cruel of all* 
 
CHAP, v.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 119 
 
 is famine. The American Indians, like the inha- 
 bitants of Hindost in, are contented with the 
 smallest quantity of aliment on which life can be 
 supported, and increase in number without a 
 proportional increase in the means of subsistence. 
 Naturally indolent, from their fine climate and 
 generally fei tile soil, they cultivate as much maize, 
 potatoes, or wheat as is necessary for their own 
 subsistence, or at most for the additional consump* 
 tion of the adjacent towns and mines. Agricul- 
 ture, it is true, has made great progress within the 
 last twenty years ; but the consumption has also 
 increased in an extraordinary manner from the 
 augmentation of population, and an excessive 
 luxury formerly unknowfi to the mixed ca^ts, and 
 from the working of a great number of new se ims, 
 which require additional men, horses, and mules. 
 Few hands, no doubt, are employed in manufac- 
 tures in New Spain; but a great number are 
 withdrawn from agriculture from the necessity of 
 transporting on mules goods and the produce of 
 the mines, iron, powder, and mercury from the 
 coast to the capital, and from thence to the mines 
 along the ridge of the Cordilleras. 
 
 Thousands of men and animals pass their lives 
 on the great roads between Vera Cruz and Mex- 
 ico, Mexico and Acapulco, Oaxaca and Durango, 
 and the cross roads by which provisions are car- 
 ried to the habitations established in arid and un- 
 cultivated regions. This class of inhabitants. 
 
120 
 
 POUTICAI. KSSAY ON Till-: [book ii. 
 
 called by the economists in their system, sterile 
 and nonproductive, is consequently more numer- 
 ous in America than migiit be expected in a coun- 
 try where manufacturing industry is yet so little 
 advanced. The want of proportion between the 
 progress of population and the increase of food 
 from cultivation renews the afflicting spectacle of 
 famine, whenever a great drought or any other local 
 cause has damaged the crop of maize. Scarcity of 
 ])rovisions has always been accompanied in all times 
 and all parts of the globe with epidemical diseases 
 fatal to population *. The want of nourishment in 
 1784 gave rise to astheuical diseases among the 
 most indigent class of the people. These accumu- 
 lated calamities cut off a great number of adults, 
 and a still greater nuniber of children ; and it was 
 computed that in the town and mines of Guanax- 
 uato more that 8000 individuals perished. A v ery 
 remarkable meteorological phenomenon contri- 
 buted principally to the scarcity : the maize, after 
 an extraordinary drought, was nipt by frost on the 
 
 * This position requires qualification. Dr. Smith has, 
 I believe, well remarked that in years of scarcity there 
 are, perhaps, fewer diseases and deaths than usual, from the 
 diminished consumption of spirituous liquors by the common 
 people, one of the most productive sources of disease. The 
 position will undoubtedly, however, hold with regard to a 
 Hindoo or Indian population, who in years of plenty have 
 no more than merely supports animal life, and to whom^ 
 therefore, any reduction must always prove fatal. Trans ^ , 
 
CHAP, v.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 121 
 
 night of the 28th August, and, what is more sin- 
 gular, at an elevation of 1800 metres*. The 
 number of inhabitants carried off by this fatal 
 union of famine and disease throughout the whole 
 surface of the kingdom was estimated" at more 
 than .'J0(),000. This number will appear the less 
 astonishing to us when we consider, that even in 
 Europe the population is sometimes diminished 
 by scarcity, more than it is augmented by the ex- 
 cess of births above the deaths for four consecutive 
 years. There perished in Saxony, for example, 
 in 1 11^^ near ^^^ 000 inhabitants, while the excess 
 of births above the deaths was not, commumhus 
 iwnisy from 1764 to 1784 more than 17,000t. 
 The effects of famine are common to almost 
 
 » 5904 feet. Tram. 
 
 t The translator is afraid that this number of 66,000 in- 
 cludes the whole deaths of Saxony in \^^1, in which case the 
 Btatement that the diminution of population from the famine 
 exceeded the augmentation from the excess of births for four 
 consecutive years will fall to the ground. £very one knows 
 that it is impossible to state exactly the number of deaths from 
 famine in any country, as literally few or none die of famine, 
 but of diseases occasioned by a defective diet, which can never 
 be separated in any bill of mortality from diseases owing to 
 other causes. The nearest approximation, however, is to be 
 found by deducting the average mortality from the increased 
 mortality in any given year of scarcity. I think it extremely 
 probable that M. de Humboldt has not adopted this method. 
 He elsewhere states that the adjacent country of Prussia bad> 
 in 1802, on a population of nine millions, 282,109 deaths. 
 .\i we take Mr. Piokerton's estimate of the Saxon population. 
 
122 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 all the equinoxial regions. In the province of 
 New Andalusia in South America I have seen 
 villages whose inhabitants were forced by famine 
 to disperse themselves from time to time in the 
 deserts to pick up a subsistence from the wild 
 plants. In vain the missionaries employ their 
 authority to prevent this dispersion. In the 
 province de las Pastos^ the Indians when the 
 potatoes fail, which are their principal nourish* 
 ment, repair sometimes to the most elevated ridge 
 of the Cordillera to subsist on the juice of the 
 acliupallas, a plant related to the genus pitcarnia. 
 The Otomacks at Uruana, on the banks of the 
 Orinoco, swallow, during several months, pot- 
 ter's earth, to absorb by this load the gastric juice^ 
 and to satisfy, in some sort, the hunger which 
 torments them* In the islands of the South 
 Sea, in a fertile soil, where nature has lavished all 
 her blessings, the inhabitants are frequently driven 
 by famine to devour one another. Under the 
 torrid zone, where a beneficent hand seems every 
 where to have scattered the germ of abundance, 
 man, careless and phlegmatic, experiences pe- 
 
 24104,000, say, however, 3,000,000, and assume a mortality for 
 it proportionate to that of Prussia, we shall find the number of 
 deaths 62,869. If, supposing then 66^000 the mortality of 
 1772, and 62,869 the average mortality, the increase by fa- 
 Hiine in 1772 would only be 3311. This is a much more 
 likely number than the enormous one given by M . de Hum- 
 boldt ; but the fact can easily be ascertained. Trans. 
 * See my TabUaw de la Nature, t, I, p. 62, IQl, and ZOQ, 
 
CHAP, v.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 123 
 
 riodically a want of nourishment which the in- 
 dustry of more civilized nations banishes from the 
 most sterile regions of the north. 
 
 The working of the mines has long been re- 
 garded as one of the principal causes of the depo- 
 pulation of America. It will be difficult to call in 
 quesdon, that at the first epoch of the conqu^.i, 
 and even in the seventeenth century, many Indians 
 perished from the excessive labour to which they 
 were compelled in the mines. They perished 
 without posterity, as thousands of African slaves 
 annually perish in the West Indian plantations 
 from fatigue, defective nourishment, and want of 
 sleep. In Peru, at least in the most southern 
 part, the country is depopulated by the mines, be- 
 cause the barbarous law of the mita is yet in 
 existence, which compels the Indians to remove 
 from their homes into distant provinces, where 
 hands are wanted for extracting the subterraneous 
 \^lth. But it is not so much the labour as 
 the sudden change of climate, which renders the 
 mita so pertiicious to the health of the Indians. 
 This race of men has not the flexibility of or- 
 ganization for which the Europeans are so emi- 
 nently distinguished. The health of copper- 
 coloured man suffers infinitely when he is trans- 
 ported from a warm to a cold climate, particularly 
 when he is forced to descend from the elevation 
 of the Cordillera into those narrow and humid 
 
 
19i 
 
 POLl' JAL I'SSAY ON tHF. 
 
 [nook. 1^ 
 
 vallies, where all the miasmata of the neighbouring 
 regions appear to be deposited. 
 
 In the kingdom of New Spain, at least within 
 the last thirty or forty years, the labour of the 
 mines is free ; and there remains no trace of the 
 m'ltti^ though a justly celebrated author* has ad- 
 vanced the I ontrary. No where does the lower 
 people enjoy n greater security the fruit of their 
 labours than in the mines of Mexico; no law 
 forces the Indian lO choose this species of labour, 
 01 to prefer one mine to another j and when he is 
 displeased wiih the proprietor of the mine, he may 
 offer his services (o another master who may pay 
 perhaps more regularly. These unquestionable 
 facts are very litt'e known in Europe. The num- 
 ber of pers(>ns employed in subterraneous opera- 
 tions, who are divided into several classes (Bare" 
 nadortSf Facneros, Icnateros, Baretcros), does 
 not exceed in the whole kingdom of New Spain 
 ^8 or 30,000. Hence there is not more than 
 ^^ o£ the whole population immediately em- 
 ployed in the mines. .. ^ / . ^ w. ^i* 
 -' The mortality among the miners of Mexico is 
 not much greater than what is observed among 
 the other classes. We may easily be convinced 
 of this by examining the bills of mortality in the 
 different parishes of Guanaxuato and Zacatecas. 
 
 ^!iH»Af T 
 
 <>«>/ 
 
 ' f .r J4* • t* J sy\. ^-Aj^ V' f V -'■.'*' =^*^ ■ '-• -••» J» *« ■ 
 
 blSh: * Robertson, History of America, vol. ii. p. 373. 
 
CHAP, v.] KINGDOM OV NKW S1>AIN. 
 
 12J 
 
 This is a phenomenon, so much the more re- 
 markable, as the miner in several of these mines 
 is exposed to a temperature ()^ above the mean 
 temperatures of Jamaica and Pondicherry*. 1 
 found the centigrade thermometer at .'H° | at tlie 
 bottom of the mine of Valenciana {ch lo.s plana), 
 a perpendicular depth of "iVi metres}, while at 
 the mouth of the pit in the open air, the same 
 thermometer sinks in winter to 4 or h" § above 0. 
 The Mexican miner is, consequeiitly, exposed to a 
 change of temperature of more than 30° |j But 
 this enormous heat of the Valenciana mine is hot 
 the effect of a great number of men and lights 
 collected into a small space ; it is much more 
 owing to local and geological causes which we 
 shall afterwards examine. 
 
 It is curious to observe how the Mestizoes and 
 Indians employed in carrying minerals on their back, 
 who go by the name of '/cnaUTcs', remain con- 
 tiunally loaded for six hours with a weight of 
 from ^"25 to 3^j0 pounds, and constantly exposed 
 to a very high temperature, ascending eight or 
 ten times successively, without intermission, stairs 
 of 1800 steps. The appearance of these robust 
 and laborious men would have operated a change 
 in the opinions of the Raynals and Pauws, and a 
 
 m 
 
 * Nearly 11° of Fahrenheit. Trans. - '"^ ' •' * 
 
 t 93* of Fahrenheit. Trans. % 1681 feet. Trant, 
 
 §39" or 41* of Fahrenheit. Trans, « ^j i ^ • 
 |) *4° of Fahrenheit. Trans. »* " r ; rb 
 
 m 
 
 »? 
 
U6 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 number of other authors, however estimable in 
 other respects, who have been pleased to declaim 
 against the degeneracy of our species in the torrid 
 zone. In the Mexican mines, children (enfans) 
 of seventeen years of age* are able to carry masses 
 of stone of a hundred pounds weight. This oc« 
 cupation of Tenateros is accounted unhealthy, if 
 they enter more than three times a week into the 
 mines. But tlie labour which ruins most rapidly 
 the robustest constitutions is tha: of the Barena- 
 doresy who blow up the rock with powder. These 
 men rarely pass the age of 35, if from a thirst of 
 gain they continue their severe labour for the 
 whole week. They generally pass no more than 
 five or six years at this occupation, and then be- 
 take themselves to other employments Itjs injurious 
 to health. 
 
 The art of mining is daily improving, and the 
 pupils of the school of mines at Mexico gradually 
 diffuse correct notions respecting the circulation of 
 air in pits and galleries. Machines are beginning 
 to be introduced in place of the old method of 
 
 * I should be indined to think that the author meant hens 
 to My ciifans de stpt d dix ans, instead of enfans de dix sept ans ; 
 for erifant, it is believed, can hardly be applied with propriety 
 to a youth of 17 ; and if a full-grown man could ascend eight 
 or ten times, without intermission, ] SOO steps of a stair with 
 350 pounds, it certainly could not add to the evidence of the 
 strength of this race to say, that a young man of 17 could 
 carry little more than the fourth part of that weight. Trans, 
 
GftAr. v.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 127 
 
 carrying minerals and water on men's backs up 
 stairs of a rapid ascent. In proportion as the 
 mines of New Spain resemble more and more 
 those of Freiberg, Clausthal, and Schemnitz, 
 the miner's health will be less injured by the in- 
 fluence of the Mofettes*^ and the excessively pro- 
 longed efforts of muscular motion. 
 
 From five to six thousand persons are employed 
 in the amalgamation of the minerals, or the pre- 
 paratory labour. A great number of these in- 
 dividuals pass their lives in walking barefooted 
 over heaps of brayed metal, moistened and mixed 
 with muriate of soda, sulphate of iron, and ozid 
 of mercury, by the contact of the atmospheric air 
 and the solar rays. It is a remarkable phenomenon 
 to see these men enjoy the most perfect health. 
 The physicians who practise in places where there 
 are mines unanimously assert, that the nervous 
 affections, which might be attributed to the effect 
 of an absorption of oxid of mercury, very rarely 
 occur. At Guanaxuato part of the inhabitants 
 drink the very water in which the amalgamation 
 has been purified (aqua de lavaderos) without 
 feeling any injury from it. This fact has often 
 struck Europeans not intimately acquainted with 
 the principles of chemistry. The water is at first 
 of a greyish-blue colour, and contains in suspension 
 
 * The translator professei his ignorance of the meanin^^ of 
 tbii word. 
 
 VOL. I. T 
 
l!28 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book n. 
 
 black oxid of mercury, and small globules of na- 
 tive rrtercury and amalgamation of silver. This 
 metallic iriixture gradually precipitates, and che 
 water becomes limpid. It can neither dissolve the 
 oxid of mercury nor the muriate of mercury, 
 which is one of the most insoluble salts which we 
 know. Tiie mules arc very fond of this water, 
 because it contains a little muriate of soda in dis- 
 solution. , 
 
 In speaking of the progress of the Mexican po- 
 pulation, and of the causes which retard that pro- 
 gress, I have neither mentioned the arrival of new 
 European colonists, nor the mortality occasioned 
 by the black vomiting. We shall discuss these 
 subjects in the sequel. It is sufficient to observe 
 here, that the vomito prieto is a siourge which is 
 never felt but on the coast, and which does not, 
 throughout the whole kingdom, carry off annually 
 more than from two to three thousand individuals. 
 As to Europe, it does not send more than 800 to 
 Mexico. . Political writers have always exaggerated 
 what they call the f depopulation of the old con- 
 tinent by the new. M. Page*, for example, as- 
 serts in his work on the commerce of St. Domingo 
 that the emigrations from Europe supply annually 
 more than 100,000 individuals to the United 
 States. This estimate is twenty times higher than 
 the truth 5 for, in 1784 and 1 79^, when the United 
 
 (*v; 
 
 Vol. II. p. 427. 
 
 
 A .»iO'V 
 
 h 
 
u 
 
 CHAP, v.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 129 
 
 States received the greatest number of European 
 colonists, their number did not exceed 5000^. 
 The progress of population in Mexico and North 
 America is solely derived from an increase of in» 
 ternal prosperity. 
 
 ".V-!!, ,. 
 
 t Samuel Blodget's Economica, 1806, p. 58. 
 
 > 1 
 
 
 ■t. ■-" -^ 
 
 
 
 
 ■J'- 
 
 f t 
 
\30 
 
 l>OLlTICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book ff. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 "Diversify of easts. — Indians or indigenous Americans. -'Their 
 number and their migratiims.—^Diversity of languages.-^De" 
 gree of civilization of the Indians. 
 
 The Mexican population is composed of the same 
 elements as the other Spanish colonies. They 
 reckon seven races: 1. The individuals born in 
 Europe, vulgarly called Gachupines ; 2. the 
 S[;anish Creoles, or whites of European ex- 
 traction born in America ; 3, the Mestizob\ 
 desc ndants of whites and Indians; 4. the Mu- 
 lattos, descendants of whites and negrosj 5. 
 the Zamhos, descendants of negros and Indians ; 
 6, the Indians, or copper-coloured indigenous 
 race ; and ?. the African negros. Abstracting 
 the subdivisions there are four casts : the whites, 
 comprehended under the general name of Spa- 
 niards, the negros, the Indians, and the men of 
 mixed extraction, from Europeans, Africans, Ame- 
 rican Indians, and Malays ; for from the frequent 
 coinmunication between Acapulco and the Phi- 
 lippine islands, many individuals of Asiatic origin, 
 both Chinese and Malays, have settled in New 
 Spain. ., 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 131 
 
 A very general prejudice exists in Europe that 
 an exceeding small number of the copper-coloured 
 race, or descendants of the ancient Mexicans, re- 
 main at this day. The cruelty ' f the Europeans 
 has entirely extirpated the old inhabitants of the 
 West Indies. The continent of America, however, 
 has witnessed no such horrible result. The num- 
 ber of Indians in New Spain exceeds two millions 
 and a half, including only those who have no mix- 
 ture of European or African blood. What is still 
 more consolatory, and we repeat it, is, that the in- 
 digenous population, far from declining, has been 
 considerably on the increase for the last fifty 
 years, as is proved by the registers of capitation 
 or tribute. * 
 
 In general the Indians appear to form two-fifths 
 of the whole population of Mexico. In the four 
 intendancies of Guanaxuato, Valladolid, Oaxaca, 
 and la Puebla, this population amounts even to 
 three-fifths. The enumeration of 1 793 gave the 
 following result. 
 
 IV 
 
 I' 
 
 Names of intendancies. Total population. Number of Indians. 
 
 Guanaxuato 
 
 398,000 . 
 
 175,000 
 
 Valladolid - 
 
 2kK),000 - 
 
 119,000 
 
 Puebla - 
 
 638,000 . 
 
 . 416,000 
 
 Oaxaca - 
 
 411,000 - 
 
 363,000 
 
 From this table it appears that in the intendancy 
 of Oaxaca, of 100 individuals 88 were Indians. 
 
 s. 
 
1921 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 So great a number of indigenous inhabitants un* 
 doubtedly proves the antiquity of the cultivation 
 of this country. Accordingly, we find near Oax- 
 aca remaining monuments of Mexican architec- 
 ture, which prove a singularly advanced state of 
 civilization. 
 
 The Indians, or copper-coloured race, are rarely 
 to be found in the north of Ne\\ Spain, and are 
 hardly to be met with in the provincias infenias. 
 History gives us several causes for this phenome- 
 non. When the Spaniards made the conquest of 
 Mexico, they found very few inhabitants in the 
 countries situated ley end the parallel of 20°. 
 These provinces were the abode of the Chichiiiiecks 
 and Otomites, two pastoral nations, of whom thin 
 hordes were scattered over a vast territory. Agri- 
 culture and civilization, as we have already observ- 
 ed, were concentrated in the plains south of the 
 river of Santiago, especially betwe^^n the valley of 
 IMexico and the province of Oaxaca. 
 
 From the 7tli to the 15th century, population 
 S( ems in general to have continually flowed towards 
 the south From the regions situated to the north 
 of the Rio Gila issued forth those warlike nations 
 who successively inundated the country of Ana- 
 huac. We are ignorant ^^ hether that was their 
 primitive country, or whether they came originally 
 from Asia or the north-west coast of America, and 
 travered the savannas of Nabajoa and Moqui, 
 to arrive at the Rio Gila. The hieroglyphical 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 1S5 
 
 tables of tl\e Aztecs have transmitted to us the 
 memory of the principal epochs of the great migra- 
 tions among the Americans. This migration bears 
 some analoi>y to that which, in the rifth century, 
 plunged Europt' in a state of barbarism, of which 
 we yet feel the fatal effects in many of our social 
 institutions. However, the people who traversed 
 Mexico left behind them traces of cultivation and 
 civilization. 1 he Toultecs appeared, first, in the 
 year 648, the Chichimecks in li70, the Na- 
 hualtecs in 1178, the Acolhues and Aztecs in 
 1196. The Toultecs introduced the cultivation 
 of maize and cotton; they built cities, made roads, 
 and constructed thost" great pyramids which are 
 yet admired, and of which the faces are very ac- 
 curately laid out. They knew tiie use of hiero- 
 glyphical paintings j they could found metals, 
 and cut the hardest stones ; and they had a solar 
 year more perfect than that of the Greeks and 
 Romans. The form of their government indicated 
 that they were the descendants of a people who 
 had experienced great vicissitudes in their social 
 state. Bu- where is the source of that cultivation ? 
 where is the country from which the Toultecs 
 and Mexicans issued ? *. ^' ♦ 
 
 Tradi ion and historical hieroglyphics name 
 Huehuetlapallan, Tollan, and Aztlan, as the first 
 re- idence of these wandering nations. There are 
 no remains at this day of any ancient civilization 
 of the human species to the north of the Rio Gila, 
 
134 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [BOOK If. 
 
 or in the northern regions travelled through by 
 Hearne, Fidler, and Mackenzie. But on the 
 north-west coast, between Nootka and Cook river, 
 especially under the 57° of north latitude, in 
 Norfolk Bay and Cox Canal, the nadves display a 
 decided taste for hieroglyphical paintings*. M. 
 Fleurieu, a man of distinguished learning, supposes 
 that these people might be the descendants of some 
 Mexican colony, which, at the period of the con- 
 quest, took refuge in those northern rfsgions. This 
 ingenious opinion will appear less probable if we 
 consider the great distance which these colonists 
 would have to travel, and reflect that the Mexican 
 cultivation did not extend beyond the 20° of lati- 
 tude. I am rather incl led to believe, that, on the 
 migration of the Toultecs and Aztecs to the south, 
 some tribes remained on the coasts of New Nor- 
 folk and New Cornwall, while the rest continued 
 their course southwards. We can conceive how 
 people, travelling en masse, for example, the Os- 
 trogoths and Alani, vs^ere able to pass from the 
 Black Sea into Spain ; but how could we believe 
 that a portion of these people were able to return 
 from west to east, at an epoqua when other hordes 
 had already occupied their first abodes on the 
 banks of the Don or the Boristhenes ? 
 
 * Voyage de Marchand, torn, I. p. 258* 26l, 37^ ; Dixon, 
 p. 332. A harp represented in the hieroglyphical paintings of 
 the inhabitants of the north-west coast of Anienca> is an ob- 
 ject at least as remarkable as the famous harp on the tombs of 
 the kings of Thebes. 
 
 ^ ^ 
 
tWAP. vi.J KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 135 
 
 This is not the place to discuss the great problem 
 of the Asiatic origin of the Toultecs or Aztecs. 
 The general question of the first origin of the 
 inhabitants of a continent is beyond the limits 
 prescribed to history ; and is not, perhaps, even 
 a philosophical question. There undoubtedly ex- 
 isted other people in Mexico at the time when the 
 Toultecs arrived there in the course of their mi- 
 gration, and therefore to assert that the Toultecs 
 are an Asiatic rate is not maintaining that all the 
 Americans came originally from Thibet or ori- 
 ental Siberia. De Guignes attempted to prove 
 by the Chinese annals that they visited America 
 posterior to 458 ; and Horn, in his ingenious work 
 de Originibus AmerkamSjTpuhlished in 1699, M. 
 Scherer, in his historical researches respecting the 
 new world, and more recent writers, have made 
 it appear extremely probable that old relations 
 existed between Asia and America. 
 
 I have elsewhere advanced* that the Toultecs, 
 or Aztecs, might be a part of those Hiongnoux, 
 who, according to the Chinese historians, emigrated 
 under their leader Punon, and were lost in the 
 north parts of Siberia. This nation of warrior- 
 shepherds has more than once changed the face of 
 oriental Asia, and desolated under the name of 
 Huns the finest parts of civilized Europe. All 
 these conjectures will acquire more probability 
 
 m 
 
 * Tableaux d« la Natort^ vol. I. p. 59, 
 
 ,H' 
 
136 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book h. 
 
 yrhen a marked analogy shall be discovered be- 
 tween the languages of Tartary and those of the 
 new continent ; an analogy, which, according to 
 the latest researches of M. Barton Smith, extends 
 only to a very small number of words. The want 
 of wheat, oats, barley, rye, and all those nutritive 
 gramina which go under the general name of 
 cereal, seems to prove, that if Asiatic tribes 
 passed into America, they mu<^t have descended 
 from pastoral j^eople. We see in the old continent 
 that the cultivation of cereal gramina, and the use 
 of milk, were introduced as far back as we have 
 any historical records. The inhabitants of the 
 new continent cultivated no other gramina than 
 maize (Zea). They fed on no species of milk, 
 though the lamas, alpacas, and in the north of 
 Mexico and Canada two kinds of indigenous oxen, 
 would have afforded them milk in abundance. 
 These are striking contrasts between the Mongol 
 and American race. 
 
 ' Without losing ourselves in suppositions as to 
 the first country of the Toultecs and the Aztecs, 
 and without attempting to fix the geographical 
 position of those ancient kingdoms of Huehuetla- 
 pallan and Aztlan, we shall confine ourselves to 
 the accounts of the Spanish historians. The 
 northern provinces. New Biscay, Sonora, and New 
 Mexico, were very thinly inhabited in the 16th 
 century. The natives were hunters and shepherds ; 
 and they withdrew as the European conquerors 
 
CHAF. VI.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 137 
 
 advanced towards the north. Agriculture alone 
 attaches man to the soil, and develojis the love of 
 country. Thus we see that in the southern part 
 of Anahuac, in the cultiv ated region adja.'^ent to 
 Tenochtitlan, the Aztec colonists patiently en- 
 dured the cruel vexations exercised towards them 
 by their conquerors, and suffered every thing ra- 
 ther than quit the soil which their fatheVs had 
 cultivated. But in the northern provinces, the 
 natives yielded to the conquerors their uncultivated 
 sa^ annas, which served for pasturage to the buf- 
 faloes. The Indians took refuge beyond the Rio 
 Gila, towards the Rio Zaguanas aiid the moun- 
 tains de las Grullas. The Indian tribes who for- 
 merly occupied the territory of the United States 
 and Canada followed the same policy ; and chose 
 rather to withdraw, first, behind the Alleghany 
 mountains, then behind the Ohio, and lastly be« 
 hind the Missoury, to avoid being forced to live 
 among the Europeans. From the same causciwe 
 find the copper-coloured race neither in the prO" 
 vincias internas of New Spain, nor in the cultivated 
 parts of the United States. 
 
 The migrations of the American tribes having 
 been constantly carried on from north to south, 
 at least between the sixth and twelfth centuries, it 
 is certain that the Indian population of New Spain 
 must be composed of very heterogeneous elements. 
 In propordon as the populadon flowed towards 
 
 ') i 
 
 mi 
 
 m 
 
 I 
 
158 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iooK ii. 
 
 the south, some tribes would stop in their progress, 
 and niingle vrith the tribes which followed them. 
 The great variety of languages still spoken in the 
 kingdftm of Mexico proves a great variety of races 
 an4 origin. 
 
 The number of these languages exceeds twenty, 
 of which fourteen have grammars and dictionaries 
 tolerably complete. The following are their 
 names : the Mexican or Aztec language ; the 
 Otomite ; the Tarasc ; the Zapotec ; the Mistec ; 
 the Maye, or Yucatan ; the Totonac ; the Fopo- 
 louc ; the Matlazing ; the Huastec ; the Mixed ; 
 the Caquiquel ; the Taraumar ; the Tepehuan ; 
 and the Cora. It appears that the most part of 
 these languages, far from being dialects of the 
 same (as some authors have falsely advanced), are 
 at least as different from one another as the Greek 
 and the German, or the French and Polish. This 
 is the case at least with the seven languages of 
 New Spain, of which I possess the vocabularies. 
 The variety of idioms spoken by the people of the 
 new continent, and which^ without the least ex- 
 aggeration, may be stated at some hundreds, offiers 
 a very striking phenomenon, particularly when we 
 compare it with the few languages spoken in Asia 
 and Europe. -^ ?x- J 
 
 The Mexican language, that of the Aztecs, is the 
 most widely diff'used, and extends at present from 
 the 3T to the lake of Nicaragua, for a length of 
 
•HAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAlrf. 
 
 139 
 
 400 leagues. The Abbe Clavigero* has proved 
 that the Toultecs, the Chichimecks (from whom 
 the inhabitants of Tiascula are descended), the 
 Acolhues, and the Nahuatlacs, all spoke the same 
 language as the Mexicans. This language is not 
 so sonorous! but almost as diffused and as rich 
 as that of the Incas. After the Mexican or Aztec 
 language, of which there exists eleven printed 
 grammars, tlie most general language of New 
 Spain is that of the Otomites. 
 
 i could not fail to interest the reader by a mi- 
 nute description of the manners, character, and 
 physical and intellectual state of those indigenous 
 inhabitants of Mexico, which the Spanish laws 
 designate by the name of Indians. The general 
 Interest displayed in Europe for the remains of 
 the primitive population of the new continent has 
 its origin in a moral cause, which does honour to 
 humanity. I'he history of the conquest of Ame- 
 rica and Hindostan presents the picture of an un- 
 equal struggle between nations far advanced in 
 arts, and others in the very lov/est degree of civil- 
 ization. The unfortunate race of Aztecs escaped 
 from the carnage appeared destined to annihilation 
 under an oppression of several centuries. We 
 have difficulty in believing that nearly two millions 
 
 * Clavigero, t. I. p. 153. "^ - 
 
 f The word Notkmmahuiztespixcatatzin signifies, venerable 
 priest whom I cherish as my father. The Mexicans use this 
 word of 27 letters when speaking to the priests {cure's). 
 
 i 
 i 
 
140 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book h. 
 
 and a half of aborigmes could survive such length- 
 ened calamities. The inhabitant of Mexico and 
 Peru, and the Indian of the Ganges, attract in a 
 very different manner from the Chinese or Japan- 
 ese the attention of an observer endowed with 
 sensibility. Such is the interest which the mis- 
 fortune of a vanquished people inspire., that it 
 renders us frequently unjust towards the descend- 
 ants of the conquerors. N • 
 
 To give an accurate idea of the indigenous in- 
 habitants of New Spain, it is not enough to paint 
 them in their actual state of degradation and mi- 
 sery ; we must go back to a remote period, when, 
 governed by its own laws, the nation could display 
 its proper energy ; and we must consult the hiero- 
 glyphical pointings, buildings of hewn stone, and 
 works of sculpture still in preservation, which, 
 though they attest the infancy of the arts, bear, 
 however, a striking analogy to several monuments 
 of the most civilized people. These researches 
 are reserved for the historical account of our ex- 
 pedition to the tropics. The nature of this work 
 does not permit us to enter into such details, how- 
 ever interesting they may be, both for the history 
 and the psychological study of our species. We 
 shall merely point oi:t here a few of the most pro- 
 minent features of the immense picture of American 
 indigenous population. '' " '^ 
 
 The Indians of New Spain bear a general re- 
 semblance to those who inhabit Canada, Florida, 
 
M 
 
 CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 141 
 
 Peru, and Brasil. They have the same swarthy 
 and copper colour, flat anJ smooth hair, small 
 beard, squat body, long eye, with the corner di- 
 rected upwards towards the temples, prominent 
 cheek bones, thick lips, and an expression of gen- 
 tleness in the mouth, strongly contrasted with a 
 gloomy and severe look. Tlie American race, 
 after the hyperborean race, is the least numerous ; 
 but it occupies the greatest space on the globe. 
 Over a million and a half of square leagues, from 
 the Terra del Fuego islands to the river St. Lau- 
 rence and Baring's straits, we are struck at the 
 first glance with the general resemblance in the 
 features of the inhabitants. We think wc perceive 
 that they all descend from the same stock, not- 
 withstanding the enormous diversity of language 
 vhich separates them from one another. How- 
 ever, when we reflect more seriously on this family 
 likeness, after living longer among the indigenous 
 Americans, we discover that celebrated travellers, 
 who could only observe a few individuals on the 
 coasts, have singularly exaggerated the analogy of 
 form among the Americans. 
 
 Intellectual cultivation is what contributes the 
 most to diversify the features. In barbarous na- 
 tions there is rather a physiognomy peculiar to the 
 tribe or horde than to any individual. When we 
 compare our domestic animals with those which 
 inhabit our forests we m::kc the same observation. 
 Put an European, when he decides on the great re- 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 
 3 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 ^ 
 
142 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 semblance among the copper-coloured races, is 
 subject to a particular illusion. He is struck with 
 a complexion so different from our own, and the 
 uniformity of this complexion conceals for a long 
 time from him the diversity of individual features. 
 The new colonist can hardly at first distinguish the 
 indigenous, because his eyes are le>s fixed on the 
 gentle melancholic or ferocious expression of the 
 countenance than on the red coppery colour and 
 dark luminous and coarse and glossy hair^ so 
 glossy indeed that we should believe it to be in 
 a constant state of humectation. 
 
 In the faithful portrait which an excellent ob- 
 server, ivl. Volney, has drawn of the Canada In- 
 dians, we undoubtedly recognize the tribes scat- 
 tered in the meadows of the Rio Apure and the 
 Carony. The same stile of feature exists no doubt 
 in both Americas ; but those Europeans who have 
 sailed on the great rivers Orinoco and Amazons, 
 and have had occasion to see a great number of 
 tribes assembled under the monastical hierarchy in 
 the missions, must have oL.erved that the Ame- 
 rican race contains nations whose features differ as 
 essentially from one another, as the numerous va- 
 rieties of the race of Caucasus, the Circassians, 
 Moors, and Persians differ from one another. 
 The tall form of the Patagonians, who inhabit the 
 southern extremity of the new continent, is again 
 found by us, as it were, among the Caribs who 
 dwell in the plains from the Delta of the Orinoco 
 
CHAP. VI.J 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 14^ 
 
 to the sources of the Rio Blanco. What a diflfer- 
 ence between the figure, physiognomy, and phy- 
 sical constitution of these Caribs *, who ought to 
 be accounted one of the most robust nations on 
 the face of the earth, and are not to be confounded 
 with the degenerate Zambos, formerly called Caribs 
 in the island St. Vincent, and the squat bodies of 
 the Chayma Indians of the province of Cumana! 
 What a difference of form between the Indians of 
 Tlascala and the Lipans and Chichimecs of the 
 northern part of Mexico ! 
 
 The Indians of New Spain have a more swarthy 
 complexion than the inhabitants of the warmest 
 climates of South America. This fact is so much 
 the moie remarkable, as in the race of Caucasus, 
 which may be also called the European Arab race, 
 the people of the south have not so fair a skin as 
 those of the north. Though many of the Asiatic 
 nations who inunda ed Europe in the sixth century 
 had a very dark complexion, it appears, however, 
 that the shades of colour observable among the 
 white race are less owing to their origin or mixture 
 tluin to the local influence of the climate. 1 his influ> 
 ence appears to have almost no effect qn the Ame- 
 
 .i £ 
 
 * Tbegreat nation of the Caribs, or Caraibs, who,after having 
 extertninated the Cabres, conquered a considerable part of 
 South America, extended in the l6th century from the equa- 
 tor to the Virgin Islands. The few families who existed in our 
 times'in the Caribbee Islands, recently transported by the En- 
 glish, were a mixture of true Caribs and negroi. 
 
 i 
 
 VOL. 1% nr 
 
 1*' fil 
 
 m^ 
 
 'V , ijn 
 
144 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 I)< 
 
 l'< ! 
 
 ricans and negros. These races, in which there 
 is an abundant deposition of carburetted hydrogen 
 in the corpus mucosum or rethnlatnm of Malpighi, 
 resist in a singular manner the impressions of the 
 ambient air. The negros of the mountains of Up- 
 per (juinea are not less black than those whj live 
 on the coast. There are, no doubt, tribes of a co- 
 lour by no means deep among the Indians of the 
 new continent, wiiose complexion approaches to 
 that of the Arabs or Moors. We found the peo- 
 ple of the Rio Negro swarthier than those of the 
 Lower Orinoco, and yet the banks of the first of 
 these rivers enjoy a much cooler climate than the 
 more northern regions. In the forests of Guiana, 
 especially near the sources of the Orinoco, are 
 several tribes of a whitish complexion, the Guaicas, 
 Guajaribs, and Arigues, of whom several robust in- 
 divirjuals, exhibiting no symptom of the asthenical 
 malady which characterises albinos^ have the ap- 
 pearance of true Mestizoes. Yet these tribes have 
 never mingled with Europeans, and are surrounded 
 with other tribes of a dark brown hue. The In- 
 'llians in the torrid zone who inhabit the mo$t ele- 
 vated plains of the Cordillera of the Andes, and 
 those who under the 45* of south latitude live by 
 fishing among the islands of the archipelago of 
 Chonos, have as coppery a complexion as those 
 who under a burning climate cultivate bananas in 
 the narrowest and deepest vallies of the equinoi^ial 
 region. We must add, that the Indians of the 
 
'k\ 
 
 cJMAp.vi.] KfXGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 l4o 
 
 mountains are clothed, and were so long before the 
 conquest, while the aborigines who wander over 
 the plains go quite naked, and are consequently 
 always exposed to the perpendicular rays of the 
 sun. I could never observe that in the same indi- 
 vidual those parts of the body which were covered 
 were less dark than those in contact with a warm 
 and humid air. We every where perceive that 
 the colour of the American depends very little on 
 the local position in which we see him. The 
 Mexicans, as we have already observed, are more 
 swarthy than the Indians of Quito and New Gre- 
 nada, who inhabit a climate completely analogous; 
 and we even see that the tribes dispersed to the 
 north of the Rio Gila are less brown than those in 
 the neighbourhood of the kingdom of Guatimala. 
 This deep colour continues to the coast nearest to 
 Asia. But under the 54° JO' of nortli latitude, at 
 Cloak-bay, in the midst of copper-coloured In* 
 dians with small long eyes, there is a tribe with 
 large eyes, European features, and a skin less dark 
 than that of our peasantry. All these facts tend 
 to prove that notwithstanding the variety of cli- 
 mates and elevations inhabited by the different 
 races of men, nature never deviates from the model 
 of which she made selection thousands of years 
 ago. 
 
 My observations on the innate colour of the 
 aborigenes differ in part from the assertions of 
 Michikinakoua, the celtbrated chief of the Miamis, 
 
 u 2 
 
 :3'iMi 
 
 % 
 
 m 
 
 
I4t) 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ^i. 
 
 called by the Anglo-Americans Utile crook-back 
 (Petite-Tortue), who communicated so much va- 
 luable information to M. Volney. He asserted 
 " that the children of the Canada Indians were 
 born as white as Europeans; that the adults are 
 darkened by the sun, and the grease and the 
 juices of herbs with which they rub their skin ; and 
 that that part of the waist of the females which is 
 perpetually covered is always white*." I have 
 never seen the Canada nations of which the chief 
 of the Miamis speaks j but I can affirm that in 
 Peru, Quito, on the coast of Caraccas, the banks 
 of the Orinoco, and in Mexico, the children are 
 never born white, and that the Indian Caciques, 
 who enjoy a certain degree of" ease in their circum- 
 stances, and who remain clothed in the interior of 
 their houses, have all the parts of tiieir body (with 
 the exception of the hollow of their hand and the 
 sole of their foot; of the same brownish-red or 
 coppery colour f. i- i v' > > ir lu 
 
 ; * Volney, Tableau du clhnat et dit Sol des Etals-Unis, vol. ii. 
 p. 435. , ;_ , ^ :;■,..„.- ,',. 
 
 f This account of little crook-back is partly confirnTed by 
 Father Gntnilia, who says that the Indians remain white for 
 several days after they are born, with the exception of a small 
 »pot, ucia la parte posterior de la cinhira, of an obscure colour. 
 I have seen and examined that spot, says he, repeatedly. '* Al 
 nacer aquellos ninos son blancos por algunos dias. Nacen los 
 Indiecillos con una raancha acia la parte posterior de la cintura, 
 de color obscuro, con vlso de entre morado y pardo, la qual se 
 va desvaneciendo, al passo que la criatura va perdiendo el color 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN 
 
 147 
 
 The Mexicans, particularly those of the A ztec 
 and Otomite race, have more beard than I ever 
 saw in any other Indians of South America, Al- 
 most all tlie Indians in the neighbourhood of the 
 capital wear small mustachios; and this is even a 
 mark of the tributary cast. These mustachios, 
 which modern travellers have also found among 
 the inhabitants of the nor ih- west coa^t of America, 
 are so much the more curious, as celebrated natu- 
 ralists have left the question undetermined, whe- 
 ther the Americans have naturally no beard and no 
 hair on the rest of their bodies, or whether tliey 
 pluck them carefully out. Without entering here 
 into physiologxal details, I can affirm that the In- 
 dians why inhabit the torrid zone of South Ame- 
 rica have generally some beard; and that this 
 beard increases when they shave themselves, of 
 which we have seen examples in the mi si^ns of 
 the capuchins of Caripe, where the Indian sex- 
 tons wish to resemble ihe monks their masters. 
 But many individuals are born entirely without 
 beard or hair on their bodies. 
 
 M. de Galeano, in the account of the last Spa- 
 nish expedition* to the Straits of Magellan f, in- 
 
 I 
 
 )^'A 
 
 bianco, y adquiriendo el suyo natural, Esta seria 6 mancha es 
 ciefta y cosa que tengo vista, y evamiuada repetidas veces : 
 su laioano f s poco mas, o menos del espacio que occupa un 
 peso duj de nuevi^ fabrica. — Uu.niUa, Orinoco iUustrado^ 
 Vol. i. p. t52. Trans. ^ 
 
 ■*- yiajc at Estrechii de Magdlams,^.Z^\, 
 
148 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book II. 
 
 forms us, that there are many old men among th« 
 Patagonians with beards, though they are short, 
 and by no means bushy. On compariiiij; this asser- 
 tion with the facts collected by Marcband, Mears, 
 and especially M. Volney, in the northern tempe- 
 rate znne, we are teir pted to believe that the In- 
 dians have more and more beard in proportion to 
 their distance from the eqi;ator. Ho \ ever, this 
 apparent want of beard is by no means peculiar to 
 the American race ; for many hordes of Eastern 
 Asia, and especially several tribes of African ne- 
 gros, have so little beard that we should be almost 
 tempted to deny entirely its existence. The ne- 
 gros of Congo and the Caribs, two eminently ro- 
 bust races, and frequently of a colossal stature, 
 prove that to look upon a beardless chin as a sure 
 sign of the degeneration and physical weakness of 
 the human species is a mere physiological dream. 
 We forget that all which has been observed in the 
 Caucasian race does not equally apply to the Mon- 
 gol or American race, or to the African negros. 
 
 The Indians of New Spain, those at least sub- 
 ject to the European domination, generally attain 
 a pretty advanced age. Peaceable cultivators, and 
 collected these six hundred years in villages, they 
 are not exposed to the accidents of the wandering 
 life of the hunters and warriors of the Mississipi 
 and the savannas of the Rio Gila, Accustomed 
 to uniform nourishment of an almost entirely vege* 
 table nature, that of their maize and cereal gramina, 
 
 Mr 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 149 
 
 the Indians would undoubtedly attain a very great 
 longevity if their constitution were not weakened 
 by drunkenness. Their intoxicating liquors are 
 rum, a fermentation of maize and the root of the 
 , jatropha, and especially the wine of the country, 
 made of the juice of the agave americana, called 
 pulque. This last liquor, of wbidi we shall have 
 occasion to speak in the following book, is ev.n 
 nutritive, on account of the un decomposed sugar 
 which it contains. Many Indians addicted to 
 pulque take for a long time very little solid 
 nourishment. When taken with moderation it is 
 very salutary, and by fortifying the stomach, as- 
 sists the functions of the gastric system. 
 
 ■ 
 
 The vice of d unkenness is, however, less ge- 
 neral among the Indians than is generally believed. 
 Those Europeans who have travelled to the cast 
 of the Alleghany mountains, between the Ohio 
 and the Missoury, will with difficulty believe that, 
 in the forests of Guiana, and on the banks of the 
 Orinoco, we saw Indians who shewed an aver- 
 sion for the brandy which we made them taste. 
 There are several Indian tribes, very sober, whose 
 fermented beverages are too weak to intoxicate. 
 In New Spain drunkenness is most common among 
 the Indians who inhabir the valley of Mexico, and 
 the environs of Puebla and Tlascala, wherever the 
 maguey or agave aie cultivated on a great scale. 
 The police in the city of Mexico sends round 
 tumbrils, to collect the drunkards to be found 
 
 I 
 
 'U\ 
 
 m 
 
150 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [hook it. 
 
 stretched out in the streets. These Indians, who 
 are treated like dead bodies, are carried to the 
 principal guard-house. In the morning an iron 
 ring is put round their ancles, and they are 
 made to clear the streets for three days. On 
 letting them go on the fourth diy, they are sure 
 to find several of them in the course of the week. 
 The excess of liquors is also very injurious to 
 the health of the lower people in the warm coun- 
 tries on the coast which grow sugar-cane. It 
 is to be hoped that this evil will diminish, as 
 civilization makes more progress among a cast 
 of men whose bestiality is not much diiFerent 
 from that of the brutes. < > 
 
 Travellers who merely judge from the phy- 
 siognomy of the Indians are tempted to believe 
 that it is rare to see old men among them. In 
 fact, without consulting parish registers, which in 
 warm regions are devoured by the termites every 
 twenty or thirty years, it is very difficult to form 
 any idea of the age of Indians : they them- 
 selves (I allude to the poor labouring Indian) 
 are completely ignorant of it. Their head never 
 becomes grey. It is infinitely more rare to find 
 an Indian than a negro with grey hairs, and the 
 want of beard gives the former a continual air 
 of youth *. The skin of the Indians is also less 
 
 * This account differs from that of UUoa, who says ex- 
 pressly that the .symptoms of old age among the Indians are 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 151 
 
 subject to wrinkles. It is by no means uncom- 
 mon to see in Mexico, in the temperate zone 
 half way up the Cordillera, natives, and especially 
 women, reach a hundred years of age. This old 
 age is generally comfortable ; for the Mexican 
 and Peruvian Indians preserve their muscular 
 strength to the last. \\ hile I w as at Lima the 
 Indian liilario Pari died at the village of Chi- 
 guata, four leagues distant fiom the town of 
 i^requipa, at the age of 1 ^3. He remained united 
 in marriage for 90 years to an Indian of the name 
 of Andrea Alea Zar, who attained the age of 
 1 1 7. This old Peruvian went, at the age of 1 JO, 
 from vhree to four leagues daily on foot. He be- 
 came blind 13 years before his death, and left 
 behind him of 12 children but one daughter, of 
 77 years of age. 
 
 ^rey hairs and a beard : pero hay dos sehales que manifiestan 
 qiiando son de edad muy abanzada: la una las cartas, y la otra 
 las barbas. The whole passage runs thus, *' Son per le general 
 de larga vida, aunque dificil de averiguar el numero de sus 
 anos ; pero hay dos seriales que manifiestan'quando son de edad 
 niuy abanzada ; la una las canas, y la otra las barbas : aquellas 
 no empiezcan a parecer hasta que estan en 70 anos 6 cerca d« 
 ellas : estss otras hasta que passan de 6o, y siempre son pocas ; 
 y asi quando se ven del todo encanecidos, y que las pocas bar- 
 bas le estan igualmente, se jusga que pasan de un siglo." 
 (Noticias Americanas, p. 323.) The accuracy of Ulloa, and 
 the opportunities which he had of observing every variety of 
 Indian race, are very universally known. Father Gumilla gives 
 an account somewhat similar to Ulloa's. Trans. 
 
 
 >■"« 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 
\52 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. 
 
 The copper-coloured Indians enjoy one great 
 physical advantage, which is undoubteiily owing 
 to die great simplicity in which their ancestors 
 lived for thousands of years. They are subject to 
 almost no deformity. I never saw a hunchbacked 
 Indian ; and it is extremely rare to see any of 
 them who squint, or are lame in the arm or leg. 
 In the countries where the inhabitants suffer from 
 the goitre, this atreciion of the thyroid gland is 
 never o1)served among the Indians, and seldom 
 amonjj; the Mestizoes. Mai tinSalnieron, the famous 
 Mexican giant, belongs to the last class, though 
 erroneously said to be an Indian, whose htight 
 is 2,224 metres, or nx feet ten inches, and Sp- 
 lines of Paris *. Me is the son of a Mestizo, who 
 married an Indian woman of the village of Chilapa 
 el Grande, near Chilpansingo f- 
 
 When we examine savage hunters or warriors 
 we are tempted to believe that they are all well 
 made, because those who have any natural de- 
 formity either perish from fatigue or are exposed 
 
 * 87,521 inches, or / feet 3{- inches. Trans. 
 
 f Such is the real size of this giant, the Lest proportioned 
 whom I have ever seen. He is an inch taller than the giant 
 of Torneo, seen at Paris in ! 7 ^•'5. The American Gazettes 
 make Salmeron 7 f<^et 1 inch of Paris measure. Gazetta 
 de Goatiwala, ISCO. Agosto, Annales de Madrid, i. IV. 
 No 12. The human species appears to vary from 2 feet 
 •i inches to 7 feet 8 inches, or from O*", 757 to 2", 48i). 
 (Schreber Mamm, t. I. p. 27). ,. . , . ^ ,. ,,, ,x; , 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 153 
 
 by their parents ; but the Mexican and Peruvian 
 Indians, those of Quito and New Grenada, are 
 agriculturists, who can only be compared with the 
 class of European peasantry. We can have no 
 doubt then that the absence of natural deformities 
 among them is the eftect of their mode of li;e, and 
 of the consMtution peculiar to their race. All the 
 men of very swarthy complexion, those of Mon- 
 gol and American origin, and especially the ne- 
 gro^, participate in the same advanta<5e. We are 
 inclined to believe that the Arab- European race pos- 
 sesses a greater flexibility of organization, and that 
 it is easier modified by a great number of exterior 
 causes, such as variety of aliments, climates, and 
 habits, and constquently has a greater tendency 
 to deviate from its original model. 
 
 What we have been stating as to the exterior 
 form of the indigenous Americans confirms the 
 accounts of other travellers of the stnidng analogy 
 between the. Americans and the Mongol race. 
 This analogy is particularly evident in the colour 
 of the skin and hair, in the defective beard, high 
 cheek bones, and in the direction of the eyes. 
 We cannot refuse to admit that the human spe- 
 cies does not contain races resembling one another 
 more than the Americans, Mongols, Mantcheoux, 
 and Malays. But the resemblance of s')me fea- 
 tures docs not constitute an identity of race. If 
 the hieroglyphical paintings and traditions of the 
 inhabitants of Anahuac, collected by the first con* 
 
 
 ^'ii 
 
 
 h 
 
154 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 querors, appear to indicate that a swarm of wan- 
 dering tribes spread from the north-west towards 
 the south, we must not therefore conclude that 
 all the Indians of the new continent are of Asia- 
 tic oiigiri. In fact, osteology teaches us that the 
 cranium of the American differs essentially from 
 that of the ^vlongol : the former exhibits a facial 
 line, more inclined, though straighter, than that of 
 the negro ; and tliere is no race on the globe in 
 which the frontal boneismore depressed backwards, 
 or which has a less projecting forehead * . The cheek- 
 bones of the Amei'iijan are almost as prominent 
 as those of the Mongol j but the contours are 
 more rounded, and the angles not so sharp. The 
 
 * This extraordinary flatness is to be found amonj'^ nations 
 to whom the means of producing artificial deformity are to- 
 tally unknown, as is proved by ihe crania of Mexican Indians, 
 Peruvians, and Atares, brought over by M. Bonpland and 
 myself, of which several were deposited in the Museum of 
 Natural History at Paris. I am inclined to believe that the 
 barbarous custom which prevails among several hordes of 
 pressin': the heads of children between two boards had its 
 origin in the idea that beauty consists in such a form of the 
 frontal bone as to characterise the race in a decided manner. 
 The negros give the preference to the thickest and most pro- 
 minent lips; the Calmucks to turned-up noses; and the 
 Greeks in the statues of heroes have raised the facial line 
 from «5° to lOO'^ beyond nature. ^(Cuvier, .Incit. Comparee, t. 
 II. p. ().) The Aztecs, who never disfigure the heads of their 
 children, represent their principal divinities, as their hiero- 
 glypbicai manuscripts prove, with a head much more flattened 
 than any I have ever seen among the Caribs. - • ' 
 
\ 
 
 CHAP. VI.] KINGDOaI of >:EVv' Si>AlN. 
 
 155 
 
 under jaw *s larger than the negros, and its 
 branches at less dispersed than the Mongols. 
 The occipital bone is less c ved (bomhe)^ and the 
 protuberances which correspond to the certbcllum, 
 to which the system of M. Gall attaches great 
 importance, are scarcely sensible. Pediaps this 
 race of copper-coloured men, con prehcnded under 
 the general name of American Indians, is a mix- 
 ture of Asiatic tribes and the a!)origines of this^ 
 vast continent ; and it is not unlikely also that the 
 figures with enormous acquiline noses, observed in 
 the hieroglyphical Mexican paintings preserved at 
 Vienna, Veletri, and Rome, as in my iiistorical 
 fragments, indicated the physiognomy of some 
 races now extinct. The Canadian savages call 
 themselves Metokthcniakes, born of the sun, 
 without allowing themselves to be persuaded of 
 the contrary by the black robes *, a name which 
 they give to the missionaries. 
 
 As to the moral faculties of the Indians, it is dilli- 
 cult to appretiate them with justice, if we only con- 
 sider this long oppressed cast in their present state 
 of degradarion. The better sort of Indians, among 
 whom a certain degree of intellectual culture 
 might be supposed, perished in great part at the 
 commencement of the Spanish conquest, the vic- 
 tims of European ferocity. The Christian fanati- 
 cism broke out in a particular manner against the 
 
 * Volney, t. II. p. 438. 
 
156 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [fiook tt. 
 
 Aztec priests ; and the Teopixqui, or ministers of 
 the divinity, and all those who inhabited the Teo- 
 calli *, or houses of God, whomight be considered 
 as the depositories of the historical, mythological, 
 and astronomical knowledge of the country, were 
 exterminated ; for the priests observed the meridian 
 shade in the gnomons, and regulated the calendar. 
 The monks burned the hieroglyphical paintings, 
 by which every kind of knowledge was transmitted 
 from generation to generation. 1 h3 people, de- 
 prived ( f these means of instruction, were plunged 
 in an ignorance so much the deeper as the mis- 
 sionaries were unskilled in the Mexican languages, 
 and could substitute few new ideas in the place of 
 the old. The Indian women who had preserved 
 any share of fortune chose rather to ally with the 
 conr erors than to share the contempt in which 
 the Indians were held. The Spanish soldiers were 
 so much the more eager for these alliances, as 
 very few European women had followed the army. 
 The remaining natives then consisted only of the 
 most indigent race, poor cultivators, artisans, 
 among whom were a great number of weavers, 
 porters, who were used like beasts oF burden, and 
 especi.lly of those dregs of the people those crowds 
 of beggars, who bore witness to the imperfection 
 of the social institutions, and the existence of 
 feudal oppression, and who filled, in the time of 
 
 * From Teotl, God, 0sos, 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 157 
 
 Cortez, the streets of all the great cities of the ' 
 Mexican empire. How shall we judge, then, from 
 these miserable remains of a powerful people, of 
 the degree of cultivation to which it had risen 
 from the twelfth to the sixteenth century, and of 
 the intellectual developement of which it is sus- 
 ceptible ? If all that remained of the French or 
 German nation were a few poor agriculturists, 
 could we read in their features that they belonged 
 tr nations which had produced a Descartes and 
 Clai: aut, aiCepler and 2^, Leibnitz ? 
 
 We observe that even in Europe the lower 
 ' people, for whole centuries, make very slow pro- 
 gress in civilization. The peasant of Brittany or 
 Normandy, and the inhabitant of the north of 
 Scotland, differ very little at this day from what 
 they were in the time of Henry the Fourth and 
 James the First *. When we consider attentively 
 what is related in the letters of Cortez, the me- 
 moirs of Bernal Diaz, written with admirable nai- 
 vete, and other contemporary historians, as to the 
 state of the inhabitants of Mexico, Tezcuco, 
 
 * vV \ ai 's here asserted of the highlands of Scotland might 
 ' have h. i roore foandation fifty years ago. A barren and 
 mountainous country must ever oppose great obstacles to 
 improvement and civilization j but it is believed that these 
 obstacles have seldom been more successfully overcome than 
 in ^e highlands. Of this abundant proof might be found in 
 the statistical account of Scotland, did not the high moral 
 character observable in the highland regiments establish it 
 bs. ond a doubt. Trans, > .»- - — - • « > 
 
1.58 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 Cholollan, and TIascala, in the time of Montezuma 
 the Second, we think we perceive the portrait of 
 the Indians of our own time. We see the same 
 nudity in the warm regions, the same form of 
 dress in the central table-land, and the same habits 
 in domestic life. How can any great change take 
 place in the Indians when they are kept insulated 
 in villages in Mhich the whites dare not settle, 
 when the difierence of languao;e places an almost 
 unsurmountable barrier betw(\in them and the 
 Europeans, when they ?re oppressed by magis- 
 trates chosen through p^^ \ considerations from 
 their own number, and, in ohort, when they can 
 only expect moral and civil improvement from a 
 man who talks to them of mysteries, dogmas, 
 and ceremonies, of the end of which they aie 
 ignorant. : . ' , .: . . , . 
 
 I do not mean to discuss here what the Mex- 
 icans were before the Spanish conquest ; this 
 interesting subject has been already entered upon 
 in the commencement of this chapter. When 
 we consider that they had an almost exact know- 
 ledge of the duration of the year, that they inter- 
 calated at the end of their great cycle of 1 04 years 
 with more accuracy than the Greeks^, Romans, 
 
 * M. Laplace discovered in the Mexican intercalation, for 
 which I furnished him materials collected by Gama, that the 
 duration of the tropical year of the Mexicans is almost the 
 identical duration found by the astronooiers of Alcnamoa. For 
 
 ^m^ 
 
OH A p. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 159 
 
 and Egyptians, we are tempted to believe that this 
 progress is not the effect of the intellectual deve- 
 Inpcment of the Americans themselves, but that 
 they were indebted for it to their communication 
 with some very cult vated nations of central Asia. 
 The Toultecs appeared In New Spain in the 7th, 
 and the Aztecs in the 15th century; and they 
 immediately drew up the geographical map of the 
 ^country traversed by them, constructed cities, 
 highways, dikrs, canals, and immense pyramids 
 very accurately designed, of a base of 438* metres 
 in length. Their feudal system, their civil and 
 military hierarchy, were already so complicated, 
 that we must suppose a long succession of political 
 events before the establlsliment of the singular 
 concatenation of authorities of the nobility and 
 clergy, and before a small portion of the peo[)le, 
 themselves the slaves of the Mexican sultan, couldi 
 have subjugated the great mass of the nation. 
 We have examples of theocratical forms of govern- 
 ment in South America j for such were those of 
 the Zacf of Bogota (the ancient Cundinamarca), 
 
 this observation, of such inportance in the history ()f the origiQ. 
 of the Aztecs, see Expusilwn du systeme du Mond^, troisiemt 
 editim, p. 554. 
 
 * 1436 feet. Trans. 
 
 tThe empire of the Zao, which comprehended the kingdom 
 of New Grenada, was fuuirded by Idacatizas or Bochica, a mys* 
 terious personage^ wlio, according to the traditions of thtt 
 Mozcas, lived in the temple of the lun at Sogamozo during 
 aOOO years. 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
 \*ti 
 
 .in 
 
160 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book n. 
 
 and of the Inca of Peru, two extensive empires, in 
 which despotism was concealed under the appear- 
 ance of a gentle and patriarchal government. But 
 in Mexico, small colonies, wearied of tyranny, 
 gave themselves republican constitutions. Now it 
 is only after long popular struggles that these free 
 constitutions can be formed. The existence of 
 republics does not indicate a very recent civiliza- 
 tion. How is it possible to doubt that a part of 
 the Mexican nation had arrived at a certain degree 
 of cultivation, when we reflect on the care with 
 which their hieroglyphical books'*^ were composed. 
 
 * The Aztec manuscripts are written either on agave 
 paper, or on stag skins ; they are frequently from 20 to 32 
 metres (^5 to 71 English feet) in length; and each page con- 
 tains from 7 to 10 centimetres, or from 100 to 150 square 
 inches (French) of surface. These manuscripts are folded 
 here and there in the form of a rhomb, and thin wooden 
 boards fastened to the «:;xtremtties form their binding, and give 
 them a resemblance to our books in quarto. No nation of the 
 old continent ever made such an extensive use of hieroglyphical 
 writing ; and in none of them do we see real books bound in 
 the way I have been describing. We must not confound with 
 theise books ji^ther Aztec painit^igs, composed of the same signs' 
 but in the form of tapestries of 63 decimetres, or 6o square 
 feet (French). I have seen some of them in the archives of 
 the viceroyalty of Mexico } and I myself possess fragments of 
 them, which 1 have caused to be. engraved in the pipturesque 
 atlas which accompanies the historical account of my travels. 
 Author. 
 
 The numbers in Che above note are totally irreconcileable 
 with One another. A centimetre is equal to .3(^41 of a 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 161 
 
 and when we recollect that a citizen of Tlascala, 
 in tlie midst of the tumults of war, took advantage 
 of the facility offered him by our Roman alj habet 
 to write in his own language five large volumes on 
 the history of a country of which he deplored the 
 subjection? 
 
 We shall not here attempt to resolve the pro- 
 blem, however important it may be for l]i^tory, 
 whetlier the Mexicans of the 15th century were 
 more civilized than the Peruvians, or whether, if 
 both had been abandoned to themselves, they 
 would have made more rapid advances towards 
 intellectual cultivation than they have done under 
 the domination of the Spanish clergy. Neither 
 shall we examine whether, notwithstanding the 
 despotism of the Aztec princes, the improvement 
 of the individual found fewer obstacles in Mexico 
 than in the empire of the Yncas. In the latter 
 the legislator wished only to influence the people 
 en masse ; and by subjecting them to a monastic 
 obedience, and treating them like machines, he 
 compelled them to undertake works, the regularity 
 
 French inch, consequently 7 and 10 centimetres are only .9552 
 and 1.3045 French square inches, and nothing like 100 and 
 1 50 square inches. In the same way a decimetre being only 
 as 3.24835: 12 of aFrench fotot, 63 decimetres make 5.97 
 and not 60 square feet French. Some mistake must therefore 
 be either in the metrical or common measures here assigned, 
 •r in both. Tram. 
 
 ■•-.•■ I* 
 
 X '2 
 
162 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book 12. 
 
 and magnitude of Tvhich astonish us as much as 
 the perseverance of those who directed them. If 
 we analyse the mechanism of this Peruvian theo- 
 cracy, generally too much exalted in Europe, we 
 shall find that wherever people are divided into 
 casts, of which each can only follow a certain 
 species of labour, and wherever the inhabitants 
 possess no particular property, and labour merely 
 for the benefit of the community, canals, roads, 
 aqueducts, pyramids, and immense constructions 
 will also be found ; but that the people preserving 
 for thousands of years the same appearance of 
 external comfort make almost no advances in moral 
 cultivation, which is the result of individual liberty 
 alone. 
 
 In the portrait which we draw of the different 
 races of men composing the population of New 
 Spain, we shall merely consider the Mexican 
 Indian in his actual state. We perceive in him 
 neither that mobility of sensation, gesture, or fea- 
 ture, nor that activity of mind for which several 
 nations of the equinoxial regions of Africa are so 
 advantageously distinguished. There cannot exist 
 a more marked contrast than that between the 
 impetuous vivacity of the Congo negro, and the 
 apparent flegm of the Indian. From a feeling of 
 this contrast the Indian women not only prefer 
 the negros to the men of their own race, but also 
 to the Europeans. The Mexican Indian is grave. 
 
♦^AP.VT.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 163 
 
 melancholic, and silent^, "^ so long as he is not 
 under the influence of intoxicating liquors. This 
 gravity is particularly remarkable in Indian child- 
 ren, who at the age of four or five display much 
 more intelligence and maturity than white children. 
 The Mexican loves to throw a mysterious air over 
 the most indifferent actions. The most violent 
 pa^isions are never painted in his featui es ; and there 
 h something frightful in se ing him pass all at once 
 from absolute repose to a state of vioU nt and un- 
 restrained ngitation. The Peruvian Indian possesses 
 more gentleness of manners ; the energy of the 
 Mexican d(rgenerates into harshness. These differ- 
 ences may have their origin in the different religions 
 and different governments of the two countries in 
 former times. This energy is displayed particularly 
 
 ^% 
 
 i 
 
 ^ It is difficult to reconcile altogether this account of the 
 Indian taciturnity with that given by Ulloa in his Xoticias 
 Americanos, He first describes the savage Indians as *' largos 
 en los discursos, repitiendo muchas vezes la misma cosa, y du- 
 rarian el dia entero sin anadir nada a lo que dixeron al principio, 
 si no les procurasse cortar." " £n este modo de perorar con 
 presuncion, he continues, fundan tambien su ciencia, y la 
 babilidad con que sobresalen a las otras personas Europeas con 
 quienes tratan, persuadendose a que los inducen a franquearles 
 lo que desean con su grande eloquencia." This may be thought 
 to apply only to the savage Indians ; but he adds, '' Los Indios 
 reducidos son lo mismo en sus discursos, largos, cansados, ^ 
 importunos hasta el extremo ; y si el lenguage no fuese dis< 
 tinto, podria creerse que uu Indio del Peru hablaba en el Nort* 
 b al contmrio." (p. 334). Trans, 
 
 
 ' ill 
 
164 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 by the inhabitants of Tlascala. In the midst of 
 their present degradation, the de-cendants of those 
 republicans are still to be distinguished by a certain 
 hatightin-'ss of character, inspired by the memory 
 of t:ieir former grandeur. 
 
 The Americans like the Hindoos and other 
 natiiins who have 1 ng groaned under a civil and 
 military despotism, adhere to their customs, man- 
 ntrs, and opini ns, with extraordinary obstinacy. 
 I say (^pinions, for the introductior. of Christianity 
 has produced alm^'St no other eifect on the Inuians 
 of Mexico than to substitute new ceremonies, the 
 symbo is of a gentle and humane religion, to the 
 ceremonies of a sanguinary worship. This change 
 from old to new rites was the effect of constraint 
 and not of persuasion, and was produced by poli- 
 tical events alone. In the new continent, as well 
 as in the old, half civilized nations were accus- 
 tomed to receive from the hands of the conqueror 
 new laws and new divinities ; and the Vc(nquished 
 Indian jods appeared to them to yield to the gods 
 of the strangers^,. In such a complicated mytho- 
 
 * The Indians appear to have been not at all contented with 
 their gods, and to have wished only to get well rid of them at 
 the arrival of the Spaniards. Such at least were the sentiments 
 of the principal Indians in New Spain, if we may believe 
 Acosta. When an old Indian chief was asked by a reverend 
 father why they had thrown up their own religion without 
 either proof or investigation or dispute, and adopted that of 
 Christ in its place ?/' We did not act so inconsiderately," he re- 
 
CHAP, vt.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 163 
 
 logy as that of the ^lexlcans, it was easy to find 
 out an affinity betwe^ n the divinities of Aztlan 
 and the divinity of the east. Cortez even very 
 artfully took advantage of a popular tradition, ac- 
 cording to which the Spaniards were merely the 
 descendants of king Quitzalcoatl, who left Mexico 
 for countries situated in ihe east, to carry among 
 them civilization and laws. The ritual books 
 composed by the Indians in hieroglyphics at the 
 beginning of the conquest, of which i possess 
 several fragments, evidently show that at that 
 period Christianity was confounded with the Mex- 
 ican mythology : the Holy Ghost is identified with 
 the sacred eagle of the Aztecs. The missionaries 
 not only tolerated, they even favoured to a certain 
 extent, ihis amalgamation of ideas, by means of 
 which the christian worship was more easily in- 
 troduced among the natives*. They persuaded 
 
 plied, " as you seem to imagine, for we were so wearied and 
 discontented with our gods that we had deliberated about leav- 
 ing them in good earnesrt, and adopting others'* (porque le hago 
 saber, que estavamos ya tan cansados y descontentos^ con las 
 CO sas que los y| dolos nos mandavan* que aviamos tratado de 
 dexarlosytomar otra ley). Acosta, p. 357. Tram. 
 
 * The missionaries do not seem to Jiave concerned them- 
 selves much about the motives from which the Indians became 
 christians. Their great object was to get as many baptised as 
 possible, after which all was safe ; and they were very much 
 coDcerned when a parting soul could not be sUatched from 
 hell for want of a drop of water in the place at the critical mo- 
 ment. (Ay! no una gota en el rancho^ Gumilla, II. 21). 
 
 ''«'ij 
 
166 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON iri"; [book u. 
 
 them that the gospel had, in very remote times, 
 been already preaciied in America ', and they in- 
 
 They were indefatigable in scenting out dying people, para 
 lograr »us almas. An old woman {anduna) on the point of 
 death, who, from seeing baptism and death follow generally so 
 close upon one another, had very naiurally associated them in 
 her mind as inseparable, long resisted all the attempts of a 
 holy father to baptise her. When asked her reason, she said it 
 was for fear of death. "O:" replies the father," I want tobaptize 
 you to secure you a life that will never end." (Para assegurarle 
 una vida que no seaccabe.) " If that be the case," cries the old 
 woman, " bapti/e me imn;ediately." (Yo tambien quiero que 
 xiLt baatices). ** I praised God," says Father Gumilla, "on see- 
 ing that nobody likes to die, however troublesome life may be, 
 aod I admired the stubbornness of that heart which could still 
 flatter itself with such motives } but I immediately baptized 
 her" (Luego la bautice) . Gum 11a, vol. H. p. 25. Nothing 
 can be more entertaining than the accounts given by the mis- 
 sionaries themselves of the arts and finesse to which they were 
 compelled to have recourse to gain over those unfortunate sons 
 of Adam, para obrar la etirna dicha de uqudlus iT\feUcfs hijos de 
 Adan, Father Gumilla, in his instructions to young missiona- 
 ries, lays them open with more naivete than prudence, as we 
 might thinl< ; but the father very piously considered that the 
 end justified the means, it muiit be owned that the mission- 
 aries displayed great knowledge of human nature. Not a word 
 of religion for a long time. Presents and kind ofidces, and 
 long endeavours to obtain the Indian's confidence by anticipate 
 ing his wants, and entering into his views } but above all, the 
 acquisition of the influence which their females naturally pos- 
 sessed over them were the prelude to the grand attack. The 
 females, one of them observes, have every where a great ca- 
 pacity for piety, and must be first attended to. This battery 
 was to be concealed^ for if the drift was to be perceived in the 
 
wrtAF. vi] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 167 
 
 vestigated its traces in the Aztec ritual with the 
 same ardour which the learned, who in our days 
 engage in the study of the Sanscrit, display in dis- 
 cussing the analogy becween the Greek mythology 
 and that of the Ganges and the Barampooter. 
 
 These circumstances, which W'U be dtrtailerl in 
 another work, explain why the Mexican Indians, 
 notwithstanding the ob ti iacy with which they 
 adhe e to whatever Is derived from thfir fathers, 
 have so easily forgotten th ir ancient rites. Dogma 
 has nor succeeded to d>)gma, but ceremony to ce- 
 rcniony. T!.e natives know nothing of religion 
 but the exterior forms of worship. Fond of 
 whavtver is connected with a prescribed order of 
 
 least all was lost. ( Todo esta primera bateria ha de ser occulta 
 de parte del Missionero ; porque si se aclarnt pierde el viable), 
 (Gumllla, vol. I. p. 355)« After giving a summary of the la* 
 bours and innumerable shifts of these indefatigable soul-hunt- 
 ers {Cazndoret de Almas) ^ overpowered with the retrospect 
 the missionary feelingly exclaims, O ! quien podra explicar 
 las ganas, que tienen aquellos Cazadores de Almas, de que se 
 compongan bien las cosas, y se legue la hora de poder bautizar 
 aquellos innocentes sin peligro ! 
 
 One of the greatest difficulties in which the holy fatheri 
 were placed, was how to reject the offer of a female companion, 
 which was generally made them, without giving offence al 
 Cacique y a los principales gentiles. When the father mo- 
 destly blushed (con la mayor modestia bien sonroseado el ros- 
 tro), and answered that all his love was in heaven, it is impos- 
 sible to tell the fright and consternation it occasioned (No sabr^ 
 decir quanta oovedad, y espanto causa esta o semejante reg- 
 puesta.) Gumilla, vol. I. p. 8»6. Ttqm, .^ _ ., . 
 
 
 % 
 
 ''^'■'^^ 
 
le.s 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book n. 
 
 ceremonies, they find in the christian religion par- 
 ticular enjoyments. The festivals of the church, 
 the fireworks with which they are accomparJed, 
 the processions mingled with dances and whimsical 
 disguises, are a most fertile source of amusement 
 for the lower Indians. In these festivals the na- 
 tional character is displayed in all its individuality. 
 Every where the christian rites have assumed the 
 shades of the country where they have b^en trans- 
 planted. In the Philippine and Mariana islands 
 the natives of the Malay race have incorporated 
 them with the ceremonies which are peculiar to 
 themselves ; and in the province of Pasto, on the 
 ridge of the Cordillera of the Andes, I have seen 
 Indians masked, and adorned with small tinkling 
 bells, perform savage dances arounJ the altar, 
 while a monk of St. Fraiicis elevated the host*. 
 
 * From this singular description we may discover more 
 plainly the impolicy with which conversions have been hi- 
 therto attempted in foreign parts by our missionary societies. 
 Had they sent away instead of the anabaptistSj methodists, and 
 presbyterians which they picked up in Sweden, the north of 
 Germany, both parts of this island, and the Lord knows where, 
 an eq"«'.l number of our more volatile catholic brethren in Ire- 
 land, the conversion might already, perhaps, have made a great 
 progress. The people of Otaheite very feelin<;ly exclaimed, 
 '* These missionaries give us still plenty of the word of God, 
 but they give us no more hatchets;" but they would have been 
 probably just as well contented with singing, and dancing, and 
 fireworks. This is a much more economical method of keep- 
 ing these people assembled together than the distribution of 
 
 » • 
 
 ''<^^. 
 
•MAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 169 
 
 Accustomed to a long slavery, as well under the 
 dominati )n of their own sovereigns as under that 
 of the first conquerois, the natives of Mexico pa- 
 tiently suffer tho vexations to which thiy are fre- 
 quently exposed from the whites. They oppose 
 to them only a cunning, veiled under the most 
 deceitful appearances of apathy aD/i stupidity. As 
 the Indian can very rarely revenge himself on the 
 Spaniards, he delights in making a common cause 
 with them for the oppression of his own fellow 
 citizens. Harassed for ages, and compelled to a 
 blind obedience, he wishes to tyrannize in his 
 turn, 'i he Indian villages are governed by ma- 
 gistrat("s of the copper-coloured race ; and an In- 
 dian alcalde exercises his power with so much the 
 
 hatchets. The catholics went better to work. They, too, knew 
 the pov/er of this sort of hatchet bribery. •* Se debe Uevar 
 avalorios, cuentas de vidrio, cuchillos, anzuelos, y otras bux- 
 erias, que para los Gentiles son de mucho aprecio." (Gumilla^ 
 I. 34g) ; but they knew that this source must soon dry up ; 
 and the holy fathers set all their natural gallantry to work to 
 gain over the women, who seem to be equally susceptible in 
 that quarter, whether savage or civilized, as the men they 
 were aware would soon follow them. They said kind things 
 to the women, praised the beauty of their children, took them 
 up in their arms and caressed them. The woi.ien are very 
 fond of that, says a father, Quando va a ver a los Indios en 
 sus casas, tome en sus brazos alguno de aquellos parvulos, le 
 accaricie y haga tiestas a su modo : esto apprecian grande- 
 mente las Indias. How are we to be astonished then at the 
 very different results of the endeavours of these two classes of 
 missionaries! Trans, 
 
 
170 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 greater severity, because he is sure of being sup- 
 ported by the priest or the Spanish subdeltgudo. 
 Oppression produces every where the same effects, 
 it every where corrupts the morals *. 
 
 As the Indians almost all of t!)em belong to the 
 class of peasantry and low peo})le, it is not so easy 
 to judge ot their aptitude for the arts \s hich em> 
 bellish life. I know nu race of men who appear 
 more destitute of imagination. When an In- 
 dian attains a certaiu degree of civilization, he 
 displays a great faciliry of apprehension, a judi- 
 cious mind, a natural logic, and a particular dispo- 
 sition to subtilize or seize the finest differences in 
 the comparison of objects. He reasons coolly and 
 orderly, but he never manifests that versatility of 
 imagination, that glow of sentiment, and that 
 creative and animating art which characterize the 
 nations of the south of Europe, and several tribes 
 of African negrosf. I deliver this opinion, how- 
 
 *The present state of the world unfortunately affords too 
 good an illustration of this maxim. The West Indian slave 
 when he becomes a master is the most cruel of all masters ; 
 and the life of a negro's cat, or dog, is synonimous there with a 
 life not worth having. 'The Greeks, who are much employed 
 in collecting the revenue in Turkey are infinitely more perse- 
 cuting than th Turks. And ihe 1 iimioo has his most grievous 
 calamities to apprehend fi.»m his o vn brethren armed with fo- 
 reign authority. £ver\ where cunning and cruelty spring 
 from tyranny and oppression. Trans. 
 
 f What must our brethren of the northern part of this 
 islands who hare attained no small reputation for a pragmatical 
 
«HAF. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 171 
 
 ever, with great reserve. We ought to be infinitely 
 circumspect in pronouncing on the moral or in- 
 tellectual dispositions of nations from which we 
 are separated by the multiplied obstacles which 
 result from a difference in language and a difference 
 of manners and customs. A philosophical ob- 
 server fi'ids what has been printed in the centre of 
 Europe on the national character of the French, 
 Italians, and Germans, inaccurate. How, then, 
 should a traveller, after merely landing in an 
 island, pr remaining only a short time in a dis- 
 tant country, arrogate to himself the right of de- 
 ciding on the different faculties of the soul, on the 
 preponderance of reason, wit, or imagination 
 among nations ? 
 
 The music and dancing of the natives partake of 
 this want of gaiety which characterises them. M. 
 Bonpland and myself observed the same thing in all 
 South America. Their songs are terrific and me- 
 lancholic. The Indian women sho^* more vivacity 
 than the men ; but they share the usual misfortunes 
 of the servitude to which the sex is condtumed 
 among nations where civilization is in its infancy* 
 
 and metaphysical cUsposttton, and who are so much diapoted to 
 give metaphysical superiority a precedence over all the other 
 human faculties, feel, when they find that, most probably, their 
 future rivals are not to spring up in any of the rival colleges of 
 the south, or even in any of the great German universities, but 
 among the beardless tribes of the Mexican mountains, and the 
 iMQkf of tha Orinoco! Trans, 
 
172 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book if. 
 
 The women take no share in the dancing j but 
 they remain present to offer fermenied draughts 
 to the dancers, prepared by their own hands. 
 
 The Mexicans have preserved a particular relish 
 for painting, and for the art of carving in wood, or 
 stone. We are astonished • ,: what they are able to 
 execute- with a bad knife on the hardest wood. 
 They are particularly fond of painting images and 
 carving statues of saints. They have been servilely 
 imifating, for these three lundred years, the mo- 
 dels which the Kuropeans imported with them at 
 the conquest. This imitation is derived from a 
 religious principle of a very remote orijjin. In 
 Mexico, as in Hindostan, it was not allowable in 
 the faithful to change the figure of their idols in 
 the smallest degree. Whatever made a part of 
 the Aztec or Hindoo ritual was subjectvd to immu- 
 table laws. For this reason we sha 1 form a very 
 imperfect judgment of the state of the arts and the 
 natural taste of these nations, if we merely consider 
 the monstrous figures under which they represent 
 their divinities. The christian images have pre- 
 served in Mexico a part of that stiffness and that 
 harshness of feature which characterize the hiero- 
 glyphical pictures of the age of Montezuma, 
 Many Indian children educated in the college of 
 the capital, or instructed at the academy of paint- 
 ing founded by the king, have no doubt distin- 
 guished themselves ; but it is much less by their 
 genius than their application. Without ev^i leav* 
 
cHAv.vi.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 173 
 
 ing the beaten track, they display great aptitude in 
 the exercise of the arts of imitation; and they 
 display a much greater still for the purely mecha- 
 nical arts. This aptitude cannot fail of becoming 
 some day very valuable, when the manufactures 
 shall take their flight to a country where a rege- 
 nerating government remains yet to be created. 
 
 The Mexican Indians have preserved the same 
 taste for flowers which Cortez found in his 
 time. A nosegay was the most valuable treat 
 which could be made to the ambassadors who vi- 
 sited the court of Montezuma. This monarch and 
 his predecessors had collected a great numbe** of 
 rare plants in the gardens of Istapalapan. The 
 famous hand-tree, the cheirostemon*, described 
 by M. Cervantes, of which for a long time only a 
 single individual was known of very high antiquity, 
 appears to indicate that the kings of Toluca culti- 
 vated also trees strangers to that part of Mexico. 
 Cortez, in his letters to the emperor Charles the 
 Fifth, frequently boasts of the industry which the 
 Mexicans displayed in gardening; and he com- 
 plains that they did not send him the seeds of or- 
 
 * M.Bonpland has given a drawing of it in our Plantes Equi* 
 noxiales, vol. i. p. 75. pi. 24. For some little time past, roots 
 of the Arbol de las manitas have been in the gardens of Mont* 
 pellier and Paris. The cheir«st«mon is as remarkable for the 
 form of its corolla as the Mexican gyrocarpus which we have 
 introduced into the European gardens, and of which the cele- 
 brated Jacquin could not discover the flower, if for the form of 
 its fruits. 
 
 i'' ii;i 
 
174 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book it. 
 
 namental flowers and useful plants which he 
 demanded for his friends of Seville and Matlrid. 
 The taste for flowers undoubtedly indicates a 
 relish for the beautiful ; and we are astonished at 
 finding it in a nation in which a sanguinary worship 
 and the frequency of sacrifices appeared to have 
 extinguished whatever related to the sensibility of 
 the soul, and kindness of affection. In the great 
 market-place of Mexico the native sells no peaches, 
 nor ananas, nor roots, nor pitlque (the fermented 
 juice of the agave), without having his shop orna- 
 mented with flowers, which are every day renewed* 
 The Indian merchant appears seated in an in- 
 trenchment of verdure. A hedge of a metre * in 
 height, formed of fresh herbs, particularly of gra- 
 mina with delicate leaves, surrounds like a semi- 
 circular wall the fruits offered to public sale. 
 The bottom, of a smooth green, is divided by 
 garlands of flowers which run parallel to one an- 
 other. Small nosegays placed symmetrically be- 
 tween the festoons give this inclosure the appearance 
 of a carpet strewn with flowers. Tlie European 
 who delights in studying the customs of the lower 
 people, cannot help being struck with t he care and 
 elegance the natives display in distributing the 
 fruits which they sell in small cages of very light 
 wood. The sapotillcj (achras), the mammea, 
 pears, and raisins, occupy the bottom, while the 
 
 * 3 J feet. 
 
CMAF. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 m 
 
 top is ornamented with odoriferous flowers. This 
 art of entwining fruits and flowers had its origin, 
 perhaps, in that happy period when, long before th« 
 introduction of iuliu aan rices, the first inhabitants 
 of Anahuac, Uke the Peruvians, offered up to the 
 great s, irit Teo I the fir,t fruits of their harvest. 
 
 These scattered features, c laracteristic of the 
 natives of Mexico, belong to the Indian peasant, 
 whose civilization, as we have already stated, is 
 somewhat akin to that of the Chinese and Ja- 
 panese. I am able only to pou ; tray still more imper* 
 fectly the manners of the pastoral Indians, whom 
 the Spaniards include under the denomination of 
 Indios Bravos^ and of whom I have merely seen a 
 few individuals, brought to the capital as prisoners 
 of war. The Mecos (a tribe of the Chichimecs), 
 the Apaches, the Lipans, are hordes of hunters, 
 who, in their incursions, for the most part noc- 
 turnal, infest the frontiers of New Biscay, So- 
 nora, and New Mexico. These savages, as well 
 as those of South America, display more nobi- 
 lity of mind and more force of character than 
 the agricultural Indians. Some tribes of them 
 possess even languages of which the mechanism 
 proves an ancient civilization. They experi- 
 ence great difficulty in learning our European 
 idioms, while they express themselves in their own 
 with great facility. These very Indian chiefs, 
 whose solemn taciturnity astonishes the observer, 
 hold discourses for hours u'hen any great interest 
 
 VOL. I. Y 
 
 '%ii 
 
 ii''i5 
 
 'ir,'?I 
 
 u 
 
176 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii 
 
 excites them to break their natural silence. We 
 observed the same volubility of tongue in the 
 missions of Spanish Guiana, and among the Caribs 
 of the lower Orinoco, of which the language is 
 singularly rich and sonorous •. 
 
 * Gilij, an Italian missionary, who resided eighteen yean 
 among the nations of the Orinoco, and became master of their 
 languages, published three octavo volumes at Rome, in 1 780- 
 1-2, which he entitled Saggio di Storia Americana. In these vo- 
 lumes there is much information with regard to the Indians, 
 particularly those of the Orinoco. From the samples which 
 he gives of their languages, some of them would seem to be 
 remarkably expressive, as well as sonorous, and form in th« 
 latter respect a singular contrast to those of Mexico. All the 
 words of the Orinochese languages, he says, constantly end in 
 vowels, and none of these languages are difficult to pronounce. 
 But though they end in voweli, they have nothing of the inar- 
 ticulate appearance of the vowel languages of the South Seas. 
 What wilt thou eat to-morrow ? Is thus expressed in the Mai- 
 purese language : Nunaunari iti pare peeeari upie f The follow- 
 ing will serve to show the expressiveness of the Maipurese 
 language : one who has no father, one who has no mother, 
 one who has no wife, one who has no children: Macchivu' 
 caneteni, matuieni, maanituteni, maanitenu ■-' " " i J " 
 
 ' Here are a few vocables from the Tamanac and Maipures* 
 languages, with the corresponding cnes in English. 
 
 English. 
 
 Tamanac. " 
 
 Maip. 
 
 £arth 
 
 . Noni 
 
 . Peni 
 
 Heaven 
 
 . Capu 
 
 . Eno 
 
 Water 
 
 . . Tuno . 
 
 . Veni 
 
 Father 
 
 . Papa 
 
 . Nape 
 
 Sun 
 
 . i ' « Veju ' . 
 
 . Chie 
 
 Fire 
 
 , . Vaplo 
 
 . Catti 
 
 Bread 
 
 . Ute 
 
 . Ussi. 
 
•Map. vr.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 177 
 
 After examining the physical constitution and 
 intellectual facultie: of the Indians, ic remains for 
 us to give a rapid survey of thdr social state. The 
 history (>f the lower classes of s people is the rela- 
 tion of the events which, in creating at the same 
 time a great inequality of fortune, enjoyment, and 
 individual happiness, have gradually placed a part 
 of the nation under the tutory and control of the 
 other. We shall seek in vain this relation in the 
 annals of history. They transmit to us the me- 
 mory of the great political revolutions, wars, con- 
 
 Gilij describes the nations of the Orinoco as libidinous, 
 which sounds rather singularly applied to Indians j and he 
 gives a very amusing account of their powers of mimicry, and 
 the manner in which they counterfeit the language and ges- 
 tures of the missionaries, for the purpose of turning them into 
 ridicule. One would think, almost, that the French nation 
 had sitten for the following portrait of the Maipurese. " Ge- 
 neralmente adunque parlando, son gli Orinochesi di genio al- 
 legro; ma sopra ogni altra nazione spiccano t Maipuri per 
 raffabilit^ e Tamorevolezza con cui trattono i forestieri. Quin- 
 di e Tamore che portan loro gli Europe! tutti, che li conoscano. 
 Non v' ha forse Indian!, che piii si afFaciano all umore di og- 
 nuno. Fanno delle amicizie con tuttI, ed appena 'trovasi in 
 Orinoco una nazione in cui non siavi qualche Maipure. La 
 lortf lingua siccome facilissima ad imparare, e divenuta tra gli 
 Orinochesi una lingua di moda; e chi poco, chi moito, chi 
 mediocremente, chi bene, la parlano quasi tutti. I Maipuri 
 nondiraeno (il che toglie loro un gran pregio) sono incostanti, 
 poco schietti; e non tanto internamente buoni, quanto per 
 I'innata loro civilta compajono agli altri. Vol ii. p 43. 
 
 Father Gumilla speaks highly of the state ot music amon|; 
 the tribes of the Orinoco. Trans. i ..ir ,. r 
 
 y2 '■ 
 
 'I 
 
 4 
 
178 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [BOOK ir. 
 
 quests, and the other scourges which have afflicted 
 humanity ; but they inform us nothing of the more 
 or less deplorable lot of the poorest and most nu- 
 merous class of society. The cultivator enjoys 
 freely, only in a very small part of Europe, the 
 fruits of his labour; and we are forced to own that 
 this civil liberty is not so much the result of an 
 advanced civilization, as the effect of those violent 
 crises during which one class or one state has taken 
 advantage of the dissensions of the other. The 
 true perfection of social institutions depends no 
 doubt on information and intellectual cultivation ; 
 but the concatenation of the springs which move a 
 state is such, that in one part of the nation this 
 cultivation may make^'a very remarkable progress 
 without the situation of the lower orders becoming 
 ' more improved. Almost the whole north of Eu- 
 rope confirms this sad experience. There are 
 countries there, where, notwithstanding the boasted 
 civilization of the higher classes of society, the pea- 
 sant still lives in the same degradation under which . 
 he groaned three or four centuries ago. We 
 should think higher, perhaps, of the situation of 
 the Indians were we to compare it with that of 
 the peasants of Courland, Russia, and a great part 
 of the north of Germany. ''' 
 
 The Indians whom we see scattered throughout 
 the cities, and spread especially over the plains of 
 Mexico, whose number (without including those 
 of mixed blood) amounts to two millions and a 
 
CHAT. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 i7i) 
 
 half, are either descendants of the old peasantry, 
 or the remains of a few great Indian families, v/ho, 
 disdaining alliance with the Spanish conquerors, 
 preferred rather to cultivate with their hands the 
 fields which were formerly cultivated for them by 
 their vassals. This diversity has a sensible influence 
 on the political state of the natives, and di- 
 vides them into tributary and noble or cacique 
 Indians. The latter, by the Spanish laws, ought 
 to participate in the privileges of the Castilian no- 
 bility. But in their present situation this is merely 
 an illusory advantage. It is now difficult to dis- 
 tinguish, from their exterior, the caciques from 
 those Indians whose ancestors in the time of Mon- 
 tezuma II. constituted the lower cast of the Mex- 
 ican nation. The noble, from the simplicity of his 
 dress and mode of living, and from the aspect of 
 misery which he loves to exhibit, is easily con- 
 founded with the tributary Indian. The latter 
 shows to the former a respect which indicates the 
 distance prescribf d by the ancient constitutions of 
 the Aztec hierarchy. The families who enjoy the 
 hereditai y rights of Cackasgo^ far from protecting 
 the tributary cast of the natives, more frequently 
 abuse their power and their influence. Exercising 
 the magistracy in the Indian villages, they levy the 
 capitation tax : they not only delight in becom- 
 ing the instruments of the oppressions of the 
 whites ; but ihey also make use of their power and 
 authority to extort small sums for their own ad- 
 
 
 m 
 
 N 
 
180 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book II. 
 
 vantage. Well informed intendants, who have be- 
 stowed much attention for a long timi' to the detail 
 of this Indian administration, assured nie that the 
 oppressions of the cacique.^ bore very heavy on the 
 tributary Indians. In the same manner, in m ny 
 parts of Europe where the Jews are still deprived 
 of the rights of naturalization, the rabbins op- 
 press the members of the communi y confided 
 to them. Moreover, the Aztec nobility display 
 the same vulgarity of manners, and the same want 
 of civilization with the lower Indians. They re- 
 main, as it were^ in the same state of insulation ; 
 and examples of native Mexicans, enjoying the 
 Cacicasgo, following the sword or the law are in- 
 finitely rare. We find more Indians in eccle- 
 siastical function., particularly in that of parish 
 priest : the solitude oi' the convent appears only to 
 have attractions for the }ciing Indian girls. 
 " When the Spaniards made the conquest of 
 Mexico, they found the people in that state of ab- 
 ject submission and poverty which every where ac- 
 companies despotism and feudality. The emperor, 
 princes, nobility, and clergy (the teopixqui), alone 
 po.ssessed the most fertile lands ; the governors of 
 provinces indulged with impunity in the most se- 
 vere exactions; and the cultivator was every where 
 degraded. The highways, as we have already ob- 
 served, swarmed with mendicants ; and the want 
 of large quadrupeds, forced thousands of Indians 
 to perform the functions of beasts of burden, and 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 131 
 
 to transport the maize, cotton, hides, and other 
 commodities, which the more remote provinces 
 sent by way of tribute to the capital. The con- 
 quest rendered the state of the lower people still 
 more deplorable. The cultivator was torn from 
 the soil and dragged to the mountains, where the 
 working of the mines commenced; and a great 
 number of Indians were obliged to follow the ar- 
 mies, and to carry, without sufficient nourishment 
 or repose, through mountainous woods, burdens 
 which exceeded their strength. All Indian pro- 
 perty, whether in land or goods, was conceived to 
 belong to the conqueror. This atrocious principle 
 was even sanctioned by a law, which assigns to 
 the Indians a small portion of ground around the 
 newly constructed churches. 
 
 The court of Spain seeing that the new conti- 
 nent was depopulating very rapidly, took measures, 
 beneficial in appearance, but which the avarice and 
 cunning of the conquerors (conquht adores) con- 
 trived to direct against the very people whom they 
 were intended to relieve. The system of encomien- 
 das was introduced. The Indians, whose liberty had 
 in vain been proclaimed by Queen Isabella, were till 
 fhen slaves of the whites, who appropriated them to 
 themselves indiscriminately. By the establishment 
 of the encomiendcis^ slavery assumed a more regular 
 form. To terminate the quarrels among the con- 
 (juistadores, the remains of the conquered people 
 were shared out; and the Indians, divided into 
 
 
 
 1,- 
 
 m 
 
W2 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [bookii. 
 
 tribes of several hundreds of families, had masters 
 named to them in Spain from among the soldiers 
 vfho had acquired distinction durng the conquest, 
 and from am> ng the people of the law*, sent out 
 by the court as a countei poise to the us a i ping 
 power of the generals. A great iiumoer of the 
 finest cncoiuienaas were dist iouted among the 
 monks ; and religion, which, from its principles, 
 ought to favour libtny, was itself (iegraded in 
 profiting by the i,erv!iude ot the {eoplet- This 
 partition of the Indians attached them to the soil ; 
 and their work became the property of the cwco- 
 menderos. i he slave frequendy took the family 
 name of his master. Hence many Indian families 
 bear Spanish names, without ticir blood having 
 been ix\ the least degree mingled with the Euro- 
 pean. The court of Madrid imagined that it had 
 bestowed protectors on the Indians : it only made 
 the evil worse, and gave a more systematical form 
 to oppression. 
 
 * These powerful men frequently bore only the simple title 
 of licenciattus, from the degree which they had taken in their 
 faculties. 
 
 I And yet the priests could not conceive why the people run 
 off like chiidrenjrom ichoof, as one of them emphatically has 
 it! Sn rada ignciattcia les hace proceder (aunque viejos) con 
 las modales proprios de ninos, y con tan leve motivo^ como un 
 nino Re huye de la Lscuela, se hnye un cacique con todos sus 
 vasallos de un Pueblo, y queda sol« el missionero : tal eg sn 
 inconstancia J J Gumilla, vol. i. p. 1 17* Trans. 
 
fiHAP.vi.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 183 
 
 Such was the state of the Mexican cuhivators 
 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 
 tl)e dghte nth thvir situation assume i progres- 
 sively a better appearance. The iaaiilies of the 
 conqutstadorcs are partly extinguished; and the 
 encmniendasy considered as ficls, were not re- 
 distributed. The viceroys, and especially the 
 aydieuckta, watched over the interests of the In- 
 dians ; and their lit erty, and, in some provinces, 
 their ease of circumstances even, have been gra- 
 dually augmenting. It was King Charles the 
 Third especially who, by me sures equally wise 
 and energetic, became tlie benefactor of the In- 
 dians. He annulled the encomkndas ; and he 
 prohibited the repartimientos, by which the cor- 
 rei^kiiir.^ arbitrarily constituted themselves the 
 creditors, and consequently the master.s, of the in- 
 dustry of the natives, by furnishing them, at ex- 
 travagant [ iices, with horses, mules, and clothes 
 (rcpa ). Tlie establishment of intendancies, dur- 
 ing the m ni-try of the Count de Galvez, was a 
 memorable epoqua for Indian prosperity* The 
 minute vexations to which the cultivator was in- 
 cessantly exposed from the subaltern Spanish and 
 Indian magistracy, have singularly diminished un- 
 der the active superintendance of the intendants ; 
 and I he Indians begin to enjoy advantages which 
 laws, gentle and humane in general, afforded them, 
 bvit of which they were deprived in ages of bar- 
 barity and oppression. The first choice of the 
 
 ^4 
 
 "m 
 
 m 
 
184 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY OiN TIIK [book u. 
 
 persons to whom the count confided the important 
 places of intend ant or governor of a province 
 was extremely fortunate. Among the twelve who 
 shared the administration of the country in 1 804, 
 there was not one whom the public accused of 
 corruption or want of integrity, 
 
 Mexico is the country of inequality. No where 
 does there exist such a fearful difference in the 
 distribution of fortune, civilization, cultivation of 
 the soil, and population. The interior of the 
 country contains four cities, which are not more 
 than one or two days journey distant from one 
 another, and possess a population of 35,000^ 
 67,000, 70,000, and liJ5,000. The central table- 
 land from la Puebla to Mexico, and from thence 
 to Salamanca and Zelaya, is covered with villages 
 and hamlets like the most cultivated parts of Lom- 
 bardv. To the east and west of this narrrow 
 stripe succeed tracts of uncultivated ground, on 
 which cannot be found ten or twelve persons to 
 the square league. The capital and several other 
 cities have scientific establishments, which will bear 
 a comparison with those of Europe. The archi- 
 tecture of the public and private edifices, the ele- 
 gance of the furniture, the equipages, the luxury 
 and dress of the women, the tone of society, all 
 announce a refinement to which the nakedness, 
 ignorance, and vulgarity of the lower people form 
 the most striking contrast. This immense inequal- 
 ity of fortune does not only exist among the cast 
 
CHAF. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 185 
 
 of whites (Europeans or Creoles), it is even dis- 
 coverable among the Indians. 
 
 The Mexican Indians, when we consider them 
 en masse, oflFer a picture of extreme misery. Ba- 
 nished into the most barren districts, and indolent 
 from nature, and more still from their political 
 situation, the nanves live only from hand to mouth. 
 We should seek almost in vain among them for 
 individuals who enjoy any thing like a certain 
 mediocrity of fortune. Instead, however, of a 
 comfortable independency, we find a fe,w families 
 whose fortune appears so much the more colossal, 
 as we least expect ic among the lowest class of the 
 people. In the intendancies of Oaxaca and Val- 
 ladoHd, in the valley of Toluca, and es] ecially in 
 the environs of the great city of la Puehla de los 
 Angeles, we find several Indians, who under an ap- 
 pearance oF poverty conceal consideraMe wealth. 
 When 1 visited the small city of Cholu'a, an old 
 Indian woman was buried there, who left to her 
 children plantations of magHey (agave) worth 
 more than 360,000 francs*. These plantations are 
 the vineyards and sole wealth of the country. 
 However there are no caciques at Cholula ; and 
 the Indians there are all tributary, and distinguish- 
 ed for their great sobriety and their gentle and 
 peaceable manners. The manners of the Cholu- 
 lans exhibit a singular contrast to those of their 
 
 * 15,0001. sterling. Tran. , 
 
 'ill 
 
 
 m 
 
 M 
 
186 
 
 POMTKAI, ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 neighbours of Tlascala, of whom a great number 
 pretend to be the descendants of the highest titled 
 nobility, and who increase their poverty by a liti- 
 gious disposition and a restless and turbulent turn 
 of mind. Among the most wealthy Indian fami- 
 lies at Cholula are the Axcotlan, the Sarmientos 
 and Romeros j at Guaxocingo, the Sochipiltecatl ; 
 and especially the Tecuanouegues in the village de 
 los Reyes. Each of these families possesses a ca- 
 pital of from 800,000 to ], 000,000 of livres*. 
 They enjoy, as we have already stated, great con- 
 sideration among the tributary Indians ; but they 
 generally go barefooted, and covered with a Mexi- 
 can tunic of coarse texture and a brown colour, 
 a])proaching to black, in the same way as the 
 very lowest of the Indians are usually dressed. 
 
 The Indians are exempted from every sort of 
 indirect impost. They pay no alcavala ; and the 
 law allows them full liberty for the sale of their 
 productions, '^l he supreme council of finances 
 of Mexico, called the Junta superior de Real 
 Hacienda^ endeavoured from time to time, espe- 
 cially within these last five or six years, to subject 
 the Indians to the alcavala. We must hope that 
 the court of Madrid, which in all times has en- 
 deavoured to protect this unfortunate race, will 
 preserve to them their immunity so long as they 
 shall continue subject to the direct impost of the 
 
 * From 33,3361. to 41,670l. sterling. Trans, 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM 01- NEW SPAIN. 
 
 187 
 
 tribiitos. This impost is a real capitation tax, paid 
 by the male Indians between the ages of ten and 
 fifty. The tribute is not the same in all the pro- 
 vinces of New Spain; and it has been diminished 
 within the last two hundred years. In 1 6o I , the 
 Indian paid yearly 32 reals of plata of tributo, 
 and four reals of scrvicio real, in all nearly 23 
 francs*. It was gradually reduced in some in- 
 tendancies to 1.5 and even to fivef francs J. In 
 the bishopric of Mechoacan, and in the greatest 
 part of Mexico, the capitation amounts at present 
 to 11 francs §. Besides, the Indians pay a pa- 
 rochial duty (derechos parroqidales) of 10 francs 
 for baptism, 20 francs for a certificate of marriage, 
 and 20 francs for interment. We must also add 
 to these Q^ francs, which the church levies as an 
 impost on every individual, from 25 to 30 francs 
 for offerings which are called voluntary, and which 
 go under the names of cargos dc cofradias^ re- 
 sponsos and misas para sacar animas \ 
 
 * igs. 2d. Trans. f ]2f5. (5d. and 4s. 2d. Trans. 
 
 X Compendto de la historia de la Real Hacienda dc Nueva 
 Esparia, a manuscript work presented by Don Joacquin Ma- 
 niau, in 1/93, to the secretary of state Don Diego de Gar- 
 doqui, of which there is a copy in the archives of the vice- 
 royalty. 
 
 § gs. 2d. Trans. 
 
 II The Spanish clergy seem to have been perfectly disposed 
 to make the Indians pay pretty well beforehand in earthly 
 treasure for the heavenly felicity {eterna dicha) they com- 
 municated to them. But what were these trifieg when 
 
 
 i :-Si 
 
 ill 
 
 M 
 
 m 
 
 is? 
 
1S8 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book if. 
 
 If the legislation of Queen Isabella and the 
 Emperor Charles V. appears to favour the In- 
 dians with regard to imposts, it has deprived hem, 
 on the other hand, of the most important rights 
 enjoyed by the other citizens. In an age when it 
 was formally discussed if the Indians were rational 
 beings, it was conceived granting them a benefit 
 to treat them like minors, to put them under the 
 perpetual tutory of the whites, and to declare null 
 every act signed by ■> native of the copper-coloured 
 race, and every obligation which he contracted 
 beyond the value of 15 francs. These laws are 
 maintained in full vigour ; and they place insur- 
 mountable barriers between the Indians and the 
 other casts, with whom all intercourse is almost pro- 
 hibited. Thousands of inhabitants can enter into 
 no contract which is binding (no pueden tratar 
 y contratar) ; and condemned to a perpetual mi- 
 nority, they become a charge to themselves and 
 the state in which they live. I cannot better 
 
 weighed in the balance with the immensity of the benefits 
 imported by the catholic arms into these provinces ? *' El 
 feliz tierapo," exclaims the reverend Father Gumila> *• para 
 ^nntos millones de Indios, como ya, por la Bondad de Dios^ se 
 han salvado, y salvan (aunque in feliz para los que aun estan en 
 su ciega ignorancia, o ciegamente resisten a la luz evangelica) 
 empezo desde que las armas catholicas tomaron possession de 
 las principales provincias de aquellos dos vastos imperios^ y 
 prosiegue hasta ahora> creciendo sierapre en todos angulos del 
 Nuevo mundo la luz de la Santa Fe, para eterna dicha d« 
 aquellos infelices hijos d'Adan (vol i. p. 74.) Trans. 
 
KMAi'. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SI'AIN. 
 
 189 
 
 finish the political view of the /Indians of New 
 Spain than by laying before the reader an extract 
 from a memoir presented by the bishop and chap- 
 ter of Mechoacan * to the king, in 1 799, which 
 breathes the wisest views and the most liberal 
 ideas. 
 
 This respectable bishop f? whom I had the ad- 
 vantage of knowing personally, and who terminat- 
 ed his useful and laborious life at the advanced 
 age of 80, represents to the monarch, that in the 
 actual state of things the moral improvement of 
 the Indian is impossible, if the obstacles are not 
 removed which oppose the progress of national 
 industry. He confirms the principles which he 
 
 * Informe del Obispo y Cabildo edesiastico de Valladolid de 
 Mechoacan al liey sobre Jurisdiccion y Ymunidades del Clero 
 Americano^ This report, which I possess in manuscript, con- 
 taining more than 10 sheets, was drawn up on the occasion of 
 the famous Cedula real of the 25th October 1795, which 
 permitted the secular judge to try the delittos enormes of the 
 clergy. The Sala del crimen, persuaded of their right, treated 
 the priests with severity, and cast them into the same prisons 
 with the lowest classes of the people. In this struggle, the 
 audiencia ranged themselves on the side of the clergy. Dis- 
 putes of jurisdiction are very common in distant countries. 
 They are pursued with so much the greater keenness, as the 
 European policy from the first discovery of the new world 
 has always considered the disunion of casts, of families, and 
 constituted authorities, the surest means of preserving the 
 colonies in a dependence on the mother country. 
 
 f Fray Antonio de San Miguel^ monk of St. Jerome dtt 
 Corvan, native of the Montanas de Santander. 
 
 
 3'i'iJ 
 
 r,«'« 
 
 
m w.«f 
 
 190 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 lays down by several passages from the works of 
 Montesquieu and Bernardin de St. Pierre. These 
 citations can hardly fail to surprise us from the 
 pen of a prelate belonging to the regular clergy, 
 who passed a part of his life in convents , and who 
 filled an episcopal chair on the shores of the South 
 Sea. " The population of New Spain," says the 
 bishop towards the end t)f his memoir, " is com- 
 posed of three classes of men, whites or Spa- 
 niards, Indians, and castes. I suppose the Spa- 
 niards to compose the tenth part of t'.e whole 
 mass. In their hands almost all the property and 
 all the wealth of the kingdom aie centered. The 
 Indians and the castes cultivate the ^oil ; they are 
 in the service of the better sort of people ; and 
 they live by the work of their hands. Hence 
 there results between the Indians and the whites 
 that opposition of interests, and that mutual hatred, 
 which universally takes place between those who 
 possess all and those who possess nothing, be- 
 twecn masters and thv^se who live in servitude. 
 Thus we see, on the one hand, the effects of 
 em7 and discord, deception, theft, and the incli- 
 nation to prejudice the interests of the rich; and 
 on the other, arrogance, severity, and th't desire 
 of taking every moment advantage of the help- 
 lessness of the Indian. I am not ignorant that 
 these evils every where spring from a great in- 
 equality of condition. But in America they are 
 rendered still more terrific, because there exists no 
 
CH«f. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 191 
 
 llli 
 
 intermediate state : we are r^ch or miserable, noble 
 or degraded by the laws or the force of opinion 
 (infame de derecho y hecho^ ) 
 
 *^ In fact, the Indians and the races of mixed 
 blood (castas) are in a state of extreme humilia* 
 tion. The colour peculiar to the Indians, their 
 ignorance, and especially their poverty, remove 
 them to an infinite distance from the whites, who 
 occupy the first rank in the population of New 
 Spain. The piivileges which the laws seem to 
 concede to the Indians are of small advantage to 
 them, perhaps they are rather hurtful. Shut up 
 in a narrow space of 600 varas (500 metres *) of 
 radius, assigned by an ancient law to the Indian 
 villages, the natives may be said to have no indi- 
 vidual property, and are bound to cultivate the 
 common property (bienes de communidad)^ This 
 cultivation is a load so much the more insupport- 
 able to them, as they have now for several years 
 back lost all hope of ever being able to tnjoy the 
 fruit of their labour. The new arrangement of 
 intendancies bears, that the natives can receive no 
 assistance from the funds of the communalty wich- 
 out a special permission of the Board of Finances of 
 Mexico {junta superior de la Real Hacienda**)* 
 (The communal property has been farmed out by 
 the intendants ; and the produce of the labour of 
 the natives is poured into the royal treasury, where 
 
 \'m 
 I 
 
 YOL, I, 
 
 * 1640 feet. Trans* 
 % 
 
19S 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 the officiaks reales keep an account, under special 
 heads, of what they call the property of each vil- 
 lage. I say wliat they call the property, for this 
 property is nothing more than a fiction for these 
 last twenty years. The intendant even cannot 
 dispose of it in favour of the natives, who are 
 wearied of demanding assistance from the com- 
 munalty funds. The junta tie Real Hacienda 
 demands inf'ormes from the Jiscal and the asesor 
 of the viceroy. Whole years pass in accumulating 
 documents, but the Indians remain without any 
 answer. The money of the caj^as de communi- 
 dades is so habitually considered as having no fixed 
 destination, that the intendant of Valiadolid sent 
 in 1798 more than a million of h^ncs'^ to Ma- 
 drid, which had been accumulating for twelve 
 years. The king was told that it was a gratuitous 
 and patriotic gift from the Indians of Mechoacan 
 to the sovereign, to aid in the prosecution of the 
 war against England !) 
 
 '' The law prohibits the mixture of casts ; it 
 prohibits the whites from taking up their residence 
 in Indian villages; and it prevents the natives 
 from establishing themselves among the Spaniards. 
 This state of insulation opposes obstacles to civil* 
 ization. The Indians are governed by themselves f 
 all their subaltern magistrates are of the copper* 
 coloured race. In every village we find eight or 
 
 * 41 ,6701. iterling. Trans» 
 
CHAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 1D3 
 
 ten old Indians who live at the expence of the 
 rest, in the most complete idleness, whose autho- 
 rity is founded either on a pretended eh vation of 
 birth, or on a cunning policy transmitted from fa- 
 ther to son. These chiefs, generally the only 
 inhabitants of the village who speak Spanish, have 
 the greatest interest in maintaining their fellow 
 citizens in the most profound ignorance ; and 
 they contribute the most to perpetuate prejudices, 
 ignorance, and the ancient barbarity of manners. 
 ' " Incapable, from the Indian laws, of entering 
 into any contract, or running in debt to the extent 
 of more than five piastres, the natives can only 
 attain to an amelioradon of their lot, and enjoy 
 some sort of comfort as common labourers, or 
 as artisans. Solorzano, Fraso, and other Spa* 
 nish authors, have in vain endeavoured to inves- 
 tigate the secret cause why the privileges conceded 
 to the Indians have constantly produced the most 
 unfavourable effects to them. I am astonished 
 that these celebrated jurisconsults never conceived 
 that what they call a secret cause springs from 
 the very nature of these privileges. Ihey are 
 arms which have never served for the protection 
 of those which they were destined to defend, and 
 which the citizens of the other casts could not 
 fail to employ against the Indian race. Such a 
 union of deplorable circumstances has produced 
 in them an indolence of mmd, and that state of 
 
 z2 
 
 1 
 
 .Jit 
 
 % 
 
 '<ii 
 
194 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book tt. 
 
 indifFerence and apathy in which man is neither 
 affected by hope nor fear. 
 
 *' The casts, descendants of negro slaves, are 
 branded with infamy by the law ; and are sub- 
 jected to tribute. This direct impost imprints on 
 them an indelible stain : they consider it as a mark 
 .of slavery transmissible to the latest generations. 
 Among the mixed race, among the mestizoes and 
 mulattoes, there are many families, who from 
 their colour, their physiognomy, and their culti- 
 vation, might be confounded with the Spaniards ; 
 but the law keeps them in a state of degradation 
 and contempt. Endowed with an energetic and 
 ardent character, these men of colour live in a 
 constant state of irritation against the whites ; and 
 we must be astonished that their resentment does 
 not more frequently dispose them to acts of ven- 
 geance. 
 
 " The Indians ami the casts are in the hands of 
 the magistrates of districts [justkias territoriaUs), 
 whose immorality has not a little contributed to 
 their misery. So long as the alcaldias mayores 
 subsisted in Mexico, the alcaldes considered them- 
 selves as mere): ants who had acquired an exclusive 
 privilege of buying and selling in their provinces, 
 and who could draw from this privilege, in some 
 sort or other, from 30,000 to i200,000 piastres, 
 from 150,000 to 1,000,000 francs*, and, what is 
 
 V * From 62501. to Al,Qj{iL, iterliDg. Tram, } 
 
«HAP. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 If)^ 
 
 more, in the short space of five years. These 
 usurious magistrates compelled the Indians to> 
 purchase, at arbitrary prices, a certain number of 
 cattle. By this means the natives became their 
 debtors. Under the pretext of recovering the 
 capital and usury, the alcalde vunjor disposed of 
 the Indians, the whole year round, as true slaves. 
 The individual happlnes.s of tiicse unfortunate 
 wretches was not certainly increased by the sacri-^ 
 fice of their liberty, for a horse or a mule to work 
 for their master's profit. But yet in the midst of 
 this state of things, brought on by abuses, agri- 
 culture and industry were seen to increase. 
 
 ** On the establishment of intendancies, the 
 government wished to put an end to the oppres- 
 sions which arose from the repartimkiitos. In 
 place of alcaldes mayores^ they named suhdele- 
 gadosy subaltern magistrates, to whom every sort 
 of traffic was prohibited. As no salaries were 
 assigned to them, or any sort of fixed emolument^ 
 the evil has become worse. The alcaldes mayores 
 administered justice with impartiality, whenever 
 their own interests were not concerned. The 
 subdelegates of the intendants having no other 
 revenues but casualties, believed themselves au- 
 thorised to employ illicit means to procure them- 
 selves a comfortable subsistence. Hence the per- 
 petual expressions and the abuses of authority to 
 wHich the poor were subject ; and hence the in- 
 dulgence towards the rich, and the shameful traffic 
 
 \ 'v>i 
 
m 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book ii> 
 
 of justice. The intcadants find the greatest diffi- 
 culties in tlie ch* ice of the siihatkgados^ from 
 v^hom, in the actual state of thing '-^ the Indians 
 can neither expect support or protection. 1 liat 
 support and that p otection they seek from the 
 clergy 5 and hence th.* constant opposition in 
 which the clergv and subde^egates usually live- 
 However the natives place more co' fidence in 
 the clergy and magistrates of a superior rank, the 
 intendants and the oidores memb rs of the audi' 
 enc'io) Now, Sire, what attacl.ment can the In- 
 dian have to the government, despised and de- 
 graded as he is, and almost without property and 
 without hope of atneliora ing his existence? He 
 is merely attached to social life by a tie which 
 affords him no advantat^e. Let n )t your majesty 
 believe, that the dr:ad of punishment alone is suf- 
 ficient to preserve t anquillity in this country: 
 there must be other motives, there m' st be more 
 powerful motives. If the new legislation which 
 Spain expects with impatience do net occupy 
 itself with the situation of the Indians and people 
 of colour, the influence wi ich the clergy possess 
 over the hearts of these unfortunate people, how- 
 ever great if may be, will not be sufficient to 
 contain them in the submission and respect due to 
 their sovereign. 
 
 ** Let tlie odi(,us persona! impost of the tributo 
 be abolished ; and let the infamy [Infamia dc 
 derecho) which unjust laws have attempted to 
 
•HA^. VI.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 197 
 
 Stamp on the people of colour be at an end ; let 
 them be declared capable of filling every civil em- 
 ployment which does not require a special title of 
 nobility; let a portion of the demesnes of the 
 crown (titnas i^ealenguas), which are generally 
 uncultivated, be granted to the Indians and the 
 casts; let an agrarian liw be passed for Mexico 
 similar to that of the Asturias and Galicia, by 
 which the poor cultivator is permitted to bring in 
 under certain conditions the land which the great 
 proprietors have left so many xjijes uncultivated 
 to the detriment of the national industry ; let full 
 liberty be granted to the Indians, the casts, and 
 the whites to settle in villages which at present 
 belong only to one of these classes ; let salaries be 
 appointed for all judges and all magistrates of dis- 
 tricts J these, Sire, are the six principal points on 
 which the felicity of the Mexican people depends. 
 " It appears strange, no doubt, that, in a junc- 
 ture when the finances of the state are in a 
 deplorable sitnation, we presume to propose to 
 your majesty the abolition of the tribute. A very 
 simple calculation will prove, however, that the 
 adoption of the meiiures above indicated, and the 
 conceding to the Indian all the rights of denizens, 
 will increase considerably instead of dim'iishing 
 the revenues of the state (Real Hacienda) " The 
 bishop supposes 810,000 families of Indians and 
 men of colour in the whole extent of New Spain. 
 Several of these families, especially those of mixed 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
198 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 blood, are clothed and f^njoy some degree of com- 
 foit. They live nearly in the ; anner of the lower 
 people of the peninsula ; and their number U a 
 third of the whole mass. Ihe annual consump- 
 tion of this third part may be estimated at 300 
 piastres per family*. Reckon ng for the other 
 thirds only Go | piastres J, and supposing the In- 
 dians to p.'»y the d/cnvala of .4 per cent, like the 
 v^hites, an annual revenue would be raised of 
 5,i>0(),v)0() of piastres §, a much greater revenue 
 than ihe quadruple of the present val se of the 
 tributts. We will not guarantee the accuracy of 
 the numbers on which this calculation is found, d ; 
 but a simple sketch may suffice to prove, that on 
 establi.>hing an equality of duties and imposts 
 fimong the different classes of people, not only the 
 abolition of the capitation would create no defii it 
 in the crown revenues, but t; at these revenues 
 would necessarily increase with the increase of 
 comfort and prosperity among the natives. 
 
 We might have hoped that the administrations 
 of three enlightened viceroys, animated with the 
 most noble zeal for the public good, the Marquis 
 d^ Croix, the Count de Revillagigedo, and the 
 
 * 671 I2s. 6d. sterling. Trans, i 13/. 2*. OU sterling. Trans, 
 X It h computed that in the warnri region of Mexico, a day 
 labouier recjuires annually for himself and family, in nourish- 
 ment and clothes. 72 piastres. The luxury is nearly 20 piastres! 
 less in the cold region of the country. 
 I ijOS3^750/. sterling. 
 
CHAF.vi.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 199 
 
 Chevalier d'Asanza, would have produced some 
 happy changes in the political state of the Indians; 
 but these hopes have been frustrated. The power 
 ot the viceroys has b(*(^n singularly diminished of 
 late : they are fetter d in all their measure^, not 
 only by the /////y/ of finances (de Real Hacienda), 
 and by the high court of justice (AudioiciaJ, but 
 also by the governmenr in the mother country, 
 which possesses the mania of wishing to govern 
 in the Lreacest detail provinces at the distance of 
 two thousand eagues, the physical and moral state 
 of which are equally unknown to them. Tlie phi- 
 lanthropists affirm, that it is happy for t! e Indians 
 that they are neglected in Europe, beca »se sad expe- 
 rience has proved that the most part of the measures 
 adopted for their relief have produced an oppoJte 
 effect. The la • yers, who detest innov.itions, and 
 the C'reol |roprietors,whofreq.'ently find their in- 
 terest in k eping t e cultivator in degradation and 
 misery, maintain th >t we must not interfere with 
 the natives. because,on grantini, them more liberty, 
 the whites would have every thing to fear from the 
 vindictive spirit and arrogance of the Indian race. 
 The language is always the same whenever it is 
 proposed to allow the peasant to participate in the 
 fights of a free man and a citizen. 1 have heard 
 the same arguments rejieated in Mexico, -Peru, 
 and the kingdom of New Grenada, which, ia 
 several parts of Germanvi Poland, Livonia, ai)d 
 
 ■*ft.ii 
 
 
 
 •"^;tf 
 
 % 
 
 ' 'fi 
 
 ■i 'i 
 
200 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THK [book ii. 
 
 Russia, are opposed to the abolition of slavery 
 among the peasants. 
 
 Recent examples ought to teach us how dan- 
 gerous it is to allow the Indians to form a status 
 in statu, to perpetuate their insulation, barbarity 
 of manners, misery, and consequently motives of 
 hatred against the other casts. These very stupid 
 indolent Indians, who suffer themselves patiently 
 to be lashed at the church'doors, apt ear cunning, 
 act ve, impetuous, and cruel, whenever they act in 
 a body in popular disturbances. It may be use- 
 ful to relate a proof of this assertion. The great 
 revolt in 1781 very nearly deprived the king 
 of Spain of all the mountainous part of Peru, 
 at the period when Great Britain lost nearly all 
 her colonies in the continent of America. Jose 
 Gabriel Condorcanqui, known by the name of the 
 Inca Tupac- Amaru, appeared at the head of an 
 Indian army before the walls of Cusco. He was 
 the son of the cacique of Tongasuca, a village of 
 the province of Tiuta, or rather the son of the 
 cacique'^ wife ; for it is certain that the pretended 
 Inca was a Mestizoe, and that his true father was 
 a monk. The Condorcanqui family traces its 
 origin up to the Inca Sayri-Tupac, who disappeared 
 in the thick forests to the east of Villcapampa, and 
 to the Inca Irpic- Amaru, who, contrary to the 
 orders of Phi.ip the Second, was decapitated in 
 1578 under the viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo. 
 
•HAP. vr.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 201 
 
 
 jo >e Gabriel was carefully educated at Lima ; 
 and he retirned to the mountains, after havii'g in 
 vain solicited from the court of Spain the title of 
 Marquis d'Oropesa, which belongs to the family 
 of the- !nca ^ayri-Tupac. His spirit of vengeance 
 drove him to excite the highland I .dians, irritated 
 against the correg dor Arriaga, to insurrection. 
 The pecple acknowledged him as a descendant of 
 their true sovereigns, and as one of the children 
 of the sun. The young man took a<ivantag'»r of 
 the popular tnc'.usiasm which he had exc ted by 
 the symbols of the ancient grandeur of the tmpire 
 of Cusco ; he frecjUenuly bound round his forehead 
 the imperial 611et of the Incas ; and he artfully 
 mingled chrisaan idear> with the memorials of the 
 worship of the sun. 
 
 In the commencement of his campaigns he pro- 
 tected ecclesiastics and Americans of all colours. 
 As he only broke out against Europeans, he 
 made a party even among the Mestizoes and the 
 Creoles ; but the Indians, distrusting the sincerity 
 of I heir new alii s, soon began a war of extermi- 
 nation against every one not oF th.ir own race. 
 Jose Gabriel Tupac-Amaru, of whom I possess 
 letters in which he stiles himself Inca of Peru, was 
 not so cruel as his brother Diego, and especially 
 his !iej hew Audres Condorcanqui, who, at the age 
 «^ IT, displayed great talents but a sanguinary 
 character. This insurrection, which apptars to 
 me very little known in Europe^ la&teU nearly two 
 
 
 rl 
 
 
 
202 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book if. 
 
 years. I shall give more minute information with 
 regard to it in the historical account of my travels. 
 Tupac-Amaru had made himself master of the 
 provinces of QLiispicanchi, Tinta, Lampa, Azan- 
 gara, Caravaja, and Chumbivilcas, when the Span- 
 iards made him and h's family prisoners. They 
 were all quartered in the city of Cusco. 
 
 The respect with which the pretended Inca had 
 inspired the natives was so great, tb t, notwith- 
 standing their fear of the Spaniards, and though 
 they were surrounded by the soldiers of the victori- 
 ous army, they prostrated themselves at the sight of 
 the labt of the children of the sun, as he passed 
 along the streets to the place of execution. The 
 brother of Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, known by 
 the name of Diego Christobal Tupac-Amaru, was 
 executed long after [the termination of this re- 
 volutionary movement of the Peru\ian Indians. 
 When the chief fell into the hands of the Span- 
 iards, Diego surrendered himself voluntarily, to 
 profit by the pardon promised hirn m the name of 
 the king. A formal convention was signed be- 
 tween him and the Spanish general, on, the 26th 
 January ITS'^^J, at the Indian village of Siquani, 
 shuated in the proviiice of '' mta. He lived tran- 
 quilly in his family, till thicnigh an insidious and 
 distrustful policy he was urresied on pretext of a 
 new conspiracy. 
 
 The horrors exercised by the natives of Peru 
 towards the whites in 17^1 and 1782 in the 
 
CHAP. VI.] K1Ng60M of new SPAIN. 
 
 SOd 
 
 Cordillera of the Andes were repeated^ in part, 
 twenty years after, in the trifling insurrections which 
 took place in the plain of Riobamba- It is there- 
 fore of the greatest Jmportance, even for the secu- 
 rity of the European families established for ages 
 in the continent of the new worlds that they 
 should interest themselves in the Indians, and 
 rescue them from their present barbarous, abject, 
 and miserable condition. 
 
 '(ft!. 
 
 1 1'*, 
 14 
 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 ■■'V 
 
 m 
 
 I lr'1.81 
 
804 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book II. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 Whites, Creoles, and Europeans, — Their cmlizatton.'^IneqitaUip 
 of their fortunes.-^Negros. — Mixed casts.'^Proportion between 
 the sexes. — Longevity/ according to the difference of races.^^ 
 Sociability. 
 
 Amongst the inhabitants of pure origin the 
 whites would occupy the second place, considering 
 them only in tie relation of number. Tliey are 
 divided into whites born in Europe, and descend- 
 ants of Eur<:)peans born in the Spanish colonies of 
 America or in the Asiatic islands. The former 
 bear the name of Chapetones or Gachupines, and 
 'the second that of Criollos. The natives of the Ca- 
 nary islands, who go under the general denomina- 
 tion of Idmos (islandi rs), and who are the gerans 
 of the plantations, are considered as Europeans. 
 The Spani h laws allow the same rights to all 
 whites ; but those who have the execution of the 
 laws endeavour to destroy an equality which shocks 
 the European pride. 1 lie government, suspicious 
 of the Creoles, bestows the great places exclusively 
 on the nat.ves of O'd Spain. For some year', back 
 they have disposed at Madrid even of the most 
 trifling employments in the admiiiistration of the 
 customs and the tobacco revenue. At an epoch 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 205 
 
 when every thing tended to a uniform relaxation 
 in the springs of the state, the system of venality 
 made an alarming progress. For the most part 
 it was by no means a suspicious and distrustful 
 policy, it was pecuniary interest alone which be- 
 stowed all employments on Europeans. The re- 
 sult has been a jealousy and perpetual hatred be- 
 tween the Chapetons and the Creoles. The most 
 miserable European, without education, and with- 
 out intellectual cultivation, thinks himself superior 
 to the whites born in the new continent. He 
 knows that, protected by his countrymen, and fa* 
 voured by chances common enough in a country 
 where fortunes are as rapidly acquired as they are 
 lost, he may one day reach places to which the 
 access is almost interdicted to the natives, even to 
 those of them distinguished for their talents, know- 
 ledge^ and moral qualities. The natives prefer the 
 denomination of Americans to that of Creoles. 
 Since the peace of Versailles, and, in particular, 
 since the year 17899 we frequently hear proudly 
 declared, ^' I am not a Spaniard^ I am an AmC' 
 rican r words which betray the workings of a long 
 resentment. In the eye of law every white Creole 
 is a Spaniard ; but the abuse of the laws, the talse 
 measures of the colonial government, the example 
 of the United States of America, and the influence 
 of the opinions of the age, have relaxed the ties 
 which formerly united more closely the Spanish 
 Creoles to the European Spaniards. A wise ad- 
 
 ^l<"ti 
 
 ,i ; m 
 
 ii y> 4 * 
 
 1 .'■ 
 
906 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 ministration may re-establish harmony, calm their 
 passions and resentments, and yet preserve for a 
 long time the union among the members of one 
 and the same great family scattered over Europe 
 and America, from the Patagonian coast to the 
 north of California. 
 
 The number of individuals of whom the white 
 race is composed (Ca,sta de los blancos o de los 
 Espanoles) amounts, probably, in all New Spain to 
 1,900,000, of whom nearly the fourth part inha- 
 bited the provincias internas. In New Biscay, or 
 in the intendancy of Durango, there is hardly an 
 individual subject to the tnbuto. Almost all the 
 inhabitants of these northern regions pretend f 
 be of pure European extraction. 
 In the year 1793 they reckoned: 
 In the intendancy of Gua- 
 naxuato on a total po- Souls. Spaniards. 
 pulationof . . 398,000 103,000 
 
 Valladolid . . 290,000 80,000 
 
 Puebla . . 638,000 63,000 
 
 Oaxaca . . 411,000 26,000 
 
 Such is the simple result of the enumeration, 
 making none of the changes requisite from the 
 imperfec ion of that operation which we discussed 
 in the fifth chapter. Consequently, in the four in- 
 tendancics adjoining tLe capita), we find 272,000 
 "whites, either Europeans or descendants of Euro- 
 peans, in a total population of 1,737,000 souls* 
 For every huadred inhaoitauts> there were : 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 '207 
 
 ll 
 
 In the intendancy of Valladolid, . 
 
 Guanaxuato . 
 Puebla • 
 
 Oaxaca 
 
 27 whites. 
 25 
 
 9 
 6 
 
 These considerable differences show the degree 
 of civilization to which the ancient Mexicans had 
 attained south from the capital. These southern 
 regions wtre always the best inhabited. In the 
 north, as we have already several times observed 
 in the cour e oi this work, the Indian population 
 was more thin!y sown. Agriculture has only be- 
 gun to make any progress there since the period 
 of the conquest. 
 
 Jt is curious to compare together the number of 
 whites in the West Indies and in Mexico. The 
 French part of St. Domingo contained in its hap- 
 piest aera, 1788, on a surface of 1700 square 
 leagues (25 to the degree) a smaller population 
 than that of the intendancy of la Puebla. Page * 
 estimates the population o. St. Domingo at .520,000 
 inhabitants, among whom there were 4(),u00 
 whites, 28,000 people of colour, and 452,000 
 
 1 '!',n."*'4i 
 
 I fm 
 
 ■ •'I'-lr' 
 
 * Vol. ii. p. .». In 1S02 there were in the whole island of 
 St. Domingo only 375,000 inhabitants, whereof 290,000 were 
 labourers, 47,000 domestics^ artisans, and sailors, and 37,000 
 soldiers. To what a degree must the population have dimi- 
 nished within the last six years ! In the island of Barbadoes, 
 the number of whites is greater than in any of the other 
 islands ; it amounts ;:o 1D,000, on a total population of 80,000. 
 
 VOL. I. A A 
 
 J4 
 
i 
 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 i< 
 
 '4l 
 
 4is 
 
 H 
 
 1.0 
 
 125 
 
 ;jl4i 122 
 
 :^ 1^ 12.0 
 
 1^ IP^ "^'^ 
 
 I 
 
 Sciences 
 Corpopation 
 
 ^^ 
 
 ^. 
 
 '€^ 
 
 
 ^'^J^ 
 
 ^.V' 
 
 93 WIST MAIN STRUT 
 
 WIMTM.N.Y. MSSO 
 
 (716)t72-4$03 
 

SOS 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 slaves. Hence, in St. Domingo, in every 100 
 souls, eight were white, six free people of colour, 
 and eighty-six African slave«. Jamaica was com- 
 puted in 1787 to have in every 100 inhabitants^ 
 ten whites, four people of colour, and eighty six 
 slaves ; and yet this English colony possesses a 
 smaller population by one-third than the intend- 
 ancy of Oaxaca. Hence, the disproportion be- 
 tween the Europeans or their descendants, and the 
 casts of Indian or African blood, is still greater 
 in the southern part of New Spain than in the 
 French and English sugar islands. The island 
 of Cuba, on the contrary, exhibits even at this 
 day in the distribution of the races a very great 
 and a very consolatory diflfercnce. From the most 
 careful statistical researches which I was ena- 
 bled to make during my stay at the Havanah, in 
 1800 and 1804, 1 found that at the last of these 
 epochs the total population of the island of Cuba 
 amounted to 432,000 souls, among whom there 
 were 
 
 A. Freemen. . . . 324,000 
 
 Whites . 234,000 
 
 People of colour 90,000 
 
 B. Slaves . . . 108,000 
 
 Total 432,000 
 
 or in every 100 inhabitants, fifty-four Creole and 
 European whites, twenty-one men of colour, and 
 
CHAP, vn.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 2(>9 
 
 twenty- five slaves. The proportion of freemen to 
 slaves is there as three to one, while at Jamaica 
 they are as one to six. 
 
 The following fable exhibits the proportion of 
 the other casts to the whites in the different parts ^f 
 the new ':ontinent. Out of every 1 00 inhabitants, 
 we reckon 
 
 In the United States of North 
 
 America . ; . 83 whites, 
 
 ^ Island of Cuba . . . 54 
 
 Kingdom of New Spain (without 
 including the provincial intcnias) 16 
 
 Kingdom of Peru • . l^i 
 
 Island of Jamaica • . .10 
 
 In the capital of Mexicoj according to the 
 enumeration of the Count de Revillagigedo, in 
 every 100 inhabitants, forty nine are Spanish 
 Creoles, two Spaniards born in Europe, twenty- 
 four Aztec and Otomite Indians, and twenty-five 
 people of mixed blood. The'.::act knowledge of 
 these proportions is of the utmost importance to 
 those who have the superintendence of the co- 
 lonies. 
 
 It W' uld be difficult to estimate exactly how 
 many Europeans there are among the 1, '200,000 
 whites who inhabit New Spain. As in the capital 
 of Mexico itself, where the government brings to- 
 gether the greatest number of Sj;aniards, in a popu- 
 lation of more than l.']5,000 souls, not more than 
 » A A ^i 
 
 fill. 
 
 i 
 
210 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii- 
 
 2/)00 individuals are bom in Europe, it is more 
 than probable that the whole kingdom does not 
 contain more th n 70 or 80,000. They constitute, 
 therefore, only the 70th part of the whole popula- 
 tion, and the proporion of Europeans to white 
 Creoles is as one to fourteen. 
 
 The Spanish laws prohibit all entry into the 
 American possessions to every European not born 
 in the p( ninsula. The words European and Spa- 
 niard are become synonimous in Mexico and Peru. 
 The inhabitants of the remote provinces have there- 
 fore a difficult} in conceiving that there can be Euro- 
 peans who do not speak their language ; and they 
 consider this ignorance as a mark of low extraction, 
 because, every where around them, al!, except 
 the very lowest class of the people, speak Spanish. 
 Better acquainted with the history of the sixteenth 
 century than with that of our own times, they ima- 
 gine that Spain continues to possess a decided pre- 
 ponderance over the rest of Europe. To them the 
 peninsula appears the very centre of European ci- 
 vilization. It is otherwise with the Americans of 
 the capital. Those of them who are acquainted 
 with the Fiench or English literature fall easily 
 into a contrary extreme^ and have still a more 
 unfavourable opinion of the mother country than 
 the French had at a time when communication was 
 less frequent between Spain and the rest of Europe. 
 They prefer strangers from other countries to the 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 211 
 
 Spaniards; and they flatter themselves with the 
 idea that intellectual cuhivation has made more ra- 
 pid progress in the colonies than m the peninsula. 
 This progress is indeed very remarkable at the 
 Havanah, Lima, Santa Fe, Quiro, Popayan, and 
 Caraccas. Of all these great cities the liavanah 
 bears the greatest resemblance to those of Europe 
 in customs, refinements of luxury, and the tone of 
 society. At Havanah the state of politics and 
 their influence on commerce is best understood. 
 However, notwithstanding tlie efforts of the pa- 
 triot ic society of the island of 6'///'//, which encou- 
 rages the sciences with the most generous zeal, 
 they prosper very slowly in a country where cul- 
 tivation and the price of colonial produce engross 
 the whole attention of the inhabitants. The study 
 of the mathematics, chemistry, mineralogy, and 
 botany, is more general at Mr ico, Sania Fe, and 
 Lima. We every where observe a great intel- 
 lectual activity, and arnon*^ the youth a wonderful 
 facility of seizing the principles of science. L is 
 said that this facility is still more remarkable among 
 the inhabitants of Quito and Lima than at Mexico 
 and Santa Fe. The former appear to possess more 
 versatility of mind and a moie lively imagination; 
 while the Mexicans and the natives of Santa Fe 
 have the reputation of greater perseverance in the 
 studies to which they have once addicted them- 
 selves. 
 No city of the new continent, without even ex- 
 
 41' 
 
 t 
 
 *■ :t. 
 
 i''i, 
 
 l;=^| 
 
212 
 
 POLliU AL tSSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 cepting those of the United States, can display 
 such great and solid scientific establishments as the 
 capital of Mc xico. 1 shall content myself here with 
 naming the School of Mines, directed by the learned 
 Llhuyar, to which we shall return wlien we come to 
 speak of the mines; the llotanic Garden; and the 
 Academy of Painting and Sculpture. This aca- 
 demy bear.^ the title of Acudciwa dc los Nobles 
 Arl V ilt Medico. It owes its existence to the pa- 
 triotism of several Mexican individuals, and to the 
 protection of the minister Galv( z. Ihr govern- 
 ment assigned it a spacious building, in which there 
 is a much finer aud more complete collection of 
 casts than is to be found in any part of Germany. 
 We are ast» inished on seeing that the Apollo of 
 Belvidere, the group of L^ccoon, and still more 
 colossal statues, have been convened through 
 monniainous roads at least as narrow .'s those of 
 St. Go hard 5 and we are surprised at finding these 
 master iece- of antiquity collected together un- 
 der the torrid zone, in a table land higher than 
 the convent of the great St. Bernard. The 
 collection of cats brought to Mexico cost the 
 king - ()0,(>' H) fiancs *. The remains of the Mex- 
 ican sculpture, those colossal statues of basaltes 
 and porphyry, wi ich are covered with Aztec hie- 
 roglyphics, and bear some relation to the E<» yptian 
 and Hindoo style, ought to be collected together in 
 
 * 8334/. sterling. 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 213 
 
 the edi6ce of the academy, or rather in one of the 
 courts which bi long lo it. It would be curious to 
 see these monuments of the first cultivation of our 
 species, the woik:j of a semibarbarous people inha- 
 biting the Mexican Andes, placed beside the beau- 
 tiful forms produced under the sky of Greece and 
 Italy. 
 
 The revenues of the Academy of Fine Arts at 
 Me.xico amount to 12J,()0() francs*, of which the 
 government gives 60,000, the body of Mexican 
 miners nearly 'iOjOOo, the consutado, or association 
 of merchants of the capital, more than 1500. It is 
 impossible not to perceive the influence of this esta- 
 blishment on the taste of the nation. This influ- 
 ence is particularly visible in the symmetry of the 
 buildings, in the perfection with which the hewing 
 of stone is conducted, and in the ornaments of the 
 capitals and stucco relievos. What a number of 
 beautiful edifices are to be ^een at Mexic<j ! nay, 
 even in provincial towns like Guanaxato and 
 Queretaro ! These monuments, wliich frequently 
 cost a million and a million and a half of iiancs f, 
 would appear to advantage in the finest streets of 
 Paris, Berlin, and Petersburg. M. Tolsa, pro- 
 fessor of sculpture at Mexico, w as even able to cast 
 an equestrian statue of King Charles the Fourth; 
 a work which, with the exception of the Marcus 
 
 • 5208/. Sterling. Trans, 
 t 41,670/. and 02,505/. Trans. 
 
 m 
 
 i I 
 
 %i 
 
214 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 Aurelius at Rome, surpasses in beauty and purity 
 of stile every thing which remains in this way in 
 Europe. Instruction is communicated gratis at 
 the Academy of J- ine Arts. It is not confined alone 
 to the drawing of landscapes and figures; they 
 have had the good sense to employ other means for 
 exciting the national industry. The academy la- 
 bours successfully to introduce among the artisans 
 a taste for elegance and beautiful forms. Large 
 rooms, well lighted by Argand's lamps, contain 
 every evening some hundreds of young people, of 
 whom some draw from relievo or living models^ 
 while others copy drawings of furniture, chande- 
 liers, or other on laments in bronze. In this as- 
 semblage (and this is very remarkable in the midst 
 of a country where the prejudices of the nobility 
 against the casts are so inveterate) rank, colour, 
 and race is confounded : we see the Indian and the 
 Mestizo sitting beside the white, and the son of a 
 poor artisan in emulation with the children of the 
 great lords of the country. It is a consolation to 
 observe, that under every zone the cultivation of 
 science and art establishes a certain equality among 
 men^ and obliterates for a time, at least, all those 
 petty passions of which the effects art so prejudi- 
 cial to social happiness. 
 
 Since the close of the reign of Charles the 
 Third, and under that of Charles the Fourth,^ the 
 study of the physical sciences has made gieat pro- 
 gress, not only jn Mexico, but m general in all the 
 
CHAP, vii] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 21^ 
 
 Spanish colonies. No European government has 
 sacrificed greater sums to advance the knowledge 
 of the vegetable kingdom than the Spanish go- 
 vernment. Three botanical expedUiona^ in Peru, 
 New Grenada, and New Spain, under the direction 
 of MM. Ruiz and Pavon, Don Jose Celestino 
 Miitis, and MM. Sesse and Mocino, have cost the 
 state nearly two millions of francs *. Moreover, 
 botanical gardens have been establi»)hed at Manilla 
 and the Canary islands. The commission destined 
 to draw plans of the canal of los Guincs was also 
 appointed to examine the vegetable productions of 
 the island of Cuba. All these researches, con- 
 ducted during twenty years in the most fertile re- 
 gions of the new continent, have not only enriched 
 science with more than four thousand new species 
 of plants, but have also contrii)uted much to dif- 
 fuse a taste for natural history among the inhabit- 
 ants of the country. The city of Mexico exhibits 
 a very interesting botanical garden within the very 
 precincts of the viceroy's palace. Professor Cer- 
 vantes gives annual courses there, which are very 
 well attended. This savant possesses, besides his 
 herbals, a rich collection of Mexican minerals. 
 M. Mocino, whom we just now mentioned as one 
 of the coadjutors of M. Sesse, and who has pushed 
 his laborious excursions from the kingdom of 
 Guatimaia to the north-west coast or island of 
 
 * S3,340/. sterling. Trans^ 
 
 
216 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [iook ii. 
 
 Vancouver and Quadra; and M. Echeveria, a 
 painter of plants and animals, whose works will 
 btar a comparison with the most peifect produc- 
 tions of tlie kind in Europe, are both of them na- 
 tives cf Sew Spain. They had both attained a 
 distinguished rank among aavafis and arli.ts before 
 quitting theii country*. 
 
 The priici; les of the new chemistry, Avhich is 
 known in the Spanish colonies by the equivocal 
 app'Uation of new philosophy (mteva filosi>/ia)y are 
 more diffused in Mexico than in many parts of 
 the peninsula. A Kurop an tiaveller cannot un- 
 doubtedly but be surprised to meet in the interior 
 of the country, on the very borders of California, 
 with young Mexicans who reason on the decom- 
 position of water in the process of amalgamation 
 with free air. The School of Mines possesses a 
 chemical laboratory ; a geological collection, ar- 
 ranged according to the syr^temof Werner; a jihy- 
 sical cabinet, in which we not only find the va- 
 luable instruments of Ramsden, Adams, Le Noir, 
 
 * The public is only yet put in possession of the discove- 
 ries of the botanical expedition ol Peru and Chili. The great 
 herbals of M. Sesse, and the immense collection of drawings 
 of Mexican plants executed under his eye, arrived at Madrid 
 in 1803. Ihe publication of both the Flora of New Spain 
 and the Flora of Santa Fe de Bogota is expected with impa- 
 tiencp. 'ihe latter is the fruit of ^(0 years researches and 
 observations by the celebrated Mutis, one of the greatest bo- 
 tanists of the age. 
 
KHAr.vii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 817 
 
 and Louis Berthoud, but also models executed ia 
 the capital even, with tht^ greatest precision, and 
 from the finest wood in the country. The best 
 mineralogicai work in the Spanish language was 
 printed at Mexico, I mean the Manual of Oryc- 
 tognosy, compos; d by M. del ^lo, according to the 
 principles of the school of Fieyberg in which the 
 author was formed. The first Spanish translation 
 of Lavater's Elements of Chemistry was also pub- 
 lished at Mexico. I cite the^e insulated facts be- 
 cause they give us the measure of the ar.iour with 
 which the exact sciences are begun to be studied 
 in the capital of New Spain. This ardour is much 
 greater than tliat with which they addict them- 
 selves to the study of languages and ancient li- 
 terature*. 
 
 
 * This is as much as to say that taste is rather at a low 
 ebb among them, and that imngi nation is in n somewhat 
 similar state ; for wherever taste and imagination flourish an 
 admiration for the ancients is seen to prevail. The observa- 
 tion of Humboldt may perhaps receive a much more extensive 
 application ; and it may peculiarly be applied to the whole of •' 
 America. I have seen it asserted that there are wiiole states 
 in the union where a classical seminary of any kind is not to 
 be found. It would be rash to say that the faculties of men 
 transplanted to America gradually assimilate to those of the 
 aborigines, who are stated by M. Humboldt to be destitute of 
 taste, but excellently adapted for science. Should we not rather 
 say that ever}' age has its favourite study, which it cultivates al- 
 most to the neglect of every other ? At one time it is all com- 
 menting and comparing manuscripts: — 
 
 " And A's deposed and B with pomp restored:'* 
 
 V^ 
 
 
 i"-ti'^ 
 
21$ 
 
 POIJTICAT. i:SSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 Instruct! m In mathematics is less carefully at- 
 tended to in the uni\ ersity of Mexico than in the 
 School of Mines. The pupils of this la^t establish- 
 ment go farther into analysis ; they are instructed 
 in the integral and differential calculi. On the 
 return of peace and free intercourse with Europe, 
 when astronomical instruments (chronometers, 
 sextants, and the repeating circles of Borda* shall 
 become more common, young men will be found in 
 the most remote parts of the kingdom capable of 
 making observations, and calculating them after 
 the most recent methods. 1 have alreadv indicated 
 m the analysis of my maps the advantage which 
 might be drawn by the government from this 
 extraordinary aptitude in constructing a map of 
 the country. The taste for astronomy is very old 
 in Mexico. Three distinguished men, Velasquez, 
 Gama, and Alzate, did honour to their country 
 towards the end of the last century. All the 
 three made a great number of astronomical ob- 
 servations, especially of eclipses of the satellites of 
 Jupiter. Alzate, the worst informed of them, 
 was the correspondent of the Academy of Sciences 
 
 at another, the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle divide the 
 world between them ; from that a transition is made to poetry, 
 and no man can be great without producing an epic poem or 
 a handsome volume of sonnets ; and in the present age almost 
 every thing but the refuse of talent carefully preserved in the 
 cells of some fat old university, seems employed, more or less, 
 n physical science. Ttflns- 
 
CHAF.vu.J KINGDOM OF NF.W SPAIN. 
 
 219 
 
 at Paris. Inarr irate as an observer, and a an 
 activity frequently impetuous, he gave himself up to • 
 too many objects at a time, We have already dis- 
 cussed in the geoj^rnphical introduction the merits 
 of his astronomical la! ours. He is entitled to the 
 real merit, however, of having excited his coun- 
 trymen to the study of the physical sciences. The 
 Gazetfa de Li^teratura, which he published for a 
 long time at Mixico, contributed singularly to 
 give encouragement and impulsion to the Mexican 
 youth. 
 
 The most remarkable geometrician produced 
 by New Spain since the time of Siguenza was 
 Don Joacquin Velasquez Cardinas y Leon. All 
 the astronomical and gcodesical labours of this 
 indefatigable mtvaut bear ihe stamp of the greatest 
 precision. He was born on the 2' st July, 17^i, 
 ia the interior of the country, a", the farm of 
 Santiago Acebedocla, near the Indian village of 
 Tizicapan ; and iie had the merit, we may say, of 
 forming himself. At the age of four he commu- 
 nicated the small-pox to his father, who died of 
 them. An uncle, parish priest of Xaltocan, took 
 care of his education, and placed him under the 
 instruction of an Indian of the name of Manuel 
 Asentzio ; a man of great natural strength of 
 mind, and well versed in the knowledge of the 
 Mexican history aiid mythology. Velasquez 
 learned at Xaltocan several Indi in languages, and 
 the use of the hieroglyphical writings of the Az- 
 
 ::i \ 
 
 *'.:: 
 
 
220 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book irl 
 
 tecs. It is to be regretted that he published no?*' 
 thing on this very intcresJng branch of antiquity. 
 Placed at Mexico in the Tndentine college, he 
 found neither professor nor books nor instru>- 
 ments*. With the small assistance which he 
 could obtain, he fortified 'himself in the study of 
 the mathematics and the ancient languages. A 
 lucky accident threw into his hands the works of 
 Newton and Picon. He drew from the one a 
 taste for astronomy, and from the other an ac- 
 quaintance with the true methods of philoso|,hising. 
 While poor and unable to find any instrument 
 even in M' xico, he set himself, with his friend M. 
 Guadala::ara (now professor of mathematics in 
 the Academy of Pain jng), to construct telescopes 
 and quadrants. He toUowed at the same time the 
 profestiion of advocate, an occupation which at 
 Mexico, as well as elsewhere, is much more lucra- 
 tive tiian that of looking at the stars. M'hat he 
 gained by his professional labours was laid out in 
 purchasing instruments in England. After being 
 named professor in the university, he accompanied 
 the visitador Don Jose de Galvezf in his journey 
 
 * From this we may discover that the professors of this 
 university are not behind those of some others in the praise- 
 worthy custom of considering their chairs as sinecures. 
 Trans, 
 
 t The Count de Galvez, before obtaining the ministry of 
 the Indies, travelled through the northern part of New Spain 
 with the title of visitador. This name is given to persons 
 
CHAP. Til.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 221 
 
 to Sonora. Sent on a commission to California, 
 he profited by the serenity of the sky in that pe- 
 nin>iula to make a great number of astronomical 
 observations. lie first observed there that 
 in all the maps, for centuries, through an enor- 
 mous error of longitude, this part of the new 
 continent had always been marked several degrees 
 farther west than it r tally was. When the Abbe 
 Chappe, more celebrated for his courage and his 
 zeal for the sciences than for the accuracy of his 
 labours, arrived in California, be found the Mexi- 
 can astronomer already established there. Velas- 
 quez had constructed for himself in Mimosa 
 planks an observatoiy at St. Anne. Having al- 
 ready determined the position of this Indian vil- 
 lage, he informed the Abbe Chappe that the 
 moon's eclipse on the 18th June, 1/69, would be 
 visible in California. The French astronomer 
 doubted the truth of this assertion, till the eclipse 
 actually took place. Vel.isquez by himself made 
 a very good observation of the transit of Venus over 
 
 employed by the court to procure information as to the state 
 of the colonies. Their journey {visita) has generally no other 
 effect than that of counterbalancing for some lime the power 
 of the viceroys and the audiencias, of receiving an intinity of 
 memoirs, petitions, and projects, and of signalizing their stay 
 by the introduction of some new impost. The people expect 
 the arrival of the visit adores with the same impatience which 
 they afterwards display for their departure. 
 
 m 
 
 '*''i 
 
 h4 
 
2n 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book li. 
 
 the disk of the sun on the 3d June, 1769. He 
 communicated the result, the very njorning of the 
 transit, to the Abbe Chappe, and to the S[)anish 
 astronomers Don Vicente Doz, and Don Salvador 
 de Medina. The French traveller was surprised 
 at the harmony between the observation of Velas- 
 quez and his own. He was no doubt astonished 
 to meet in California with a Mexican, who^ with- 
 out belonging to any academy, and without hav- 
 ing ever left New Spain, was able to observe as 
 well as the academicians. In 1773 Velasquez ex- 
 ecuted the great geodesical undertaking, of which 
 we have given some of the results in the geogra- 
 phical introduction, and to which we shall again 
 return in speaking of the drain of the lakes of the 
 valley of Mexico. The most essential service which 
 this indefatigable man rendered to his country 
 was the establishment of the Tribunal and the 
 School of Mines, the plans for which he presented 
 to the court. He finished his laborious career on 
 the 6th March, 17^6, while first director-oeneral 
 of the Tribunal de Alineria, and enjoying the 
 title of Alcalde del Corte honor ario. 
 
 After mentioning the labours of Alzate and 
 Velasquez, it would be unjust to pass over the 
 name of Gama, the friend and fellow labourer 
 of the latter. Without fortune, and compelled 
 to suppoit a numerous family by a troublesome 
 and almost mechanical labour, unknown and neg- 
 
CHAP. VII.3 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 S25 
 
 lected during hi> life by his fellow citizens*, who 
 loaded him with eulogies after his death Gama be- 
 came by his own unassisted efforts an able and well 
 informed astronomer. He published several me- 
 moirs on eclipses of the moon, on the satellites of 
 Jupiter, on the almanac and chronology of the an- 
 cient Mexicans, and on the cliiiate of New Spain ; 
 all of which announce a great precision of ideas 
 and accuracy of observation. If I have allowed 
 myself to enter into these details on the literary 
 merit of three Mexican savafis^ it is merely for 
 the sake of proving from their example, that the 
 ignorance which European pride has th^'Ught pro- 
 per to attach to the Creoles is neither the effect 
 of the climate nor of a want of moral energy ; 
 but that this ignorance, where it is still observ- 
 able, is solely the effect of the insulation, and 
 the defects in the social instlstutions of the co- 
 lonies. 
 
 If, in the present state of things, the cast of 
 whites is the only one in which we find almost 
 exclusively any thing like intellectual cultivation, 
 it is also the only one which possesses great wealth. 
 This wealth is unfortunately still more unequally 
 
 * The celebrated navigator Alexander Malaspina, during 
 his stay at Mexico, observed along with Gama. He recom- 
 mended him with much warmth to the court, as is proved by 
 the official letters of Malaspina, presarved in the archives of 
 tke viceroy. 
 
 VOL. I. 9 B 
 
 w. 
 
tu 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [XOOR If. 
 
 distributed in Mexico than in the capitania ge- 
 7ierMl of Caraccas, the Havanah, and especially 
 Peru. At Caraccar., the heads of the richest fami- 
 lies possess a revenue of !200,0()0 livrcs*. In the 
 island of Cuba we find revenues of more than 6 
 or 700,000 francs t. In these two industrious 
 colonies agriculture has founded more considerable 
 fortunes than has been accumulated by the work- 
 ing of the mines in Peru. At Lima an annual re- 
 venue of 80,000 francs is very uncommon J. I 
 know in reality of no Peruvian family in the pos- 
 session of a fixed and sure revenue of 130,000 
 francs §. But in New Spain there are individuals 
 who possess no mines, whose revenue amounts to 
 a million of francs ||. The family of the Count 
 de la Valencianay for example, possesses alone, on 
 the, ridge of the Cordillera, a property worth more 
 than 2^ millions of francs ^j without including the 
 mine of Valenciana near Guanaxuato, which, com* 
 munibiis annis^ yields a nett revenue of a million 
 and a half of livrcs * *• This family, of which the 
 present head, the young Count de Valenciana, is 
 distinguished for a generous character and a noble 
 desire of instruction, is only divided into three 
 
 * 83341. sterling. Trans. 
 t 25,0021. or 29,1691. sterling. 
 J 33331. sterling. Trana, 
 II 41,6701. sterling. _rr(wis. ■■-■ 
 f 1 ,04 l,750l. sterling. Ti Jtts, 
 ^* 6a,505l. iterling. Tram. 
 
 Trans, 
 
 § 54171. sterling. Tram. 
 
CHAP, vir.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 225 
 
 branches ; and they possess altogether, even in 
 years when the mine is not very lucrative, more 
 than 2,200,000 francs oF revenue*. The Count 
 de Regla, whose youngest son, the Marquis de San 
 Christobal f, distingui^^hed himself at Paris for his 
 physical and physiological knowledge, constructed 
 at the Havanah, at his own expence, in acajou 
 and cedar {cedrella') wood, two vessels of the line 
 of the largest size, which he made a present of to 
 his sovereign. It was the seam of la fiiscaina, 
 near Pachuca, which laid the foundation of the 
 fortune of tlie house of Regla. The family of 
 Fagoaga^ well known for its beneficence, intelli- 
 gence, and zeal for the public good, exhibits the 
 example of the greatest wealth which was ever 
 derived from a mine. A single seam which the 
 family of the Marquis of Fagoaga possesses in the 
 district of Sombrerete left in five or six months, 
 all charges deducted, a nett profit of iO millions of 
 francs |. . 
 
 From these data one wpuld suppose capitals in 
 the Mexican families infinitely gri ater than what 
 are really observed. The deceased Count de la 
 
 * 91,67-11. sterling. Trans, 
 
 f M. Terreros (this is the name by which this raodeat sa- 
 vant is known iu France) preferred for a long time the in- 
 struction which his abode at Paris enabled him to procure, to 
 th« great fortune which he could only enjoy living in 
 Mexico. 
 
 :j: «33,400l. sterling. Trans. 
 
 B£ 2 
 
 'M\ 
 
 r. 
 
 ''isM 
 
n6 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 Valenclana, the first of the title, sometimes drew 
 from his miine alone, in one year, a nett revenue 
 of no less than six millions of livres *. This an- 
 nual revenue, during the last twenty-five years 
 of his life, was never below from two to three 
 millions of livres f ; and yet this extraordinary 
 man, who came without any fortune to America, 
 and who continued to live with great simplicity, 
 left only behind him at his death, besides his mine, 
 which is the richest in the world, ten millions in 
 property and capital |. This fact, which may be 
 relied on, will not surprise those who are acquaint- 
 ed with the interior management of the great 
 Mexican houses. Money rapidly gained is as ra- 
 pidly spent. The working of mines becomes a 
 game in which they embark with unbounded 
 passion. The rich proprietors of mines lavish im- 
 mense sums on quacks, who engage them in new 
 undertakings in the most remote provinces. In 
 a country where the works are conducted on such 
 an extravagant scale, that the pit of a mine fre- 
 quently requires two millions of francs to pierce, 
 the bad success of a rash project may absorb in a 
 few years ail that was gained in working the rich- 
 est seams. We must add, that from the internal 
 disorder which prevails in the greatest part of the 
 
 * 250,0201. sterling. Trant. 
 
 t From 83,3401. to 125,0101. Tram, 
 
 t 416,7001. sterling. Trans. 
 
CHAP. VTi.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 227 
 
 great houses of both Old and New Spain, the 
 head of a family is not unfrequently straitened 
 with a revenue of half a million*, though he dis- 
 play no other luxury than that of numerous 
 yokes of mules. 
 
 The mines have undoubtedly been the principal 
 sources of the great fortunes of Mexico. Many 
 miners have laid out their wealth in purchasing 
 land, and have addicted themselves with great zeal 
 to agriculture. But there is also a considerable 
 number of very powerful families who have never 
 had the working of any very lucrative mines. 
 Such are the rich descendants of Cortez or the 
 Marquis del Valle. The Duke of Monteleon, a 
 Neapolitan lord, who is now the head of the house 
 of Cortez, possesses superb estates in the province 
 of Oaxaca, near Toluca, and at Cuemavaca. The 
 nett produce of his rents is actually no more than 
 550,000 francst, the king having deprived the 
 duke of the collection of the alcavalas and the du- 
 ties on tobacco. The ordinary expenses of ma- 
 nagement amount to more than l'i5,000 francs |. 
 However, several governors of the marquesado 
 have become singularly wealthy. If the descend- 
 ants of the great conquistador would only live in 
 Mexico, their revenue would immediately rise 
 to more than a million and a half §. 
 
 •1^. J li 
 
 ,;:'•■;;.?: ■£" 
 
 n;- iki„> 
 
 * 20,8351. sterling. Trans, f 22>9 1 81. sterling. Trans, 
 X 52081. Sterling. Trans, % 62,5051. sterling. Trans. 
 
 m 
 
 ii'i'i 
 
298 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 To complete ihe view of the immense wealth, 
 centered in the hands of a few individuals in New 
 Spain, tvhich may comjtete with any thing in 
 Great Britain, or the European possessi(jns in 
 Hindostan, I shall add several exact statements 
 both of the revenues of the Mexican clergy, and 
 the pecuniary sacrifices annually made by the budy 
 of miners (cuerpo de mineria) for the improve- 
 ment of mining. This last body, formed by a 
 union of the iroprietors of mines, and represent- 
 ed byilepuiies who sit in the Tribiuml de Minerh, 
 advanced in three years, between 17^4 and 1787^ 
 a sum of four millions of francs * to individuals 
 who ^'ere in want of the necessary funds to carry 
 on great works. It is believed in the country that 
 this money has not been very usefully employed 
 (^para habilitar)^ but its distribution proves the 
 generosity and opulence of those uho are able to 
 make such considerable largesses. A European 
 reader will be still more astonished when 1 inform 
 him of the extraordinary fact, that the respectable 
 family of Fagoagas lent, a few years ago, without 
 interest, a sum of more than three millions and 
 a half of francs t to a friend, A\hose fortune they 
 were in the belief would be made by it in a solid 
 miinner; and this sum was. irrevocably lost in an 
 unsuccessful new mining undertaking. The ar- 
 chitectural works which are carried on in the ca- 
 
 * 166,6801, fiterliDg. Trans, 
 
 ■f 145,845L 
 
«HAP. ▼II.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 229 
 
 pital of Mexico for the embellishment of the city 
 are so expensive, that notwithstanding the low 
 rate of wages, the superb edifice constructed by 
 order of the Tribunal de Mineria for the School 
 of Mines will cost at least three millions of francs*, 
 of which two millions were in readiness before* the 
 foundation was laid. To hasten the construction, 
 and particularly to furnish the students immediate- 
 ly with a proper laboratory for metallic experi- 
 ments on the amalgamation of great masses of 
 minerals (henejicio de patid)^ the body of Mexicstti 
 miners contributed monthly, in the year 1803 
 alone, the sum of 50,000 livresf. Such is the fa- 
 cility with which vast projects are executed in a 
 country where wealth is divided among a small 
 number of individuals. 
 
 This inequality of fortune is still more conspi- 
 cuous among the clergy, of whom a number suffer 
 extreme poverty, while others possess revenues 
 which surpass those of many of the sovereign 
 princes of Germany. The Mexican clergy, less 
 numerous than is believed in Europe, is only Gom-» 
 posed of ten thousand individuals, the half of 
 whom are regulars who wear the cowl. If wc 
 include lay brothers and sisters, or servants [legosy 
 donados y criados delos conventos)^ all those who 
 are not in orders, we may estimate the clergy 
 
 ,m 
 
 
 ill'. 
 
 * 125,0101. sterling. Tran», 
 
 t 20881. sterlins^. 
 
23a 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir 
 
 at 13 or 14,000 individu. Is*. Now the annual 
 revenue of the eight Mexican bishops in the fol- 
 
 * The number of monks of St. Francis in Spain amounts 
 to I5,600> more than all the ecclesiastics of the kingdom of 
 Mexico. The clergy in the pt^nrnsula exceed i'i8,(XX) indi- 
 viduals. For every thousand inhabitants there are 2U eccle- 
 siaittics, while in New Spain there are not above two to the 
 thousand. The f(»llowiag is a specification of the clergy in 
 several of the mtendancies, according to the enumeration in 
 
 In the intendancy of la f secular ecclesiastics ) 
 Puebla, 667 \ or tkrigus, and f 
 
 Valladolid 293 
 
 Guanaxuato 225 
 
 Oaxaca 3o6 
 
 In the city of Mexico 550 
 
 298 
 
 197 
 
 342 
 
 1646 
 
 Including in the enumeration the Donados, or lay brothers, 
 the convents of the capital contain more than 2,ioo indivi- 
 duals.— y^uMor. \ 
 
 The clergy of the peninsula, according to M. de La Bordle, 
 from whom M. de Humboldt elsewhere professes to take his 
 information regarding Spain, amounts to 147,^)5/ individuals; 
 and according to M Townsend, who cites the returns made 
 to the Spanish government, ihey amount to l 18,62j. M. de 
 La Borde estimates the population of Spain at 11, 000,000, 
 and h^ states the proportion of the clergy to the population as 
 
 1 1 ,000,000 
 
 69; though 
 
 7M97* say 74J, and not 6g, 
 
 147,0.67 
 
 But the estimate of 228, '.00 dergy, and a corresponding pro- 
 portion of 20 in the thousand, or 1 in 50 to the population, is 
 in every way much beyond the truth. M. de Humboldt 
 having found from M. de la Borde that the proportion be- 
 tween the clergy and population in Madrid was 20 : 1,000, 
 
«HAP. ▼!!.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 231 
 
 lowing list amounts to a sum total of 2,69^,000 
 francs ^ : 
 
 Revenues of the Archbishop of ^ . . 
 
 • Pouble 
 
 Mex.co 130,000 piastres. 
 
 Bishop of la Puebla 110,000 
 
 Valladolid 100,000 
 
 Guadalaxara 1)0,000 
 
 Duranoo 35,000 
 
 Monterey 80,000 
 
 Yuciitan 20,000 
 
 Oaxaca 18,000 
 
 Sonora 6,000 
 
 5.'WH0t 
 The bishop of Sonora, the poorest of them all, 
 does not draw tithes. He is paid like the biihop 
 
 .■*-'t^ 
 
 has been led to extend the same proportion over all Spain. 
 Yet he afterwards, in the Statistical Analysis, states it as a 
 peculiar merit in M. de La Borde, that he had first proved 
 that the proportion of Spanish clergy to the population was 
 less than that of the French clergy to the population before 
 the revolution, which was ] 60,0/8 : 25,roo,000=l : 54,444, 
 say 54t9 (and not I : 52, as La Borde calculates :) but a clergy 
 of 228,000 in a population of 1 1 millions would be more 
 numei:ous in proportion than that of France before the revo* 
 lution.— 7V»W5. 
 
 * 1 12,3001. sterling. Trans, 
 
 t This, at the rate of conversion which the author layi 
 down in a note in the following page, namely five francs five 
 sous per double piastre, does not amount to the sum of 
 2,695,000, but »,839,;£0 francs =li;,9i5l.— Trow. 
 
 ,:.''"-4 
 
 Hi; 
 
Sd2 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [lOOK If. 
 
 of Panama immediately by the king (de Caxas 
 rcales). His income amounts only to the !20th 
 part of tbnt of the bishops of Valladolid and Mc- 
 choacan ; and, what is truly distressing in the 
 diocese of an archbishop whose revenue amounts 
 to the sum of 650,000 francs*, there are clergy- 
 men of Indian villages whose yearly income does 
 not exceed five or six hundred francs f. The bi- 
 shop and chapter of Valladolid sent, at different 
 times, to the king as a voluntary contribution, 
 particularly during the last war against France, the 
 sum of 810,000 francs |. The lands of the Mex- 
 ican clergy (bienes raices) do not exceed the value 
 of 12 or 15 millions of francs § ; but the clergy 
 possess immense capitals hypothecated on the 
 property of individuals. The whole of these ca- 
 pitals (capitales de Capellanias y obras piasyfondos 
 lot ales de Communidades religiosas)^ of which vv'c 
 shall give a detail in the sequel, amounts to the sum 
 of 44 millions and a half of double piastres ||, or 
 233,625,000 francs^. Cortez, from the very 
 
 * 27,085?. sterling. Trans. 
 
 f From 20/. to 25/. steiiing. Trans, 
 
 X 33,75Ql. sterling. Trans, 
 
 § From 500,040/. to 625,050/. steriing. Trans. 
 
 P 13,485,453/. sterling. Trans, 
 
 1 I have followed the data contained in the Representacion 
 ie los tecinos de Valladolid al Excellentissimo Senor Virey 
 (dated 24 th October, J 805)', a manuscript memoir of great 
 value. I compute in the course of this work the double pi- 
 astre at 5 livres 5 sous. Its intrinsic value is 5 lirres 8j- sous. 
 
4MAP. Til.] KINGDOM OF NK W SPAIN. 
 
 S33 
 
 commencement of the conquest, dreaded the great 
 opulence of the clergy in a country where ecle.' 
 siastical discipline is difficult to maintain. He 
 says very frankly in a letter to Charles the Fifth, 
 *' that he beseeches his majesty to send out to the 
 Indies idlgkux and not canons^ because the 
 latter display an extravagant luxury, leave great 
 wealth to their natural children, and give grv at 
 scandal to ihe nex^ly converted Indians/* This 
 ad ice. dictated by ihe frankne-s of an old soldier, 
 was not followed at Madrid. We have transcribed 
 this curious passage from a work published se- 
 veral years ago by a cardinal*. It is not for us 
 to accuse the conqueror of New Spain of pre- 
 dilection for t]ie regular clergy, or antipathy to- 
 T(rards the canons. 
 
 The rumour spread up and down Europe of 
 the immensity of the Mexican wealth has given 
 rise to very exaggerated ideas relative to the ahun- 
 diince of gold and silver employed in New Spain 
 in plate, furniture, kitchen utensils, and harness. 
 A traveller, whose imagination has been heated by 
 
 'M( 
 
 1 : , !!,■'■ 
 
 We must not confound the pezo^ which is somelimes called 
 pezo scncillo or commercial piastre^ which is a fictitious monej, 
 with the double piastre of America, or te duro, or te pezo 
 duro. Tlie double piastre contains 20 reals of vellon, or 170 
 quartos, or 680 maravedis, while the pezo sencillo, which ig 
 equal to 3 livres 1 5 sous, contains only 15 reals of yelloo, or 1 10 
 maravedis. 
 * Archbishop Lwenzjina. 
 
234 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [bo«!: ir. 
 
 Stories of keys, locks, and hinges of massy silver, 
 will be very much surprised on his arrival at 
 Mexico at seeing no more of the precious metals 
 employed for domestic uses there than in Spain, 
 Portugal, and the rest of the south of Europe ; 
 and he will be as much astonished at seeing in 
 Mexico, Peru, or at 3anta Fe, people of the 
 lowest order barefooted with enormous silver spurs 
 on, or at finding silver cups and plates a little more 
 common there than in France and England. The 
 surprise of the traveller will cease when he reflects 
 that porcelain is very rare in these ne<vly civilized 
 1 egions, that the nature of the roads in the moun- 
 tains renders the carriage of it extremely difficult j 
 and that in a country of little commercial activity, 
 it is equally indifferent whether a few hundred 
 piastres be possessed in specie or in plate. Not- 
 withstanding, however, the enormous difference of 
 wealth between Peru and Mexico, considering 
 merely the fortunes of the great proprietors, I am 
 inclined to believe that there is more true comfort 
 at Lima than at Mexico. The inequality of for- 
 tunes is much less in the former ; and if it is very 
 rare, as we have already observed, to find indivi- 
 duals there who possess a revenue of 50 or 60,000 
 francs*, we meet, however, with a great number of 
 mula:to artisans and free negros, who, by their 
 industry alone, procure much more than the ne- 
 
 • 2,083/. or 2,500/. sterling. Trartt, 
 
• HAP. VII.] 
 
 KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 235 
 
 cessaries of life. Capitals of 10 and 15000 pias- 
 tres* are very common among this class, while 
 the streets of Mexico swarm with from twenty to 
 thirty thousand wretches {Saragates, Gtiachinan' 
 gos\ of whom the greatest number pass the night 
 sub dioy and stretch themselves out to the sun 
 during the day with nothing but a flannel cover- 
 ing. These dregs of the people bear much analogy 
 to the Lazaroni of Naples. Lazy^ careless, and 
 sober like them, the Guachinangos have nothing, 
 however, ferocious in their character, and they 
 never ask alms } for if they work one or two days 
 in the week, they earn as much as will purchase 
 their pulque, or some of the ducks with which the 
 Mexican lakes are covered, which are roasted in 
 their own fat. The fortune of the Saragates sel- 
 dom exceeds two or three reals, while the lower 
 people of Lima, more addicted to luxury and 
 pleasure, and perhaps also more industrious, fre- 
 quently spend two or three piastres in one day. 
 One would say that the mixture of the European 
 and the negro every where produces a race of men 
 more active and more assiduously industrious 
 than the mixture of the whites with the Mexican 
 Indian. 
 
 The kingdom of New Spain is, of all the Eu- 
 ropean colonies under the torrid zone, that in 
 
 '■!'* If ISi.. 
 
 !..'ii 
 
 'vi 
 
 » If iingle or commercial piastreislfiGo/. ind 2340/. ster- 
 ling. Trans, 
 
Q36 
 
 TOLlTlCAh ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 which there are the fewest negros. We may al. 
 most say that there are no slaves. We may go 
 through the whole city of Mexico witliout seeing' 
 a black countenance. The service of no house is 
 carried on with slaves. In this point of view es- 
 pecially, Mexico presents a singular contrast to 
 the Havanah, Lima, and Caraccas. From exact 
 information procured by those employed in the 
 enumeration of 1 793, it appears that in all New 
 Spain there are not six thousand negros, and not 
 more than nine or ten thousand slaves, of whom 
 the greatest number belong to the ports of Aca- 
 pulco and Vera Cruz, or the warm regions of the 
 coasts {tierras caiientes). The slaves are four 
 times more numerous in the capitania general 
 of Caraccas, which does not contain the sixth part 
 of the population of Mexico. The negros of 
 Jamaica are to those of New Spain in the propor- 
 tion of 250 to 1 ! In the West India islands, Peru, 
 and even Caraccas, the pi ogress of agriculture and 
 industry i^ general depends on the augmentation 
 of negros. In the island of Cuba, for example, 
 where the annual exportation of sugar has risen in 
 twelve years from 400,000 to 1,000,000 quintals, 
 bc:ween 1792 and 1803 nearly 65,000* slaves 
 have been introduced. But in Mexico the increase 
 
 * According to the customhouse reports of the Havanah, 
 **©£ which 1 possess a copy, the introduction of negros, from 
 179y to lo03, was 34,60O, ot whom J per cent, die anuuail/. 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 237 
 
 of colonial prosperity is nowise occasioned by a 
 more active slave trade. It is not above twenty 
 years since Mexican sugar was known in Europe ; 
 Vera Cruz, at present, exports more than 120,000 
 quintals ; and yet the progress of sugar cultivation 
 which has taken place in New Spain since the 
 revolution of St. Domingo has not perceptibly in- 
 creased the number of slaves. Of the 74,000 
 negros annually furnished by Africa to the equi- 
 noxial regions of America and Asia, and which 
 are worth in the colonies the sum of 1 1 1,000,000 
 francs*, not above 100 land on the coast of 
 Mexico. 
 
 By the laws there can be no Indian slaves in 
 the Spanish colonies ; and yet by a singular abuse, 
 two species of wars very different in appearance 
 give rise to a state very much like that of the 
 African slave. The missionary monks of South 
 America make from time to time incursions into 
 the countries possessed by peaceable tribes of In« 
 dians, whom they call savages {Indios bravos)^ 
 because they have not learned to make the sign of 
 the cross like the equally naked Indians of the 
 missions (Indios reducidos)* In these nocturnal 
 incursions, dictated by the most culpable fanati- 
 cism, they lay hold of all whom they can surprise, 
 especially children, women, and old men. They 
 separate without pity children from their mothers, 
 
 * 4,625,370/. sterling. Tran$. 
 
S38 
 
 POL ITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 lest they should concert together as to the means 
 of escape. The monk who is cl)ief of this ex- 
 pedition distributes the young people among the 
 Indians of his mission who have the most contri- 
 buted to the success of the Entrados, On the 
 Orinoco, and on the banks oi the Portuguese Rio 
 Negro, these prisoners bear the name of Pottos ; 
 and they are treated like slaves till they are of an 
 age to marry. The desire of having Poitos and 
 making them work for eight or ten years induces 
 the Indians of the missions to excite the monks to 
 these incursions, which the bishops have generally 
 had the good sense to blame, as the means of attach- 
 ing odium to religion and its ministers. In Mexico 
 the prisoners taken in the petty warfare which is 
 carried on almost without interruption on the 
 frontiers of the provincias internas experience a 
 much more unhappy fate than the Poitos. 1 hey 
 are generally of the nation of the. Mecos or Apa- 
 -che^, and they are dragged to Mexico, where they 
 languish in the dungeons ot a correction-house {la 
 Cordada). Their ferocity is increased by solitude 
 and despair. Transported to Vera Cruz and the 
 island of C uba, they soon perish, like every savage 
 Indian removed from the high table-land into the 
 lower, and consequently hotter regions. These 
 Mecos prisoners son^etimes break from their dun- 
 geors, and commit the most atrocious cruelties in 
 the surrounding countries. It is high time that 
 the government interested itself in these unfor^ 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 239 
 
 tunate persons, whose number is small, and their 
 situation so much the easier to he ameliorated. 
 
 It appears that at the commencement of the 
 conquest there were a great number of these pri- 
 soners of war at Mexico, who were treated as the 
 slaves of the conquerors. I found on this subject 
 a very remaikable passage in the testament of Her- 
 nan Cortez*, an historical monujneut worthy of 
 being preserved from oblivion. This gnat cap- 
 tain, who, during the course of his victories, es- 
 pecially in his perfidious conduct towards the 
 unfortunate Montezuma the Second, did not dis- 
 play much delicacy of conscience f, began towards 
 
 * Testamenfo que otorgo el Exccllcntissimo Scrior Don IIer» 
 nan CorteZf Conquistador de la N >eva Espahu hecho en Seri/la el 
 11 ielnies de Octobre, 154"/. Vhe ©riginal of this very curious 
 document, of which I cause ' i copy to be taken, exists in the 
 archives of the house del Estado (of the Marquis del Valle) 
 situated in the Plaza Mayor of Mexico. I found also in these 
 archives a memoir drawn up by Cortez, shortly atter the 
 siege of Tenochtitlan, containing instructions relative to the 
 making of roads, establishment of inns on the great roads, and 
 other objects of general police. 
 
 f Cortez, in his letters dated from la Ricca villa de Vera 
 Cruz, describes the city of Tenochtitlan to the emperor 
 Charles the Fifth as if he were speakings of the wonders of 
 the capital of el Dorado After transmitting to him all the 
 information he could procure regarding the wealth " of the 
 powerful Lord Monteznma," he assures his sovereign that 
 living or dead the Mexican king must tall into his hands. 
 " Certyiqiie. a Vuestra Altcza que l> habria preso o muerto o 
 iubdito a la lUal Corona de Vuestra Magestad" (Lorenzana, p. 
 
 VOL. I. C C 
 
 
 MhL 
 
 n 
 
 m 
 
no 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book n. 
 
 the end of his career to entertain scruples as to the 
 legitimacy of the titles by which he possessed im- 
 mense property in Mexico. He orders his son 
 to make tl^e most careful enquiries into the tributes 
 levied by the Mexican lords who were proprietors 
 of his marquisate before the arrival of the Span- 
 iards at Vera Cruz ; and he even wishes that the 
 value of the tributes exacted in his name above the 
 imposts formerly paid should be restored to the 
 natives. Speaking of the slaves in the 39th and 
 41st articles of his testament, Cortez adds the 
 following memorable words : " As it is doubtful 
 if a christian can conscientiously employ as sla\e* 
 Indians who have been made prisoners of war, 
 and as this point has never ];een rightly cleared up 
 till this day, I order my son, Don Martin, and 
 those of his descendants who shall possess my pro- 
 perty after me, to take every possible information 
 as to the rights which may be legally exercised 
 towards prisoners. The natives, who after paying 
 me tribute have been forced to yield personal ser- 
 vice, ought to be indemnified, if it shall be decided 
 in the sequel that these personal services ought 
 not to have been demanded." From whom should 
 ^Q hav^ expected decisions on such problematical 
 questions as these, except from a pope or a coun- 
 
 3p). We are to observe that this project was conceived while 
 the Spanish general was yet on the coast, and had had no com- 
 munication with the ambassadors of Montezuma. 
 
CHAP. viT.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 241 
 
 cil ? We must own that three centuries later, 
 notwithstanding the civilization of a more enlight- 
 ened age, the rich proprietors in America have less 
 timorous consciences even on death-bed. In our 
 days, it is not the devotees but the philosophers 
 who call in question the jutice of slavery! But 
 the small influence which the empire of philoso- 
 phy has always had induces us to believe ihat 
 it would have been better for sufferini;- humanity 
 had this sort of scepticism still been preserved 
 among believers*. 
 
 However, the slaves, wlio fortunately are in very 
 small numbers in Mexico, are there, as in all the 
 other Spanish possessions, somewhat more under 
 the protection of the laws than the negros of the 
 other European colonies. These laws are always 
 interpreted in favour of liberty. The government 
 wishes to see the number of freemen increased. A 
 slave, who by his industry has procured a little 
 money, may compel his master to give him his 
 liberty on paying the moderate sum of 1500 or 
 2000 livres-f. Liberty cannot be refused to a 
 
 'ill ' ' '■ 
 
 .lil"' »ifl 
 
 m 
 
 '" J 
 
 m\ 
 
 l\% 
 
 
 * Had M. de Humboldt been acquainted with the history of 
 tlie endeavours in this country to abolish the slave trade, he 
 would have found that these endeavours were principally made 
 by men whom he would call devotees, who acted under the 
 influence of religious motives. The sect of quakers in par- 
 ticular, and this ought to cover a multitude of their absurditiei^ 
 were always staunch enemies to slavery. Trans. 
 
 t 62/. or 83/. sterling. Trans. 
 
 c c 2 
 
 p.m 
 
242 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book II. 
 
 hegro on the pretext that he cost the triple of the 
 sum, or that he possesses a particular talent for 
 some lucrative employment. A slave who has 
 been cruelly used acquires on that account his 
 freedom by the law, if the judge do justice to 
 the cause of the oppressed ; but it may be easily 
 conceived that this beneficent law must be fre- 
 quently eluded. I saw, however, even in Mexico, 
 in the month of July, 1803, an example of two 
 negros to whom the magistrate, who exercised the 
 functions of alcalde de corte, gave their liberty, 
 because their mistress, a lady from the islands, had 
 wounded them all over the body with scissars, pins, 
 and knives. In the course of this shocking pro- 
 cess, the lady was accused of having, with a key, 
 knocked out the teeth of the slaves when they 
 complained of a fluxion in the gums, which pre- 
 vented them from working. The Roman matrons 
 were not more ingenious in their punishments. 
 Barbarity is the same in all ages, when men can 
 indulge their passions without restraint, and when 
 governments tolerate an order of things contrary 
 to the laws of nature, and, consequently, to the 
 welfare of society. 
 
 We have enumerated the different races of men 
 who, at present, constitute the population of New 
 Spain. On glancing our eyes over the physical 
 views or sections which we have drawn up of this 
 country, we see that the greater part of a nation of 
 six millions of inhabitants may be considered as 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 243 
 
 highlanders. On the table-land of Anahuac, whose 
 elevation surpasses at least twice that of the clouds 
 which in summer are suspended over our heads, 
 are assembled togetlier copper-coloured men from 
 the north-west part of N(<rth America, Eu- 
 ropeans, and a few nrgros from the coasts of 
 Bonny, Calabar, and Melimbo. When we con- 
 sider that what we now call Spaniards is a mixture 
 of Alani and other Tartar hordes with the Visi- 
 goths and ancient inhabitants of Iberia; when we 
 also consider the striking analogy between the 
 most part of the European languages, the Sanscrit, 
 and the Persic ; and, in short, when we reflect on 
 the Asiatic origin of the pastoral tribes wlio have 
 been pouring into Mexico since the seventh cen- 
 tury, we are almost tempted to believe, that from 
 one and the same centre, though by roads diame- 
 trically opposite, have issued part of those nations, 
 who, wandering about for a long time, and after 
 making, as it were, the tour of the globe, meet once 
 more on the ridge of the Mexican Cordilleras. 
 
 To complete the table of the elements of which 
 the Mexican population is composed, it remains 
 for us to point out rapidly the differences of cast 
 which spring from the mixture of the pure races 
 with one another. These casts constitute a mass 
 almost as considerable as the Mexican Indians. 
 We may estimate the total of the individuals of 
 mixed blood at nearly 2,400,000. From a re- 
 finement of vanity, the inhabitants of the colonies 
 
 I'M* I 
 
 
 m 
 
 lii 
 
 iiii;if" 
 
244 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ri. 
 
 have enriched their language with terms for the 
 finest shades of the colours which result from the 
 degeneration of the primitive colour. It mav be 
 so much the more useful to explain these i^eno- 
 ininationb*, as they have bten confounded l)y many 
 travellers, and as this confusion frequently causes 
 no small embarrassment to those who read panish 
 works on > ! e Ameucan possessicms. 
 
 The son of a white Creole or I'uropean"), and 
 a native of copper-colour, is called Jlcstizo. flis 
 colour is almost a pure white j and his skin is of 
 a particular transparency. The small beard and 
 small hamls and feet, and a certain obliq ity of 
 the eyes, are more frequent indications oi the 
 mixture of Indian blood than the nature of the 
 hair. If a Mentha marry a white man, the second 
 generation differs hardly in any this'g Irom the 
 European race. As very few negros have been 
 introduced into New Spain, the Mestizos probably 
 compose \ of the whole casts. They are generally 
 accounted of a much mo e mild character than 
 the midattoes, descended from whites and ne- 
 grcsses, who are distinguished for the violence 
 of their passions and a singular volubility of 
 tongue. The descendants of negros and Indian 
 women bear at Mexico, Lima, and even at the 
 Havanah, the strange name of Chino, Chinese. 
 
 * Sohre el Clima de Lima, por el Doctor Unanue, p. xlviiJ. 
 a work printed in Peru, in 1806. 
 
• HAP. vji.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 ns 
 
 m 
 
 On the coast of Caraccas, and, as appears from th« 
 laws, evtn in New Spain, they are called zambos. 
 This last denomination is now principally limited 
 to the descendants of a negro and a female mu- 
 latto, or a negro and a Chinese female. From 
 these common zambos, they distinguish the zaui' 
 bus prietos, who descend from a negro and a fe- 
 male zamba. From the mixture of a white man 
 with a mulatto co-yes the cast of quart ervns. 
 When a female quarteron marries a European or 
 Creole, her son bears the name of quuiterau A 
 new alliance with a white Danishes to such a degree 
 the remains of colour, that the children of a white 
 and female quinteron are white also, 1 he casts 
 o( Indian or African blood preserve the odour pe- 
 culiar to the cutaneous transpiration of those two 
 primitive races. The Peruvian Indians, who in the 
 middle of the night distinguish the different races 
 by tlieir quick sense of smeil, huve formed three 
 words to express the odour of the European, the 
 Indian American, and the negro: they call the 
 first pezunuj the second posco*, and the third 
 grajo. Moreover, the mixtures, in which the co- 
 lour of the children becomes deeper than that of 
 their mother, are called salta'airas, or back-leaps. 
 In a country governed by whites, the families 
 reputed to have the least mixture of negro or mu- 
 latto blood are also naturally the most honoured. 
 
 m 
 
 w* n 
 
 :!,'' 
 
 
 * Old word of the Qquichua language. 
 
246 
 
 POLITICAL KSSAY ON THE 
 
 [book II. 
 
 In Spain it is almost a title of nobility to -'tscend 
 neither from Jews nor Moors. In Amc;ica, the 
 greater (^r less degree of whiteness of skin decides 
 the rank which man occupies in society. A m hite 
 who rides barefooted on horseback thinks he be- 
 longs to the nobility of tiie country. Coloi;r esta- 
 blishes even a certain equality among men, who, 
 as is universally the case where civilization is either 
 little advanced or in a retrograde state, take a par- 
 ticular pleasure in dv\elling on the prerogatives of 
 race and origin. When a common nan disputes 
 with one of the titled lords of the country, he is 
 frequently heard to say, " Do you think me not 
 so white as yourself?" This may serve to cha- 
 racterize the state and source of the actual aristo- 
 cracy. It becomes, consequently, a very interest- 
 ing business for the public vanity to estimate ac- 
 curately the fractions of European blood which 
 belonti, to the diflferent casts. According to the 
 principles sanctioned by usage, wc have adopted 
 the following proportions: 
 
 Casts. 
 
 Mixture of blood. 
 
 Quarterons 
 
 . 4- negro 4 white 
 
 Quinterons • 
 
 . ^ negro | white 
 
 Zambo 
 
 . 4 negro -J- white 
 
 Zambo prietp . 
 
 . ^ negro f white 
 
 It often happens that families suspected of be- 
 ing of mixed blood demand from the high court 
 
CHAP. vii.J KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 247 
 
 of justice (Caiuiicnc'ia) to have it declared that 
 they belong to the whites. These declarations are 
 nor always corroborated by the judgment of the 
 senses. We see very swarthy mulattoes who have 
 had the address to get themselves xvhitened (this 
 is the vulgar expression). Wiien tiie colour of 
 the skin is too repugnant to the judgment de- 
 manded, the petitioner is contented with an ex- 
 pression somewhat problematical. The sentence 
 then simply bears " that such or such individuals 
 may consider themselves as whites (que se tcngan 
 por btancos)," 
 
 It would be interesting were we enabled to dis- 
 cuss thoroughly the influence of the diversity of 
 casts in the proportion of the sexes to one another. 
 I saw, from the enumeration in 1793, that in the 
 city of Puebla and at Valladolid there were among 
 the Indians more men than women, while among 
 the Spaniards or the white race there were more 
 women than men. The intendancies of Guanax- 
 uato and Oaxaca exhibit in all the casts the same 
 excess of men *. I never could procure sufficient 
 
 If;',*! 
 
 :ft 
 
 '!':l Jl 
 
 * This hardly makes .n favour of John Bhehihold Forster's 
 theory, embraced with so much ardour by the far-famed Mary 
 Wollstonecroft in her Rights of Women, that the sex of the off- 
 spring is determined by the side on which the preponderance 
 of ardour lies in the sexual intercourse. Hence, says she, 
 ' there are more females than males in the east; for the fe- 
 males being deprived of their just share in that intercourse, 
 have consequently a more than ordinary i hare of ardour. Yet 
 
 wM 
 
24S 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [boor ii. 
 
 materials to resolve the problem of the diversity of 
 sexes according to the difference of races, or ac- 
 cording to the heat of the climate or elevation of 
 the regions which our species inhabit : — We shall 
 here, therefore, merely content ourselves with ge- 
 neral results. 
 
 In France it has been found by a paitial enume* 
 ration made with the greatest care, that in 991 j829 
 souls, the living women are to the men in the pro- 
 portion of nine to eight. M. Peuchet * appears to 
 adopi; the proportion of 34 : 33. It is certain 
 that in France there are more women than men, 
 and, what is very remarkable, that there are more 
 males born in the country and in the south than 
 in the towns and departments comprehended be- 
 tween the 47th and 52ld dep ree of latitude. 
 
 But in New Spain these avithmetical calcula- 
 tions give a result totally different. The males 
 are in general more numerous there than the fe- 
 males, as is proved by the following table, drawn 
 up by me iVom tight provinces, or a population 
 of 1,552,000 inhabitants. 
 
 here we see that these beardless Indians, who are cool enough 
 in all conscience, and to wliom their women prefer aoy thing 
 that comes in their way, black or white, beget more males 
 than females. Trans. 
 * Statistique ehmentaire dc la Frante, p, 242. 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 249 
 
 t: « 
 
 ^2 
 
 s 
 
 CO 
 
 a 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 o 
 
 (U 
 
 c i 
 
 o 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 to 
 
 <u 
 
 S 
 
 ^ lO C '-N. -i* ■» CJi 05 'n JO N. X) "t fv 
 
 .■7"v :7 '^ Si CTj O^ .7j Ci Ci ^. OD -^ w"j X 
 
 - O O C O r C O O O w -T- O C 
 
 O Oi •* — C •* -"» O) 'O O C' c c o 
 
 -^ O X! — i ■ M "D OD ^•: -Ji — -^ 
 
 .•0 T ^ O O t^ Jf i^ i-T ''2 'O -^1 Z: 05 
 
 C: T C;i C-* '-0 --5 (N O O Z: l^V^rf i 
 
 18 
 
 "3 f^ 3i C, '.S -r CO ; J ^ IN. r> ■:-» •, O 
 /)"■;•« c^ o O M T 'O ^^ »>. (>. - i^ 
 
 wSWO M ."0 t>» ~ ^"5 »" In. -,• r- c»^ 
 
 .' C; .; . O P C* M — O O '"^ »o 'O 
 
 ■> QO lo ■<* 'O ^ — so -< o cs r'l — 
 
 3 
 O 
 
 ■^ bo 
 
 
 ** » . 
 
 
 yj 
 
 
 C^ M ,-^, C-. ^ K^ X ^^5 »**., 
 
 eS 4> ^— ii 
 
 3 
 
 a 
 ca 
 
 O 
 
 8 
 
 13 
 
 o 
 
 1=5 
 
 i2 
 
 a 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 P * 
 
 
 
 * • • • • • 
 
 CO 
 
 X 
 CO 
 
 
 c 2 o o „ 
 
 ti S fl gS 
 
 ^ o-S 3 13 
 
 ■ m n 
 
 * It might be supposed that the excess of males in the north 
 of Mexico is partly owing to the existence of the military posti 
 cdMed presidiot, in which there are no women. But weshaU 
 
250 
 
 POIJTICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [BOOK II. 
 
 It follows from my calculations, compared with 
 those made by the ministry of the interior at Paris, 
 that the males are to the females in the general 
 population of N»-w Spain in the proportion of 100 
 : 95 ; and in the French empire in the proportion 
 of 100 : 103. These numbers appear to indicate 
 the true state of things; foi we cannot conceive 
 why, in the enumerarion made by orders of the 
 Count de Revillagigedo, the Mexican women 
 should hav6 more interest in withdrawing them- 
 selves than the men. This suspicion is so much 
 the more improbable, as in the great cities the pro- 
 portion between the sexes appears to differ f y m 
 that in the country *. 
 
 afterwards see, that these presidios m the whole do not contain 
 more than threv'^. thousand njen. 
 
 * The Spanish missionaries tell us that among the Indians 
 it is very common for a mother to kill her female offspring, 
 from a wish to preserve her child from the misery which 
 awaits her when grown up. {Gumilla, vol. II. p. 7^0 Gu- 
 milla used to tax the women with their inhumanity in this re- 
 spect, who, for answer, generally told him that they wished 
 thai they had themselves been deprived of life in childhood; 
 and he gives, as he says, a faithful report of a speech made to 
 him one day by one of these women, which occupies two or 
 three pages. She enumerates the life of hardship which she 
 had been obliged to lead, carrying her children about while 
 working during the day and while her husbandwasamusing him- 
 self, and grinding his maize and preparing it for his breakfast 
 during the night while he enjoyed himself in sleep. All this, she 
 says, however, could even be borne with ; but as she advances 
 in years, the husband takes a young wife, who engrosses hisaf- 
 
CHAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 251 
 
 It is the aspect of these great cities which has 
 probably given rise to the false idea generally pre- 
 vailing in the colonies, that in warm climates, and 
 consequently in all the lower regions of the torrid 
 zone, more girls thrin boys are born. The few 
 parish registers which I examined gave a directly 
 contrary result. In the capital of Mexico there 
 were born in five years between 1797 and 1809, 
 
 nil! 
 
 In the parishes of 
 
 Male births. 
 
 Female births. 
 
 the Sagrario 
 
 3705 
 
 3603 
 
 of Santa Cruz . 
 
 1275 
 
 1167 
 
 >;;¥ 
 
 At Panuco and Yguala, two places situated in 
 a very warm and very unhealthy climate, there was 
 not one register in which the excess was not on 
 the side of the male births*. In general, the 
 
 fections, and to whom she and her children are obliged to be- 
 come the slaves. The speech displays great feeling, and is no 
 small credit to female Indian eloquence. (Id. p. 75-6-7') 
 This is the fate of the Indian women in the Spanish missions; 
 it was once, no doubt, universal over the whole country j and 
 though now, perhaps, somewhat milder among the Indios rc- 
 ducidos, yet a custom is often kept up long after the cause of 
 it has ceased. We might account in this way for the smaller 
 number of females than males among the Indians; and what 
 appears to favour this view is, that in the great cities where the 
 treatment of the females must be better from the influence of 
 the whites, and consequently fewer female children will be 
 murdered, the number of females exceeds that of the males. 
 Trans, 
 * At Panuco, the parish registers give, from 1793 to 1802, 
 
252 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ir. 
 
 proportion of male to female births appears to me 
 in New Spain to be as 1 00 : 97 ; which indicates 
 an excess of males somewhat greater than in 
 France, where for 100 boys there are born 96 
 girls *. 
 
 As to the proportion of the deaths to the fliffer- 
 cnce of sexes, it was impos>ible for me to di^covtr 
 the law established by nature. At Panuco, in ten 
 years, there died 479 male:) for 509 females. At 
 Mexico, there were in one parish, that of the Sa- 
 grar'o, during five years, 139'3 female deaths, and 
 ]9'5f '?. According to these data, very insuf- 
 ficient it must be allowed, the excess of men in life 
 ought to be still greater than what it was found. 
 But it appears that in other countries the male 
 deaths are more frequent than the female deaths. 
 At Yguala and Colimaya, the former were to the 
 latter, for ten years, as 1204: 1191 and UiSO : 
 1272. M, dePomelles has already observed, that 
 in France even, the diilerence of the sexes is much 
 more sensible in the births chan in the deaths ; 
 there are one-seventeenth more males than females 
 
 for 674 male births, 550 female births. At Yguala there were 
 irsS boys for 1<)35 girls. 
 
 * I need not caution the reader that the proportion of male 
 and female births is one thing, and that of males and fe- 
 males in existence another. For instance, M de Humboldt 
 has just told us, that the females are to the males in France 
 as 103 : 100, though tlie temale births are to the male as 9() 
 ; iOO. Trans, 
 
«HAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 255 
 
 born, and the peaceful state of the country pea- 
 sants gives only one- nineteenth more male than 
 female deaths. From the whole of these data we 
 may conclude that in Europe as well as the equi- 
 noxial regions, who have enjoyed a long state of 
 tranquillity, we should find an excess of males, if 
 the sea, the wars and dangerous employments pe- 
 culiar to our sex did not tend incessantly to dimi- 
 nish their number. 
 
 The population of tlie great cities is by no means 
 stable, and does not remain in a state of equilibrium 
 with respect to the different sexes. The country 
 women come in to the cities to serve in houses 
 who want slaves j and a great number of men leave 
 them to travel through the country as muleteers 
 (arrierosj, or to fix their abode in places where 
 there are considerable mines. Whatever be the 
 cause of this disproportion of sexes in the cities, it 
 is no less certain that such a disproportion exists. 
 The following table, which includes only three ci- 
 ties, exhibits a striking contrast to the table which 
 we gave of the general population of eight 
 Mexican provinces : 
 
 i' ii 
 
 I'M 
 
 IMU 
 
425 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE 
 
 [book ir. 
 
 
 0^aDOi->.M>oaDeocofO 
 
 In. 
 
 '-' CO M •^ 1* CO — ' -H :"5 r: CJ) 
 
 |2 
 ^2 
 
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 8888 8 888888 
 
 l8 
 
 d;s 
 
 
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 -COtv.JOC^tNOlSltMMW 
 
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 ci 
 
 
 CJ 
 
 CwOc^ — •00)-^'i<C1Cri!N 
 
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 JT ♦*^*N*S«\#*t\«S 
 
 
 
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 30 
 
 ^5 
 
 • 
 
 00 00 N OB C^ In. ■^< Oj In. lO Ci 
 
 Qi 
 
 — eoeo'oeoOOcoC'i'— 1 
 
 ao 
 
 ^r< 
 
 — COCSOiOOC<COCOC^1<-^ 
 
 ^-s 
 
 —H 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 •J 
 
 
 • S • • 3 " 
 
 
 
 •- y 
 
 
 * 
 
 -« 2 
 
 
 <u 
 
 ^ w ^ • 
 
 
 u 
 
 - 3 ^ • - 
 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 >» 
 
 0;3 J, 
 
 
 
 * s-s I ' ^ 
 
 
 hi 
 
 > 
 
 s..is 1^.2 1-2 .III 
 
 
 
 
 
 o- c « "^ 53 a "^ "" fl '•- «« 
 W c» ^ S O M ^ ^ c» S .5 
 
 
 
 • . • • 
 
 
 • 
 
 
 • 
 
 * 
 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 a> 
 
 
 
 • — N 
 
 • • 
 
 
 •4^ 
 
 
 
 • p-H 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 Cm 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 • 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
 hi 
 0) 
 
 a> 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 cs 
 
 l—H 
 
 * This apparent disproportion proceeds from the snoall num- 
 ber of Spanish women who quit Europe for Mexico. 
 
'm 
 
 CHAP, vir.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 Q56 
 
 In the United States of North America the 
 enumerations, which include the whole p<>pulation9 
 indicate, as in Europe* and Mexico, an excess of 
 males in life. This excess is very unequal in a 
 country where the emigration of whites, the intro- 
 duction of many male slaves, and maritime com- 
 merce, tend incessantly to disturb the order pre- 
 scribed by nature. In the states of Vermont t> 
 Kentucky, and South Carolina, there are almost 
 one-tenth more males than females, while in Pen- 
 sylvania and the state of New York this dispro- 
 portion does not amount to one-eighteenth. 
 
 When the kingdom of New Spain shall enjoy 
 an administration favourable to knowledge, poli- 
 tical arithmetic will there furnish data of infinite 
 importance both for statistics in general, and for 
 the physical history of man in particular. How 
 many problems are to resolve in a mountainous 
 country, which exhibits under the same latitude 
 the greatest variety of climates, inhabitants of three 
 or four primitive races, and the mixture of these 
 races in all the combinations imaginable ! How 
 many researches to make regarding the age of pu- 
 berty, the fecundity of the species, the difference of 
 the sexes, and the longevity >yhich is greater or 
 less according to the elevation and temperature of 
 the places^ according to the variety of races, accord- 
 
 * Yet he has just stated, that in the French empire the f«-. 
 males in life are to the males as 103 to 100! Trans, 
 t Samuel Blodget, p. 75. 
 
 VOL. T. D D 
 
 i\ 
 
 ,:!*»' 
 
 m 
 
 iil 
 
 ' I'll 
 
S56 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book ii. 
 
 ing to the epoch at which the colonists were trans- 
 planted into such or such a region, and, in short, 
 iaccording to the difference of food in provinces 
 ivhere the banana, the jatropha, rice, maize, wheat, 
 and potatoes, grow together in a narrow space. 
 
 A traveller cannot give himself up to researches 
 which require much time, the intervention of the 
 supreme authority, and the concurrence of a great 
 number of individuals interested in accomplishing; 
 the same end. It is sufficient here to ha\ e pointed 
 out what remains to be done, when the government 
 shall be disposed to profit by the happy position in 
 which nature has placed this extraordinary country. 
 The operations of 1793, respecting the popula- 
 tion of the capital, offer results which are deserv- 
 ing of a place at the end of this chapter. The 
 individuals in this part of the enumeration, below 
 and above the age of fifty, were distinguished ac- 
 cording to the difference of cast ; and it was found 
 that this epoqua was passed: 
 By 4128 vs^hite Creoles in a total population of 
 
 50,371 
 By 539 mulattoes • . 7,094 
 By 1789 Indians . 25,603 
 
 By 1278 of mixed blood . 19,357 
 
 So that there have past the age of 50 : 
 In 100 white Creoles (Spaniards) . 8 
 Indians • « ,6^ 
 
 Mulattoes . .7 
 
 Individuals of othermixed casts 6 
 
CHAP, vii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 257 
 
 These calculations, while they confirm the ad- 
 mirable uniformity which reigns in all the laws of 
 liature, seem to indicate that longevity is some- 
 what greater in the races which are best fed, and 
 in which the epoqua of puberty is later. Of 
 0^335 Europeans who were living in Mexico in 
 1 793, not fewer than 44!^ had attained the age of 
 fifty, which by no means proves that the Americans 
 have three times less probability of attaining an 
 advanced age than the Europeans ; for the Euro- 
 peans seldom remove to America till they have 
 come to a mature age. 
 
 After examining the physical and moral state 
 of the different casts of which the Mexican po- 
 pulation is composed, the reader will no doubt 
 desire to have a discussion of what is the influence 
 of this mixture of races on the general wellbeing 
 of society? and what is the degree of enjoyment 
 and individual happiness, which, in the actual 
 state of the country, a man of cultivated mind can 
 procure amidst suth a collision of interests, pre- 
 judices, and feelings ? 
 
 We will not speak here of the advantages af- 
 forded by the Spanish colonies from the wealth of 
 their natural productions, the fertility of their soil, 
 the facility which a man possesses there of choos- 
 ing as he feels inclined, with thermometer in hand, 
 in a space of a few square leagues, the temperature 
 or climate which he believes the most favourable 
 to his age, his physical constitution, or the spe« 
 
 t, 
 
 lilM I 
 illli 
 
 HI. 
 
 m 
 
 D O 
 
•i58 
 
 POLITICAL I"SSAY ON THE 
 
 [BOOK If. 
 
 cies of cultivation to which he is most attached. 
 We will not retrace the view of those delicious 
 countiies, situated halfway up the ascent, in the 
 region of oaks and pin^s, between 1,000 and l,4Q0 
 metres*, where a perpetual spring reigns, where 
 the most delicious fruits of the Indies are culti- 
 vated besi(!e those of Europe, and where the^e en- 
 joyments are troubled neither by the multitude of 
 insects, nor the fear of the yellow fever [vomito), 
 nor the frequency of earthquake" We will not 
 discuss in this place if, without the tropics, there 
 exists a region in which man, with less labour, 
 can supply more abundantly the wants of a nu- 
 merous family. The physical prosperity of the 
 colonist does not alone modify his intellectual and 
 moral existence. 
 
 When a European, who has enjoyed all that is 
 most attractive in the social life of countries the 
 farthest advanced in civilization, transports himself 
 into these distant regions of the new continent, 
 he feels epprcssed at every step with the influence 
 which the colonial government has for centuries 
 exercised over the minds of :he inhabitants. A 
 well informed man, who merely interests himself 
 in the intellectual developement of the species, 
 suflfers less perhaps than the man who is endowed 
 with great- sensibility. The former institutes a 
 comparison witk tJie mother country ; from marl- 
 
 . -i 
 
 * 3,280 and 4,592 feet, Trdits, 
 
 .1 - . i 
 
c«AP. vn.J KINGDOM OF >.'i:\V SPAIN. 
 
 259 
 
 time communication lie procures books and in* 
 struments; he sees with ecstacy the progress which 
 the exact scienc. s have made in tlie great cities of 
 Spanish America; and the contemplaiion of na- 
 ture in all her grandeur , an J the astonishing va- 
 riety of her productions, indemnifies his mind fur 
 the piivations to which his position condemns 
 him. But th'j man of sensibility must seek in the 
 Spanish colonies for every thing agreeable in life 
 within himself alone. It is in this way that inso- 
 lation and solitude have their attractions for him 
 if he wishes to enjoy peaceably the advantages af- 
 forded by the excellence of the climat •, the as-ect 
 of a never-fading verdure, and the pol tica! calm 
 of the new world. While I freely give these ideas 
 to the world, I am not censuring the moral cha- 
 racter of the inliabitants of Mexico or Peru ; nor 
 do I say that the people of Lima are worse than 
 those of Cadiz. I am rather inclined to beli ve, 
 what many other travellers have observed before 
 me, that the Americans are endowed by nature 
 with a gentleness of manners rather apprc;aching 
 to eflfeminacy, as the energy of several European 
 nati ns easily degenerates into harshness. The 
 want of sociability so universal in the Spanish co- 
 lonies, and the hatreds which divide the casts of 
 greatest affinity, the eftects of which shed a bitter- 
 ness over the life of the colonists, are solely due 
 to the political principles by which these regions 
 have been governed ;since the sixteenth century. 
 
 'II in 
 
260 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book u. 
 
 A governmenr, aware of the true intc-ests of hu- 
 manity, will be able to diffuse i formation and 
 inotruction, and b} extinguishing gradually the 
 monstrous inequality of right, and fortunes, will 
 succeed in augmenting the physical pr sper'ty of 
 the coIonist«? ; but it will find immense difficulties 
 to ove.coiue before rendeiing the nhabitants so- 
 ciable, and teaching 'hem V) c<^n ider themselves 
 mut '.ally in the light of fellow ci izens. 
 
 Lee u> not forget th^ir in the United States so- 
 ciety is farmed in a very dittereni man ^er from 
 wiiat it is in Mexico and the other continental 
 regions of the Spanish colonies. Penetrating into 
 the Alleghany mountains, the Europeans found 
 immense forests, in which i. few tribes of hu*" 'S 
 wandered up and down, attached by no tie u, ^u 
 uncultivated soil. At the approach of the new- 
 colonists, the natives gradually retired towards 
 the western savannas in the neighbourhood of 
 the Mississipi and the iViissoury. In this manner 
 free men uf the same race and the same origin 
 became the first elements of a new people. " In 
 North America/* says a celebrated statesman, " a 
 traveller who sets out from a great town where the 
 social state has attained to perfection, traverses 
 successively all degrees of civilization and industry, 
 which keep diminishing till he arrives in a few 
 days at the rude and unseemly hut formed of the 
 trunks of trees newly cut down. Such a journey 
 is a sort of practical analysis of the origin of na* 
 
• HAP. VII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 261 
 
 tions and states. We set out from the most com- 
 plicated union to arrive at the most simple ele- 
 ments ; we travel in retrogression the history of 
 the progress of the human mind ; and we find 
 in space what is due only to the succession of 
 time*". 
 
 In New Spain and Peru, if we exce|)t the mis- 
 sions, the colonists nowhere returned to the state 
 of nature. Fixing themselves in the miflst of 
 agricultural nations, who themselves lived under 
 governments equally complicated and despotic, the 
 Europeans took advantage of the preponderancy 
 of their civilization, their cunning, and the autho- 
 rity they derived from the conquest. This parti- 
 cular situation, and the mixture of races of which 
 the interests ars diametrically opposite, became an 
 inexhaustible source of hatred and disunion. In 
 proportion as the descendants of the Europeans 
 became more numerous than those sent over di- 
 rectly by the mother country, the white race 
 divided into two parties, of which the ties of blood 
 cannot heal the resentments. The. colonial go- 
 vernment from a mistaken policy wished to take 
 advantage of these dissensions. The greater the 
 colony, the greater the suspicion of the administra- 
 tion. According to the ideas which unfortunately 
 have been adopted for ages, these distant regions 
 are considered as tributary to Europe. Authority 
 
 ID*"' 
 
 tit'iii 
 
 * M. de Talleyrand in his Essay on Colonization. 
 
262 POLITICAL ESSAY, &c. {book ii. 
 
 is there distributed not in the manner which the 
 pubhc interest requires, but according as the dread 
 of .seeing a too rapid increase in the prosperity of 
 the inhabitants seems lo dictate. Seeking security 
 in civil dissensions, in the balance of power, and 
 in a complication of all the springs of the great 
 political machine, the mother country foments in, 
 cessantly the spirit of party and hatred amcmg 
 the casts and constituted authorities. From this 
 state of things arises a rancour which disturbs the 
 enjoyments of social life, • 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 ■ . . ■'.■'■< 
 
 PARTICULAR STATISTICAL ACCOUNT OF THE 
 INTENDANCIES OF WHICH THE KINGDOM 
 OF NEW SPAIN IS COMPOSED.— THEIR TEll- 
 KITORIAL EXTENT AND POPULATION. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Of the political division of the Mexican territory y and the propor- 
 Hon of the population of the intendancies to their territorial 
 extent. --Principal cities. 
 
 Before giving the table which contains a^ par- 
 ticular statistical account of the intendancies of 
 New Spain, we shall discuss the principles on 
 which the new territorial divisions are founded. 
 These divisions are entirely unknown to the most 
 modern geographers ; and we here repeat what we 
 have already stated in the introduction to this 
 work, that our general map of New Spain is the 
 only one which contains the limits of the inten- 
 dancies established ince l77t3. 
 
 Mr. Pinkerton, in the second edition of his Mo- 
 dern Geography*, has endeavoured to give a 
 
 * It is this moment announced (Bibliotheque Americ'ne, 
 )808| No. 9,) that M. Pinkerton boasts of having availcil 
 
 !l! 
 
 m 
 
 Hi!' 
 
 
 'Itlu' 
 
 
 ;lf; 
 
 
 ijlii 
 
 ill 
 
264 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book m. 
 
 minute description of the Spanish possessions in 
 North America; and he has contrived to mix se- 
 veral exact notions derived from the Viajero Uni- 
 versal, with the most vague data furnished by the 
 dictionary of M. Alcedo. This author, who be- 
 lieves himself to possess a singular knowledge of 
 the true territorial divisions of New Spain^ con- 
 siders the provinces of Sonora, Cinaloa, and la 
 Pimeria, as parts of New Biscay. He divides what 
 he calls the dominion [domaine] of Mexico into 
 the districts of Neuva Galicia, Fanuco, Zacatula, 
 &c. &c; According to this principle we should 
 
 himself of my manuscripts for his work on Mexico. I com- 
 municated, with the frankness natural to me, several manu- 
 script notes to M. Bourgoing, M. Alexander Laborde^ and 
 several other savans of equal respectability. I never com- 
 municated any thing to M. Pinkerton ; and the manner in 
 which he treated me in his Geography, before my return to 
 Europe, was not calculated to produce an intimacy between 
 us. A compiler as inaccurate as he is arrogant, M. Pinkerton, 
 in the style which is peculiar to him, finds every thing which 
 is repugnant to the ideas formed by him in his closet ** ridi- 
 culous, disgusting, and absurd." Not knowing that the map 
 of La Cruz is drawn up from that of Father Caulin, he will 
 allow no other course to the rivers but what he finds indicated 
 by the former. He pushes his scepticism so far, that if we 
 would believe him, M. Depons, the author of the Voyage a la 
 TtrreFerme, does not even know the name of the country in 
 which he lived for four years! The notes of the new edition 
 of M. Pinkerton's Geography especially contribute to diffuse 
 the most erroneous ideas in physics and descriptive natural 
 history. 
 
CHAP. VIII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 264» 
 
 m 
 
 say that the three great divisions of Europe are 
 vSpain, Languedocy Catalonia, and the territories 
 of Cadiz ynd Bordeaux. 
 
 Before the introduction of the new administra- 
 tion by Count Don Jose de Galvez, minister of 
 the Indies, New Spain contained, 1, El Reyno de 
 Mexico ; ii. El Reyno de Nueva Galicia ; 3, El 
 Nue\ o Reyno de Leon j 4, la colonia del Nuevo 
 Santander ; 5, la provincia de Texas ; 6, la pro- 
 >incia de Cohahuila ; 7j la provincia de Nueva 
 Biscaya; 8, la provincia de la Sonora; 9, la pro- 
 vincia de Nuevo Mexico ; and 10, Ambas Cali- 
 fornias, or las provincias de la vie'a y Nueva Cali- 
 fornia. These old divisions are' still very frequently 
 used in the country. The limits which separate 
 la Nueva (jalicia from el Reyno de Mexico, to 
 which a part of the old kingdom of Mechoacan 
 belongs, are also the line ©f demarcation between 
 the jurisdiction of the to audiences of Mexico 
 and Guadalaxara. Thi§ line, which I was not 
 able to trace on my general map, aoes not exactly 
 follow the contours of the new iiitendancies. It 
 begins on the coast of the gulf of Mexico, teit 
 leagues to the north of the Rio de Panuco and 
 the city of Altamira near Bara Ciega, and runs 
 through the intendancy of S. Luis Potosi to ,hc 
 mines of Potosi and Bernalejo ; from thenc. pass- 
 ing along the southern extremity of the intendancy 
 of Zacatecas, and the western limits of the inten- 
 dancy of GuanaxuatOy it traverses the intendancy 
 
 i 'Mi 
 
 if"'f, 1 
 
 m 
 
^66 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book hi. 
 
 of Guadalaxara between Zapotlan and Sayula, 
 between Ayotitlan and the Ciudad de la Purifica- 
 cion, to Guatlan, one of the ports of the South 
 Sea. All north of this line belongs to the audi- 
 encia of Guadalaxara; and all south of it to the 
 audiencia of Mexico. 
 
 In its present state New Spain is divid d into 
 twelve intendancies, to which we must add three 
 other districts, very remote from the capital, which 
 have preserved the simple denomination of pro- 
 vinces. Thpse f\hcp.n divisions are, 
 I. UNDER THE TEMPERATE ZONE 82,000 
 leagues, with 6/7,000 souls, or eight inha- 
 bitants to the square league. I, 
 
 A. RtaioN OF THE NORTH, aEi interior region. 
 
 1. Prov'mcia de Nuevo Mcvfco, along the 
 llio del Norte to the north of the parallel 
 of 31^. 
 
 2. Intcndencki de Nueva Biscay a ^ to the 
 south-west of the Rio del Norte, on the 
 central table- land which declines rapidly 
 from Durango towards Chihuahua. 
 
 B. Region of the nojith-west, in the vici- 
 nity of the Great Ocean. 
 
 3. Proibtcia de la Nuna CaUfornia^ or 
 north-west coast of North America pos- 
 sessed by the Spaniards, 
 
 4. Prov'mcia de la antigua California, Its 
 southern extremity enters the torrid zone, 
 
 . ,, 5. LUcndencia de la Sonora. Tlie most 
 
\m 
 
 •HAT. VIII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 267 
 
 m 
 
 I' 
 
 southern part of Cinaloa, in which the 
 celebrated mines of Copala and Rosario are 
 situated, also passes the tropic of Cancer. 
 
 C. Region of the north-east, adjoining 
 the gulf of Mexico. ' ' *, 
 
 6. Intendencia de San Luis Potosi, It com- 
 prehends the provinces of Texas, la colonia 
 de Nuevo Santander and Cohahuila, El 
 
 * Nuevo Reyno de Leon, and the districts of 
 
 Charcas, Altamira, Catorce, and Ramos. 
 
 i These last districts compose the intendancy 
 
 of San Luis properly so called. The 
 
 southern part, which extends to the south of 
 
 the Barra de Santander and the Real de 
 
 Catorce, belongs to the torrid zone. 
 
 IL UNDER THE TORRID ZONE, 36,500 
 
 ' square leagues, with 5,160,000 souls, or 141 
 
 inhabitants to the square league. 
 
 D. Central region. 
 
 7. Intendencia de Zacatecas, excepting the 
 part which extends to the north of the 
 mines of Fresnillo. 
 
 8. Intendencia de Guadalaxara, 
 
 9. Intendencia de Guanaxuato. 
 
 10. Intendencia de Valladolid, 
 
 11. Intendencia de Jllejvico, 
 
 12. Intendencia de la Puehla. 
 
 ' 13. Intendencia de Vera Cruz. 
 
 E. Region of the south-west. 
 
 ■ if I 
 I lilil 
 
 I 
 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 i'ifi 
 '"fill 
 
 iil 
 
^68 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book in. 
 
 14. Jnfendaicia de Oaxaca, 
 1 o, Intendencia de Mcrida, 
 
 The divisions in this table are founded on the 
 physical state of the country. We see that nearly 
 seven-eighths of the inhabitants live under the 
 torrid zone. The population becomes thinner as we 
 advance towards Durango and Chihuahua. In 
 this respect New Spain bears a striking analogy to 
 Hindostan, which in its north parts is bounded by 
 regions almost uncultivated and uninhabited. Of 
 five millions who inhabit the equinoxial part of 
 Mexico, four-fifths live on the ridge of the Cor- 
 dillera, or table-lands whose elevation above the 
 level of the sea equals that of the passage of Mount 
 Cenis. 
 
 New Spain, considering its provinces according 
 to their commercial relations, or the situation of 
 the coasts, is divided into three regions. 
 
 I. PROVINCES OF THE INTERIOR, which 
 do not extend to the ocean. 
 
 1. Nueoo Mexico, , ,\ / ', 
 
 2. Nueva Biscaya, 
 
 3. Zacatecas, v . . , ' 
 
 4. Guanaxiiato. 
 
 n. MARITIME PROVINCES of the easfent 
 coast opposite to Europe ; 
 
 5. San Luis Fotosi, 
 
 6. Vera Cruz. 
 
 7. Merida^ or Yucatan* 
 
 ii 
 
 .:* 
 

 •HAP.vni.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 269 
 
 III. MARITIME PROVINCES oftlm western 
 coast opposite to Asia. 
 8 New California, 
 9. Old California. 
 
 10. Sonora. 
 
 11. Guadalajcara, • 
 
 12. ValladoUd. 
 
 13. Mexico, 
 
 14. Piiebla, 
 
 15. Oaxaca, 
 
 These divisions will one day possess great poli- 
 tical interest, when the cultivation of Mexico shall 
 be less concentrated on the central table-land or 
 ridge of the cordillera, and when the coasts shall 
 become more populous. The maritime provinces 
 of the west will send their vessels to Nootka, to 
 China, and the East Indies. The Sandwich 
 islands, inhabited by a ferocious, but industrious 
 and enterprising people, appear more likely de- 
 stined to receive Mexican than European colonists. 
 They afford an important stage to the nations who 
 carry on commerce in the Great Ocean. The in- 
 habitants of New Sp:un and Peru have never yet 
 been able to profit by their advantageous position 
 on a coast opposite Asia and New Holland. 
 They do not even know the productions of the 
 South Sea islands. The bread fruit tree and sugar- 
 cane of Otaheite, that precious reed, the cultiva- 
 tion of which has had such a happy influence on 
 West India commerce, v/ill one day be received 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 liiij 
 
 '!i||p 
 
 !i 
 
270 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book nr. 
 
 by them from Jamaica, the Havanah, and Caraccas, 
 and no longer from the more adjoining islands. 
 "What efforts have not been made by the United 
 States of North America, within the last ten years, 
 to open a communication with the western coast, 
 with the same coast on which the Mexicans pos- 
 sess the finest ports, but without activity and with- 
 out commerce. 
 
 According to the ancient division of the country, 
 the Reyno tie A^ueva Galicia contained more than 
 14,000 square leagues, and nearly a million of 
 inhabitants : it included the intendancies uf Zaca- 
 tecas and Guadalaxara*, as well as a small part of 
 that of San Luis Potosi. The regions now known 
 by the denomination of the seven intendancies of 
 Guanaxuato, Valladolid or Mechoacan, Mexico, 
 Puebla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, and Merida, formed, 
 along with a small portion of the intendancy of 
 San Luis Potosi tj the Reijno da Mtiico^ properly 
 so called. This kingdom consequently contained 
 more than 27,000 square leagues, and nearly four 
 millions and a half of inhabitants. 
 
 Another division of New Spain, equally ancient 
 and less vague, is that which distinguishes Ihxo 
 Spahi, proptrli/ so called^ from the provmcias in" 
 
 * Willi the exception of the most southern part, which 
 •contains the volcanfr of Colhna and the village of Ayotitan. 
 f The most southern part through which the river of Pa- 
 
€HAP.Viii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 271 
 
 ternas. To the latter belongs all to the north 
 and north-west of the kingdom of Nueva Galicia, 
 with the exception of the two Californias ; con- 
 sequently, 1. the small kingdom of Leon; ?. the 
 colony of New Santander; 3. Texas; 4. New 
 Biscay ; 5. Sonora ; 6. Cohahuila ; and 7. New 
 Mexico. The provincias internas del Vireynato^ 
 which contain 7814 square leagues, are distin- 
 guished from the provincias internas de la Co" 
 mandancia (of Chihuahua)^ erected into a capita- 
 nia general in 177^9 which Contain 59)370 square 
 leagues. Of the twelve new intendancies, three 
 are situated in the provincias internas, Durango, 
 Sonora, and San Luis Potosi. We must not, 
 however^ forget that the iAtenrlant of San Luis 
 is only under the direct authority of the viceroy 
 for Leon, Santander, and the districts liear hi^ 
 residence, those of Charcas, Catorce, and Alta- 
 mii-a* The governments of Cohahuila and Texas 
 make also part of the ihtendancy of San Luis 
 Potosi, but they belong directly to the coman- 
 dancia general de Chihuahua. The following 
 tables will throw s6me light on these very com- 
 plicated territorial' divisions. Let us' divide air 
 New Spain into= ' ^ 
 
 A. Provincias ^ujetas al Virey de Nueva Es" 
 
 /)flrr/<7; 59,103 square leagues, with 547,790* 
 
 ■"■'■■' souls: tlie ten intertdancies of Mexico, 
 
 fe. 
 
 lit 
 
 ''1 
 
 nm' 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 
 If 
 
 1 
 
 
 m» 
 
 h 
 m 
 
 M 
 
 * This number ought to be 5,479»Oc)5. Tram, 
 VOI4. I. K E 
 
 *fc*- 
 
272 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE ' [book iit. 
 
 Puebla, Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, Merida, Val- 
 ladolid, Guadalaxara, Zacatecas, Guanaj- 
 uato, and San Luis Potosi (u^ithout includ- 
 ing Cohahuila and Texas) 
 The two Californias. 
 B. Provincias sitjetas al comandante general de 
 provincios hitermis, 59,^7^ square leagues, 
 with J.59/i00'inhabitants : 
 The two intendancies of Durango and So- 
 
 nora; . s 
 
 The province of Nuevo Mexico ; 
 Cohahuila and Texas. . . 
 
 I'he whole of New Spain, 118,478 square 
 
 leagues, with 5,837,100 inhabitants. 
 These tables exhibit the surface of the provinces 
 calculated in square leagues of ^6 to the degree, 
 according to the general map accompanying this 
 work. The first calculations were made at Mexico 
 in the end of 1803, by M. Oteyza and myself. 
 My geographical labours having since that period 
 attained to greater perfection, M. Oltmanns was 
 so good as to recalculate the whole territorial 
 surfaces. He executed this operation with the pre- 
 cision which characterizes whatever he undertakes, 
 having formed squares of which the sides did not 
 contain more than three minutes. 
 
 The population indicated in my tables is what 
 may be supposed to have existed in 1803. I have 
 explained in the 4th chapter (page 97. 1 10) the 
 principles on which the changes were made in the 
 
i 
 
 CMAP. vrrr.] KINGDOM OF NKW SPAIN. 
 
 273 
 
 numbers ohtainid by the enumeration of 1793. 
 I am aware that modern geoiyraphcrs admit only 
 from two to three millions of inhabitants for Mex- 
 ico. In all times the population of Asia has been 
 exaggerated, and that of the Spanish possessions 
 in America lowered. We forget that with a fine 
 climate and fertile soil, population makes rapid 
 advances even in countries the worst administered; 
 and we also forget that men scattered over an im- 
 mense territory suffer less from the imperfections 
 of the social state than when the population is 
 very conctntnited. / • 
 
 We are uncertain as to the limits which ought 
 to be assigned to New Spain to the north and 
 east. It is not enough that a country has been 
 run over by a missionary monk, or that a coast 
 has been seen by a vessel of war, to consider it as 
 belonging to the Spanish colonies of America. 
 Cardinal Lorenz;ina printed at Mexico, even in 
 1770, that New Spain, through the bishopric of 
 Durargo, bordered perhaps on Tartary and 
 C eenland * I We are now too well instructed in 
 geography to yield ourselves up to such vague 
 suppositions. A viceroy of Mexico caused the Ame- 
 rican colonies of the Russians on the peninsula 
 
 (R 
 
 * *' 1 aim sc ignora si la Nuevn Espaiia por h mas renioto 
 de fa (lidcesis de Durango coiifina con la Tart aria y Groclandia, 
 per hs Californias con la TartariUf y por el Ntitvo Mexico co^v 
 la Groelandig." Lorenxana, p. 38. - .; . 
 
 E E 2 
 
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«74 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book hi. 
 
 of Alaska, to be visited from San Bias. The 
 attention of the Mexican government was for a 
 long time turned to the nortli-west coast, especially 
 since the establishment at Nooika, which the . 
 court of Madrid was compelled to abandon to 
 avoid a war M'ith £ngland. The inhabitants of 
 the United States carry their civilization towards 
 the Missoury. They gradually approach the coast 
 of the Great Ocean, to which the fur trade invites 
 them. The period approaches when, through the 
 rapid progress of human culdvation, the bounda- 
 ries of New Spain will join those of the Russian 
 empire, and the great confederation of American 
 republics. At present, however, the Mexican 
 government extends no farther along the western 
 coast than the mission of St. Francis, to the south 
 of Cape Mendocin, and the village of Taos in 
 New Mexico. The boundaries of the intendancy 
 of San Luis Potosi on' the east towards the^tate of 
 Louisiana are not very well determined ; the con- 
 gress of Washington endeavour to confine thein 
 to the right bank of the Rio Bravo del Norte, 
 while the Spaniards comprehend under the deno- 
 mination of province of Texas, the savanas which 
 extend to the Rio Mexicano or Mermentas, to 
 the east of the Rio Sabina* 
 
 The following table exhibits the surface and 
 population of the greatest political associations of 
 Europe and Asia. It will furnish curious com- 
 parisons with the present state of Mexico. 
 
•BAP. VIII. ] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 275 
 
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 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE {book iiu 
 
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 ^sir 
 
CHAP. VIII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 277 
 
 We see from this table, winch may suggest 
 very curious considerations as to the disproportion 
 of European cultivation, that New Spain is almost 
 four times larger than the French empire, with a 
 population which till this day is seven times 
 smaller. The points of analogy in a comparison 
 of the United States * with Mexico are very strik- 
 
 iiii 
 
 R 
 
 * The extent of territory of the United States is very dif- 
 ficult to estimate in square leagues, especially since the acqui- 
 sition of Louisiana, the limits of which may be said to be very 
 uncertain towards the west and north-west. According to 
 M. Hutchins, the old geographer of the congress, and the 
 author of the beautiful map of the countries situated beyond 
 the Ohio, the United States contained in 1795 a surface of 
 6-^0 millions of acres, or (discounting the lakes) 58.9 mil- 
 lions. Now 640 acres make a square mllej consequently 
 (reducing in the proportion of 144 : 25) the 589 millions of 
 acres are equivalent to 159,000 square leagues, of 25 to tiie 
 
 ft, 
 
 degree. I have followed in the estimation of the territory in 
 the preceding table the manuscript notes with which I was 
 furnished by a respectable statesman, M. Gallatin, the Ame- 
 rican treasurer at Washington. According to these notes, 
 the United States, without Louisiana, contain 900,000 square 
 miles, or 15(),24-() square leagues. This number is less by 
 one-ninth than what is generally adopted by the American 
 geographers j but this difference proceeds from the more 
 exact calculations of the surface of the lakes, and the more 
 eastern position of the Mississipy, determined by the obser- 
 vations of M. EUicot. M. Gallatin believes that the error of 
 his estimation does not exceed 50,000 square miles. The 
 half of these 156,240 square leagues belongs to the Indians, 
 and can only be considered in the light of a country possessed 
 by allies. I am of opinion that if we only include the regions 
 
 !« 
 II i 
 
 I 
 
 1! 
 
 ii 
 
 I! 
 
 !h 
 
 I; 
 I*, 
 
278 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book hi. 
 
 ing, especially if we consider Louisiana and the 
 western territory as the provincias internas of the 
 great confederation of American republics. 
 
 I have described the state of the provincias in- 
 ternas as it was when I left Mexico. A consider- 
 able change has since taken place in the military 
 gbvernment of these vast provinces, of which the 
 surface almost doulles that of the French empire. 
 In 1807j two commandantes generales^ brigadier 
 generals {brigadiers) Don Nemesio Salcedo and 
 Don Pedro Grimarcst, governed these northern 
 provinces. The following is the present division 
 of the Go/nemo military which is now no longer 
 in the hands of the governor of Chihuahua alone: 
 
 in which the whites have already made establishments, and 
 exclude those whicli are either desert or inhabited by Indians, 
 the territory of the United States in place of 200,340 ought 
 not to be estimated above 100 or 120^000 square leagues. 
 Author, 
 
 The author is correct enough in the number of acres which 
 he assigns to the square mile, but he errs in converting the^ 
 square miles into square leagues. The proportion by whidi 
 he reduces the square miles into leagues is 144 : 25, which is 
 equal to 5.76 : 1. This proportion corresponds exactly to 
 gecgraphical miles of <k) tp the degree. But the English 
 square mile of 640 acres is not a square geographical mile, 
 but a mile of 6p.2 to the degree. Hence the proportion to the 
 square league is not 5.76 : 1, but 7-663 : 1. The territory of 
 the United States therefore does not amount to Ifi6,240^ but 
 to 117,478 square leagues. Trant. 
 
CHAP, viii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 279 
 
 PROVINCIAS InTERNAS DEL ReYNO D8 NuEVA 
 
 ESPANA. 
 
 A. Provincias internas occidentales, 
 
 1. Sonora. 
 
 2. Durango o Nueva Bi&ciya. 
 
 3. Nuevo Mexico. 
 
 4. Californias. 
 
 B. Pr&Dincias internas orientates, 
 
 1. Cohahuila. 
 
 2. Texas. 
 
 3. Colonia del Nuevo Santander. 
 
 4. Nuevo Reyno de Leon, 
 
 The new commandantes generates of the inter- 
 nal provinces, as well as the old, arc considered as 
 at the head of the administration of finances in the 
 two intendancies of Sonora and Durango, in the 
 province of Nuevo Mexico, and in that part of the 
 intendancy of San Luis Potosi which comprehends 
 Texas and Cohahuila. As to the small kingdom 
 of Leon and New Santander, they are only subject 
 to the commandant in a military point of view. 
 
 n 
 
 
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 It 
 
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280 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book hi, 
 
 
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CHAP, viif.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 281 
 
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S82 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book in. 
 
 This statistical table proves the imperfection of 
 the territorial division. It appears that in confid^^ 
 ing to intendants the administration of police and 
 finances, the object was to divide the Mexican soil 
 on principles analogous to those followed by the 
 French government on the division of the king- 
 dom into generalities. In New Spain every inJ 
 tendancy comprehends several sub-deltgations. In 
 the same manner the generalities in France were 
 governed by sub-delegates, who exercised their 
 functions under the orders of the intendant. But 
 in the formation of the Mexican intendancies, little 
 regai d has been paid to the extent of territory or 
 the greater or less degree of concentration of the 
 population. This new division indeed took | lace 
 at a tiiue when the ministers of the colonies, the 
 council of the Indies, and the viceroys, were un- 
 furnished with I he necessary materials for so im- 
 portant an und rtuking. How is it possible to 
 possess the detail of the administration of a coun- 
 try of which there has never been any map, and 
 regarding which the most simple calculations of 
 political arithmetic have never been attempted ? 
 
 Comparing the extent of surface of the Mexican 
 intendancies, we find several of them ten, twenty, 
 even thirty times larger than others. The intend!- 
 ancy of San Luis Potosi, for example, is more ex- 
 tensive than all European Spain» whi(e the intend- 
 ancy of Guanaxuato does not exceed in size two 
 or three of the departments of France.' The fol- 
 
f HAP. Till.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 289 
 
 % 
 
 lowing is an exact table of the extraordinary dis* 
 proportion among the several Mexican intendancies 
 in their territorial extent j we have arranged them 
 in the order of their extent : 
 . Intendancy of San Luis Potosi, 27,821 square 
 
 leagues, 
 of Sonora, 19,143 
 of Durango, 16,873 
 of Guadalaxara, 9)612 
 of Merida, 5,977 
 of Mexico, 5,927 
 of Oaxaca, 4,447 
 ofVera Cruz, 4,141 
 of Valladolid, 3,447 
 of Puebla, 2,696 
 of Zacatecas, 2,355 
 of Guanaxuato, 911. 
 With the exception of the three intendancies of 
 San Luis Potosi, Sonora, and Durango, of which 
 each occupies more ground than the whole empire 
 of Great Britain, the other intendancies contain a 
 mean surface of three or four thousand square 
 leagues. We may compare them for extent to the 
 kingdom of Naples, or that of Bohemia. We can 
 conceive that the less populous a country is, the 
 less its administration requires small divisions. la 
 France no department exceeds the extent of 550 
 square leagues: the mean extent of the depart- 
 ments is 300. But in European Russia and Mexico- 
 
 1! 
 
 « . 
 III 
 
 I 
 
 !! 
 
 II 
 
284 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book hi.. 
 
 the governments and intendancies are ten timei: 
 more extensive. 
 
 In France, the heads of departments, the pre- 
 fects, watch over the wants of a population which . 
 rarely exceeds 450,000 souls, and which on an 
 average we may estimate at 300,000. The govern- 
 ments into which the Russian empire is divided, as 
 well as the Mexican intendancies, comprehend, 
 notwithstanding their very different states of civil- 
 ization, a greater number of inhabitants. The 
 following table will show the dispropojrtion of po- 
 pulation among the territorial divisions of New 
 Spain. It begins with the most populous intcnd- 
 ancy, and ends with the one most thinly inha- 
 bited. - , ) 
 Intendancy of Mexico, 1,511,800 inhabitants, 
 ~ Puebla, 813,300 
 
 ■ Guadalaxara, 630,500 ■' j -\ 
 . V ' . ; . Oaxaca, 534,800 : J >, 
 
 Guanaxuato, 5 1 7j300 ; ^ .^ 
 . / .:i , Valladolid, 476,400 -y"..,.i^tr, 
 ^ ■; = ^:;;' Merida, 465,700 -^ - ^^ ;. r. ,, 
 . Jj : , i -^j San Luis Potosi, 331,900 . ., . J 
 ■'■■•^ y- Durango, 159,700 
 
 Vera Cruz, 156,000; , r. ., 
 
 Zacatecas, 153,000 . ^ , ; v . 
 V u * - ..' Sonora, 121,400 < ^t :i ., ti 
 
 It is in comparing together the tables of the 
 population of the twelve intendancies, and the ex-. 
 
CHAV. viii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 285 
 
 tent of their surface, that we are particularly 
 struck with the inequality of the distribution of 
 the Mexican population, even in the most civilized 
 part of the kingdom. The intendancy of Puebla, 
 which in the second table occupies one of the first 
 places, is almost at the end of the first table. Yet 
 no principle ought more to guide those who chalk- 
 out territorial divisions than the proportion of 
 the population to the extent expressed in square 
 leagues or myriametres. It is only in states like 
 France, which enjoy the inestimable felicity of a 
 population almost uniformly spread over their sur- 
 face, that divisions will admit any thing like equa- 
 lity of extent. A third table exhibits the state of 
 the population, which may be called relative. To 
 arrive at numerical results which indicate the pro- 
 portion between the number of inhabitants and ex- 
 tent of inhabited soil, we must divide the absolute 
 population by the territory of the intendancies. 
 The following are the results of this operation : 
 Jntcndancy of Guanaxuato, 5QS inhabitants to 
 
 the square league. 
 
 'y 
 
 i (,"•;'> 
 
 Puebla, 301 ; 
 
 ■^ . <• -= •i"<.\ 
 
 Valladolid, 273 , , • • 
 
 ,' . ',''•■ " 
 
 Mexico, 255 v ;-■ 
 
 - .' . I . ■ . 
 
 Oaxaca, UO 
 
 
 Mtrida, 81 
 
 ■ :: ,^.^'^^-cv- 
 
 Guadalaxara, (SQ 
 
 ' ^- "'"f"*;, J ' '••■' 
 
 Zacatecas, 65 
 
 
 III 
 
 it 
 
 lit 
 
 \ 
 
 1 
 
^85 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [looii m. 
 
 Vera Cruz, 38 
 
 San Luis Potosi, 12 
 
 DurangOy 10 
 
 Sonora, 6. 
 This last tabl^ proves that in the intendancies 
 virhere the cultivation of the soil has made least 
 progress, the j^elative population is from 50 to 90 
 times less than in the old civilized regions adjacent 
 to the capital. This extraordinary diflfesence in 
 the distribution of the population is also to be found 
 in the north and north-east of Europe. In Lap- 
 land we scarcely find one inhabitant to the square 
 league, while in other parts of Sweden^ in Goth> 
 land, for example, there ar^ more than S48. In 
 the states subject to the King of Denmark, the 
 island of Zealand contains 944, and Iceland eleven 
 inhabitants to the square league. In European 
 Russia, the governments of Archangel, Olonez, 
 Kalouga, and Moscow, differ so much in their re- 
 lative population to the extent of the territory, that 
 the two former of these governments contailn 6 
 and 26, and the two last 84^ and 974 souls to the 
 square league. These enormous differences indi- 
 cate that one province is 160 times better inha- 
 bited than another. ' 
 
 In France, where the whole of the population 
 gives 1094 inhabitants to the square league^ the 
 best peopled departments, those of UEscauty Le 
 Nord^ and La Lys^ afford a relative population of 
 
CHAF. viii.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 287 
 
 p. 
 
 3869,2786, and 'i274. The worst peopled depart- 
 ment, that of the Hautes-Alpes^ composed of a part 
 of old Dauphiny, contains only 47 1 inhabitants to 
 the square league. Hence the extremes are in 
 France in the relation of 8 : 1 ; so that the inten- 
 dancy of Mexico, in which the population is the 
 most concentrated, that of Guanaxuato, is scarcely 
 so well inhabited as the worst peopled department 
 of continental France *. 
 
 I flatter myself that the three tables which I 
 have drawn up of the extent, absolute population, 
 and relative population of the intendancies of New 
 Spain, will sufficiently prove the great imperfection 
 of the present territorial division. A country in 
 which the population is dispersed over a vast ex- 
 tent requires that the provincial administration be 
 restricted to smaller portions of ground than those 
 of the Mexican intendancies. Whenever a popu- 
 lation is under 100 inhabitants to the square league, 
 the administration of an intendancy or a depart- 
 ment should not extend over more than 100,000 
 
 '!< 
 
 
 ! 
 
 i(« 
 
 !! 
 
 I 
 
 )., 
 
 * In these comparisons we have neither included the de- 
 partment ot le Liamone, formed of the southern part of Cor- 
 sica, and containing only 277 inhabitants to the square league, 
 nor the department of the Seine. The latter, in appearance 
 exhibits a relative population of 23, 1 65 inhabitants. It would 
 be useless to explain the causes which produce such an unna- 
 tural order of things, in a department of which the principal 
 place is the capita) pf a great empire, 
 VOL. I. F F 
 
 ji 
 II 
 
Q88 
 
 POLITICAL ESSAY ON THE [book iir. 
 
 inhabitants. We may assign a double or triple 
 number to regions in which the population is more 
 concentrated. 
 
 It is on this concentration that the degree of 
 industry^ the activity of commerce, and the num- 
 ber of affairs consequently demanding the attention 
 of government, undoubtedly depend. In this point 
 of view the small intendancy of Guanaxuato gives 
 more occupation to an administrator than the pro- 
 vinces of Texas, Cohahuila, and New Mexico, 
 which are six times more extensive. But, on the 
 other hand, how is it possible for an intendant of 
 San Luis Potosi ever to know the wants of a pro- 
 vince of 128,000 square leagues in extent ? How 
 can he, even while he devotes himself with the 
 most patriotic zeal to the duties of his place, super- 
 intend the sub-delegates, and protect the Indian 
 from the oppressions which are exercised in the 
 villages ? 
 
 This point of administrative organization cannot 
 be too carefully discussed. A reforming govern- 
 ment ought, before every other object, to set about 
 changing the present limits of the intendancies. 
 This political change ought to be founded on the 
 exact knowledge of the physical state, and the state 
 of cultivaticn of the provinces wl.ich constitute the 
 kingdom of New Spiin. France, in this point of 
 view, exhibits an example of perfection worthy of 
 imitation in the new world. The enlightened 
 
CHAF. VIII.] KINGDOM OF NEW SPAIN. 
 
 289 
 
 men of which the constituent assembly was com- 
 posed proved at their very outset what importance 
 they attached to a good territorial division. This 
 division can only be good when it rests on princi- 
 ples, which may be considered as so much the 
 more wise as they are simple and natural. 
 
 It 
 
 II 
 
 SND OF VOL. I. 
 
 I I 
 
 I II 
 
 1 
 
 
#■. 
 
 T. Davison, Lombard-street, 
 Whitefriarg, London. 
 
 ■> -' -J ."> 
 
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