# History of Mexico (Bancroft)/Volume 6/Chapter 26

Table of Contents
CHAPTER XXVI.
EDUCATION, SCIENCE, ARTS, AND LITERATURE.
1521-1887.
Instruction of the Indians and Mestizos — Schools and Colleges — Measures for Developing Education — Professional Instruction — Scientific Attainment — Creole Unsteadiness — Observatories — Fine and Mechanical Arts — Museum — First Press — Early Books and Periodicals — Libraries and Literary Societies — Prose Writing — Newspapers — Historians — Oratory — Poetry — Mexican Peculiarities — Reflections on the Present and Future Position of Mexico.
Education in New Spain during colonial times was confined with few exceptions to a certain class of white people. Those who came from the mother country were rather backward, except when members of professions, and the wealthy Creoles stood as a rule far above them. The church and bar were the main allurements to those who desired an active career. Medicine was also taught at the university, and finally at a special college, but obtained little favor. Philosophy was learned only as preparatory to theology, with a persistent adherence to scholasticism. Mathematics received slight attention, and the sciences, political and physical, were discouraged until toward the end of colonial times. No language save Latin received any attention. As for the masses, learning was regarded as not only useless, but prejudicial. Viceroy Branciforte thought only the cathechism should be taught in America.
The best evidence of the low grade of public education was that school-masters were required to pass ​examination only in the most elementary reading and writing, and the four simplest rules of arithmetic.
While the Indians and lower castes were steeped in ignorance, the remainder of the population, excepting the highest class and the professions, though low enough, were still above the corresponding classes in Spain. In the last decades of the eighteenth century, theoretic and concrete sciences, industrial and fine arts, advanced with a bound that for a time placed New Spain in the front rank of cultured nations. But wrapping itself in revolution, it was soon left behind in the march of progress.
The friars were always ready to instruct the offspring of princes and nobles, and even some bright youths of the lower classes. Reading, writing, and vocal and instrumental music were the branches taught, though the larger proportion of pupils participated in little more than religious exercises. Some, however, indulged in Latin, drawing, and painting, while others received training in the mechanical arts. The civil powers were satisfied with this policy, and with training natives for the priesthood. The result was the college of Santa Cruz, opened by Viceroy Mendoza, for the teaching of grammar, Latin, rhetoric, logic, philosophy, and other necessary subjects. On the inauguration day, sixty youths, selected by friars from the most intelligent nobles then studying in the several convents, entered the college. But the time soon came when the fears and jealousies of colonists and friars were roused against the elevation of a despised race, and the result was a relaxation of efforts among teachers. Soon the college gave instruction ​merely in reading, writing, and religious exercises; and a little later it was taken possession of wholly by the white race, with a higher grade of study. This course was adopted throughout the country. The Indian nobles were allowed to acquire a smattering of Spanish, which sufficed to raise them to the rank of ladinos. The mass of their race stood deprived of all instruction; consequently the term gente de razon, or rational people, applied to whites and mestizos. Very few of the aborigines attained to a high level of culture. At a later period, however, a concession was made, in yielding such a college as San Gregorio at Mexico to them exclusively. Finally came a feeble effort to erect primary schools in some of the larger Indian villages. For mestizos, the facilities were not much greater. The government, indeed, showed a lamentable neglect in promoting elementary education among the whites and mixed classes, and left the people to provide for themselves. Some free schools were opened by philanthropists, and private academies by secular teachers, wherever encouragement was given. Many of the latter added Latin, algebra, and geography. At one time quite a large number of these establishments were in operation. Many of the wealthy and intelligent preferred, however, to send their children to Spain to be educated, so as to bind them to the mother country.
Later, a general revival induced the crown to recommend the establishment of primary schools. The results, however, were as unsatisfactory as the efforts were spasmodic. No mingling of the sexes was allowed in the public schools, and girls received ​instruction in distinct departments, under women. As a rule, they were sent to convents, there to be trained chiefly in feminine accomplishments.
The Jesuits exercised a great influence in favor of public instruction. Their method of teaching was admired, and aid was readily granted them by citizens for establishing colleges. They had enemies, however, who first restricted and finally drove them away. They early established four colleges at Mexico, notably the San Pedro y San Pablo, all of which were by the second decade of the seventeenth century merged into one, under the name of San Ildefonso. Nevertheless, the Jesuits continued their efforts, and at the time of their expulsion in 1767 possessed twenty-three colleges, and a number of seminaries in different provinces, only a portion of which were reopened under other teachers.
The example of the Jesuits was followed by others, and several colleges and seminaries were the result of it. Still, quite a number of provinces were devoid of facilities for anything above elementary training. At Mexico there were in 1790 eight colleges for males, only two of which fell under control of friars.
The deficiency of high schools has been glossed over by directing attention to the founding of the university. Mendoza, the first viceroy, left property for its establishment; and during the rule of the elder ​Velasco, a royal cédula of September 21, 1551, ordained its erection, providing an endowment of 1,000 pesos de oro, which was increased by later grants and private bequests. Privileges were conferred upon it. The institution was inaugurated on January 25, 1553. In 1589 it was transferred to the site occupied till modern times on the east side of the Plaza del Volador.
The Jesuit college at Mérida, Yucatan, obtained in 1662 the title and privileges of a university, but it did not long exist. The only other permanent institution of the kind, therefore, in New Spain was at Guadalajara, founded by cédula of 1791 in the former Jesuit college, with incorporation of the chairs and endowments of the Seminario de San José, both of which were increased in numbers and amount. The war of independence broke in upon the educational revival with which the present century opened, and where the kindled flame was not absolutely extinguished it burned low. Once free, the republic became ​embroiled in party strife and efforts for a political organization, amid which the idea of training the people for its new responsibilities was little thought of. The higher schools, which had so far maintained a fair comparison with those in Spain, suffered both in number and efficiency, owing partly to the decline of clerical influence and guardianship, and to the inferior education of the rising order of ecclesiastics.
In 1833 the necessity for energetic measures became apparent, and public instruction in the federal district and territories was placed in charge of a board of directors, which controlled national art treasures, and was to form a public library. It was to form a new plan for studies, giving prominence to scientific branches, and appoint teachers, yet permit free teaching, subject to certain general rules. All the funds of existing establishments were consolidated and placed at the disposal of the board.
Colleges where modern philosophy and science had entered were allowed to languish. Elementary schools also languished; yet an impetus was given to the Lancasterian or mutual system introduced in 1822. Educational matters were for some years allowed to drift, till 1842, when the Lancasterian association was placed in charge of all primaries in the republic. The government undertook to provide pecuniary means, but scantily.
Little progress was attained, owing to the constant political convulsions and changes of administration. An effort was made by the authorities in 1861, but it ​failed, mainly through the absorption of funds for the war of intervention. Maximilian, with his German ideas, introduced some measures which left seeds that show signs of being developed into flourishing plants. Amid all the vicissitudes of the republic, however, with its disorders, neglect, and inefficient legislation, illiteracy has been greatly reduced. The proof lies in the growth of primary schools, and of the number of pupils in attendance. Besides these schools there were 134 public establishments of higher grade and colleges. In 1883–4 the federal government expended $353,080 in public instruction and kindred branches, and appropriated to the same purpose $701,420 for the fiscal year 1885-6. The propensity for separating the sexes is strong in Spanish American countries, hence only a small portion of the schools are of a mixed order.
The clergy for a long time tried to retain control over the higher schools, there to perpetuate scholastic and other old-fashioned ideas. Gradually, however, the states assumed control, and managed to introduce ​a more practical and modern range of studies. The medical school of Mexico stands foremost in the country for excellence, and is, indeed, the only one enjoying a decided reputation. Many prefer to study in France and Germany, in the latter specially in the mining schools; yet they run the risk of meeting on their return with a cold reception, and in any case of having to maintain an unequal struggle with foreign professionals who are more energetic and regarded, as well as more thorough and efficient.
The most popular of the colleges, by reason of the profession taught, is that of jurisprudence. The profession was always favored by teachers and government, and with the wider range of official life opened by the republic, its attractions have increased. The military college, with a fixed membership of 200, is directly under the control of the minister of war. Among other special schools is one for fine arts. Several naval schools have been founded at different times, one at Tepic as early as 1822. The conservatory of music and declamation is sustained by the ​philharmonic society, with a government subsidy. Of the attendance of pupils, about 40 per cent are females.
The school of arts and trades, with its five-year course of mathematics, physics, chemistry, industrial inventions, political economy, Spanish, French, drawing, and mechanical arts, is attended by a large number of students. The school of commerce and administration, and those for the blind and deaf-mutes, are objects of special care and attention.
For women there are several superior schools, and their number and attendance is increasing with the general progress. In the school of arts for women at Mexico, instruction is given in photography, telegraphy, printing, and other branches, with a view to open a path for them in useful careers. The boarding-schools, which absorb a comparatively large number of girls, also impart several advanced studies. Special primary schools exist for women as for men, besides evening classes.
In view of the rapid spread of education and the demand for teachers, the creation of normal schools has hardly grown apace. The smallness and uncertainties of the pay, and the rather equivocal position of primary teachers, have neutralized the aspirations of candidates. Primaries will, no doubt, be surrendered more and more to the charge of women.
The national university, once the pride of Mexico, has disappeared before the encroachments of professional colleges. The similar establishment at ​Guadalajara has suffered reverses, but it may be said to still live in one of the two seminarios controlled by the clergy of this diocese, and so with that of Chiapas. With the advance of education, however, we may safely predict the speedy reopening of one or more of these institutions, and on a basis, it may be hoped, that will serve to stimulate the growing love for education throughout its branches, and serve to retain at home the many young men who now been it necessary to seek European schools. Mexicans are undoubtedly promising pupils, the mestizo being remarkably quick to apprehend, and the Indian holding out bright promises of adding to the list of men like Juarez and Altamirano, the latter one of the foremost scholars in the country. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that as the youth grow up docility yields to indolence at the time when the reflective powers could be best trained. Hence self-culture is not widely developed, and where it is followed we find the national lack of thoroughness interposes serious obstacles to the regeneration of a loose and shallow mind.
​Science, either abstract or concrete, has not been greatly fostered in Mexico. But in spite of obstacles, the old scholasticism so much affected by the church is gradually disappearing. Medicine had been more favored for obvious reasons, there being several chairs in the university, including one of anatomy and surgery, medical students being compelled to attend lectures on botany.
A brilliant course of investigation was instituted into the flora of New Spain under Sesse and Mociño. The latter and a co-laborer named Echeverría were natives of Mexico. To further encourage medical study a school of surgery was established in the royal hospital in 1770. However, the profession was more hampered even than in Europe by old-fashioned schools and ideas. The profession of the church and bar had a greater attraction, and a large number of chairs was provided for these studies in the university; in addition thereto a royal academy of jurisprudence was established in the college of San Ildefonso, and lawyers were formed into a corporation named Real Colegio de Abogados. No mining school was founded before 1783, and this in a country where the mines formed the chief and almost solely appreciated wealth.
It does not seem, however, that the creoles were suited for the steady application demanded by a course
had all the needed material for his subject at command. A review of more historic character is presented by E. Montes in Diario de Debates, Cong. 10, iii. 22-51, in connection with a project for a new law to regulate public instruction. ​of regular training, and the results were not adequate. Their ardor was probably also dampened by the inroad of professional scientists and artists. The disorders of the succeeding war for independence and republican rule were not conducive to the advance of arts and sciences. The best treatise on mineralogy in Spanish was issued by Rio of this school. The first Spanish translation of Lavoisier's chemistry appeared at Mexico, and the Gacetas de Literatura of the learned Alzate, begun in 1788, form no mean index to the growing taste, as specified in the varied philosophic and scientific subjects of its pages. The range of Alzate's studies was very wide, and he published numerous works of the highest value, among which may be mentioned two valuable contributions on cochineal culture and antiquities respectively. Also a number of miscellaneous writings, wherein are noticeable his assaults on the vicious and old-fashioned methods and ideas of the time, which evoked no little enmity of as caustic though less generous a nature.
Alzate also attained honorable distinction in astronomy, though he was excelled by two contemporaries, Joaquin Velazquez Cárdenas y Leon, and Leon y Gama, the former ranking as the foremost geodetic observer of New Spain, and as chief promoter of the mining court and its school; and the latter hardly less prominent, though leaning, in addition to astronomy, to antiquarian subjects. Astronomical science had not been wholly disregarded in earlier colonial days. Sigüenza y Góngora, in 1681, published a ​valuable treatise on comets. He was also the editor of the Mercurio Volante, and was a man of sound judgment and high attainments. Pedro Alarcon and others afterward distinguished themselves in mathematics and astronomy.
It is wonderful how both government and people neglected the relics of New Spain, superior, in many directions, to those of Egypt, and worthy of comparison with those of the middle epoch of Greece. Indeed, they were looked on as devices of the devil, and devoted to extermination. — A few papers and figures were, however, sent to Spain, and roused a spirit of inquiry, which, in modern times, has had brilliant results. The follies of vandalism, such as Zumárraga's, Sahagun redeemed by collecting from Indians of the conquest data on their manners and customs, modes of education, and knowledge. Much of his work was mutilated by narrow-mindedness, but Torquemada, in his Monarquía, saved much of it. The mestizo Father Duran's work met with the same fate as Sahagun's. Acosta brought the result of his labors at an earlier date before the world.
Collections of original documents, in the hands of native nobles, like Ixtlilxochitl, were allowed to be scattered, and only remnants escaped destruction, through the more enlightened care of Sigüenza, Veytia, Ortega, Pichardo, and a few others. Boturini spent six years in gathering several hundred papers and curiosities, which are partly preserved in Kingsborough's great work. Mariano Veytia, a learned ​creole and true friend of Boturini, consulted his fast-fading treasures, and wrote a number of treatises on aboriginal history and relics, of which only one has been published directly under his name. It is confined almost wholly to history, particularly the Tezcucan, and unfortunately gives but little concerning manners and relics. Meanwhile, the clear-headed Clavigero, a creole of New Spain, furnished a work on aboriginal history and institutions, comprehensive, concise, and able, which has been translated into all languages.
The discovery of Palenque roused public attention to the ruins existing all over the country, and stirred government action. Descriptions of such remains may be found in different chroniclers, but they had created little attention abroad, and the peculiar policy of Spain tended to secrecy on matters concerning her colonies. However, the creoles after a time took interest in the subject, and governors of provinces, and even the supreme government, promoted investigation, and the ruins began to be studied with zeal. The results incited the crown to a thorough study of New Spain antiquities, and during the years 1805 to 1808 Dupaix overran the southern provinces, and collected immense treasures, as appears by his reports, which were published in 1843.
Provision has been made in this century for the acquirement of scientific knowledge, with satisfactory results. The various professions justly pride themselves with possessing members entitled to a high standing, not solely at home, but also abroad, where many of their number have been enrolled in various societies, and their productions have been accepted with honor. A national academy of science was established in Mexico in 1857, and another in Puebla in ​1861. During the existence of Maximilian's throne, his government decreed the foundation of an imperial academy of science and literature. The erection of a national observatory at Chapultepec, decreed in December 1876, was carried out in May 1878. The establishment, also comprising a meteorological and magnetic observatory, maintains relations with the chief observatories of foreign nations, and with many scientific associations. It has thrown lustre upon the men who manage it. In 1877 was established in Mexico a meteorological observatory to be the centre of observations made throughout the republic, and to be kept in relations with others of the same kind in foreign nations.
There is a geological society which was established in 1875, and the work of the Mexican Geographical and Statistical Society, which counts among its members many notable scientists both foreign and national, for many years past has contributed to the diffusion of knowledge on many subjects, particularly in connection with Mexico. The conclusion arrived at after a fair investigation of facts is that many sons of Mexico have made great strides in the acquisition of science; that a number of them have excelled in its several branches, and are doing their part well in the transmission to others of the knowledge they possess. ​Their native land is thereby given an honorable position among the learned nations.
The foundation of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, in 1773, inaugurated the promotion of the fine arts in New Spain. Its main object was to facilitate the study, free of expense for the pupils, of architecture, sculpture, and painting. Among the teachers were Manuel Tolsa, sculptor, Rafael Jimeno, painter, Gerónimo Antonio Gil, engraver, and Antonio G. Velazquez, architect. Humboldt speaks of the great interest taken, adding that here all ranks were levelled. National taste in architecture became developed; but the same can hardly be said in regard to painting and animate sculpture. The patronage of the church failed, there were faulty methods, a rigid adherence to stagnant features of Spanish art, and a suppression of originality. Superior models were not to be had. Many, indeed, were the causes that defeated the objects of the academy, among others the disturbed condition of the country.
Baltasar de Echave, the elder, has been by many regarded as the founder of the art of painting in New Spain. His contemporary, in the beginning of the 17th century, was Luis Juarez, who must have been his pupil. An impressive idealism pervaded this artist's subjects. José Juarez excelled all of his predecessors in drawing, and showed a promising originality. He must be classed as the equal of Echave. Friar Herrera was called the divine — praise due rather to striking features of expression than to general merit. The opening of the 18th century was marked by two artists, the brothers Rodriguez and Juarez, of whom Juarez was called the Mexican Apelles, and compared ​to Carracci. Nicolás was inferior and less known. José Ibarra, called the Murillo of New Spain, though with glaring defects and profusion of brilliant colors, stands next in rank to Cabrera, the central figure of colonial art. Cabrera was a Zapotec Indian, and by his excellencies deserved the name of the Raphael of Mexico, though, perhaps, with greater propriety that of Michael Angelo, for he was also an architect and sculptor.
Animate sculpture was too much subordinated as a part of architecture, and confined almost wholly to conventional imitation Special mention is, however, due to the equestrian statue in bronze of Cárlos IV., by Manuel Tolsa, which, for its perfection, has been compared with the finest European work of the kind. Tolsa, for all his splendid talents and his being a teacher in the San Cárlos academy, failed to exercise any influence in the country. In fact, plastic and constructive arts had never enjoyed consideration. The two Coras, who before Tolsa's time were the only sculptors of note, were poorly paid, though some of their work was of a high order. In this respect the feather-work of the aborigines has a claim to recognition. It presented figures with such skilful blending of color as to equal the painting of European masters. In sculpture, some of their figures must be placed above similar conventional specimens of Egypt, while some of the decorative elements in their architecture can safely compare with advanced Greek forms, for beauty of design at least.
Architecture in New Spain may be classed with later Romanesque, with early renaissance, or with the Rococo style. In early days, buildings were erected with a special view to strength. As time ​advanced, strength gave way to mere utility, without any regard to the ornamental. In modern houses, the decorative element has greatly increased. My remarks herein apply almost exclusively to the colonial period.
The cathedral of Mexico presents striking peculiarities in the bell-shaped domes of the towers, the heavy reversed consoles, and in other ways. That of Guadalajara differs in its heavy steeples. On the square at Colima stands a most striking arcade edifice of a Moorish stamp. In the medley of styles, one may even see a Doric frieze over capitals of a different order. In a private house may be seen tapering shafts, like the Maya, with pyramidal base and conic capital. In several convent interiors they have spiral, striped, and Moorish pillars. The spiral appears in the fountain which terminates the Chapultepec aqueduct. In several buildings may be noted the fantastic Churrigueresco style so common in Spain. In several churches of this order the façades are entirely covered with ornamentations, interspersed with niches and statuary in the so-called Jesuit style. After presenting other forms in windows, portals, and elsewhere, above the main buildings its two or three receding stories resume the Churrigueresco embellishments. In one instance the annulated surface of the lower stories has imparted a Moorish stamp.
As a rule, the country churches form a Basilica in one body, with two towers enclosing a gable façade of ogee outline, or with voluted wings-less frequently — circular or plain gable — enclosing either star window or niche, and topped by a pedestal for the cross. The portal has a circular arch with double architrave, the ​outer resting on simple pilasters or columns, and on either side rises an additional pilaster to the cornice, which seldom extends unbroken along the tower. Frequently only one corner is finished with a plain two-story tower, provided with arched windows and a dome. The whole bears a stamp of the utmost simplicity. In the cities a tower can be seen at each corner, with a large dome in the centre, somewhat defaced by tasteless painting. The clustered columns of the interior are fluted Doric, with heavy chaptrels, and here also the balustrade forms a prominent feature.
Among Mexican architects, the only creole of real prominence is Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, born at Celaya in 1745, who has left monuments of his skill and taste in temples, theatres, bridges, and other public structures, and who showed proficiency also in sculpture and painting. He died in 1833.
The Academia de Bellas Artes de San Carlos, which political commotions had allowed to languish, was revived on the 6th of January, 1847, with such happy results that the first exhibitions of the pupils' works took place in 1849, a number of the latter showing a marked excellence. After Mexico went into the throes of revolution, in which even the life of her republican institutions was imperilled, her people could have no thought but for war, and the academy went to decay again since 1858. Its name was changed in 1868 to Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes, and a new impulse was given to the development of fine arts. The collection of paintings, sculpture, and engravings became large and precious. Since 1861 it has comprised the best works found in the convents. ​The institution has well answered the purposes for which it was created, and it is evident that there is good material in Mexico for artists of a high order.
There is at the capital a national museum containing many valuable works, the most important part being the Mexican antiquities. It was founded in 1825, and reorganized in 1831. A law of 1829 forbids the exportation of antiquities, reserving to the government a prior right of purchase.
There is a national conservatory of music at the capital to give instruction in vocal and instrumental music. The country has produced a number of excellent musicians, both vocal and instrumental, and not a few fair composers.
Mexico was the first city on the American continent to have a printing-press, and to publish a book. The press came hither with Viceroy Mendoza in 1535. It is believed that Juan Pablos was the first printer. The first book issued was the Escala Espiritual para llegar al Cielo, Traducido del Latin en Castellano por el Venerable Padre Fr. Ivan de la Madalena, Religioso Dominico, 1536. This work no longer exists. Two books are said to be extant, with the date 1539 and 1540, the former being a Doctrina Christiana, and the ​other a Manual de Adultos. Fully ten other books printed before 1550 are known to bibliographers, and there are about 70 more with dates of the 16th century. A few others may have been brought out of convents. They were chiefly religious, partly in native tongues, and vocabularies and grammar of those tongues. Printing was too much restricted to flourish, and only the leading towns had presses. It appears that there were six in Mexico in 1761, while at the beginning of the present century there were only three.
Periodicals were strictly watched, and were comparatively of little historical value. After the country became independent, newspapers began to flourish; and notwithstanding restrictions established at different periods, they have become numerous throughout the republic, especially at the national and state capitals, many of them being conducted with marked ability. Not a few are noted for scurrility, fiery tone, or bombast. There are many political papers, and not a few of literary or scientific periodicals.
Collections of books were not numerous, during the Spanish rule, outside of the convents, where more or less extensive libraries were formed, almost wholly theologic. However, the few colleges accumulated large lots. Foreign books were strictly excluded, and churchmen discountenanced light Spanish literature. The standard authors of Spain formed the ​gem, the nucleus of the sets, but the number of local writers was large.
At the close of the last century an impulse was given to literature, which in the present one manifested itself, among other forms, in the accumulation of books, and later in the issue of periodicals. Unfortunately, the revolution and subsequent disorder checked the one, and gave an irregular and less desirable direction to the other. Archives were destroyed, and most valuable libraries, such as those of Andrade and Ramirez, were lost to the country, being exported and sold in Europe. The extinction of the religious orders involved the disappearance of books and manuscripts which their convents contained. A few zealous persons in some of the states saved a remnant as a nucleus for public collections, but the general government took no effective steps to establish a national library until 1857. The largest collections in the country, those of the university, cathedral, former Jesuit college, and others, were included, so that over 100,000 volumes were collected within a few years. A number of private collections have also been formed. Men of letters have organized literary societies for the accumulation of books, the fostering of taste, and the publication of meritorious efforts. These societies have also assisted to spread French ideas and methods. Mexico surpasses the mother ​country in the liberal reception of foreign ideas. Indeed, she has remained a mere copyist, it is presumed because her best men devote their attention mostly to politics.
The creoles are precocious and impulsive, but unsustained and not persevering. Indolence of spirit, added to the non-reflective bent of the Castilian, imparted a shallowness to their efforts. It must be acknowledged, nevertheless, that the catalogue of prominent writers presents many Mexicans of the European race who obtained transoceanic fame. The Indian element furnished from early days a long list of writers who redeemed their race from the unjust obloquy cast upon it by a short-sighted and brutal policy; and while the Indian mind in those early times was almost wholly imitative, lacking in breadth and subtlety, and strikingly devoid of imagination and invention, yet its aptitude for mastering mechanical details tended to hide many imperfections. In an early volume, I have given the state of advancement in literature and the fine arts of the Aztecs before the Spanish conquest. With the advent of the Spaniard, a more perfect language came to the aid of native thought. At first it could not throw off the shackles of the former language; the Indians' Spanish poetry, for instance, indicating crudeness and mediocrity; yet these defects may have resulted from submissiveness and bigotry. Among the more prominent writers, deserve special mention three bearing the princely name of Ixtlilxochitl — Fernando Pimentel, his son Antonio, and Fernando de Alva, who recorded the glories of their ancestors. The last named, notwithstanding his faults of construction, won the name of the Cicero of Anáhuac. Juan de Tovar, to whom ​was applied the same cognomen for his proficiency in Aztec, like his father Antonio, and Tezozomoc, liberally contributed to the history of different sections of the valley of Mexico. The brave Tlascaltecs found less finished recorders of their annals in Tadeo Niza, Camargo, Zapata y Mendoza, Pomar, Agüero, and the brothers Ortega. There is noticeable in their productions a lack of embellishment, implying poverty of language. Indian characteristics often crop out. Religious influences have impressed upon the mind its littleness in self-abasement. In the course of years, the defects of language have disappeared, the educated Indian of Mexico using the Spanish language with the same perfection as his fellow-citizen of pure European descent. Peculiarities of character possibly remain, but must have been greatly modified by changes in social and political condition.
The most conspicuous white writers on history of the 16th and 17th centuries, aside from Cortés, Bernal Diaz, and others among the conquerors, were fathers Mendieta, Torquemada, Vetancur, and Tello, Mota Padilla, and Friar Beaumont. Contemporary with Vetancur were the friars Baltasar Medina and Dávila Padilla, both Mexicans, and ranking as Franciscan and Dominican chroniclers, respectively, both verbose and involved. Their worst features appear in the Jesuit chronicles of the same period by Francisco de Florencia. Prose, except that of Sigüenza and Tello, made little advance in the first two and a half centuries of colonial rule, either in treatment or style. The rarer mestizo element evinced less appreciation for letters, with a marked prevalence among them of aboriginal traits. This is apparent in Duran, Historia de las Indias, and Suarez Paralta, Noticias Históricas. Toward ​the end of the last century, a more classic and sedate tone appears, notably in the writings of the Jesuits Alegre, Clavigero, and Cavo, and Mariano Veytia.
A few remarks on the historians of the present century will not be out of place here. The revolutionary condition of Mexico prompted the issue of political pamphlets more or less imbued with partisanship, ridicule being a weapon commonly used with telling effect. But higher aims animated other men, resulting in efforts at history writing. Several comparatively less important productions appeared at first, and from time to time more ambitious efforts began to see the public light, the first one worthy of notice being that of Mier y Guerra, which exhibits research and erudition, but is unfortunately marred by lack of discrimination and by strong bias. He was followed by Mora, Zerecero, Zavala, Alaman, Bustamante, Suarez y Navarro, Portilla, Payno, Tornel, Filisola, Iglesias, Cuevas, Arrangoiz, Alvarez, Rivera, Ancona, Martinez, Zamacois, and others. A number of them have given us narratives of events at certain periods, others have attempted a general history, and still others confined themselves to biography. All of them are entitled to more or less credit, and yet leave a vacuum, either for lack of comprehensiveness, arrangement, or impartiality. Every one seems to have been biassed by religious, political, social, or personal considerations. Prescott's work on Aztec culture and the conquest roused many distinguished Mexicans, Ramirez, Icazbalceta, and Larrainzar, and others, to the study of those subjects. Notes, documents, and essays began to appear. Orozco y Berra went ​further, undertaking a new examination of the whole subject. The result was a work which for comprehensiveness and value in this respect surpasses any other native effort.
The circulation of prose fiction was strictly restricted in colonial times. Mexican novelists, who may be said to have come into existence within the last few decades, find comparatively little encouragement. The most pretentious of these are historic novels, by Juan Mateos and Riva Palacio. Toward the end of the last century figured Gama, Velazquez, Becerra, Alzate, and the earlier Sigüenza, in archæology and aboriginal astronomy. So About the same time figured Villarroel, the essayist, and Fausto de Elhuyar, on coinage.
The most noted bibliographers of New Spain have been Eguiara y Eguren, Biblioteca Mexicana, etc., Mexico, 1755, and Beristain, Biblioteca Hispano-Americana Septentrional, Mexico, 1816-21. Oratory was cultivated from the earliest colonial days, its chief efforts proceeding from the pulpit. The discourses were usually interspersed with Latin quotations, metaphors, mysticisms, and occasionally with anecdotes — all conveyed in florid redundancy. There were, nevertheless, honorable exceptions of pure and pointed eloquence, such as that of Archbishop Nuñez de Haro, and the Cuban Conde y Oquendo, who distinguished himself both in the forum and temple. The forum was also a proper field for the display of oratory. But after Mexico became a nation, with democratic institutions, the field for oratorical displays was greatly widened, and the number of men who ​have won national renown for their eloquence, as well as purity of diction, is quite large.
Spanish poetry is strongly national, despite the successive influence of Italian and French schools. The language is remarkably suitable for versification, notably in forming rhyme, not only consonantal, but alliterative and assonantal. While the ballad has ever retained its hold on popular taste, sonnets were even more frequent in Mexico than in Spain. Epigrammatic verse is common, though inclining to erotic sentiment.
The first attempts at describing the events of the conquest were merely rhyming chronicles. Among descriptive poems must be mentioned Grandeza de México, by Bishop Balbuena, who earned bright fame in his Bernardo and his pastoral Siglo del Oro, both among the finest of their class in the language. Two other subjects engaged the ambitious; namely, the passion of Christ, and the miracle of the virgin of Guadalupe.
Among the authors of shorter poems, odes, sonnets, elegies, satires, and epigrams, deserves special mention Francisco de Terrazas, who figured in 1574, and was honored with praise by Cervantes. Zapata's elegy on the death of the brothers Avila was noticeable for many sweet lines. Church festivals, public inaugurations, celebrations connected with the royal family or prominent citizens, and reunions, gave occasion for displays on this field.
Before closing my remarks on the poetry of colonial ​days, I must make special mention of the nun Juana Inés de la Cruz. Her name had been Juana Inés A bajé y Ramirez, who obtained a recognition far above any other truly national poet of colonial times. Even contemporaries of the peninsula gave her the appellation of the tenth muse.
Among the few writers for the stage are named Vela, Arriola, Salazar, and Soria; all of whom were eclipsed by Juan Ruiz de Alarcon, a creole of Mexico, though he wrote in Spain.
During colonial times, home productions were not much esteemed, even by those who ranked with the creole party. This was mainly due to the authors' subserviency to Spain. The opening of a wider field toward the end of the last century, with the admission of French, English, and Teutonic literature, could not fail to prove beneficial. The Franciscan Manuel Navarrete shines alone during the opening decade of our century, with such lustre as to win him the cognomen of the American swan. Tenderness and purity breathe in his every line, as well as religion and reflectiveness.
Many other Mexicans deserve a place in the roll of poets. Unfortunately, being cramped for space, I am unable to do justice individually to their merits. Their more ambitious compositions have been as a rule translations from the classics. Yet epics have been attempted, like the Anáhua of Rodriguez y Cos. In ​dramatic poetry, three names appear most prominent; namely, Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza, ranking with the foremost of his time, Fernando de Calderon, and Ignacio Rodriguez Galvan, who produced the first national historic drama.
The strength of Mexican poets lies above all in amatory poems, to which should be added a tendency toward elegiac strains, which was so marked among the aboriginal ancestry. It is not deep, for the Mexican is after all a sprightly individual, inclined to frivolity, and little intent on the cares of to-morrow. He is fond of the Castilian proverb and epigram, united to the native bent for satire. He affects a suggestive humor of a picaresque order, which to a foreigner smacks of puerility. It is innocent, however, for it attacks classes and traits rather than individuals. The ode is with him a favorite form of verse, but his efforts generally fail of their aim; the will is there, but not the power. Exceptions only sustain the rule. Patriotic lines are usually pitched too high. In philosophic themes, the shallow treatment is either broken in upon by rash utterance, or left unfinished. Incompleteness marks the portrayal of character or individuals, and the description of scenery. The old national redondilla and the ottava rima measures may be regarded as the favorite, notably the latter. The leaning toward versos de arte mayor, or longer lines, is greatly due to affectation. With all the study of models, the laws of prosody and euphony are so frequently invaded as to confirm the opinion regarding the impetuous temperament of the Creoles, impatient under sustained regulations. However, the wide and choice range of words, strikingly manifested in comparing the vocabulary of the lower classes with that of corresponding Anglo-Saxon ranks, and this facility combined with easy rhythmic How and natural vivacity, impart an undeniable attraction. ​The problem of interoceanic communication has been one of grave importance also to Mexico since the ​days of Cortés, as attested by the surveys made at different periods of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The ​projects to facilitate the transit have latterly expanded into Captain Ead's ship-railway, and the attention ​roused by this daring scheme has revived also the interest in the long-agitated canal. It will not, ​therefore, be out of place to append the following extract from E. A. Fuertes' official report of the survey ​undertaken a few years ago under auspices of the United States government: ​The 10th of October, 1870, the Tehuantepec and Nicaragua Surveying Expedition sailed from the city of Washington, bound for Mexico, its object ​being to determine, in the most absolute manner, if it was practicable to construct a ship-canal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Any scheme contemplating to feed the canal from other than natural sources of supply should be considered impracticable; though in the case of failing to obtain a natural supply, studies and calculations might be made, in order to expose the degree of difficulties to be encountered in obtaining an artificial supply by means of collecting reservoirs and pumping.
On the other hand, if the solution of this problem should present no extraordinary difficulties, or obstacles that could not be overcome with the ordinary appliances of engineering skill in its present state of development, I should declare the project practicable, unless the expense to be incurred in its construction should appear palpably incommensurable with the importance of the undertaking.
The data obtained from our explorations and surveys prove that a shipcanal is practicable on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, because the difficulties to be encountered in its construction are of the ordinary type, or such as are inherent to works of a similar nature, with the difference that they will be met on a larger scale. This fact is due to the assumed dimensions of the canal, and is inherent to the conception of the project, in whatever part of the world it might be located.
The nature of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec makes it impossible to construct across it a 'through-cut' canal. The use of locks becomes indispensable in order to reach the summit-height at Tarifa. This point is the lowest and most available pass in the mountains traversing the isthmus from east to west.
Its true mean elevation above the Pacific Ocean is 754.4 feet, as given by the spirit-level. This height can be easily diminished to 732 feet by a cut 22 feet in depth on the Tarifa Pass. In this manner, the summit-reach of the canal will have the same elevation as the Tarifa River, upon the point at which the summit-level will be fed with water.
The only point from which the canal can be fed is from the Upper Coatzacoalcos or Corte River, near its junction with the Blanco. At this place the Corte delivers 1,618 cubic feet of water per second, and the surface of the water in the driest season is 660 feet above the ocean, or 72 feet below the summit-level of the canal.
Three miles up stream from this point the Corte's waters ascend to the summit-level height.
The river Blanco yields 120 cubic feet per second, and is four feet above the summit at the Tarifa Pass. The banks and bed of the Corte are of clay, rocks, feldspar, and granite. The direction of the stream, width of its bed, which is free from gravel, and the topographical features of the locality, are admirably constituted for the erection of a dam. The materials are at hand, and of the most durable nature. ​It is proposed to construct a dam on the Corte of suitable strength, 122 feet in length at the lip, and 86 in height.
At this place there is a strong depression or pass in the ridge separating the Corte and Blanco rivers. Taking into account the fall or head to be given to the feeder, the horizontal distance between the Corte and Blanco is 1,750 feet, and the height of the pass above the feeder will be 257 feet. In order to turn the water of the Corte into the feeder, on the Blanco Valley, it will be necessary to excavate less than 400,000 cubic yards upon the ridge which separates the Corte and Blanco valleys. Ihis excavation will just supply the material for the Corte dam, the dam at the Blanco, and the inlet chambers, and the revetement wall of the feeder at the Blanco dam.
A dam 16 feet high must be erected on the Blanco. The river-bed is here 130 feet wide, though the river itself is hardly 20 feet across. The dam, however, will have to be built 140 feet long. Eighty feet of this length will be reserved for the Blanco, and whatever surplus waters may fail to pass through the gates and weirs of the Corte in time of floods.
The balance of the length of Blanco dam will be used for the feeder.
This dam will be pierced by the feeder-chamber, provided with regulating flow-gates, and the waters of the feeder will thus run across the left end of the dam, and between the left bank of the Blanco and a wall buttressing the dam and dividing the waters of the feeder and the Blanco River.
This buttressing and dividing wall will not be more than 300 feet in length, and from this point forward the feeder will run through a side cutting, and entirely above the reach of the heaviest floods. A few hundred feet below the dam a series of falls occur, which make it impossible for extraordinary floods to reach the feeder.
The waters of the Blanco, Maxiponac, Capepac, Coyolapa, Escolapa, Pita, Chichihua, Pericon, Otate (and if necessary the Coquipac) rivers can be utilized to feed the Pacific side-levels, furnishing jointly about 495 cubic feet of water per second. The Corte River will supply any deficit that may occur at the summit for the Pacific side and the upper reaches of the Atlantic side. Water can never be wanting for the summit, because only the Pacific plains will draw heavily from it; while on the Atlantic side not less than 30,000 cubic feet flow into the Coatzacoalcos, between the Almoloya and Uspanapa rivers. This amount is delivered by the Almoloya, Malatengo, Sarabia, Jumuapa, Jaltepec, Chalchijalpa, Naranjo, Coachapa, and Uspanapa rivers, and many other small streams. All the rivers are distributed along the shores of the Coatzacoalcos, at very suitable distances from each other.
The general estimates for water-supply made in the sequel call for 1,618 cubic feet per second, as the amount required to work the whole canal, under the exacting supposition that it is to be fed exclusively from the summit.
The available summit streams were gauged at the height of a remarkably dry season, and found to yield jointly 2,113 cubic feet; so that, strictly speaking, 495 cubic feet per second will have to be disposed of by means of waste-weirs from the very summit, in the driest season, and supposing an extravagant expenditure of water.
Since a large portion of the water brought to the summit is to be used on the Pacific side-slope, this fact might lead to the supposition that the ​Coatzacoalcos would lose thereby its present importance as a large river. This objection is met thus: Abreast of Minatitlan, the cross-section of the river has an area of 31,900 square feet, and though the velocity of its current is always more than 1.6 feet per second, even taking it at one foot per second, this would give nearly 32,000 cubic feet of water per second, as the delivery of the river. One twentieth of this amount is taken for canal purposes, and is obtained near its source, and before any of its large tributaries swell the mighty volume of the river. While the diminution occasioned by subtracting so small a volume from the river will be less perceptible than the fluctuations produced by small freshets, this small amount will be sufficient to supply one half of the canal necessities, and to irrigate the sterile lands of the Pacific plains, where the indigo culture languishes for want of water. Besides, when the canal shall have been built, the valley of the Coatzacoalcos will assume its commercial and political importance. At present it is valueless, and the river can hardly be ascended as far as Suchil in Indian canoes.
Having demonstrated that there is an abundant supply of water to feed the summit-level and the whole canal, I will now proceed to describe the feeder route, and the practicability of bringing the water to the summit. The feeder route is divided into five sections. First Division. — The feeder will follow the left bank of the Blanco and Corte rivers, until it reaches the Capepac River. The whole of this division will be in side-cuttings, with very little filling, and only three inconsiderable full cuts. The ground was explored at the points marked with dotted lines. The topography is accurately sketched.
The most important stream crossed is the Maxiponac (Sardine Brook), insignificant as to volume, and remarkable for the number of its beautiful falls. Sandstones and clay are abundant, feldspars crop out in many spurs, and the excavations will be difficult and expensive. The approximate length of this division, including the Blanco Cut, is four and one eighth (41/8) miles.
Second Division. — From the Capepac (Reed Brook), the feeder will commence at Lemon Ridge, at the proper grade; and following the Capepac Valley on the left bank of its western branch, it will extend nearly to its head-waters; 227 feet above the bed of the Capepac, it will be necessary to construct an aqueduct about 1,200 feet long, connecting the Lemon and Devil's ridges. The western portion of this division ends at the gap which forms the water-shed divide of the Milagro and Capepac rivers. Midway between their sources, and at right angles with their direction, flows the Sona-pac (Lemon Brook), traversing the divide, and having its source at Cliff Ridge. The bed of the Sona-pac is 118 feet above the summit; and the width of the gap is 4,150 feet at the grade; therefore a tunnel of that length becomes here indispensable.
The nature of the soil is sandstones at the Lemon Ridge, clay and slates in the upper branch of the Capepac, and marbles at the tunnel. The length of this division is one and a third miles, including the tunnel and the aqueduct. This will be the most expensive portion of the whole route.
Third Division. — This division extends from the tunnel, near the source of the Milagro, to the second ford of the river Pita (Hemp River). It follows the left bank of the Milagro on the lap of the main range, which extends from Cliff Ridge to Tarifa. ​When abreast of the town of Santa Maria, the feeder, whose general direction has been from east to west, turns now to the south-west to escape the lowlands of the Chimalapa Potrero (or flat lands), searching for the lowest pass between the Chocolate Hill and the Sierra Madre. Since this pass is 160 feet above the summit-level, another tunnel will become necessary at this point. Its length will be 3,550 feet. The streams crossed by this division are a few very insignificant brooklets in the eastern end. The Coqui-pac (Black River), I believe, can be turned into the feeder without difficulty, by simply connecting a small dam and a waste-weir. Its floods are said to be inconsiderable, even when other rivers are much swollen; and this looks plausible on account of the small area it drains. After passing the Chocolate Hill, the feeder will encounter a sort of corrugated soil, forming the bed of many little streams, tributaries of the Coyolapa (Second River) and Escolapa (First River); but they do not complicate the difficulties of the feeder route. The Cuchara (Spoonbrook) is passed near its source. This division ends at the Pita, whose waters have the same height as the summit-level. The excavations of the eastern part of this division are in compact limestones and clays. Drift and shales are found in the Chimalapa Potrero, plastic clay on the Chocolate tunnel, and drift and clay in the western terminus of this division. The length of this division will be eleven and three eighths miles.
Fourth Division. — North of the town of San Miguel, the main chain of mountains sends northward a heavy spur, which, ending at Santa Maria, turned the Corte from its western descent and sent it northward. We have named this spur the Cofradía Range. It is solid, and uninterruptedly high throughout its length, with but two exceptions, at the mouth of the Escolapa and at the Pita Brook. Even beyond the Corte, this range lifts again the last of its many heads, as a huge cone, which Indian wit has named the 'Runt.' I will now explain how this range is traversed by the feeder.
The Corte at Santa Maria is 373 feet below the summit. The Pita, which crosses the Cofradía Range, is at the summit-height, and is, besides, a tributary to the Corte fifteen miles below Santa Maria; therefore, by following the Pita Valley, we can cross the Cofradía Range below the summit-grade, since the Pita runs below this grade. The Chichihua, west of Cofradia Range, was found 71 feet below the summit, and the Pericon is 60 feet above, at the point crossed by the transit-line; hence the feeder must be located about half-way between these last points. The whole route of this division is easily excavated, and consists of clay at the Pita Brook, sandstones in the valley formed across the Cofradia Range, and humus and loose earth in the potreros of Chichihua. The length of this division is eight and three eighths miles.
Fifth Division. — This division comprehends the tunnel from the Otate River to Tarifa Plains.
The only important features of this division is the length of the tunnel, but the excavations can be easily and cheaply made, the ground being very soft. The excavations need not exceed 205,000 cubic yards.
The following table contains a condensed statement of the important features of the feeder: ​Number of Divisions. Limits of Divisions. Length of Divisions. Remarks.
| Division No. 1. | From Corte to Capepac | 4 1/3 miles | | 1 tptb.5unnel 1,750 feet long. |
| Division No. 2. | From Capepac to Cliff | 1 3/8 miles | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | 1 tunnel 4,150 feet long. 1 aqueduct 1,200 feet long. |
| Division No. 3. | From Cliff to Pita | 11 3/8 miles | | 1 tunnel 3,550 feet long. |
| Division No. 4. | From Pita to Sierra Blanca | 8 3/8 miles | | Only 3 miles heavy cutting. |
| Division No. 5. | Sierra Blanca Tunnel | 2 miles | | 1 tunnel 9,650 feet long. |
| Total length of feeder | Total length of feeder | 27 1/4 miles | | Joint length of all the tunnels = 3.61 miles. |
Dimensions of the Canal — Its Feeders and Locks. — Calculations for the Water Supply, and Best Form of Cross-sections to be Given to the Artificial Watercourses. — The length of the canal proper will be about one hundred and forty-four miles from the harbor at Salina Cruz to the island of Tacamichapa on the Coatzacoalcos River. Fifty-two miles of this length will form the descending branch from Tarifa to the Pacific. With the exception of Tarifa Pass, there will be no necessity for using lock-flights, and even here, every reach may hold two full lock-lengths, and enough development can be found on the hillside to avoid the grouping of more than two locks at a flight.
The dimensions proposed for the canal are:
| | Feet. |
| Top-breadth | 162 |
| Bottom-breadth | 60 |
| Depth of water | 22 |
| And for the locks: ||
| Length between mitre-sills | 320 |
| Breadth | 42 |
| Depth of water | 21 |
| Depth of prism of lift | 10.14 |
I should recommend double locks; but the estimates that follow suppose each lock subdivided by gates affording respectively 130, 218, and 320 feet of lockage length.
It is extremely difficult, nay, impossible, to determine the amount of water required to feed a canal, unless the condition and nature of its trade are known. This is especially the case when the transit has to be effected through an undeveloped country, under very anomalous political, social, industrial, and economical conditions. I do not feel justified in using the custom commercial statistics before me of the probable commerce that may seek this channel, because for my purpose I have no confidence in them, and no good reason to suppose that this manner of guessing is more rational than any other one, so long as any guessing element enters into the problem. I believe that, through this canal, an immense impetus will be given to the commerce of our Pacific States; that the politico-economical laws of our development demand its immediate construction; that the length of many trading channels will be shortened, and that the capital now eliminated through losses of money, time, and deterioration of merchandise, will be redeemed, and made useful in its application to cheapen produce and increase trade; but I also ​believe that the data required to estimate upon the nature of the Tehuantepec Canal trade for water supply purposes can only be approximated after long study and diligent research of uncollected trade statistics at home and abroad, requiring a length of time made impracticable by the nature of our expedition.
The following table will explain the necessity of knowing the amount of trade to estimate the water supply:
| On level stretches if — | On level stretches if — | And finds the locks — | The vessel will draw from the summit — | And consequently will leave the locks — |
| The vessel is descending | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Full. | No water. | Empty. |
| from the summit. | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Empty. | One lock full. | Empty. |
| The vessel is ascending | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Full. | One lock full. | Full. |
| to the summit. | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Empty. | One lock full. | Full |
| On a flight of locks if — | On a flight of locks if — | And finds the locks — | The vessel will draw from the summit — | And will leave all the locks — |
| The vessel is descending | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Full. | No water. | Empty. |
| from the summit — | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Empty. | One lock full. | Empty. |
| The vessel is ascending | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Full. | One lock full. | Empty. |
| to the summit | $\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\ \end{matrix}}\right.}$ | Empty. | As many locks full as there are contiguous chambers. | Full. |
Although the estimates made are based upon a trade of about twenty thousand tons crossing the summit daily, they have been made under conditions so exaggerated, that. I believe under ordinary circumstances this canal can accommodate thirty thousand (30,000) tons daily.
I have also distributed the canal trade among small vessels, which will consume a large lockage in proportion to their tonnage, thus: 120 lockages, of 170 feet length, for vessels of 200 tons and under; 20 lockages, of 218 feet length, for vessels of 500 tons; 5 lockages, of 320 feet length, for vessels of 1,000 tons. These conditions will require special machinery to attend to the rapid demands upon the gates.
Total Amount of Water Required to Supply the Ship-canal.
| For lockages | 146.94 cubic feet per second. |
| For evaporation | 23.00 cubic feet per second. |
| For filtration | 896.00 cubic feet per second. |
| For leakage at gates | 0.31 cubic feet per second. |
| For leakage at weirs | 2.00 cubic feet per second. |
| For feeder losses | 550.00 cubic feet per second. |
| For the whole canal | 1,618.25 cubic feet per second. |
The following table establishes a comparison between the water dimensions and water supply estimates of the Caledonian Canal; the ship-canal proposed through the Isthmus of Panamá by the engineer-in-chief of the Royal Corps of Miners, Paris., 1841; the Albany and New Baltimore Ship canal, proposed by William I. McAlpine, A. M. S. of C. E., Albany, 1853, and the estimates made for the Tehuantepec Ship-canal: ​
| Designation | Panamá. | Cale- donian. | Albany. | Tehuan- tepec. |
| Length of canal. | 47 1/2 miles | 25 miles | 12 1/2 miles | 122 miles |
| Breadth of canal at water level. | 148 ft. | 122 ft. | 120 ft. | 162 ft. |
| Breadth of canal at trench bottom. | 66 ft. | 50 ft. | 50 ft. | 60 ft. |
| Depth of water in canal. | 23 ft. | 20 ft. | 2 ft. | 22 ft. |
| Lock-length between mitre-sills. | 210 ft. | 172 ft. | 115 to 300 ft. | 170 to 320 ft. |
| Lock-breadth. | 47 ft. | 40 ft. | 31 ft. | 42 ft. |
| Lock-depth. | | | 20 (?) ft. | 21 ft. |
| Estimated trade per day. | 5,000 tons. | | 10,000 tons. | 20,000 tons. |
| Estimated supply for lockage, in cubic feet, per second. | 25,148 | | 98.11 | 146.94 |
| Estimated evaporation, gate, and leakage losses, cubic feet, per second. | 0.462 | | 42.33 | 22.31 |
| Estimated filtration, cubic feet, per second. | 62,224 | | 225.22 | 1,618 |
| Total supply, estimated in cubic feet. | 87,864 | | 225.22 | 1,618.00 |
It will be well to say, before proceeding to the description of the canal-route, that the main efforts of the expedition were dedicated to its immediate object, viz., to determine the practicability of the canal. Considerable time was spent in summit explorations, and in testing the feasibility of projects previously proposed. Disappointment met us everywhere; and when at last the feeder route and its water supply were discovered, the season was so far advanced that it was impossible to extend our level lines to the Atlantic side, and locate the north branch of the canal. However, the ground has been thoroughly explored, the work previously performed for railroad and other purposes, and the profile and plans obtained from the studies of Barnard, Sidell, Orbegozo, and others, coupled with our own observations, enable me to assert with confidence that below the confluence of the Malatengo there is no obstacle whatever in the way of the canal. The broad Coatzacoalcos Valley has room enough, and is flat for a long distance on either side of its thalweg.
The soil at Tarifa is impermeable, and the feeder will deliver its waters directly upon the plains.
A crescent-shaped lake will be formed, which, owing to the nature of the ground, will retain its waters at all points, except at the Tarifa River. At this point, where the soil drains naturally to the Atlantic, the north summit-gate will be excavated.
The Pacific summit-gate will be twenty-two feet lower than the lowest point of the Tarifa Pass. The houses now at Tarifa will form a peninsula, where storehouses, repair-shops, etc., will be built.
From Tarifa the first level will start northward.
From barometric observations behind the Campanario Hill, as well as on account of the grade of the Tarifa River, it appears that there will be required nine locks between the summit and the point of confluence of Chichihua and Tarifa rivers, or one lock per mile.
From this point to Mal-paso, below Rio Chico, the bed of the Chichihua has a small slope, which necessarily widens the distance between the locks. Then the canal will run along the valley of the Coatzacoalcos.
Twenty-one miles above Rio Chico, the Coatzacoalcos falls only three hundred and sixty-three feet in more than one hundred and forty miles of ​river-course. This fact, together with the already large size of the Corte at Rio Chico, guarantees a convenient distribution of the locks.
On the Pacific side it is necessary to descend with sixty-three locks from the summit to La Venta de Chicapa, and this must be done in eight miles; the length of development required for one flight will be 20, 160 feet, while the amount furnished by the ground is 42,240 feet, or, as I have said before, no more than two locks need be grouped in flights. Beyond this point, eight locks will be used in a horizontal distance of forty-seven miles.
It will be seen, by comparing jointly the several profiles of the Pacific plains, that in some places embankments will be required to elevate the surface of the canal to its proper grade.
A profile shows the low range of hills at the Salina Cruz Point, but the prominent elevation seen near the ocean can be overcome by an insignificant cut, because the level-line was run upon a ridge, which is at least fifty feet higher than the small valley upon whose western ridge the road has bee built.
I have been unable to obtain a copy of the profile made by Orbegozo, between the Tarifa Pass to the upper lagoon, by way of La Venta de Chicapa; but from recollection, and notes entered in my journal when I exainined these profiles, I have no manner of doubt in stating that the ground descends very uniformly from La Venta to the lagoons, and also that the ascent, though rapid, is quite uniform from La Venta to Tarifa Pass. I have visited this pass three times from opposite directions. The last time I inspected it was from La Venta upward, in company with the chief of the Mexican commission, for the sole purpose of studying the development of the hill-curves and the location of the locks. We found no place where the locks could not be easily placed to advantage, with regard to economy of time and water, even if double locks were built, with a water-pit between them.
Lieutenant-commander Bartlett ran a transit and level-line down the Tarifa Pass, to the point where all difficulties disappear; but pressure from other quarters compelled me to suspend this work, for the more important one of determining the height of Cofradia Pass. This line was to be continued to the ocean after a return from the Corte region; but finding then that the Mexican con missioners were engaged in this work, in order to obtain the greatest possible number of profiles across the isthmus, the height of the summit was determined by way of La Chivela, San Gerónimo, Tehuantepec, and Salina Cruz.
I expect to receive a copy of the La Venta line from the Mexican commissioners, and if it should arrive in time, it will be appended to this report and credited to them.
An inspection of the general map would seem to indicate that high ground might exist on the plains, between the Chicapa and Verde rivers, on the line traversed by the canal; but this is not the case. Masahua Range starts abruptly from a dead level; the Lagartero Hill looks like a huge boat stranded on the beach. The Verde, which looks formidable in the maps, was crossed twice near Cofradia without knowing it, though looking sharply for its bed.
The Juchitan River is the only one that deserves special mention, because it will require to be spanned over by the canal; but its floods are powerless The south slope of ​when they reach Juchitan. Small culverts along the canal-line in the area covered by the river-floods will overcome this obstacle. These same circumstances obtain in the Tehuantepec River, but in a lesser degree, since this river now runs through a permanent channel, which it was said the river excavated for itself; but while studying the regimen of this river, I ascertained that the witchcraft attributed to this peaceful stream arose from ignorant tinkering with its waters, for irrigation purposes. A trench had been dug unprotected below the flood-line, and the river found an outlet over soft ground to the old sunk turnpike, which was washed away, and ever since kept by the river for its bed.
The highest floods of the Tehuantepec River never reach fifteen feet above its bed. An inspection of profile will show that there is no difficulty in crossing over the stream.
Harbor of the Atlantic Terminus of the Canal. — On the Atlantic side of the isthmus there is a natural, well-protected harbor, made by the banks of the Coatzacoalcos. The harbor varies its depth, but from its entrance to the island of Tacamichapa it can easily be deepened to twenty-two feet.
Between the harbor bar and Minatitlan, the river is very deep, with but five exceptions; viz., at the harbor entrance; near the southern ends of the islands of Guerrero and Diablo; and at the points of confluence of the streams Tierra-Nueva and Camarones. This last point is deep enough, but quite narrow. All these bars but two can be removed without much expense, owing to the nature and extent of the deposits, which are sand and gravel, under twenty feet of water. The narrow Uspanapa Bar is covered by eighteen feet of water at low tide. It is made by deposits from the latter river. The Coatzacoalcos is very deep above and below the point of confluence.
Piles driven on the Uspanapa, or a partial damming of the river, will cause the sands to deposit farther up stream, on its own bed.
With the exception mentioned above, the river varies from twenty-two to eighteen feet in depth in the old as well as in the Kansas channel. The latter channel was discovered in 1871, by the hydrographic party.
The length of the whole trunk is twenty-one miles, counted from the centre of the harbor bar to the Minatitlan custom-house.
The Coatzacoalcos Bar. — This bar has been often surveyed, and its depth, condition, and geographical position have been variously stated by different observers.
A period of twenty-three years has elapsed between the surveys, and in that time the following changes have taken place:
1. The channel at the mouth of the river retains its depth of forty feet, but it is now twice as long as it was in 1848.
2. The horizontal distance between the 40 and 18 foot curves has been elongated one and a half times; but now the channel is narrower.
3. The first contour curve, returning upon itself, and limiting the southern edge of the bar, has receded toward the sea one tenth of its original distance, as counted from the deepest part of the river abreast of the old fort; but vertically over the place of this curve there are now four feet more of water.
4. The width of the bar has not altered sensibly, and is now generally four or five feet deeper. ​5. The 24-foot curve of depth has neither shifted nor sensibly altered its shape. It is inside of the bar, convex toward the sea, and its apex is nearly tangent to the coast line.
6. Between the apex of this curve and the southern edge of the bar, great changes have taken place. The channel has become narrower, and though much deeper, it is quite crooked in the line of maximum depth.
7. No results have reached my hands of the nature of the drift upon the bar before 1840. Now it is made up of coarse and fine, gray and black, sands, shells, and clay, with red and black specks.
8. The black sands belong to the Uspanapa, and, as has been remarked, can be prevented from reaching the harbor by inducing the formation of a bar at the mouth of the Uspanapa, in front of which the sands will naturally settle, practically for an indefinite period.
9. The Coatzacoalcos Bar is an external bar, and is often disturbed by northers. Since the drift, held in suspension by the agitated sea, cannot run up against the Coatzacoalcos current, it is deposited outside of and parallel to the coast, especially toward the eastern side of the entrance. This conclusion seems plausible from the shape of the 6-foot curve.
10. The 18-foot curve shows the limiting height of greatest deposits, and it has advanced toward the channel with an irregular serrated outline, confining the effective cross-section of the river; consequently, the increased depth of water over the bar is accounted for, because the increased velocity, due to the stricture in the channel, has blown away the fine sands.
11. The bar is permanent, with a clay subsoil. This can be shown by the 18-foot curve, thus: The nature of the deposits should be considered with regard to their cohesion and density; as is shown by the slopes of the profiles, the particles deposited over the lower portion of the river slide easily upon each other, and are of light weight. If the bar and river deposits were of uniform density, the current would cut a channel with sensibly parallel outlines; but if the bar is made up of a substance harder than the drift upon it, it will act as a dam, against which the current will impinge, and becoming divided and thrown sideways, it will excavate irregular channels through the material that collects in front of the bar. Also, since the edge of the bar acts as the lips of a dam, the current will wash away the light particles, no drift will be found upon it, and eddies will be found in close proximity to the obstructions, which will produce both shallow and deep holes, not far removed from each other.
If we look at the chart of 1871, it will be seen that these effects, which are the irrevocable sequence of dynamical laws, obtain in the Coatzacoalcos Bar in a very remarkable manner; hence they must be attributed to the hardness and permanence of the bar. It will also be observed that those points of the bar which should expose the subsoil to the action of the currents are the only places where the sound gives 'hard clay.'
12. The profiles and sections accompanying the chart of 1871 will give an accurate idea of the present state of the bar. The parts ruled in black lines represent the required amount of dredging, under the supposition that the entrance channel will be 1,200 feet wide at the bottom throughout its length, and 25 feet deep from the entrance until after crossing the present bar. ​Beyond this point the channel is very deep, and only small excavations will be required on the sides to increase the width of its bottom to the large dimensions proposed.
The nature of all the surveys made of this bar, though sufficiently accurate for navigation purposes, do not offer the minuteness of detail necessary to determine the amount of excavations necessary for the improvement of this harbor.
But I feel no hesitation in asserting, with unusual confidence, that the Coatzacoalcos River can be made a very safe and snug harbor for any class of ships, with but comparatively small expense.
The excavations between Tacamichapa and Minatitlan can be reduced to a minimum by a proper arrangement of the locks, which will slack the water up stream.
The hydrographic party, in charge of Lieutenant-commander Farquhar, surveyed accurately the Coatzacoalcos Bar, triangulating from a measured base-line on its western shore, and checking by auxiliary measurements.
Soundings were taken by finding the angles at each sounding with the sextant, from known stations, at given intervals of time, and locating the average line of soundings by the sextant and bearings.
Nearly the same system was employed in the Coatzacoalcos River. The coast-line was platted from magnetic bearings and measured distances, with check-sights to all available stations.
I have every reason to believe that this work is accurate and reliable. The balance of the hydrographic work on the Atlantic side must be considered as reconnoissances and sketches.
Harbors in the Pacific Terminus of the Canal. — The roadsteads of Ventosa and Salina Cruz have been proposed as the available Pacific harbors.
In their present state, they are both unsuitable for our object, and while Salina Cruz can be converted into a safe artificial harbor, the bay of Ventosa never will be used, on account of its exposure, the nature of its shores, the limit of the surf-line, shape of the coast, and holding character of the ground.
The position of Salina Cruz is in latitude 16° 10' 11" north, and longitude 90° 20' west of Greenwich.
The lagoons offer no natural facilities that would recommend their use as a part of the canal, except in the case that the Pacific branch of the canal should be located in a northerly and southerly direction. But under this condition, the necessity of crossing the Chicapa may by itself offset the problematic advantage of a diminished length of excavation.
I believe that it is impracticable to reach the upper lagoon by an artificial channel from the sea.
The volumes of water of the many rivers traversing the plains bring large deposits from these sandy districts, which are shifted by the tides and currents.
It will be very expensive to excavate, under water, fifteen miles of channel, which may fill up immediately, and having no suitable outlet for a harbor entrance, they are no better than an inland lake for the purposes of this canal
The surveys made by Master C. B. Gill, United States navy, the remarks ​of Lieutenant-commander A. Hopkins and Lieutenant-commander P. H. Cooper, and the statements of the pilots and of the captain of the port, prove that Salina Cruz is preferable to La Ventosa for the purposes of a port of entry.
A breakwater 1,500 or 2,000 feet long, and s. 67° e., will protect this Salina Cruz port, and convert it into a snug harbor.
I apprehend no difficulty in constructing this breakwater with the suitable material at hand. The artificial port at Algiers is not unlike Salina Cruz with regard to the nature of its exposure, but very different as to the violence of the sea, which is milder at Salina Cruz.
I believe that the swell entering the roadstead is due to lateral transmission, and absolutely there is no swell by reflexion. I went on board the Cyane during a heavy swell, and observed its motion along the coast, and immediately after landing I ascended to Salina Cruz Point, to watch the swell from a height. The wind was south, but the swell came from the west, and after being considerably broken by a clump of rocks which advance toward the sea at Salinas del Marqués, it was sent out toward the sea.
The transmitted motion reached the Salina Cruz Point, where the swell was distinctly seen to diminish in height, and to enter the roadstead through the crevices in the rocks at Salina Cruz Point and south of the rocks in a north-east direction. A breakwater in the direction proposed above will make this port as smooth as Marseilles, though with much better entrance.
I do not think it will be necessary to construct a jetty on the eastern end of this port, believing that the breakwater will be sufficient to protect an area large enough to shelter forty vessels riding their anchor at two cables' length.
Although the well-known 'Mexican double-current' runs northward and sensibly parallel to the west coast, its influence does not reach the coast itself; and there must be an inner counter-current in close proximity to the land. This fact was unmistakably observed by me during four days, with north and south winds; and the captain of the port states that though the surface-currents coincide with the wind, they are so light as only to affect the course of small boats; the normal currents are from the south-west to the north-east. He has had many years of experience on this coast.
The line of surf begins almost opposite the custom-house, and gradually widens as it advances toward the Morro Point. The absence of surf on the west end of the port illustrates the shelter afforded by the few rocks at Point Salina Cruz, and serves us as an index to what may be expected from a breakwater.
A wharf 300 feet long could now be used for the discharge of vessels during a great portion of the year; but, since they have no wharf, a rope-ferry is used instead.
I do not desire to convey the idea that it would be easy or inexpensive to convert the Salina Cruz roadstead into a harbor, for the simplest problem of this nature requires special studies absolutely beyond the purpose and means of the expedition.
There is no engineering undertaking more fruitful of mistakes than the formation of artificial harbors, even after protracted study and thorough ​surveys. The complications arising from littoral alluvium often require to destroy a whole series of plans, and to start upon a new system, with loss of time and heavy expenses.
With regard to Salina Cruz, I know nothing about the difficulties to be encountered in the foundation of the breakwater, and next to nothing about the nature, intensity, and effects of prevailing currents and winds. The data I have been able to compile have been given above, and all I can say, as an expert, is, that taking into account the results of surveys and other information obtained, and having inspected the localities referred to, I am not able to see anything impracticable in the proposed formation of this harbor.
Judging by comparison, I believe I am safe in stating that the sea-works performed in many places appear to me to have been constructed on a scale greater than their importance warrants, when they are compared with Salina Cruz as the terminus of this ship-canal. Thus:
Antibes. — Has a double mole, one of them 24 feet above the sea, protecting the harbor against the mistral winds. It has been a most expensive work, requiring many additions to the original plan, as well as corrections.
La Ciotat. — Which, like Cherbourg, struggles against reflected swells.
Cannes. — Where the sand-deposits will forever give trouble.
Olonne. — Port of Sands; open to the south-west winds, with protection against lateral transmission.
Inlands of Yea and Ré. — In the latter, the ports of Saint Martin and La Flotte have given a great deal of trouble, with complications that could not be foreseen before the construction of their moles.
I might mention eight or ten other artificial harbors of a limited commercial influence, whose importance is insignificant when compared with that of Salina Cruz.
Should the commerce of the canal assume such dimensions as would crowd the harbor of Salina Cruz, it can be easily conceived that heavy expenditures would be warrantable in the construction of a channel from the canal to the upper lagoon.
Permanency of the Works and Safety of Transit. — Taking for granted that the dimensions to be given to the canal and accessory works will be such as will fulfil the laws of their stability, the only forces that will conspire against their permanence are the necessary wear and tear incident to the nature of the works, accidents, and cataclysms. The former cannot be avoided, and the engineer has nothing to do with the latter. But it will be well to say that earthquakes are not unfrequent in the isthmus, although I would state that they are not as dangerous as is popularly believed. Their damages have been circumscribed to small localities, and their effects upon the canal, may be considered under two points of view: 1. The immediate damage that the canal itself may suffer; 2. The result of these damages, as they may affect the character of inundations, and destruction of life and property.
Since the feeder and the north branch of the canal are to be built upon the valleys of large watercourses, and using the water of the same valleys, no damage to property nor destruction of life can be anticipated, as inherent to the artificial channel. On the Pacific side, the land being flat, no torrents can be formed; and its many and large watercourses will carry the water from the feeder to the sea.
​I have studied diligently the subject of earthquakes, and their effect upon the isthmus, having consulted the following authorities: Baron A. Von Humboldt, Pilla, A. Erman, Perrey, Sarti, Soldani, Dr Yung, and Dr A. Rojas.
The cataclysms and earthquakes recorded in South and Central America have never proved destructive on the isthmus to an extent that would injure seriously a canal.
From observations by Perrey during many years, the following is the yearly average of earthquakes throughout the earth: 23 in winter, 15 in spring, 20 in summer, 22 in autumn; 80 the whole year.
We visited the isthmus during the two seasons of maximum recurrence, and only experienced three earthquakes, one strong, but which would have been harmless to the canal, and the other two quite insignificant.
Quito, Venezuela, and Chili are the points of the continent whence earthquake-waves are mostly propagated toward the isthmus.
The earthquakes of 1852 are the most striking general earthquakes recorded, and in Oajaca and Vera Cruz only a few houses were cracked. At all events, they were not calamitous. These earthquakes began on the 17th of January, by an eruption of the Mauna Loa, nearly destroying the Sandwich Islands. In July, Cuba and Porto Rico suffered terrible losses in life and property; on the 17th of the same month it was felt in Ceuta; on the 18th in Santo Domingo; and in Austria it was so violent that the shock rung the church-bells; on the 25th it was felt in Georgia, United States; on the 16th of September the inhabitants of Manila experienced the heaviest oscillations in their records; St Iago of Cuba was completely destroyed, and at almost the same instant the Etna entered into one of its most terrible eruptions. It will be seen that there must be some reason holding good for the safety of the isthmus, when it escaped the commotion of a centre of disturbance comparatively close, while distant points were violently shaken.
The general earthquake of 1867, which proved so calamitous in the West Indies, was harmless in the isthmus.
The above is not presented as a proof, but only as a plausible deduction, tending to show the stability of the isthmus.
There are strong reasons to confirm the belief that Calabria, Tuscany, Portugal, Cuba, and Japan are subject to heavier commotions than any isthmian route will ever be; and yet this danger is never taken into account in connection with public works, or commercial and political enterprises.
The data obtained from our surveys are not sufficient to make estimates as to the cost of the canal.
I have thought it advisable to exaggerate the dimensions of all the elements tending to exhaust the summit water supply, and to tunnel for the feeder in localities in which I had reason to believe that an open cut would be less expensive.
I believe that the cost of the feeder is not incommensurable with the importance of the canal.
For the purpose of comparison, we have the Croton aqueduct, which brings water to New York from a distance of 41 miles. In its construction, it has been necessary to prepare an immense drainage area, to make costly improvements, and an expensive dam at the Croton River; to bring the water through ​an arched aqueduct to the elegant high bridge over the Harlem. The old reservoir was constructed in Central Park, the distributing reservoir in Forty-second street, and many accessory works, more or less expensive, were finished, at an average expense of $1,000,000 per mile.
Many years of connection with the Croton aqueduct have made me familiar with the character of its works, and the thorough survey made of the feeder route enables me to believe that the construction of the ship-canal feeder cannot exceed one fifth of the entire cost of the Croton aqueduct.
The expenses to be incurred for the canal proper need no defence; they depend upon the assumed dimensions of the trench and locks, while the class and number of obstacles to be overcome are of the most ordinary nature.
Although the construction of this ship-canal is truly a large project, when compared with many ancient works its magnitude disappears.
One thousand one hundred and seventy-eight years before Christ, the pyramid of Chemnif was commenced. In its construction 360,000 slaves were employed during twenty years, and ten years were spent in the building of the causeway, over which 100,000 men, in gangs of 10,000, brought the materials to the pyramid.
The canal built by Nitocris, queen of Babylon, and which protected her kingdom against the Medes, was made by turning the Euphrates into an artificial channel, probably provided with gates and sluices, and with so many windings that it was a three days' voyage to pass the town of Ardericca. To prevent the city from inundations, Nebuchadnezzar, five hundred and sixty-two years before Christ, built an immense lake to receive the floodwater, while facing the banks of the Euphrates with brick and bitumen walls the entire length of its course through the city.
Modern Rome is abundantly supplied from three of the twenty aqueducts that once brought water across the Campagna, in lines from 30 to 60 miles in length. One of these aqueducts passed over 7,000 arches.
The Thermæ of Agustus and Diocletian were magnificent conceptions of luxury. In the latter, 40,000 Christians were employed, and it furnished baths for 32,000 people, in sumptuous buildings covering an area nearly a mile in circumference; while the ruins of the baths of Caracalla still attest to their ancient vastness, being the largest ruins inside the city, next to the Coliseum.
One third of the walls of the Coliseum still remain, inclosing the area where 100,000 spectators once witnessed a naval battle fought upon an artificial sea.
I believe that, taking into account the transcendental importance of the Tehuantepec ship-canal, and the power of our present civilization, other reasons than 'natural obstacles' and the 'expense of the undertaking' must be given for postponing any longer the opening of whatever isthmian route may prove most beneficial to the national interest and the commerce of the world.
Explorations of the Coatzacoalcos River. — On the 28th of November, the Kansas steam-launch and four canoes shoved off the Coatzacoalcos bank, opposite the American consulate, having on board our instruments and all the officers and men, bound for the mountains.
​With a clear day before us, we moved slowly up stream, meeting many mahogany and cedar rafts. At 8 p. m. we landed at Almagres, a dilapidated town containing 98 voters, and situated thirty-seven miles south of the bar.
This is the highest point of the river that could be utilized for a ship-canal, on account of its small depth and frequent bars. It will be more economical and expedient to commence the canal at the town opposite the Rancho del Mariscal, cutting through the island of Tacamichapa, in the direction of Absalotitlan, and by clearing the entrance of the Mistan Fork avoid the sand deposits which come from this river. Although the Jumuapa River has a fine sand bottom, either the configuration of its outlet, its internal bars, or the shape of its shores prevent its sands from drifting into the Coatzacoalcos, because the general character of the bottom of the latter river consists of plastic clay, with a remarkably small amount of gravel and sand.
For a description of the Coatzacoalcos below Almagres, see extracts of Captain Farquhar's report.
The river banks below Almagres are very low, frequently flooded, and the country is crossed by many creeks, which complicate the regimen of the river, not only with regard to the tides, but also in connection with the floods.
It will be seen in the meteorological report that the river rises and falls, often without apparent cause, and independently of the tides and wind.
The most important of these creeks drain the country west of Minatitlan, and are the Menzapa, Apepecbe, Ocosapa, and Jacoteno, on the left bank; and the Coatajapa, which drains the country north of the San Antonio River. All river depths referred to in this report relate to the dry season, unless otherwise stated.
Two and a half miles south of Minatitlan, a haven exists, made by the confluence of the Ojosapa and Tacojalpa, where the Spanish government water-cured pine masts that were afterward taken to the Havana and Carraca arsenals.
The breadth of the river from the Coachapa to Almagres varies from 400 to 500 feet, while at the confluence of the Uspanapa in the south extremity of Guerrero Island, near Tierra Nueva, and near its month, this majestic river is nearly half a mile wide.
These and other important facts devoloped by the accurate surveys of this river by the hydrographic party shows that a secure harbor can be obtained on the gulf side of the isthmus, and safe navigation for any sized ships, as. far as the island of Tacamichapa.
The improvements required can be easily and cheaply effected. The description of this river given by Señor Moro is very accurate, from the Milagro River in the Chimalapa region, down to its mouth in the gulf.
I differ from his opinion that the Coatzacoalcos could be utilized as far as its confluence with the Malatengo. To straighten a large watercourse is extremely expensive, and above Almagres this river is abruptly tortuous, and shallow in very long stretches. Also Señor Moro never went north and east of Santa Maria Chimalapa; and Senor Robles, who surveyed the Upper Coatzacoalcos very hastily, was often deceived by the native Indians.
We left Almagres on November 29th, and proceeded up the river. Two ​miles above Almagres we saw the first bluff upon its shores. It consisted of green slate, and was about 60 feet high. A decided change in the height of the shores became noticeable, and not unfrequently we saw evidences of strong flood-currents.
Five miles above Almagres, the river becomes uninterruptedly tortuous, being filled with extensive bars and snags. Its current flows at the rate of 3 and 4.5 feet per second, in long shallow stretches; 7 miles above Almagres one of these bars had dammed the river so high that it broke through another place, or 'rompido,' in about 1848, running them through the old channel that it had excavated in 1834. This rompido shortened the river-course 6 miles, but the bar now below this point is so shallow that the next flood may again alter its course. From the best information I have been able to obtain, these breaks take place every twelve or fifteen years. Our travel through this part of the river was very unpleasant, as it rained in torrents, and the current was so swift that the canoes passed the steam-launch with ease, though the latter carried 70 pounds of steam. The launch became disabled and was sent back, though she could not, in any case, have proceeded much farther up stream, on account of the frequent bars, over which our canoes now often found difficult crossings.
At Peña Blanca we saw the first indication of stratified rocks thus far noticed; the banks were 60 feet high, composed of white and green strata of clay, with a shallow synclinal. The average strike was about 12°, and dipping south. The natives use this clay in the manufacture of their rude pottery.
The river bottom is here hard, and is made up of sharp sand, small gravel, and clay.
From the island of Guapinoloya to Pedernal Island, the river is very deep, with a clean clay bottom, and only occasionally sandy.
The temperature of this river is about 3 degrees cooler than the air in the morning, and 4 degrees cooler at noon. This was only observed during our journey of eight days up the river.
After passing the Chalchijalpa River, the banks are quite high, and the Coatzacoalcos grows wider and shallow opposite the island of Oaxaqueña, where it is about 1,400 feet wide, with 12 feet of water in the channel, which is about 200 feet wide. The river branch on the north-west side of this island was nearly dry. In latitude 17° 27' north, there is a dangerous bend, with a high bluff in the receiving shore, and a large sand deposit on the salient shore. Farther up we passed the Perla and Platanal Islands, covered with camalote, gimba, and crocodiles. The camalote is a tall grass eaten by cattle; the gimba is a species of bamboo.
The roots of both plants afford a most effective protection to the banks against the heaviest floods.
Opposite these islands the bottom is clean, plastic clay, which occasioned great difficulty to the pole-men, whose poles were buried fast.
In latitude 17° 23' north, longitude 94° 25' west of Greenwich, the country becomes wild and wooded; the current is swifter, and the river narrow-, although the volume of water appears undiminished, even after passing above the Chalchijalpa.
The Chalchijalpa is a large river, whose different sources come from the ​direction of the Chimalapa Mountains. Señor Moro says: 'The Indians of Santa Maria ascend it on rafts to a point 38 miles distant from their village.'
Although it may be possible to utilize isolated portions of the river for the canal, even in these high points, it is my opinion that flood-gates and other accessory works will overbalance the economy of excavations. Be it as it may, future surveys must determine these points, with the study of details.
We then passed the Jaltepec, or 'Rio de los Mijes,' which, although 300 feet wide at its mouth, has an extended bar, with a channel 12 feet wide at its mouth, and less than G feet deep. A short distance above this river, on the Coatzacoalcos, we encountered the first dangerous rapids having a very strong current, which spends its force in lateral deep holes, with extensive whirlpools.
The river Jaltepec has its source in the Mije Sierra, a district densely wooded, and originally inhabited by the powerful Indian tribes whose few ramaining descendants are now passing away. The remnants of these races are only found here at San Juan Guichicovi.
The Coatzacoalcos widens, and again has the appearance of a great river, until after passing Súchil.
At Mal-paso it again contracts; the channel is narrow, tortuous, and filled with large stones.
'Súchil,' which, translated from the Mexican, means 'a flower,' is the head of canoe navigation in the dry season. This small settlement is on the left high bank of the river, and from this height an extensive view can be obtained over the low banks of the opposite shore. Above Súchil, and until we reach Mal-paso, the river remains wide, and the banks are generally formed by green slate.
The first hills become visible on the right bank, between the Jumuapa and Chalchihalpa rivers.
They are low and broken in outline, and from among them flows a brook, latitude 17° 22' north, longitude 94° 35' west of Greenwich, which Don Benito Suarez says is fifteen miles long, and whose waters in times of flood run through the bed of the Chalchijalpa. One mile and a half above this brook, we left the Coatzacoalcos, and entered the Jumuapa River. Its appearance is different from that of the Coatzacoalcos, though with indentical geological characteristics. It is about 300 feet wide at its mouth, with deep banks, and so shallow that our canoes could hardly get along through its tortuous channel filled with snags. A few days later in the season, travel by water is interrupted, and canoes can ascend as far only as Súchil.
After passing the Jumuapa's mouth, the average width of the river cannot exceed 100 feet, with a current of three and a half miles per hour at this season, and a general depth of from 3 to 5 feet; but the channel is traversed by innumerable sand-bars, with only a few inches of water over them. The waters of this river are about 2° colder than those of the Coatzacoalcos, and as we ascend the stream the bottom looks blacker, the texture of the clay is coarser, the rocks on the banks more granular, red clay becomes more abundant than green, and many patches of oil, from vegetable distillation, are seen floating over the water. On our first camping out on the Jumuapa, latitude 17° 18' 30" north, longitude 94° 33', I picked up from the beach several pieces of water-worn lignite. ​In latitude 19° 18' 30", longitude 94° 33' west of Greenwich, we found large deposits of iron-sand, and what, perhaps, may be gold. It is not mica, and although the little bright particles might be copper or iron pyrites, still they could be sensibly flattened by pressure.
Above this point rapids are met at every bend, and the river is constantly breaking through new channels, though these changes are circumscribed to very narrow lateral limits. Four rompidos are found here in less than two miles.
During our journey, all the officers made independent notes and observations, which, being compared at night, were found to agree very fairly while on the Coatzacoalos; but after entering the Jumuapa, it was found impossible to compare our notes satisfactorily. This river and the Sarabia are said by Señor Moro to descend from the Guienagate Mountains. Finally, we passed the Fortuguero Brook, which enters the Jumuapa on its left bank, and all the surveying parties landed at La Puerta on December 6th, after eight days' canoe travelling.
Explorations from La Puerta to Chivela. — After leaving La Puerta, we reached the picturesque plains of Sarabia; travelling on mules over very bad roads.
The whole district up to San Juan Guichicovi is made up of red clay in its plastic state, and slates of several colors, and of all degrees of hardness and denudations. Compact limestone here makes its first appearance in our journey, and its constant association with silicates indicates the presence of hydraulic limestone.
The extensive district of San Juan Guichicovi contains jasper and argillaceous limestones. From the latter a good cement is made, as can be attested by the huge pile of this material opposite the old unfinished church commenced by Cortes.
While passing through this wild and romantic region, we crossed the Mogañe and Pachiñe, both torrent streams, tributaries of the Malatengo, and of no value to our purposes, being low as to elevation and insignificant as to volume.
The geological features of the country do not again change much until after crossing the Malatengo near its junction with the Citune River. The clay then becomes more sandy, compact limestone forms the base of the mountains, and gray slate and quartz bowlders are seen in abundance.
In the neighborhood of Petapa, a greenish slate was often met with, and on the road I picked up a piece of blue and green malachite.
Gaining very little information here, we left for El Barrio, after taking note of the traditional rumor about some large lakes in the Petapa Mountains.
Leaving El Barrio, we crossed several small dry streams, and lastly, came to the Almoloya, which was spoken of as the great dependence of the summit-level. We found it about 20 feet wide, with a sluggish current, and hardly 6 inches deep. Its bed of sand and gravel was often dry, the water percolating through the gravel. What we had seen convinced me of the impossibility of using the streams that could be found high enough for supplying the summit-level of a ship-canal.
Still, to place these facts beyond doubt, transit and level lines were run, ​with the results given in the sequel. From the Malatengo near the Cituñe River, the ground rises constantly toward the north, and after we crossed the Almoloya it descends steadily toward Chivela.
This hacienda is situated on the south-west course of the remarkably level table-land of the summit of the sunk Cordilleras, which join the Andes by the east and the Rocky Mountains by the west.
The Tarifa and Chivela plains are one and the same table-land of the summit, but the valley seems divided into two parts, the hills approaching each other a little to the south-west of Tarifa.
The remarkable Chivela plains can be said to be the flat, broad valley of the Otate Brook, and having an area of ten and one half square miles.
The soil is sandy to the depth of about twenty feet, as is shown by the wells of the locality, and the easily excavated and deep banks of the many brooks that traverse its surface in the rainy season.
North of the Chivela House, the eastern slope of all the gently rolling hillocks are covered with stones of different sizes, hinting by their direction and position that they have been deposited there contemporaneously with the drift of the Pacific plains, or by the action of floods of a more recent pericd.
There are eight dry-brook crossings before entering the contracted part of these plains, and they show that the sand deposit becomes thinner as we approach Tarifa, where many pools of stagnant water prove that the soil is impermeable.
The houses at Tarifa are on a slight elevation, and all the surrounding country becomes flooded during the heaviest rains; but soon after, the waters find their way to the Atlantic by the Almoloya and Chichihua rivers. These plains are covered with grass, and in the places not cleared, a thick underbrush shelters abundant game and a few beasts of prey.
Royal palms, the silk-tree, and three species of sensitive plant are very numerous.
We remained in Tarifa a week, waiting by appointment for Don Julian Macheo, the owner of extensive lands of the isthmus. We made many explorations with a levelling transit and two barometers, measuring distances with the micrometer on the speaking-rod.
Simultaneous barometric observations were taken hourly on the coast, at Chivela, and at whatever point explorations were under way.
We found the details of the country very imperfectly given in maps, and became convinced that we should be obliged to do the topographic work over again, especially in the neighborhood north of Tarifa. Señor Macheo informed me that the lake supposed to exist by some, near the headwaters of the Chicapa, was simply an invention; because his father visited the source of the Chicapa, and never found the lake. Later in our explorations, I saw the principal source of the Chicapa as it poured from among the crevices of the large rocks in the neighborhood of Mr Scarce's rancho.
The Tarifa River has its source in the Pasapartida Hills.
On December 18th, its breadth was 20 feet, its mean depth.08 foot, and its mean velocity.03 foot per second; consequently its delivery was at the time less than one half cubit foot per second.
From Tarifa to Chichihua River. — On December 19th we left early in ​the morning, to explore the Chichihua River. We crossed the Tarifa River three times, the fir-st part of our journey being toward the north, and upon its valley a beautiful and grassy plain. At the end of the first three miles we left the Albricias Mountains and the Convento Cerro to the south-east, and began to ascend rapidly to the north, by the complicated system of hills which divide the Tarifa and Otate water-sheds.
I will be very particular in describing this, the last north-west spur of the Albricias chain, because here lies the heaviest part of the cutting for the canal-feeder.
The Albricias Mountain h made up of marbles and magnesian limestones, from the Convento Cerro till it reaches a point east of Santa Maria; it follows parallel to the Corte River for a short distance, and then turns east; in other words, compact limestone and dolomites skirt the base of the highest isthmian mountains, at a height of six or seven hundred feet above the ocean.
Due north of Tarifa are found soft limestones, very different from the dolomites above referred to, partaking more of the character of travertine.
They were deposited in strata, whose dip is now vertical, with a north and south strike, and this character is common to the whole of this spur; but the quality of its material varies a great deal, since sometimes it is calcareous tufa; then it passes into argillaceous marl, and again the clay disappears, and sand predominates.
This material is so soft that the foot-travel over it grinds it into impalpable dust.
The furrows made by each rainy season compel the Indians to leave last year's tracks for new ones, until they have made so many paths over these hills that it is confusing to select the best road.
North of this ridge the country descends to the Chichihua Valley, and is formed by soft sandstone, until the junction of the Chichihua and the Pericon, where jasper and argillaceous rocks are again seen ascending toward the north, forming the hilly district enclosed by the Chichihua, Malatengo, Corte, and Coyolopa rivers,
Occasionally plastic red and green clay are met with, as well as granular quartz bowlders.
South of the Pericon, the streams have cut their way through the rocks in situ, and neither drift nor indications of heavy floods are visible; but the bed of the Chichihua has clear, sharp sand brought down from the potreros east of Cofradia Range.
The summit of Sierra Blanca Pass is 1,232 feet above the ocean, and in order to get the waters of the Corte into Tarifa, it will be necessary to cut the thin web at this pass to a depth of 483 feet, or to tunnel through it, if it 13 found cheaper than either an open cut or a detour up the Tarifa River Valley. In the present state of my knowledge of the locality, I would propose a tunnel, that may be of small dimensions, through rocks that I know are very soft. This tunnel will be 9,650 feet long, and its area need not exceed that of a rectangle 19 feet by 12 feet, surmounted by a semicircular arch of 12 feet span. Under these conditions, its cost will be less than $600,000. ​From the pass we descended by the north-east to the Otate Brook; crossed a gently rolling plain, with rich pastures, and ascended the Chichihua Mirador, a high hill, from whence the surrounding country could be easily inspected. We took several observations with the barometer, and measured sjveral angles to test Moro's triangulation. We descended to a small valley, crossed the brooks Mentidero and Milagro, and after one and a half miles' travel to the north, we ascended the hills which form the left bank of the Chichihua. Their general direction is to the east; and these hills are highest at the Pericon junction, where there is a cañon about 100 feet wide, with nearly vertical walls, about 150 feet high. A gradual descent to the east brought us to the Chichihua below the Corazo Brook, and where we crosssectioned the Chichihua at a point 71 feet below Chivela; a short distance below, the Chichihua flows into the Corte River. It was here that I conceived it possible to use the Corte as a summit-feeder, because its tortuous course and probable rapids naturally led me to think that it would be easy to overcome the small difference of level without going very far up stream.
Monetza River and Caves. — We left Tarifa December 21, 1870, very early in the morning, under a leaden sky, from which poured a blinding rain. Oar route was by the north-east until we reached Tabla Bolsa, which is a very small valley, lower than Tarifa, since it sheds toward the east. The ranecillo, which we crossed and followed after the last Tarifa Ford, led us to the source of the Monetza. This river flows from under a natural Gothic arch, cut by its waters in the south-west extremity of the Convento Hill. This hill consists of pure black marble, and the walls of the arch or tunnel which traverses it are perforated and jagged, pouring in all directions fine transparent streams of crystalline and delicious water. This natural arch or bridge is 25 feet high, 23 feet broad, and about 120 feet long. A thousand yards below this point, the stream, which flows over a black bed of rocks fantastically water-worn, plunges into a beautiful cave about one half a mile long, and called the Large Convento.
The Monetza was found 112 feet below the summit at its source, and delivering 2.8 cubit feet per second. After this river emerges from the mountain, it is joined by the brook Lena del Monte, and with a uniform grade runs along a fertile valley which terminates in the Chicapa River, at the town of San Miguel, 300 feet below the summit. The material of the Convento Mountain is admirably suited for construction purposes; and a marble and lime quarry can be easily opened at a very convenient distance from the summit-works. I will not describe the exact route from Tarifa to San Miguel, being of little importance to our subject.
The Chicapa was first cross-sectioned at San Miguel, near the Niltepec Ford, though with a result higher than its minimum value, since copious rains had been falling for the past six days.
Six experiments were made for velocity, at the end areas of the portion of the river chosen, using the surface velocity reduced to mean velocity by Weisbach's formula. This same method was employed in all important rivers. The village of San Miguel is on the right bank of the Chicapa, and at the point of confluence of this river with the Monetza and Xoxocuta rivers, being shut in by high mountains on all sides. ​The Xoxocuta comes from the mountains north of San Miguel and flows to the Pacific, while a small stream on the north slope of these same mountains flows to the Atlantic. The sources of this stream, which are quite near, were explored; and since San Miguel is so low, and the streams are so short, I conceived the hope of finding here a low pass to bring the Corte waters to the east end of Cerro Albricias, using the Lower Chicapa Valley for the canalbed. The San Miguel Pass was subsequently levelled, and found impracticable.
We spent two days in San Miguel, weather-bound, but making short excursions in the surrounding country. Afterward, we here obtained, in fair weather, five long series of barometric observations, and found the altitude to be 403 feet above the ocean. The same, as given by the level, is 404 feet. On December 24th, Chimalapa Indians were engaged to accompany us into the woods, and early on the morning of the 25th we started up the Chicapa Valley, with the intention of testing the practicability of joining the Chicapa and Ostuta rivers, as suggested by Señor Moro
It will be well to say that, from San Miguel to Mr Scarce's rancho, bearings were taken with the compass, and the distances were estimated by the watch, keeping a uniform gait in our walk. All I can claim for this exploration is, that it is a very conscientious reconnoissance of the ground, giving an accurate idea of its topography. It has been platted with the bearings taken all along, and the latitude of three points, after calculating our rate of travel. It is also abundantly checked by the bearings of prominent points, taken from Tarifa, Convento Summit, San Miguel, Xoxocuta, Palmar, near an indigo plantation, before descending to Ultimo rancho, at Rosetta Hill, on the Espiritu Santo Hill, and on the Traversal, at three different points. This route can be said to have been surveyed by intersecting bearings from known points.
The whole Chicapa River can be ascended to its source without great difficulty, through a wild and uninhabited region.
The only remarkable feature of this stream is its extraordinary rise, which takes place at the rate of one foot in a hundred, since it falls 1,000 feet in less than 18 miles.
Mr Scarce's rancho was found to be 616 feet above the Chi vela station; and the Chicapa at this point passes less than 50 cubic feet of water per second.
At the end of four days we again started up the stream, following the bed of the Chicapa with the compass, and levelling by angles of elevation and depression, and reducing to the horizon the distances as given by the micrometer. About 1,700 feet from Scarce's rancho we came to the main source of the Chicapa. The water pours from among the crevices of very large bowlders, which have fallen over the bed of the river, from a cliff about 800 feet high. Prom this point forward, the river, which delivered about 50 cubic feet at Scarce's rancho, hardly carries two or three cubic feet of water.
Beyond this point, and about 1 £ miles from Scarce's, the little water that flows, and the reduced size of its bed, made me abandon this thalweg for that of a dry brook with a very wide bed, whose direction seemed to lead toward the Atravesado Mountain. This brook was named Arroyo Providencia.
The small tributary of the Chicapa, just abandoned, turned toward the ​north behind a high chain of near hills, and is evidently a very small and short stream. Up to Último rancho the rocks are argillaceous; but near the source of the Chicapa, compact and blue limestones abound, which grow coarser as we ascend to the Arroyo Providencia.
This stream runs through a deep canon, two or three hundred feet high, and its precipitous sides are covered with overhanging stalactites.
We also found quite a large deposit of nitrate of potassa about two miles east of Scarce's rancho. After four days' travel we ascended to a high spot, where the underbrush ceases to grow.
We then ascertained that we had followed the lowest valley, which leads directly to the gap between the highest point of the Sierra and the Atravesado Peak; in other words, we had followed the valley supposed by Moro to be the bed of the Chicapa River. A reconnoissance from a high point advised us to leave Providencia Brook, which had become impossible to ascend, for another more southerly and marked valley, which was named Aguas Nuevas, in commemoration of the day, January 1, 1871. When we struck it, at 7 a. m., our height was 1,375 feet above Chivela, and at 4 p. m. our elevation was 3,245 feet. Feeling convinced beyond any possible doubt that this was the lowest thalweg within five miles from north to south, I determined to leave its bed, and see how the country looked east of us, or toward the Ostuta. Ten minutes up-hill travel brought us to a cleared eminence, from which I saw, with a feeling of disappointment I cannot describe, that the chances of bringing a feeder through this route were very few, because our height was so great, and the Ostuta, running from north to south, had to descend an astonishing distance, in order to make a junction of these rivers possible, since the Pacific plains reached to our latitude, and from this point northward the mountains rise abruptly from the plains. I hoped that our labor might still bear some fruit, because, turning to page 11 of Señor Moro's original report, in my possession, entitled 'Reconocimiento del Istmo de Tehuantepec, London, June 1, 1844,' I read the following words, which I translate. Señor Moro, standing on the Atravesado Mountain, says: 'Toward the north I saw the deep ravine through which the Chicapa runs; and on the east the high lands of the Ostuta's bed, which I had just visited and recognized perfectly, were less than three miles off. The difference of level between the two points is so inconsiderable that there is no doubt as to the possibility of effecting the junction of these rivers. And it is no less evident that there is not the least obstacle to prevent it, in the short distance intervening between them." Filled with hope at this precise statement, although very short of provisions, and with the Indians who accompanied us very discontented and rebellious, I turned to the south-east, in order to ascend the Atravesado. Failing to see from the Atravesado anything in the direction of the Ostuta, on account of an intervening mountain, we moved south and then east, in order to descend by a detour to the most south-easterly spur of the Atravesado.
With the exception of the high point just abandoned on the south, everything else east or north of us appeared under our feet; and had it been possible to see the high land of the Ostuta from any point of this mountain, this was the place from which to view it. The highest part of the sierra bears ​north 2° east from us, and a spur from it hides the place through which Moro thought he saw Ostuta. Since his assertion, quoted above, is so positive, I must conclude that he lost his bearings, and mistook for the Ostuta the small valley running behind Trespicos Hill, and the peculiarly sharp and craggy limestone hills near them, called the Cucumates; but these points are evidently low, too far south, and proved to be at least fifteen miles away from where Moro proposed to begin his feeder. The deep valley we saw at our feet with terrible distinctness proved to be the Ostuta's; but we could not believe it, because it appeared to be 4,000 or 5,000 feet below us. After all our notes were platted, the Fortuna Brook was found to run up so near the gap that it may be possible that Moro mistook it for the Chicapa. This opinion is strengthend by the fact that Moro ascended the Atravesado from Niltepec, and not by the bed of the Chicapa. I declare distinctly that there is no point on the Atravesado, nor near it, from which the Chicapa and Ostuta valleys, nor the land through which they run, can be seen at the same time.
I was accompanied on this expedition by Mr Buel and Señor Macheo — two of the most courageous and daring men I have ever known. We considered this solution of Moro's project as the only hope for a canal; since the Corte project, besides being as yet problematic, the weight of evidence was against it; therefore, we studied these mountains with anxious intetest, sparing no personal discomfort, till the country was explored as far as it was possible for a human being to go.
Moro's assertion was not verified, and since our steps were barred by the precipices which bind the eastern edge of the Atravesado, we determined not to give up hoping until we had seen the ground from below, upward. Accordingly, we decided to descend to the town of Niltepec, explore the Ostuta as far as possible, and endeavor to reconnoiter the gap referred to by Señor Moro.
As we left Aguas Nuevas Brook, the climate, as well as the fauna, flora, and geology of the country, changed visibly. Nothing but the pine grew over the nearly bare rock of finely laminated shale, which, as we ascended, became transformed into a breccia, very much decomposed on the surface, but bearing no vegetation. The summit of Cerro Atravesado consists of porphyry and argillaceous rocks. This hill is ingrafted into the main sierra from north to south, and in a very conspicuous manner blocks the valley of the Chicapa at right angles to its thalweg. Its top surface is flat, about 5,000 feet above the sea, and covered with rich pasture. All along its extensive top, and in a south-west direction, we found immense blocks of granite which do not belong to the place, and can only be accounted for by supposing either that they had fallen down from the highest part of the Sierra Madre, previous to the formation of the gap through which Moro proposed to pass the canal-feeder, or that they were there through glacial action.
Explorations of the Ostuta River. — On the 6th of January we left Niltepec for the Ostuta. The whole river to Piedra Grande is level and covered with drift, remarkable for its size and the direction of its dispersion. The whole Pacific plain forms a basin of about 1,400 square miles, and its shape can be likened to that of a half-cone, of small height, hollow and inverted, having its apex at Boca Barra. Toward this point flow all the rivers ​on the Pacific side in a radial direction; but the dispersion of the drift takes place in a south-westerly direction, whatever the shape or inclination of the ground on these plains. Erratic blocks are found in this direction from the Ostuta, which flows south-westerly to the Tehuantepec River. This latter stream runs from west to east, and even in the mountains, as on the Atravesado, there are blocks of granite at an elevation of five thousand feet above the ocean, and arranged in lines, sensibly parallel to those of the coarse drift on the plains thirty miles off. Some of the blocks have a volume of over 120,000 cubic feet. These blocks are also found arranged in the same direction north of the dividing ridge of the isthmus, in the town of Santa Maria.
Most of the Pacific rivers have considerable beds; but with the exception of the Ostuta, they all pass very little water at this season.
The Niltepec was nearly dry, and the brooks Chocolate, Huacamaya, Agua, Zarea, Petaca, Roble, and Juamol were entirely dry. The plains are arid, hot, and sandy. Besides a parched underbrush, hardly any other vegetation is seen, except a poor quality of grass and the jícara-tree (Crescentia cujete). This tree is variously called in different places jícara, totuma, higuera, dita, and chima; it is small, not unlike the apple-tree in appearance, and bearing a green sesile fruit or gourd, used by the natives extensively as cups, vessels, etc. When ripe it possesses in a most extraordinary degree the properties of ergotine; but fortunately the Indians are not aware of it, and use it for no medicinal purposes. The Ostuta River was gauged at Piedra Grande, and found to deliver only 203 cubic feet per second.
On the 9th of January we left Piedra Grande by the north-east, and camped by the Ostuta, nine and a quarter miles north of our starting-point.
In all, we made four camps, and ascended the river for seventeen miles from Piedra Grande, or where the highest peak of the sierra bore south 89° west from us. Two and a third miles after leaving Piedra Grande, we turn north to ascend the Cristalinas Hills, in order to see the valley of the Ostuta, and Moro's Gap on the Atravesado. We soon reached the top of a steep hill, at the point marked on the map No. 2, El Portillo.
This point is 122 feet below Chi vela; and looking to our left, we had a discouraging bird's-eye view of the Ostuta. Its tortuous course could easily be traced in the deep valley at our feet, until it turned sharply to the west, behind a mountain lower than the one we stood upon. Moro's Gap was square in front of this turn, and considerably higher than El Portillo.
We descended then to the river, and after fording it without difficulty, ascended up stream by the right bank, cutting our way through the dense foliage. Occasionally we ascended near hills, or climbed trees to study the topography. Our barometric observations were taken very carefully, though in our two first tents the atmospheric state was unpropitious.
Impracticability of Joining the Chicapa and Ostuta Rivers. — Señor Moro makes Último rancho and Chivela at the same height. A glance at the barometric data shows it to be 275 feet above Chivela; but although the heights for each set of observations agree within six feet, since only three observations were taken, I will pass to the rancho Scarce, where five sets of good observations were taken, giving a mean of 624 feet. The distance between these two points is less than eight miles; following the river ​turns, and applying the rise per mile of the river between San Miguel and Scarce's rancho, which are points well determined, we should find that the Chicapa, at eight miles from the rancho Scarce, must fall about 422 feet.
It needs no demonstration to prove that the Chicapa Valley is the only route for Moro's feeder.
At San Miguel this river is over 369 feet below the summit, and at El Palmar it is 24 feet above; hence the cutting below the Chicapa bed must commence 2,400 feet before reaching the Palmar Brook. This cutting, gradually increasing in depth, will be eleven miles long and 3,245 feet deep by the time it reaches that point of Aguas Nuevas Brook, from which we turned away to descend the Atravesado. But this is not all. There are fully one and a third miles of ascent from Aguas Nuevas Brook to the lowest point of Moro's Pass, and beyond this point the tunnel must extend through the base of the mountain, before reaching the Ostuta's bed.
The above supposes the Ostuta to be at a convenient height; but since it is 180 feet below the summit, besides the above cutting, 180 feet of depth of cutting must be added throughout the whole length of the feeder and summit. We became convinced of how useless was the attempt to explore any farther the source of the Ostuta, and taking additional barometrical observations, and cross-sectioning the river at the highest point visited, we turned back extremely disappointed.
The Ostuta delivers at the highest point 84 feet less than at Piedra Grande, or 119 cubic feet per second.
On the mountains north of Niltepec, the southern slopes are of clay; as we ascend we meet sandstone, compact limestone, and lastly gray and green slate, breccia, and porphyry.
Our next step, after leaving the Ostuta, was to try the San Miguel Pass, by way of the streams Chichihua and Pericon.
Exploration of San Miguel Pass. — We explored the San Miguel Pass, and the hasty study of its valleys convinced me that it was of importance to settle its practicability instrumentally.
Accordingly, while we were on our way to the Corte, orders were given to continue the transit and level lines from Tarifa to San Miguel via Sierra Blanca and San Miguel passes. Lieutenant-commander Bartlett was detailed for this work. The detour given to this line had for its object to study the range of hills dividing the Tarifa plains and the Chichihua potreros, in order to bring the feeder by this latter place in case the San Miguel Pass should prove impracticable. The work was performed by Mr Bartlett with the care and accuracy characteristic of this efficient officer. The San Miguel feeder-pass was found to be 1,071 feet above the ocean, and the Sierra Blanca Pass is 1,238 feet above the same plane. Although San Miguel Pass offers less height, the facts developed by the topographical and geological survey make Sierra Blanca the most feasible route for the feeder, for the following reasons: the Pita Brook is a forced point of pass of the feeder. In order to reach the San Miguel Pass, the feeder must turn south, up the valley of the Arroyo Corozo, and its grade will soon intersect the northern base of the Albricias Cerro, in a cutting of hard limestone and marble; it must then turn a right angle to the west, and skirt the southern lap of the Albricias Cerro, until it reached the Tarifa plains. ​The Sierra Blanca Pass is right at Tarifa, and its material is made up of soft calcareous tufa.
The Chichihua is 71 feet below the summit, and the Pericon is on the grade of the feeder, so that the length of cutting to Tarifa will be less than 10,000 feet, through easy ground, across the thin web-like spurs that divide the Tarifa and Chichihua potreros. The rise of the ground is gradual from Chichihua toward Sierra Blanca, and abrupt from north to east, as can be seen by the Pericon, which runs quite parallel to the Albricias Hill, up to Sierra Blanca. At this point it is sent northward, while the Naquipa runs north and south from the pass to the Chichihua. The Corozo route will require six miles of hard tunnelling, and seven miles of equally hard deep cutting. The direct route has five miles, requiring no extra cutting, and only three miles of heavy cutting, through soft soil, and in which a short tunnel will be found economical.
Since Tarifa River is lower than the Tarifa plantation, and the arroyo Pita is also lower than Tarifa River, it will be seen that there can be no doubt as to the possibility of supplying the summit with water, if it can be brought down to the Pita.
From San Miguel Pass and Cofradía we went to Santa Maria Chimalapa, where, after suffering many hardships, we were obliged to return to Chivela, and make such arrangements as would insure our passing through the Chimalapa region in order to reach the river Corte.
* ↑ This mediocre acquirement secured them extensive privileges. 'Go cen de las preeminencias, prerogativas, y exenciones. . .que están concedidas, y comunicadas á los que exercen artes liberales.' Cédula, in Reales Órdenes, i. 455-9.
* ↑ Albornoz, Carta al Rey, in Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., xiii. 69. Friars joined in the recommendation. Id., xii. 125.
* ↑ The government made ample provision for their support. Mendoza, Carta, in Florida, Col. Doc., 134-5. The king in 1553 added for a time 890 pesos. Puga, Cedulario, 187.
* ↑ Azanza was still struggling in 1800 with projects for schools. Spanish writers try to make us believe that their govt always endeavored to elucate the Indians; according to official statistics, the one Indian college at Mexico had in 1790 only 38 students and one solitary teacher, while seven colleges for other castes had two to four times the number of masters. Gaceta, Mex., v. 8.
* ↑ Parents were urged the need of sending their children to them, but no energetic impulse followed the decree. Zamora, Bil. Legis. Ult., iii. 174-5, wherein are given laws for 1782 and subsequent dates.
* ↑ There were six so-called colleges for females at Mexico. Alaman, notwithstanding his Spanish tendencies, contradicts the writers who extol Spain's efforts on behalf of female education. The fact is, that for a long time but one public school for girls existed. Arrangoiz, Méj, iii., ap. 87; Pacheco and Cárdenas, Col. Doc., vi. 488. Even the classes gradually opened by nuns were few, and devoted only too frequently to religious training, sewing, and the like, without even learning to read. As late as 1795 the pope and king ordered the convents to more freely receive girls of good families for care and education. Cedulario, MS., iii. 23–6. Nuns de la Enseñanza devoted themselves specially to training girls; but their efforts were limited. 'Torres, Sermon; Arteaga, Josias', pt ll. For Indian girls of noble birth there was a real colegio; but it was really an informal convent, Alegre, Hist. Comp. Jesus, iii. 294, like a few other so-called colegios.
* ↑ Their names were the Santos, Seminario, San Ildefonso, San Juan de Letran, Infantes, San Ramon, Santiago, Tlatelolco, and San Gregorio. The total number of students was somewhat over 600, a small figure, indeed, for the leading city of the continent. Gac., Mex., v. 8; Estalla, xxvii. 260; Cabrera, Escudos Armas, 200.
* ↑ 'Vn Estudio y universidad de todas sciencias.' Puga, Cedulario, 137-8. Herrera dates an order for the founding as early as 1539, Dec. vi. lib. vii. cap. vi., dec. viii. lib. vii. cap. xiii.; and Alcedo, v. 139, lends it support by showing that Friar Alonso de Veracruz founded a university at Tiripitio, which was merged 'que despues se trasladó a México,' in that of Mexico, or moved thither. While under royal patronage the title of pontifical was added at a later date. St Paul was first adopted for patron, and Santa Catalina Mártir figured among later additions. Beleña, Recop., i., pt iii. 361.
* ↑ The studies began with seven chairs; namely, two for theologic subjects, two for law, and one each for arts, rhetoric, and grammar. The number increased rapidly till it stood at 24 at the beginning of the present century, including one for Aztec, and one for Otomí language, respectively. Villaseñor, Teatro Mex., 56; Alaman, Disertac., 216–20, 261; Calle, Mem. y Not., 52; Trat. Mex., 32. By 1775 there had graduated 1,162 doctors and 29,882 bachelors. Gonzalez Dávila names the first to pass examination. Teatro Ecles., i. 32. Laws concerning the institution may be found in Recop. de Ind., i. 191 et seq.; Reales Cédulas, MS., i. 77-9; ii. 238; Montemayor, Sumarios, 61-3; Zamora, Bib. Leg. Ult., vi. 106 et seq. See also Hist. Mex., ii. 592; Cavo, Tres Siglos, i. 159-61; Figueroa, Vindicias, MS., 68-9; Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, iv. 201-17; Disturbios Frailes, MS., ii. 366. Estalla, xxvi. 350-1, xxvii. 255-74, describes several features of the institution.
* ↑ Cogolludo, Hist. Yucatan, 215-16.
* ↑ Among the new professorships were those of canon and civil law, with 400 pesos a year, those of medicine and surgery, with 300 pesos; the secretary and others received 150 pesos, and the librarian and porter only 100 pesos each. Cédula Real; Cedulario, MS., i. 52-4. By-laws are given in Id., 91-114; Jal., Not. Geog., 15-16.
* ↑ Yet amid the reigning disorder the subject was not neglected, as instanced by decrees like those in Córtes, Diario, xxi. 11-21, xxii. 17-18, directing the governors to establish new schools and promote existing ones.
* ↑ Yet so poorly sustained that one of the two Lancasterian schools in the capital had to be closed in 1830. Mex., Mem. Rel. Int., 1830.
* ↑ For details, see Arrillaga, Recop., 1833, 90-126.
* ↑ According to the Memorias de Hac., the expenditure by the general government for educational purposes declined from $62.873 in 1840 to $54,253, $57,007, $31,126, and $32,522 during the following four years. See also Mex., Mem., xiii. docs. 1-2; Pap. Var., lxxx. pt xix. Notwithstanding the difficulties in the way, the number of primary schools had increased to 1,310 in 1843, with 59,744 pupils, while colleges numbered 40, with 6,018 students. Mex., Mem. Just., 1829, ap. 14; Id., 1844, ap. 18-20; Diario Deb., Cong. 10, iii. 35; Mexican. Zustände, i. 352 et seq.; Comp. Lancast., Espos., 13; Diario Gob., Dec. 19, 1842; Bustamante, Diario, MS., xlv. 273.
* ↑ Mex., Mem. Sec. Hac., 1868, 12; Mex., Cód. Reforma, 369-82; Arch. Mex., Col. Ley., vi. 97-119.
* ↑ For imperial regulations, see Mex., Col. Ley. Imp., viii. 21-84; Diario del Imp., Apr. 14, May 4, Sept. 16, 1866. Professional diplomas issued under the empire were annulled by Juarez' government. Dublan and Lozano, Leg. Mex., x. 59.
* ↑ 1,310 schools in 1813, 2,400 in 1860, 5,000 in 1870, 8, 100 in 1875, and still rapidly increasing, there being in 1884 at least 8,556 primary schools, of which 2,116 were for girls. The attendance has been from 59,744 pupils in 1843 to 349,000 in 1875, and 441,453 in 1884, of whom 115,147 were girls. Covarrubias in 1875 showed that only one fifth of the school population received primary instruction. Mem. Instruc. Pub., lxxxiii.-iv. The minister of public instruction in 1831 had classed three fourths of the population as illiterate; later figures patriotically reduced this to more than one half. Both stateinents should be taken with allowance. Stanch little Tlascala stands foremost in education, as the ancient republic stood in battle. Chiapas, Chihuahua, and L. Cal. stand lowest according to Covarrubias' admirable work.
* ↑ The instruction in the primary schools is as a rule limited to reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, conduct, and the duties of citizens. Girls are taught, besides, certain feminine work. In a large number of schools, however, geography, history, drawing, geometry, and French are added, and many teach branches that approach those of our high branches.
* ↑ The attendance at girls' schools is comparatively less than at the boys' for obvious reasons. Moreover, a large number of girls are retained by cautious parents at home, where they receive a certain amount of instruction.
* ↑ At Mexico the preparatory school imparts in a course of five years the following branches: Mathematics, physics, chemistry, cosmography, geography, national and general history, natural history, logic, ideology, ethics, drawing, grammar, literature, French, English, Latin, and the Greek roots. This is for law students. Those intending to apply themselves to engineering, mining, or architecture study German in lieu of Latin, and give more attention to drawing. There are also classes for Italian, music, tachygraphy, and gymnastics, and several collections and laboratories. Boys enter here as early as the 8th year. In the study of languages about 40 per cent prefer the dead, 35 per cent French, 1½ per cent English, and a sprinkling the German and Italian. There are also an agricultural and a veterinary college.
* ↑ The several branches to be studied in the five years' course are properly apportioned. The regulations of 1843 required a sixth preparatory year of study in natural history and medicinal chemistry. The veterinary school, connected with the school of agriculture, received some excellent regulations in 1853. Mex., Regl de Euseñ. Méd., 1-24; Soc. Méd. Regla.; Soc. Filoiätrica, Regla, 1-8; Pap. Var., li. pt xviii., cxlvii. pt x.
* ↑ The studies offered for this career are undoubtedly more complete in their way than the others in provincial colleges; yet a large number of students prefer at least a finishing course at Mexico. The full term is six years, two of them attending at the college of advocates, and practical experience in a lawyer's office and before the courts.
* ↑ To teach drawing, engraving, painting, sculpture, architecture, and decorative art. Biennial exhibitions are held, and medals awarded. The library and galleries of the school form a veritable museum of arts. For regulations, see Dublan and Lozano, Legis. Mex., v. 642-66, 681-8.
* ↑ Guat., Gac., 1822, 393.
* ↑ An orchestra and theatre are attached. Besides the branch mainly attended in the school, mathematics, book-keeping, geography, history, French, Italian, and even drawing and painting are taught.
* ↑ Laboratories and workshops are attached. The semi-penal school at Tecpan is similar in range.
* ↑ With rare exceptions, the branches are limited to mathematics, domestic hygiene, book-keeping, botany, history, modern languages, painting, and feminine work. Soc. Alex. Geog., Boletin, 3d pt, v. 684, etc.; Arch. Mex., Col. Ley., ii. 7-10; Romero, in Soc. Mex. Geog., Boletin, ix. 124-6.
* ↑ These schools gained by the closing of convent schools, of which 21 are mentioned in Mex., Mem. Sec. Just., 1844, doc. 19, and others in Id., 1829, docs. 12 et seq.
* ↑ In colleges, the pay varies from $300 to $2,000; but in primaries it is as low as $6 to $10 a month. Ia the large towns, $50 is considered a high rate.
* ↑ The córtes of Spain were in 1820 discussing the expediency of establishing more universities in America, Córtes, Diario, Oct. 20, 1920, ix. 9-10, and the Mexican congress proposed one for Oajaca in 1822. Abispa Chil., 303-8. In 1813 the ministerial report alludes to the university staff of the capital as a mere text-book board, and gives the universities of Chiapas and Guadalajara 114 and 143 students respectively. Mex., Mem. Sec. Just., doc. 720. For decrees of suppression and revival in 1833 and 1834, see Arrillaya, Recop., 1933, 90; Pap. Var., lxxiii. pt 8. Elaborate regulations were issued in 1855 for curriculum degrees. Mex., Col. Ley., 1835, viii. 14-17, 30-3. Then came the law of suppression in September 1857, Dublan y Lozano, Leg. Mex., viii. 625, and the repeals in 1858 and 1861, and the final closing. II., ix. 17-18; Diario Avis., March 12, April 12, 15, 29, 1858; La Cruz, vii. 287, 440-8; Arch. Mex., Col. Ley., v. 120-1; Arrangoiz, Mej., iv. 47-8. In April 1881 a bull was introduced in congress for creating a new national university. Diario Deb., Cong. 10, ii. 289-91.
* ↑ A law of 1850 required various colleges to send to European colleges, and there maintain for three years a certain number of their students. Mex., Col. Ley., 1830, 214–16. The ministerial report of 1835 points out lack of Higher education, and explains the reasons for such a decree. In pursuance of this the educational law of 1943 extended the range of studies for law, particularly in the humanities. Richthofen observes that this was needless, since the new studies were utterly superficial and fragmentary. Rep. Mex., 225. It was also very easy to shorten both studies and term. The above writer gives an interesting account of the cost and ceremonies attending matriculation, to which Wappäu, Geog., 119, adds several points.
* ↑ For a special account of education in the different states, I refer to José Diaz Covarrubias, Instruccion Pública en México, Mex., 1875, sm. 4to, ccli. and 218 pp., with chart, the most complete of the subject so far published. He
* ↑ A botanic garden on a little scale was established therefor.
* ↑ The result was the first important addition to this branch of science, made by Doctor Hernandez, sent out by Felipe II. to study the plants and animals of New Spain, which he did on a large scale, and at an expense of 60,000 ducats. And yet Hernandez' work was allowed to remain in manuscript.
* ↑ Father Agustin Farfan wrote a text-book on medicine in 1579, new editions of which appeared in 1592, 1604, and 1610, with some changes and additions. Other treatises appeared in later times. Regular doctors did not figure till the 19th century.
* ↑ A really practical course of study was given, embracing French, mathematics, drawing, natural philosophy, chemistry, and mineralogy. Many imperfections hampered the usefulness of the school, notwithstanding the efforts of José Fausto Elhuyar, the founder, and of Andrés del Rio, his co-laborer.
* ↑ It is certain, however, that the study of natural history and physics, introduced at the mining school and elsewhere, led to a more general diffusion of scientific knowledge, shallow though it may have been; and Humboldt declares that in this respect New Spain surpassed many a district of the mother country. He comments on the chemical laboratory, geologic collections, and scientific instruments, and models of the mining school, and alludes to more than one private mineral cabinet.
* ↑ Less favored by fortune than his co-laborer, Velazquez, he had to sustain a constant struggle with stern necessities, and his efforts shine with greater lustre, as manifested in the several learned treatises from his pen, which have been published, notably the Descripcion Histórica y Cronológica de las dos Piedras, a learned dissertation on the Aztec calendar stone, discovered in 1790, which had remained hidden for nearly three centuries.
* ↑ The task of utilizing Boturini's unearthed documents was reserved for Veytia, Clavigero, and subsequent modern students, better fitted for it than himself; for his Idea is a curious medley of interesting facts and puerilities, connected by a thread of fantastic speculation. He had completed, in 1749, the first volume of his Cronologia de las Principales Naciones, which, owing to his death soon after, was never published. But a Cronica Mexicana, Teonmóxtli, was issued by Bustamante at Mexico, in 1821-2, and shows the primary motive which impelled Boturini to undertake his task, and which must have unfitted him for writing history — a pious zeal to substantiate the apparition of the virgin of Guadalupe. Of his apologetic dissertation on the subject, a fragment remains in Latin. Some of his acts, regarded as unwarranted by a foreigner, led to his arrest, the confiscation of his papers, and his being sent to Spain, where, his motives being declared pure, he was appointed historiographer of the Indies. His death occurred soon after, and his papers became scattered or destroyed; but a few remain in the museum of Mexico.
* ↑ Bernal Diaz, Landa, Burgoa, Villagutierre, and down to Clavigero's time.
* ↑ As instanced by Rio's undertaking in 1786 for the examination of Palenque.
* ↑ His reports are on the regions from the latitude of Tezcuco into Chiapas, and are illustrated by 145 drawings from the hand of Castañeda.
* ↑ It was inaugurated July 6, 1865. Mex., Col. Ley. del Imp., viii. 15-19; Mex., Diario del Imp., Apr. 10, 1865, suppl. 340-1; Acad. Imp. de Ciencias, 1-27. An academy of physical sciences went into operation June 3, 1878. Mex., Diario Ofic., May 30, 1878.
* ↑ In 1875 a commission presided over by F. Diaz Covarrubias was sent to observe the transit of the planet Venus in Japan, and fulfilled its mission with honor and profit, its members winning the respect and esteem of the commissioners of other nations. Rivera, Méx. Pintor., i. 321-2; Anguiano, Anuncio, 1-358; Mex., Diario Debates, Cong. 6, ii. 257; Covarrubias, Com. A strom. Mex., 1-12; Id., Viage de la Comision, 1-448; Riva Palacio, Hist. Adm. Lerdo, 461; Mex., Mem. Sec. Fom., 1882, i. 181-334.
* ↑ It was installed in the national palace, and began its labors March 6, 1877. They are published in the Boletin del Ministerio de Fomento. There was likewise installed in the palace a central astronomical observatory. Diaz, Datos Biog., 238-9. Both establishments, as well as those at Oajaca, San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas, are doing good work.6
* ↑ The society has had a long life, and its labors have been given to the press from year to year.
* ↑ The following authorities furnish information on the subject: Navarro, Oracion Fún., 1-15; Gagern, Apelacion de los Mex., 64-5; Sosa, Los Contemporaneous, 75–87, 155–66, 185–200; Id., Biog. Mex., Disting., 57-879, passim; Arroniz, Biog. Mex., 57, 109-11, 116-18; Ilustracion Mex., ii. 443-50; Mosáico, Mex., 279-80; Diaz, Miscel., no. 15; Zavalo, Discurso, 1-16.
* ↑ He was happy in the massing of colors, though the composition is confused, and the striving for effect too marked.
* ↑ His heads were well drawn, and characterized by touching expression, but there was a lack of delicacy in coloring, and faulty drawing in outline and proportion, together with strained attitudes, stiff draperies, etc. The church was to blame for this, in excluding the study of form in the nude.
* ↑ Such as in Spain, combined with Moorish types and classic forms, assuming a distinctive feature in its bold, light, and luxuriant outlines.
* ↑ The only exceptions were the public edifices and churches, nearly all due to the skill and labor of friars, who set an example to promote taste.
* ↑ It may be classed as a Rococo, with rustic walls and mouldings, highly ornamented pilasters with floral fringes, surmounted by Atlantes upholding the capitals. The frieze presents an undulating border, enclosing floral bunches, and over the windows it expands into broken rectilinear mouldings, with foliated and volute ornaments. The portal arch is also voluted, with curved border.
* ↑ Under the tuition of the painter Clavé, the sculptor Vilar brought from Rome three engravers from England, and a landscape painter named Landesio, also from Italy.
* ↑ The decadence was almost complete from 1863 to 1867. Rivera, Méx. Pintor., i. 171.
* ↑ The sculpture gallery has fine specimens in alabaster, marble, agate, and terra-cotta. Art schools have also been established in other towns. Bárcena Estudios Pres. Sec. Fomento, 139–58; García Cubas, Rep. of Mex., 28, 38; Couto, Diálogo, 1-123; Mendoza, Catál., 40; Hombres Il. Mex., ii. 41, 225-7, 274-80, 335-9, 375–81; iii. 8-13, 105–26.
* ↑ It is made evident at the annual exhibitions. Busto, Est. Rep. Mex., i., 31 pt, 63-72; Bancroft's Obs., MS., 78-81; Caballero, Hist. Alm., 91-7; Bishop's Old Mex., 126.
* ↑ The museum has a library on natural history, archæology, and history. Bustamante, Nota, in Leon y Gama, Tres Piedras, 89; Calderon's Life in Mex., ii. 3-4; Anales Museo Nac. Mex., i. 2, 226-41; Thompson's Mex., 116-24; Rivera, Mex. Pintor., i. 175-81; Gobern. Mex., ii. 124; Mex., Mem. Min. Justicia, years 1831, 1878-81. There is also a public museum at Guadalajara. Mex., Diario Ofic., Jan. 20, 1876. The country possesses many monuments of modern art, the production of Mexican artists as well as foreign. Diaz, Datos Biog., 241-4; Mex., Mem. Sec. Fomento, 1882, 319-51; Manero, Monum., 1-77; Rivera, Mex. Pintor., i. 186.
* ↑ Many branches of a common education are also taught there.
* ↑ Juan Pablos, primer impresor que á esta tierra vino.' Dávila Padilla, Hist. Fund. Méx., 542. 'El primer Impresor fué luan Pablos.' Gonz. Dávila, Teatro Ecles., i. 23; Medina, Chrón. S. Diego, 233.
* ↑ The author was Estrada, the son of Gov. Estrada, successor of Cortés, a feature which lends interest to the work.
* ↑ My Library contains a remarkably well-preserved copy of Doctrina Cristiana of the imprint of 1546.
* ↑ The type is Gothic, Italic, and Roman, with frequent abbreviations and rare wood-cuts.
* ↑ The first regular periodical was the Mercurio Volante of Sigüenza, begun at Mexico in 1693. The Gaceta de Mexico appeared in 1722; for some reason it was stopped the same year, but it resumed in 1728. It continued till 1739, when the Mercurio succeeded for three years; then came a long interruption until 1784, when the Gaceta de México reappeared permanently, in semi-monthly, weekly, and semi-weekly numbers, the last in 1805. A few others were issued early this century in Vera Cruz and elsewhere. The Observador Americano was printed at Sultepec in 1810 with wooden types.
* ↑ The San Juan de Letran, Jesuit institute, and the university. The former Jesuit college had 4,300 in 1797, and the Letran had grown in modern times to more than 12,000.
* ↑ Particularly the Franciscans, who inflicted upon mankind their verbose and monotonous narratives up to 1800. There were more than 400 of them, and very few could by any stretch of conscience be called learned. A notable exception was Torquemada, who though a bigot managed to manipulate some knowledge.
* ↑ Mex. Archivo, Col. Ley., vi. 709–10, refers to appointments of officers in 1861, and the grant of aid.
* ↑ Such as J. G. Icazbalceta's, including many early and rare Mexican books; others exhibit a wide range of subjects.
* ↑ The first was the Instituto de Ciencias, Literatura y Artes, opened in 1826, but did not long survive. An informal Arcadia had existed before the revolution. The next was the Academia de San Juan de Letran, which also sank to rise again in 1850 as the Liceo Hidalgo. Several others with less ambitious aims and less known members appeared in other state centres. None, however, have shown the vigor of the Instituto Nacional de Geografía, which, since its creation in 1833 has done great service in collecting historic, descriptive, and statistical data. Album Mex., ii. 62; La Cruz, iii. 469; Méx., Col. Ley., 1848, 270-1, and many others.
* ↑ Native Races, ii. 456-98, this series.
* ↑ Most of the contributions by aboriginal writers were translations into native tongues of religious discourses, grammars, vocabularies, ancient history, and rites.
* ↑ Alva stands high among the earlier Indian historians for style and copiousness, as shown in his Historia Chichimeca, and his Relaciones.
* ↑ For information on those writers, and a host of other literary lights among the Indians, I refer to Eguiara, Bib. Mex., i.; Beristain, Bil. Hisp. Am., i.-iii.: Boturini, Catálogo, passim; Alcedo, Bib. Am., MS., i.-iii.; Granados, Tardes Am., 145. Clavigero gives a long list of writers in Indian dialects in his Storia, Mess., iv. 262; Gallo, Hombres Ilust., i.-iv.
* ↑ Torquemada's Monarquía Indiana obtained the distinction of the standard history of New Spain, and for its author the appellation of Livy.
* ↑ All creoles and the foremost historians of the period. Clavigero eclipsed every previous attempt. Cavo is concise and orderly, though too strictly chronological; Alegre's style is less pure and rounded, yet not redundant. His pages show research. Veytia arranged and published the material of Boturini, adding much research of his own.
* ↑ Those of Cancelada, who was more of a journalist, Aleocer, Villa Urrutia, and others.
* ↑ Bibliographical notices of most of their works have been given in different volumes of my work, and need not be repeated here.
* ↑ Unfortunately, the arrangement and treatment of the material shows insufficient attention.
* ↑ Riva Palacio deals chiefly with the lower classes, and introduces a number of stirring events. Mateos rises to a higher social order, and keeps close to the military leaders; his digressions are not always such as hold the attention strained.
* ↑ Sigüenza was a historian, philosopher, essayist, and journalist. His writings, though most valuable, were not free from bigotry.
* ↑ I have in my Library a number of such specimens.
* ↑ Among the most noted was Francisco Javier Gamboa, a native of Guadalajara.
* ↑ There is a bulky manuscript in my Library, Discurso Critico sobre la Oratoria Española y Americana of the last century, in which the author seeks to analyze the elements of the art and the proficiency exhibited by different nations, notably the Spaniards, on both continents. He is full of learned references, but also of cumbrous quotations, and wanders sadly from his subject, so that but little is gained by the reader.
* ↑ Such as El Peregrino Indiano by Saavedra y Guzman, Hernandia by Ruiz de Leon. A cruder effort were the quatrains of the Zapotec Antonio Lopez, which in MS. are on my shelves. In the same style is the Conquista de Galicia, by the Dominican Francisco Parra.
* ↑ La Primavera Indiana, by Sigüenza, full of puerilities and extravagance, and others equally foolish. Poema Sacra de la Pasion, by Antonio de Oviedo Herrera, is far superior.
* ↑ Her compositions were numerous. She is compared to Camvens by Pacheco, and Feijos lauds her for a critical and philosophical mind. She was indeed a prodigy. Her works, however, show that they were produced at a time when Spanish literature had become corrupted. Some of those works, unknown to our bibliographers, are represented on my shelves.
* ↑ He stands forward as one of the most original and varied writers, though less prolific and imaginative. His diction is more formal and his versification purer than Lope de Vega's. Indeed, he ranks as a classic; but his efforts to improve moral tone in comedy were too strongly drawn for that age, and he failed to attain popularity. Twenty of his comedies were issued in 1628 and 1634, in collected form at Madrid. They by no means include all his compositions, all of which were ascribed to his greater rivals.
* ↑ As a mark of respect to her sex, I make an exception in favor of Ester Tapia de Castellanos, a poetess of no mean order, far superior to the average of more pretentious and better known singers. Her Flores Silvestres appeared in 1871.
* ↑ For important information on Mexican literature, the reader is referred to Pimentel, Hist. Crit. Literatura, passim; Sosa, Biog. Mex., Disting., passim: Riva Palacio, Méx. á t raves de los Siglos, 1-38; Mex. Financier, April 5, 1884. Appended are bibliographical notices of important works that contribute a wide range of information on the history of Mexico, followed by a list of the principal authorities consulted in writing the final chapters of this volume. Boletin del Instituto National de Geografía y Estadística de la República Mexicana. Mexico, 1852-73. The society which has issued this valuable series was founded in 1833. Each member, directly or indirectly, contributed articles which, during the earlier years, were confined to the limits of the first design. At a later date the discussions and contributions were extended to outside countries and continents. Among the contributors are many of the most prominent and learned men in Mexico, including not a few foreigners. Articles written by non-members also appear, and a good deal of borrowed but useful matter is reprinted in these volumes. The publications of this institution are divided into three epochs, corresponding with the vicissitudes of its existence, the society, owing to political turmoils, having been compelled at periods temporarily to discontinue its labors. The first period is represented by 11 folio vols., the last of which was published in 1865. The publication a of the 2d epoch were issued during the years 1869-72, in four volumes. Those of the 3d epoch commence in 1873. The society has received considerable aid. from the Mexican government, which took great interest in its reorganization after a temporary collapse. The volumes were issued during the period 1852 to 1873, but the events described and the statistical reports are of different dates from the time of the conquest. The geographical, scientific, and statistical information is as fully detailed as the disturbed condition of the republic would allow. Much information, as regards the aboriginal races and their languages, is supplied. The flora and fauna of the country, and its mineral productions, are well described. Remarkable epidemics and destructive natural phenomena are mentioned; while endemic diseases, devastations by locusts, etc., are the subjects of able essays; as also those vegetable productions which contribute particularly to Mexico's prosperity. The church and leaders of the secular clergy are ever supported from the earliest times, though the inefficiency of the priesthood in certain districts is not denied. Strong comparisons are drawn between the wealth of the church during the colonial period and that subsequent to independence. The expulsion of the Jesuits and other religious societies is much regretted. Biographical sketches of eminent men are interspersed throughout these volumes. The establishment of telegraphic communication is described, and long treatises on surveys and meteorological observations appear here and there in almost every book. Reliable information with regard to the efforts made from early times to drain the valley of Mexico will also be found, with excellent illustrative plans. Political disturbances are rather alluded to than described, no policy appearing to be distinctly upheld except that of independence. The contributors supply a not indistinct picture of Mexico, past and present; they describe the different castes and their relations to each other, as well as the social life, manners, customs, and character of each; nor do they conceal their own appreciation of Mexico's position in the scale of civilization. Diccionario Universal de Historia y de Geografia, Mexico, 1853-55. Tol. Vols, i.-x., vols, viii.-x. being an appendix, also numbered i.-iii. The original work, published in Spain, was, after revision and enlargement, republished in Mexico in its present form. The additions consist of sketches of history, and articles on geography, statistics, and biography, relating to the New World, but more especially to Mexico. The first 7 vols, may be classified as an encyclopaedia; the last three relate wholly to Mexico. That portion relating to Mexico consists of articles — for the most part brief — upon detached events, conservative views predominating on political and religious topics. Considerable space is given to the conquest and the colonial period, while the war of independence, and that with the U. S., receive most attention. Much space is devoted to church history, numerous concise accounts being supplied of the orders, of spiritual conquests and establishments, and of prominent men. Data on industrial matters are comparatively meagre, and relate to a limited number of states; the information on these subjects is mostly derived from government reports. Commerce and mining are subjects of special articles. Statistics on population are scattered and incomplete. Some information on physical and political geography is supplied in brief, detached accounts. Much attention is given to biography, the conquistadores, viceroys, prominent churchmen, political, military, literary, and scientific men being well represented in numerous articles. Bibliographical mention is rare, and only incidental mention is made of literature and the fine arts. A special article is devoted to a brief review of early histories. Notable instances of natural phenomena, epidemics, and inundations are separately described. Among the authorities used are Mellado's Diccionario, Beristain's Biblioteca, Alcedo's Diccionario, Cavo's Tres Siglos, Alaman's Disertaciones Historicas, Zavala's Rev. Mex., and Apuntes para la Hist, de la Guerra con los Estados Unidos. Numerous and extended articles on antiquities are for the most part extracts from Stephens. The original work was published by a society of distinguished literary men. The Mexican edition was brought before the public by a corps of prominent Mexican writers, their contributions to the appendix being collected and arranged by Manuel Orozco y Berra. Papeles Variss, comprising 230 volumes of miscellaneous matter. This is one of the most important collections in my Library, as it affords information on every possible subject within the limit of an historical work. It is composed of numerous sets of smaller collections made by prominent Mexicans, and consists of over 3,000 different publications which have been bound together in volumes containing respectively from two or three to over one hundred, according to their size. These publications — mostly pamphlets — are the productions of a great variety of authors. Dignitaries of the church and government ministers, learned doctors and lawyers, generals and officers of the army, and men of letters, all of note and prominent in their respective professions, have contributed to their existence. Among the Papeles Varios, however, are found works of 200 or 300 pages; manifestoes and proclamations of a single sheet; anonymous squibs and lampoons; odd numbers of different periodicals, poems, odes, and sonnets, plays and comedies. That portion — only a small one — of the collection which belongs to the 17th and 18th centuries pertains chiefly to church matters, and consists of sermons, pastorals, ecclesiastical edicts, etc. By far the greater number of these volumes are made up of pamphlets bearing dates of the 19th century, and are principally of a political and historical character. They contain productions of many important authorities on all the great events that occurred in Mexico during three quarters of a century. The war of independence, the Texan question and struggle with the U. S., the French intervention and 2d empire, with intervening revolutions and changes of government, are represented by a great number of these pamphlets. But far more numerous are those bearing upon political matters, and which embrace all the details of government, from the formation of the constitution to the question of adopting the system of double entry in the government account-books. Controversies, moreover, carried on between opposing politicians, and between military or civil rivals, give the historian a deep insight into Mexico politics and intrigues on the one hand, and by representing both sides of the questions at issue, afford him, on the other, an opportunity of being impartial in his decisions. Much information, also, can be gleaned with regard to military organization and regulations, the national debt, internal loans, and the government's proceedings relative to che church and its property. Apart from all these subjects, there are numerous papers on agricultural, mining, manufacturing, and other industries, and on railroads and internal improvements. A few pamphlets in the French and English languages are to be found in this collection, which is being yearly increased. William Maclure, Opinions on Various Subjects, Dedicated to the Industrious Producers. New Harmony, Indiana. Printed at the School Press, 1831 and 1857, 2 vols. 8vo, pp. 483 and 556. The author states that six of the essays contained in his 1st volume were written at Paris, in 1819, at the request of the editor of the Revue Encyclopedique, for publication, but were excluded by the censors of the press as too democratic. They were afterward translated into Spanish, and published in Madrid, and subsequently in the New Harmony Gazette, under the dates annexed to them in his book-form edition, the first of which is dated Feb. 22, 1826. The remaining essays were published in the Disseminator of Useful Knowledge, and the Disseminator, periodicals al. o issued at New Harmony. Those of which his 2d volume is comprised appeared at irregular intervals in the last-named publication, and were presented to the public in book form in 1837. Maclure's work is devoted to philosophical observations on education, politics, morals, and religion, and to an analysis of the conduct of church and state in his own and past times. It was while independence was yet young in Mexico, and many questions of vital interest to civilization which have since been settled were but ill understood, that this man wrote; yet there is much in his words worthy of our attention. The author begins by discussing the opposition of interests between producers and non-producers. His principles of political economy would hardly be accepted at the present day, deriving, as they do, the strength and power of the commonwealth from the governors rather than from the people; nevertheless, as regarding the effects of climate on politics, and other great questions affecting society, he was as able and original as Buckle; and had his position in the world been as prominent, and the opportunities for making known his thoughts as good, he would have divided with the English philosopher his fame. The British and French governments, their colonies, and the like, he calls a government of checks, wherein bribery and corruption are essential to balance. In the government of Sweden, the peasants, the clergy, the burgesses, and the nobles each have independent representation, and beggary and robbery there is unknown. Despotism may be easier fed vi warm climates than in cold; intellectual progress makes its most rapid strides between extremes. This author was evidently somewhat of a traveller for that day, for he speaks of the several quarters of the globe as an eye-witness; and he must have been endowed with liberal ideas withal, denouncing the impositions and hypocrisies of the clergy, prophesying that 'the riches collected by the religious industry of ages may perhaps help to pay for the expenses of obtaining freedom, and make atonement at its dissolution for the misery, blood, cruelty, and oppression exercised in wresting it from those that produced it.' And again, 'even the property hoarded by the church may become the means of spreading moral and physical perfection, and aid in the general amelioration of society.' What his ideas of moral perfection may be, I leave the reader to infer from the following remark made in speaking of the openness, the artless freedom, and absence of embarrassment with which the lower class, men and maids and matrons alike, performed those necessities of their nature which the higher culture has stamped as private. 'False delicacy and moral hypocrisy,' he calls the sentiment of shame that leads people to hide under clothes and between walls certain parts of their person, and those acts of nature's requirements and human existence, of which all are fully aware. 'All of these evils would be cured by an accurate knowledge of reality, and permitting the gratification of the physical appetites, without attaching either a religious sin or civil crime to acts on winch depends the existence of everything.' And so the man goes on with endless repetitions, and much good sense, often assuming a prophetic strain, wherein so much was said that some of it could not help but come to pass. He favors an equal distribution of the two great powers that move societies; namely, knowledge and wealth. Spain has ever been a horrid grind. If the Indians of Mexico were educated, they would be equal to the emergency of republicanism; the rules have ever been the enemies of the people. His essays on Mexico close with the year 1830. Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, Comercio Esterior de Mexico desde la Conquista hasta hoy, Mexico, 1853, 4to, pp. 63, 11. 123, is a useful book, containing a statistical and historical account of the foreign commerce of Mexico. The historical portion of it begins with the barter of glass beads and cheap European articles for gold and golden ware, carried on with the Indians by the first Spanish visitors to the country. The gradual development and expansion of commerce is then traced out down to the year 1853, with all details connected therewith. The establishment, existence, and end of the Spanish convoy fleets, the imposition of duties from time to time, with a clear explanation of their designations and object, changes in regulations with regard to them made at different epochs, the values and specifications of exports and imports, and shipping, are the subjects which the author gives a good account of without being elaborate. Whenever he could obtain copies of official statistical documents, he appears to have done so, and as a supplement to his work produces no less than 55 such papers, which occupy by far the larger portion of his book. Los Pueblos del Estado de Nayarit, á la raza indígena . . . San Luis de Lozada, 1870, 4to, pp. 24, is a small cuarto, being an appeal by the conservative party to the native races for the purpose of inciting them to overthrow the liberals. All the disasters that had come upon Mexico from the fall of Iturbide are attributed to this latter party's action. The liberals are charged with having bankrupted the country, sold territory, extorted forced loans, usurped church property, confiscated private property to the amount of $500,000,000, and exhibited every feature of maladministration. This address is signed by a number of citizens of the different pueblos of Jalisco. Vicente E. Manero, Documentos Interesantes sobre Colonizacion, Mexico, 1878, 8vo, pp. 120, portraits and maps, is a collection of documents bearing upon the colonization question, gathered and arranged in chronological order by the publisher, who states, in his preface that many people are unaware of the different opinions expressed by enlightened men on this subject for want of such a collection. These documents supply a complete history of colonization in Mexico. The first bears the date of Dec. 31, 1771, and is an extract from the general report of the Marqués de la Sonera, Galvez, to Viceroy Bucarely. The dates of the succeeding ones are in consecutive order down to 1878. Besides numerous government and official documents, of which mention has been already made in previous lists, reference is given to the following authorities for information on the institutional subjects of the four preceding chapters: the collections of Arrillaga, and Dublan and Lozano; Fernando VII., Decretos; Id., Doc: Niles' Reg., i., 1811, and succeeding volumes, with reference to the indices for Mexican matters; Id., S. Am. and Mex., i. passim; Córtes, Diar.; Id., Act. Pub., i.-ii.; Id., Col. Dec, i.-ii.; Nouv. Annales Voy., from 1819 to 1860; Busto, Estad. Rep. Mex., i.-ii.; Disposic. Varias, ii.-vi.; Bustamante, Ensayo, 99-100, 118-47, 184-6; Farías, Opusc. Aduan. Inter., S. L. Potosi, 1875, pp. 44; Mühlenpfordt, Méj., i. passim; Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., no. v. 311-74; Id., Comer. Ester., Mex., 1853, pp. 63, 11 122, 1 sh.; Lempriere's Notes in Mex., 2-276, passim; Bustamante, Gab. Mex., i.-iv., MS.; Id., Voz de la Patria, i.-xiii., MS.; Id., Diario Mex., MS.; Id. . Hist. Sta Anna, passim; Id., Medidas Pacif., i.-ii., MS.; Id., Mem. Hist. Méx., i vii., MS.; Id., Cuad. Hist., iv. 522-5; viii. 191-201, 250; Id., Hist. Iturbide, 172, 179, 246; Id., Camp. Calleja, 129-32, 195-6; Perez, Dic. Geog. y Estad.; Pinela, Descrip. Geog., 111-26; Perez, J. S., Alm. Estad., 26 et seq.; Mayer's Mex. Azt., i.-ii., passim; Mex., Notic. Ciud. Mex., 133-4, 328-57; Fossey's Mex., passim; Manero, Doc. Interes., 22-7, 41-63, 76-111; London Geog. Soc., Jour., xv. 249-56; xxx. 46-53; xxxii. 549-52; Lefévre, Doc. Max., i. 19-30, 58-68; ii. 74-90, 143-222, 332-5; Los Mexicanos, 35-45; Liceaga, Adic. y Rect., 532-6, 614; Ober's Travels in Mex., passim; Querétaro, Notic. Est., 5-20. 33-9, 86-8; Ortiz, Mex. Indep. Lib., 50-97, 316-20, 596-7; Ortiz de Ayala, Resúm. Est., 53-93; Buenrostro, Hist. Segun. Cong., i.-ii., passim; Butterfield's U. S. and Mex., passim; Iglesias, Intervencion, i. 109-11, 147-56; ii. 342-8, 376-90, 414-42; iii. 364-8; Suarez y Navarro, Hist. Mej., 137-40, 281, 320-1; Jal, Presupuesto, 1884-5, pp. 20; Id., Cuad. Gen. Estad., 1881, pp. 34, and 21 docs.; Jülfs, Die Seehäfen, 59-136; Jordan's Dangers to Foreigners in Mex., 3-52; Jáuregui, J. M. de, Discurso, Mex., 1820, 311, 89 pp., in Pap. Var., 66, no. 77; Knox's Underground World, 86-91, 236-47; Kennedy's Tex., ii. 373-82, 469-87; Brocklehurst's Mex., passim; Barbachano, Mejoras, i., passim; Bancroft's Obs., MS., 6-11, 44-62, 114-16, 192-8; Willie, Not. Hac. Pub., 24-75; Welda, Col Nac. y Estran. en Mex., Morelia, 1865, pp. 107; Ward's Mex., ii., passim; Wapp's Mex. and C. Amer., 44-139; Rivera, Hist. Jalapa, i.-v.; Id., Gob., ii., passim; Rockwell's Span, and Mex. Laws; Burkart's Mex., i. 220-41, 263, 3858; ii. 204, 225-73; Whitney's Metallic Wealth, 175-80; Beaufoy's Mex. Illust., 68-9, 113-21, 170-5, 265-74; Ratzel, Aus Méx., 1-42, 170, 206-25, 358-88; Becker's Mex., 92-9, 217-69; Rul. Consult. Diput., 22-102; Sartorius, Mex., 118-202; Thompson's Recol. Mex., passim; Hunt's Merchants' Mag., i., and succeeding volumes, with reference to the indices for Mexican matters; Hernandez, Estad. Méj., passim; Riva Palacio, Mem. Legis. de Mex.; Ramirez, Riqueza Minera, Mex., 1884, pp. 768; Gran. Alm. Mex., 1866-7; Beulluch, Le Mex., i.-ii.; Siliceo, Mem. Fom. Col. Ind., with reference to the index; S. Am, and Mex., i. 107-15, 132-6, 204; Mex. Pamph., ii. 4-8, 12; Id., Polémica entre el Diario Oficial y la Colonia Española, Mex., 1875, i.-ii., pp. 415 and 674; Barnado, Hist. Tehuant.; Bonnycastle's Span. Am., 38-55; Reales Céd., MS., ii., f. 114-16, 119-20; Rocafuerte, Ensayo sobre Cárcel, Mex., 1830, pp. 37; Banco de Méx., Dec. de Creac, Mex., 1857, pp. 22; Banco Hipot. Méx., 1882, pp. 64; Banco Nac. Mex., 1881, pp. 33; Mex., Not. Export., 1880-3; Garcia Cubas, Rep. Mex., 9-32; Arrangoiz, Méj., ii., iii., iv., passim; Alaman, Méji., i.-v., passim; Castro's Repub., 23-9, 156-98, 203-50; Farnham's Mex., 13-69; Fonseca y Urrutia, Real Hac, iv. 125; v. 351-402; Chavez, Col. Proced. Penal, 3-140; Chih., Cód. Pen., 71-255; Castillo, Mem. Min. Azogue, 1-51; Abispa de Chil, passim; Almaraz, Comis., Cient. Pachuca, passim; Mex., Balanza Merc, 1845; Malllefert, Direct., 70-149; Adorno Anal. Males de Mex., 40-126; Anderson's Mex. St P., 29-117; Romero, Mich., 152 et seq.; Rosa, Ensayo, 18-45; Revilla Gigedo, MS., i. 181-97; Findlay's Directory, i. 262-74, 283; Garcia, y Eguía, Nueva Teórica y Práctica del Beneficio de los Metales, etc., Mex., 1802, pp. 168; Gutierrez, Apunt. Estad. Min. Quer., Mex., 1875, pp. 119; Boguslawski, Deutche Col., passim; Gregory's Hist. Mex., passim; Otero, Obras, MS., i. 111-26, 242-50: Rivero, Mex. en 1842: Otero, Ensayo, 36-136, in Mex. Pamph., ii., no. 1; Edward's Hist. Tex., 133-60, 322-36; Vallejo, Col. Doc. Mex., MS., i., passim; Variedades de Jurisp., i. — viii., passim; Diaz, Informe, 11-52; Soc. Mex. Geog., passim; Registro, Trimestre, i. 51-106, 153-94, 231-64, 307 et seq., 497-512; ii. 2-30; Dahlgren's Hist. Mines, passim; Manero, Not. Hist. Com. Mex., Mex., 1879, pp. 59; Id., Apunt. Hist. Ferroc, Mex., 1872, pp. 24; Calderon's Life in Mex., passim; Duport, Mélaux précieuxan Alex., passim; Id., Laws and Courts, MS.; S. Miguel, Segunda Guia; Sosa, Biog. Mex. Dist., passim; D'Orbigny, Voyage, 429-60; Escalera y Llana, Mex. Hist. Descrip., 29-281; Espos. Gen. de Indust., Mex., 1856, pp. 56; The Mining Mag., i.-ix.; Mex., Expos . . . sobre la Condic, passim; Lares, Lecciones de Derecho Admin., Mex. 1852, pp. 407; Perez y Comoto, Represent., 1-82; Payno, Cuentas, Gastos, etc., passim; Macgregor's Commer. Stat., iii. 1167-81; Proyecto del primer Camino de Hierro, etc., Mex., 1837, pp. 112; Phillip's Min. and Met., 77, 26687; Tovar, Hist. Parl, i.-iv.; Tylor's Anahuac, passim; Tarayre, Explor. Min., passim; Thrall's Texas: Trujillo, Proyecto Prod, y Recur., Mex., 1865, pp. 72; Skilton's Min. Dist. Hidalgo, Boston, 1882, pp. 63; Septien y Villaseñor, Mem. Estad., passim; Sanchez' MS., 1-5; Maclure's Opinions, i., passim; Mata, Anuario Univ., 1881, pp. 688; Azpiroz, Cod. Extran., passim; Alvarez, Itin. y derrot., Mex., 1856, pp. 480; Azanza, Instruc, MS., 64-7;; Azcárate, Not. Estad., pp. 46; Arévalo, Compend., 5-295; Cancelada, Ruina de la N. Esp., 21-47; Comonfort, Manif. del Gob., 160-7, 184-203; U. S. Bureau of Statistics, Commerce and Navig. Repts, Com. Relations, and numerous other official documents issued by the U. S. government during this century, to the indices of which the reader is referred; Mayers' Mex. as It Was and Is, 174-91, 268-83, 30537; Hamilton's Mex. Laws; Id., Mex. Handbook; Hernandez y Dávalos, Direct. Correos, 1876, pp. 621; Hal's Laws of Mex., S. F., 1885, pp. 840; Humboldt's Essai Pol.; Hinchman's Mex. R. R., MS., 1883; Heller, Reisen in Mex.; Zamo> cols, Hist. Mex.; Zarco, Hist. Congreso, i.-ii., passim; Zavala, Res. Mex., ii. passim; Zamora, Bibliot. Legist, i. 25-38, 142-3, 352-71. In addition to the above authorities, a vast number of documents, newspapers, magazines, reviews, periodicals, and journals, both Mexican and foreign, that have been consulted, besides a large collection of clippings from papers and publications entitled Mexican Scraps, and containing much valuable information on Mexican matters. For further reference I note: Beltrami, Mex., i. 111-29; Vallejo, Col. Doc, i., no. 41; xxix., no. 185; Valois, Mexique, 82-90; Alaman, Méj., i., app. 33; ii. 437-8; v. 462-5, 491, 506-7, 610, 767, 811, 916-23; Id., Apunt. Biog., 11-39; Id., Vida Naj. Crisos., 5-9, 23-39; Ward's Mex.,i. 26-39, 145-61; ii., passim; Arrangoiz, Mej., ii. 320-3; iii. 250, 336-56; iv, 29-31, 85-8, 143-4, 172; Thompson's Recol. Mex., passim; Bancroft's Obs., MS., 18-19, 53-63, 104-11; Disposic. Varias, ii., f. 28, 55, 58-61, 66, 67, 72; hi., f. 53, 54, 123; v., f. 13, 58; Dublan and Lozano, Leg. Mex., i. 5, 18-19, 331-340, 425, 619; iv., 449-60; vi. 508-14; ix. 91, 203-4; Carpenter's Travels in Mex., 234-69; Chassin, El Pinto, Su Oríg., etc., Mex., 1868, pp. 37; Armin, Hentige Mex., 225-57, 371-96, 412-13; Diaz Misc., nos. 17, 52, 56; Dunbar's Mex. Papers, 105-8, 116-18, 131-44; Mex., Cod. Reform., 182-95, 323-4, 395-7; Id., Mem. Sec Estad., 1879-80, 57-8, with docs. 109-10; Id., Mem. Ofic Mayor Gob., 1874, 89-126, with docs. 46-63; Id., Recop. Leyes, etc., xi. 526-30; Derecho Intern. Mex., 3d pt, 354 — 421; Mex., Col. Dec sob. Cong., 166-9; Guia de Hac Rep. Mex., iii. 186; Archivo Mex., Col. Ley., ii. 373 et seq.; iii. 616-17; vi. 294-5; Mex., Decretos Min., 1845, no. 6; Id., Bol. Ley., 1863, 282-3; 1864, 60; Id., Ley Orgán. Istruc. Pub., 1-16; Pinart, Col; Id., Mem. Ayunt. Constit., 1879, 171-202, 225-54; Edwards' Hist. Tex., 139, 115-60; Elton, With the French, 11-16, 55-66; Enseñ. Polk. Méd., Mex., 1842, pp. 24, in Pap. Var., 224, No. 5; Espinosa, Padorales, nos. 1-7; Fossey's Mex., 221-45, 33S-9, 384-5; Fernando VII, Decretos, 51, 63-4, 74; 5, 224, 228-9; Id., Doc, 293-9; Vigil, Ensayo Hist., 7-10; Valle, Viajero en Méx., 143-598; Farnham's Mex., 73-80; Hassel, Mex. Guat., 144-290, passim; Heller, Reisen in Mex., 68-71, 167-70; Hernandez, Estad. Mej., 63-90, 205-6, 246-7; Hamilton's Mex. Laws, 1-20, 157-76; Hall's Méx. Law, 191-202, 348-50, 420-32; Rivero, Mex. en 1842, passim; Ratzel, Aus Méx., passim; Richthofen, Rep. Mex., 17-19, 161-6, 216-17; Rosa, Juicio Impar., in Imp. Var., no. 5; Löwenstern, Mex., passim; Cincinnatus' Travels, 52-3, 72-86; Cancelada, Ruina de la N. Esp., 10-11, 62-4; Lefévre, Doc Maxim., 4-5, 333; Calderon's Life in Mex., i., ii., passim; Niles' Reg., from vol. i. et seq., with reference to the indices; Gallardo, Cuadro Estad.; Garcia Cubas, Rep. Mex.; Id., Escrit. Divers., 1-72; Gregory's Hist. Mex., passim; Groso MS., 1-32; Sartorius, Import. Mex., 1-154; Payno, Cuent. Gast., 719-21, 916-21 Wapp's Mex. and C. Am., 1-170, passim; Shepard's Land of the Azt.; Siliceo, Mem. Fom. Col. Ind., 86-98, with L, vi. 1-30; L, ix. 3-31; La Sombra de Moctheu-zoma, nos. 2-6, and 8; Stephens' Yuc.; Busto, Estud. Rep. Mex., i. pp. xii.-xix., xxxvii.-xl., lxxix.-lxxxi.; Becher, Mex., passim; Beaufoy's Mex. Ilustrat.; Brocklehurst's Mex.; La Cruz, i. 56-62, 108, 417-22, 477-9; Semanario Polít., ii. 49-56, 293-304; Sosa, Biog. Mex., passim; Tovar, Hist. Parl., i passim; Tylor's Anahuac; Trigueros, Mem. Ramos Munic. Guanaj., Mem Gob., 1871; Nuevo Viaj. Univ., iii. 208-11, 214-36; Noriega, Estadíst. Depart. Mex., passim, in Mex., Anales Min. Fom. Ind. Agric., tom. i.; Wilson's Mex. and its Relig., 88-93, 280-91, 308-47; Id., Mex. and Peasants, passim; Lerdo de Tejada, Apunt. Hist., no. v., 309-13; Loreto, Mission Records, MS.; Poinsett's Notes on Mex., i., passim; Pensador Mex., sup.; Clark's Mex. and U. S., MS., 14-37; Perry's Travels, 12-69; Norman's Rambles, 13-178, 199-215; Correo, Semanario, i. 1-16, 123, 131-41, 175-6, 379-80; Geiger's Peep at Mex. N. Am Review, xiv. 427-9; xxxii. 337-40; Tempskey's Journey, 10-12, 42 3, 165-70, 200-3, 235-6; Taylor, Bayard, El Dorado, ii. 144 57; Putman's Mag., iv. 310-19; Robinson's Mex. Rev., ii. 136-54; Reid's Scout Exped., 21-123, passim; Linati, Costumes Civ., 1-48; Price, Trip, 22-13; Mason's Pict. Life in Mex.; Pimentel, Econ. Pol., 47-109, 172-99; Mayer's Mex., passim; Molinero del Cerro, Cartas, Mex., 1808, pp. 403; Mexicanische Zustände aus den Jahren, 1830-2, i., passim; Burkart, Mex., i. 49-61, 152-76, 254 77; Mex., Typen and Skisson, 77-139, 157-214; Boyuslawski, Deutsche Col., 21-37; Haven's Our Next Door Neighbor, 25-35, 55-85, 287-417; Hardy's Travels in Mex., 1-82, 320-540; Baz, Ley de 12 Jul. 1859; Barnard's Isth. Tehuan., 217-28; Bullock's Six Months in Mex., i, passim; Huasteca, Not. Estad., 32-62; Cabrera, Huasteca, 86-119; Peza, Benef. en Mex., Mex., 1881, pp. 201; Pinart, Col.; Tolerancia Relig., Mex., 1831, pp. 59; Girard, Excurs., 60-82; Zamacois, Hist. Mex., with refer-ence to the index; Beulloch, Mex., ii. 292-321; Masson, Olla Pod., 118-25, 308-14, 353-79; 469-79; Wortley's Travels, passim; Blazquez, Cazador Mex., Puebla, 1868, p. 431; Моra, Rev. Mex., 62-75, 92-130, 160-8; Рacheco, Let. Mex., 37-46; Mayer's Mex. Azt., ii., passim; Rivera, Gob., ii, passim; Dis-turnell, Influence of Climate, etc.; Davila, El Toro, i. 166 et seq.; ii. 403-68; Ober's Travels in Mex., 253-68, 683-8; Hobbs' Life in Far West 169-215; Hardman's Frontier Life, 249-92; Portilla, Esp. en Mex., 263-76; Gray's Mex., 20-154; Orizava, Ocurr., 16-65; Medina y Orméhea, Proyec. Estah. Rég. Pen-iten., Mex., 1881, Pp. 169; Dunn's Guat., 38-53; Hernandez y Daválos, ii. 305-7; Igles. y Convent. Mex., 230, 245-77, 348 50: Bienes, Ecles. Disertac., Мех., 1833, рр. 87; Id., Mex., 1834, pp. 39; Мunguia, Pastorales, nos. ii.-iv.; Bustamante, Voz de Patria, i.-iv., passim; Id., Hist. Sta Anna, 26-77; Frost's Incidents, 141-79; Isabel la Catól. Instit. Orden., pp. 19; Furber's Volunteer, 212-41, 333-6, 436; Ferry's Vag. Life, 5-344; Garza Ballesteros, Informe Gen. Zacual., MS. . 1-90; Covarrubias, Instruc. Pub. Mex., 3-197; Gonzalez, Mem. Gen. de Divis., 1877, 81-153; Mex., Leg., ii. 202-5; Kendall's Tex. and S. Fé Exped., ii. 11-406; Martin Précis, 39-83; Ferry, Vie Mex., 1-325; Mex., Provid. Dioces., MS., 488-90; Martinez, El Pontíf., 1-158; Testimonio á la letra Hosp. S. Andrés, Mex., 1848, pp. 22; Arroniz, Viaj., 118-75; Ferriz, Expos., Mex., 1859, pp. 29; Affairs in Mex., MS., 1883, 8-12; Aspiroz, Cód. de Estran., Mex., 1876, pp. 321; Chevalier, Mex., 450-71, 547-603; Charney, Cités et Ruines, 137-58, 189 203, 489-511 Arreglo de l Univ. y Col., Mex., 1855, pp. 89; Olmedo, Mem., S. L. Potosí, 1876, Pp. 114; Otero, Ensayo, Mex., 1842, pp. 136; Morales, Désertac., Mex., 1831, pp. 59; Cavo, Tres Siglos, iii. 345-77; Arrillaga, Recop., i. 208, 237, 364; Mora, Obras Sueltas, i., passim; Chateaubriand, Voyayes, 219-24; Ortega, Mem. Embriaguez, Mex., 1847, pp. 72; Almaraz, Comis. Cient. Pachuca, 79-185; Trejes, Mem. Hist. Cong. Jal, Guad., 1879, pp. 135; Cuballero. Hist. Alm., Mex., 1884, pp. 377; Cero, Lo; Ceros, Mex., 1882, pp. 370, containing biographical sketches of some of the most prominent Mexican writers, mostly poets, with quotations from their works. Pimentel, Historia Critica de la Literatura y de las Ciencias en México etc., Mex., 1885, pp. 736; Soso, Biog. Mex. Desting., Mex., 1884, pp. 1115; Manterola, Ensayo sob re una Clasif. de las Ciencias, Mex., 1884, pp. 373; Peñafiel, Nombres Geog. de Méx., Mex., 1885, pp. 260; Biblioteca nueva de la Pisa, Mex., 1874, pp. 176, a collection of anecdotes, humorous dialogues, and comic poems.