Spanish America (Vol.1&2). Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle
of gold which weighed 16 marks and upwards, the mark being two-thirds of a pound, or eight ounces. This was sent to Spain and deposited in the royal cabinet of Madrid. The chief mining station is Sivirijoa.
The principal town is Cinaloa, or St. Felipey St. Jago, on the river Cinaloa, in 106° west longitude, and 26° north latitude, 630 miles north-west of Mexico; the stream on which it stands and the Rio del Puerto, form the two principal rivers of this province; they both rise in the Cordillera of Topia, and receiving other streams in their course, enter the southern part of the Californian sea, very near each other, and a little to the northward of Macapule Bay. Cinaloa contains 9500 inhabitants.
The chief place of the whole government of Sonora is the capital.
Arispe, which has the forts of Bacuachi and Bavispe on the south and west.
Hostimuri, the chief place of Mayo and Hiaqui, has many rich mines in its vicinity, with a council of the mines situated at St. Xavier.
Los Alamos is also another station of note for the mines, between the Mayo and Fuerte rivers, with a population of 7900.
The towns of Sonora Proper, and Ostimuri, are three in number, the villages 46, and the missions 46; of these villages, many are mining stations.
Cinaloa contains four towns, Cinaloa, Montes Claros, with 7900 souls; and El Rosario 5600; with 92 villages, numerous distinct farms and missions, and many important mining stations.
INTENDANCY OF NEW BISCAY OR DURANGO.
In quitting Sonora, on the east, we find the province and intendancy of New Biscay or Durango, which is bounded on the north by New Mexico and Indian nations, on the east by a desert country between it and Coaguila, on the west by Sonora, and on the south by Zacatecas and Guadalaxara, or New Gallicia. It is about 100 miles in medial breadth, and 690 in length. The great ridge or Cordillera of Sierra Madre crosses it in its whole length, and the whole country is very mountainous, well watered by small rivers, the climate temperate, the soil fertile, the cattle fine and numerous, and the mountains abounding in ores. This intendancy has a population of 159,000 souls.
The country near New Biscay contains several small marshes, in the islands or firm ground of which the Indians bid defiance to their Spanish neighbours, and are so hostile, that many forts have been built along the country to prevent their incursions.
The capital is Durango, which is the farthest town of any consequence north of Mexico; it is situated on a river which empties itself into a lake, (the river is called Durango or Guadiana).
The population of this city amounts to 12,000. It is the see of a bishop, which is very extensive; in his jurisdiction all the western interior provinces, comprehending those on the east shore of the Californian gulf, are included. It was erected in the year 1620. The tithes of this see are said to have amounted in ten years to 1,080,300 dollars.
A branch of the royal treasury of Mexico is established here for collecting the duties on the mines. The climate in the neighbourhood of this city is mild and healthy, and the country fertile, producing corn, maize and fruit, and pasturing fine cattle. It has three churches and four convents, and is 170 leagues from Mexico, and 298 from Santa Fé. Durango is elevated 6845 feet above the level of the sea, and the intendant or governor of the province resides here.
The inhabitants of New Biscay are all whites, there being no Indians amongst them; they are a people of robust constitution and good intellectual qualities.
They live in a state of constant warfare with their neighbours the Indians, particularly with the Cumanches, a very warlike race of people, who bear an inveterate hatred to the Spaniards. A tract of desert country to the west, called the Bolson de Mapimi, is inhabited by the Acoclames, the Cocoyames, the Apaches Mezcleros, and Apaches Fardones. It is from this waste that the natives are principally annoyed by the Indians; in it is a large lake called Cayman, and part of another called Parras.
The Rio Conchos is the largest river of New Biscay, which rises in the Sierra Madre, and after taking a southerly course, suddenly turns to the east, and again to the north, and empties itself into the Rio del Norte, at the Fort de las Juntas. New Biscay has six towns and 199 villages, with innumerable stations and farms.
The towns of New Biscay of the greatest note after Durango, are Chihuahua, formerly the residence of the captain-general of all the interior provinces of the upper part of the viceroyalty of New Spain, and now the residence of the captain-general of the western interior provinces, which comprehend New Biscay, New Mexico, Sonora, and the two Californias. The population of Chihuahua is 11,600, and it is surrounded with mining stations, the principal of which is Santa Rosa de Cosiquiriachi, where that part of the Sierra Madre, called De los Metales, has valuable and numerous silver mines; this mining station is peopled by 10,700 souls.
Mapimis, on the south extremity of the desert of Mapimi, is a military port, with 2700 inhabitants.
St. Juan del Rio, south of Lake Parras, 10,200 souls.
Saltillo, situated to the west of Monterey, in New Leon, on a barren dry soil; 6000 people.
Pasquaro, south of Rio de Nasas; 5600.
Batopilas, west of Rio Conchos, 8000, formerly a place of great repute for its mines.
Parral the seat of a council of mines, 5000, and the mining station of Guirisamey, 3800.
The population of this government is concentrated entirely in these towns and in the mining stations, as in New Mexico, the warlike Indians rendering this method of living necessary; even the forts are well peopled, as the settlers choose to live under their protection, in preference to possessing large tracts of land at a distance from any defence.
INTENDANCY OF SAN LUIS POTOSI.
The intendancy of San Luis Potosi, comprises the provinces of Coaguila, New Leon, Texas, and the colonies of New Santander; and forms the western captain-generalship of the interior provinces.
It is bounded on the north by desart countries, inhabited by tribes of wandering Indians; by the Bolson de Mapimi, an unconquered desart on the west, as well as by part of New Biscay and Zacatecas; on the south by the intendancies of Guanaxuato, Mexico, and Vera Cruz. On the east its limits are not defined; by the Spaniards they are considered to reach to the river Mexicano or Mermento, between the sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth degrees of west longitude, but the American congress deny this being the boundary of Louisiana, and extend their claims as far as the bay of St. Bernardo.
This intendancy is computed to have a population of 334,900 souls.
That part of San Luis Potosi which joins Zacatecas, is a mountainous country; in New Leon the land is not high, consequently the summers are hot and the winters cold; the land on the right, between Coaguila and Louisiana, is represented as containing impervious savannahs and enormous desarts. The nearest post of the Americans to New Spain, is Fort Clayborne, on the Red River. In the greater part of this immense territory of San Luis the climate is good, and the air pure and healthy.
The coast which borders the Mexican gulf, is lined with long narrow islands, between which and the continent, are sheets of water denominated lakes. The mouth of the Rio Panuco, and the bar of New Santander, are the only ports of the coast from which vessels trade with the West Indian Islands in provisions. The whole coast has remained very little explored; such parts as have been surveyed, are found to be shut out by sand bars, which prevent large vessels from passing into the harbours, which are otherwise excellent.
The southern parts contain the mines of Catorce, Guadal-Cazar and Charcas, in the mountain districts.
There