WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA l8l 



tila, the town and port of Tehuantepec, the town of Guasacoalco, the 

 town of Nixapa, Villalta de San Ildefonso, Xicayan, Ygualapa, 

 Yagualulcos ; there are three appointments by the Marques del Valle 

 in the district of this Diocese, viz, the Alcaldia Mayor of the four 

 towns, and two Corregimientos, in Jalapa del Marques and Xuxtla. 



512. The city of Oaxaca lies 60 leagues S. of the port and city 

 of Vera Cruz. It contains the Provinces of Upper Mixtecas, which 

 is the one nearer the Pacific, and Lower Mixtecas, which is the 

 farther inland; [both run E. and W.]. In these many mulberry trees 

 have been planted and they raise and work up much [very] fine silk ; 

 they abound in corn and other cereals and fruit, both native and from 

 Spain ; there are cacao plantations, and a few mills producing quan- 

 tities of syrup and sugar ; they grow marvelous melons ; they have 

 cattle, stock, sheep, and hog ranches, and excellent mules. 



Chapter XXIX 



Continuing the Description of the Diocese of Oaxaca, and of the 

 Strange Caverns To Be Found in It. 



513. There are in the district of this Diocese extensive provinces 

 thickly populated with natives, and with 350 Indian villages and 

 over 300 farms in them, both wheat and corn farms, cacao and sugar 

 plantations, and also cattle ranches ; and in these villages and farms 

 there are over 150,000 Indians paying tribute, with 120 Dominican 

 convents and curacies, and many under priests as well, and if the 

 Indians paid tithes of the products the soil yields them, this diocese 

 would be one of the richest in the Indies, for they raise in it quantities 

 of silk, cultivated and wild cochineal, and many other kinds of fruit 

 and cereals, with medicinal roots and gums. 



514. In the Sierras de Los Zapotecas in this diocese is the source 

 of the Rio de Alvarado, a powerful stream where it runs into the 

 Atlantic between San Juan de Ulloa, limit of the territory of this 

 Diocese, and that of Guasacualco. Among the numerous native 

 languages spoken by these Indians, there were, and still are, 13 lan- 

 guages differing one from the other, although the Mexican is the 

 most widely diffused, [it] having been introduced by the Mexican 

 kings for administrative purposes after they had brought them into 

 their empire. The Mixtecs wore cotton cloaks [and the whole cos- 

 tume] like the Mexicans, and sandals, and when they went to war 

 they put on cotton "escaupiles" with very thick padding, which are 

 tougher than a coat of mail or buff jerkins, in front, and marched 

 all decked out with feather headdresses ; they wore gold ear pendants 



