12 



A GUIDE TO MEXICO. 



capita], is situated at the foot of an abrupt and picturesque porphyritic mountain, 

 upon the rugged summit of which is jierched a neat church and a small fortress. 

 Its streets are short and crooked; its public buildings, especially the mint, city-hall, 

 and cathedral, arc magnificent edifices. Hotels : Diligencias, Comercio, Zacatecano. 

 The hillsides are full of mines, and also the town itself; one having been opened 

 in the Alameda. It is safe to say that Zacatecas will not attract the tourist any 

 more than the uninviting cities Durango and Chihuahua, to the north of it; but 

 to those who would study the processes by which the wealth of the Sierra Madre 



FOUNTAIN AT CHIHUAHUA. 



(Engraved /or Missouri-Pacific Ry.) 



is torn from the bosom of the vast mountain-chain, this and the other cities 

 mentioned will ever be interesting. 



About thirty miles to the south-west of the capital are the remarkable ruins 

 of Quemada, on the Cerro de los Edificios, about five miles north of the town of 

 Villanueva. These constitute one of the largest groups north of the Mexican 

 Valley, and are supposed to indicate an Aztec resting-place during the long migra- 

 tion of that people southward. 



From Zacatecas, it is io6 kilometres to Aguascalientes, capital of the State'of 

 that name, which formerly constituted a part of Zacatecas, more celebrated for 

 its agriculture than for its mines. It is famous for the number of hot-springs which 

 surround the town. These thermal waters, in fact, give the state and town its 



