330 ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



Thus originated his celebrated work entitled ' Essai politique 

 sur le Eoyaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne.' 



The courteous and friendly reception which had been ac- 

 corded to Humboldt at Lima and other capital cities in the 

 Spanish colonies l awaited him also at Mexico, where he was 

 graciously received by the viceroy Iturrigary. 



After a sojourn of some months in^the capital, Humboldt 

 visited the famous mines of Moran and Real del Monte. The 

 whole of this district is of the highest geological interest, 

 affording specimens of basalts, amygdaloid and calcareous rocks 

 of the secondary formation, besides the remarkable columnar 

 porphyry of Actopan. 



In the month of July, Humboldt started on a second expedi- 

 tion, to visit the provinces in the north of the kingdom. His 

 route lay first to Huehuetoca, where, at a cost of six million 

 piastres [1,291,770^.], a canal has been cut through the moun- 

 tain Sinoq, for the purpose of draining the valley of Mexico 

 into the river Moctezuma ; thence he visited Queretaro, which 

 in our days has become invested with a melancholy interest, 

 as the scene of the tragic fate of the unfortunate Emperor 

 Maximilian, and after passing through Salamanca, and across 

 the fertile plain of Irapuato, he readied Gruanaxuato, a town of 

 50,000 inhabitants, situated in a narrow ravine, and possessing 

 in its vicinity mines even more prolific than were formerly 

 those of Potosi. 



Humboldt spent two months at Gruanaxuato occupied with 

 observations of various kinds, and researches as to the geolo- 

 gical structure of the district, and on the completion of his 

 labours, he continued his journey to Comagillas, noted for its 

 hot mineral springs, of which he made a chemical analysis. 

 He thence travelled through the valley of the Santiago, which 

 in primeval times had probably been enclosed by basaltic moun- 

 tains of volcanic origin, to Valladolid, the capital of the ancient 

 kingdom of Michoacan, situated in one of the most beautiful 

 and fertile districts of the New World. Thence he descended 

 amid the ceaseless rain of the autumnal season to Patzcuaro 

 and over the plains of the Jorullo, to the shores of the Pacific. 

 On September 19, he ascended the peak of Jorullo, a volcano 

 1 See pp. 293, 299, 305. 



