318 GUANAXUATO VALLADOLID. 



in New-Spain, the volcano of Popocatepetl. A great 

 portion, however, consists of an elevated plain, on 

 which are cultivated wheat, maize, agave, and fruit- 

 trees. 



The population is concentrated on this table-land, 

 extending from the eastern slope of the Nevados, or 

 Snowy Mountains, to the vicinity of Perote. It 

 exhibits remarkable vestiges of ancient Mexican 

 civilization. The great pyramid of Cholula has a 

 much larger base than any edifice of the kind in the 

 Old Continent, its horizontal breadth being not less 

 than 1440 feet ; but its present height is only fifty- 

 nine yards, while the platform on its summit has a 

 surface of 45,210 feet. 



At the village of Atlixco is seen a cypress (Cu- 

 pressus disticha) 76 feet in circumference, which is 

 probably one of the oldest vegetable monuments on 

 the globe.* There are very considerable saltworks 

 in this intendancy, and a beautiful marble is quarried 

 in the vicinity of Puebla. The principal towns are 

 that just named, containing a population of 67,800, 

 Cholula, Tlascala, and Atlixco. 



3. The intendancy of Guanaxuato, situated on the 

 ridge ^of the cordillera of Anahuac, is the most 

 populous in New-Spain, and contains three cities, 

 Guanaxuato, Celayo, and Salvatierra, four towns, 37 

 villages, and 448 farms or haciendas. It is in gene- 

 ral highly cultivated, and possesses the most import- 

 ant mines in that section of the New World. 



4. The intendancy of Valladolid is bounded on the 

 north by the Rio de Lerma ; on the east and north- 



* "On entering the gardens of Chapultepec (near Mexico), the first 

 object that strikes the eye is the magnificent cypress (Subino Ahuahuete, 

 or Cupressus disticha), called the Cypress of Montezuma. Jt had at- 

 tained its full growth when that monarch was on the throne (1520), so 

 that it must now be at least 400 years old, yet it still retains all the vigour 

 of youthful vegetation. The trunk is 41 feet in circumference, yet the 

 height is so majestic as to make even this enormous mass appear slender." 

 Ward's Mexico in 1827, vol. ii. p. 230. The same author mentions 

 another cypress, 38 feet in girth, and of equal height to that of Monte- 

 zuma. 



