EARLY MEXICAN EXPEDITIONS. I5 



justified by the physical conditions. According to the treaty concluded with 

 Guatemala in 1822, the common frontier runs from the Pacific coast near the little 

 river Suchiate, across the main range to the Tacanà volcano, and the Buenavista 

 and Ixbul heights, and thence eastwards along the parallel of 16° 40' to the left 

 bank of the E.io Usumacinta, the course of which river it should then follow to 

 within 15 miles to the south of the town of Tenosique. But in these roughly 

 explored regions, the river valleys have not everywhere been accurately determined 

 and certain points of detail still remain to be decided. Bej'ond the Usumacinta 

 the line runs westwards to the Eio Hondo, which marks the boundary of British 

 Honduras, and which falls into Chetumal Bay at the south-east corner of Yucatan. 



Comprising all the outlying territories, and the remote Revilla-Gigedo 

 Archipelago, Mexico has a total area officially estimated at 790,000 square miles, 

 with a population (1889) of over 11,000,000. 



Jn its main outlines, this vast region was already known about the middle of 

 the sixteenth century. Within twenty-four years of the conquest explorers had 

 visited all the coastlauds, and had penetrated far inland from Yucatan to California 

 and the *' seven cities " of Cibola. In 1502, Columbus had already met Yucatan 

 traders on the coast of Honduras ; but it was only in 1517 that the Cuban planter, 

 Hernandez de Cordoba, during a slave-hunting expedition, discovered the first 

 point on the Mexican seaboard, the present Cape Catoche, at the north-west corner 

 of Yucatan. From that point he coasted Yucatan as far as Champoton, where a 

 disastrous engagement with the natives compelled the Spaniards to re-embark. 



In 1518, the survey of the coast was continued by Juan de Grijalva, whose 

 primary object was to punish the natives for the reverse of the previous year, but 

 who pushed forward beyond Champoton some 600 miles to the spot where now 

 stands the town of Tampico. 



A third expedition, under Cortes, followed in 1519 ; but instead of keeping 

 timidly to the seaboard, this daring adventurer aimed at the conquest of an empire. 

 How he effected his purpose, with what courage, sagacity, and prudence, but also 

 with what perfidy and ferocious contempt of the vanquished, is now a familiar 

 tale. In 1521, the. capital and surrounding districts were finally reduced, and 

 armed expeditions were sent in all directions to extend the bounds of "New 

 Spain." Olid and Sandoval penetrated through the provinces of Michoacan and 

 Colima westwards to the Pacific. Alvarado pushed southwards through the high- 

 lands as far as Guatemala. Cortes himself occupied the Panuco country on the 

 eastern slope of the mountains skirting the north side of the Mexican basin. Then, 

 being recalled southwards by the revolt of his lieutenant, Olid, who had crossed by 

 water to Honduras, he advanced south-eastwards to Tabasco, Chiapas, and the 

 territory of the Lacandons and Mopans. 



Of all the expeditions undertaken by Cortes, none was more surj^rising than 

 this march across rivers, swamps, and uninhabited forests. In crossing the 

 Tabasco plains he had to construct as many as " fifty bridges within a space of 

 twenty leagues." Supplies v-f ell short, and his followers had to subsist on roots, 

 berries, and vermin. Even at present few travellers, with all tiie resources of 



