THE MEXICAN RLVEES. 



37 



Fi!?. 17.- 



-Tamaulipas Coast Lagoons. 

 Scale 1 : 2,500,000. 



"^I S rszos — 



Juan, whicli is formed of the numerous sparkling streams that water the more 

 fertile districts of Coahuila and Nuevo-Leon. One of these streams towards the 

 southern extremity of the basin is the Puente de Dios, which plunges from a 

 height of 200 feet into a profound chasm 70 or 80 feet below one of those natural 

 causeways which are here called " God's 

 Bridges." 



The alluvial matter brought down by 

 the Rio Bravo has caused the land to 

 encroach far beyond the normal coastline ; 

 but it has failed to fill up the coast 

 lagoons, so that here is developed a 

 double shoreline ; the sandy strips, and 

 the seaboard proper. Elongated back- 

 waters, which continue those fringing the 

 coast of Texas round the north-western 

 shores of the Gulf of Mexico, are disposed 

 parallel with the sea in a continuous 

 chain, broken only by the alluvial banks 

 which have been deposited by coast 

 streams along both sides of their chan- 

 nels. 



These inner waters, which have a 

 total length of about 200 miles, commu- 

 nicate with the open sea only by narrow 

 passages, which shift their position with 

 the storms and rains. The water also 

 varies in its saline contents according 

 to the freshets of the coast streams and 

 the irruptions of the sea. The lagoons 

 are gradually silting up with the sediment 

 deposited by the two little coast streams, 

 the San Fernando or Tigre, and La Ma- 

 rina, the old Bio de las Palmas. 



South of La Marina and of a few other 

 rivulets, the Tamesi and the Panuco, which 

 formerly flowed in separate channels, are 

 now united in a district studded with 

 lagoons and swamps above the bar of 

 Tampico ; hence the name of Tampico • 



sometimes given to the two united rivers. The Panuco, the more copious of the 

 two, rises north of the Mexican Valley, and even receives some contributions 

 through the Huehuetoca cutting; under the names of Tula or Montezuma it 

 describes a vast semicircular bend towards the west across the Hidalgo uplands, 

 beyond which it collects the various streams flowing from Queretaro. One of 



to 10 

 Fathoms. 



Depths. 



10 to 25 

 Fathoms. 



25 to 50 

 Fathoms. 



50 Fathoms 

 and upwards. 



30 Miles. 



