38 



MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



these disappears near Jalpau in profound caverns about 2 miles long, which 

 like the arch at Nue vo -Leon also bears the name of Puente de Dios. In these 

 subterranean galleries human bodies have been found covered with stalactites. 



Another of these tributaries forms the famous Falls of Regla, where the water 

 rushes over a breach opened in a cluster of basalt columns. On both sides the 



Fig. 18. — CoATZACOALCos Bab. 

 Scale 1 : 60.000. 



94°25* West oF Greenwich 



94° 25' 



Otol6 



Feet. 



Depths. 



16 to 32 



Feet. 



32 Feet and 

 upwards. 



2,200 Yards. 



columns are festooned with wreaths of lianas, while the white waters are broken 

 into cascades, between which rise the hexagonal groups of bluish rock. 



The united Panuco and Tamesi have together almost completely drained the 

 chains of lagoons formerly fringing this part of the coast ; but south of the 

 Tampico river a small inland sea, the Laguna de Tamiahua, still exists, being 

 protected by a narrow cordon of sands from the surf. This rampart does not take 

 the slightly concave form presented by most of the other sandy strips gradually 



