40 MEXICO, CENTEAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



*' Red Cape," a form evidently due to the presence of a group of rocks or reefs 

 which has served as a support for the two converging beaches. 



In many places the shore is covered with dunes, which have been gradually 

 raised abov^e the beach, and which drift inland under the influence of the pre- 

 vailing trade winds. Thus the " Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz," founded by Cortes, 

 near Zempoala, is now to a great extent covered by dunes of shifting sands. 



The theory has been advanced that these dunes may perhaps have been 

 raised since the coast reefs, which formerly stood some 6 or 7 feet above the 

 surface, were removed by the builders engaged on the fortress of San Juan d'Ulua 

 and the town walls. Bat this view is" at variance with the fact that dunes even 

 higher than those of Vera Cruz have been formed on many other parts of the 

 coast, and especially near Alvarado ; one of the sandhills in the vicinity of Anton 

 Lizardo is no less than 265 feet high. 



Beyond this point the Alvarado estuary, near the southern inlet of the Gulf of 

 Mexico, receives a large number of converging streams, the largest of which are 

 the Papaloapam, or " Butterfly River," and the San Juan. They are both very 

 copious, thanks to the heavy rainfall produced by the trade winds on the northern 

 slopes of the Oaxaca uplands. 



The Coatzacoalcos, or " Snake River," which flows from the opposite side of 

 the Tuxtla volcano, and which had already been discovered by Grijalva before the 

 expedition of Cortes, is also an extremely copious stream, regard being had to its 

 length of about 220 miles. Its catchment basin is confined to the alluvial plain 

 and the amphitheatre of low mountains which form the northern slope of the isth- 

 mus of Tehuantepec. Nevertheless, its lower course is no less than 800 or 900 

 yards wide ; large vessels after once crossing the bar are able to ascend as far as 

 Minatitlan, some 25 miles from its mouth, while boats reach the village of Suchil, 

 near the middle of the isthmus, and over 60 miles from the coast. But at the 

 point where the fluvial and marine waters meet there is formed a dangerous sill, 

 which, since the time of Cortes' expedition, has always maintained a uniform depth 

 of from 12 to 14 feet of water. Many vessels have been wrecked at the entrance 

 of the river, and it is mainly owing to this danger that engineers have abandoned 

 the idea of constructing a ship canal across the isthmus of Tehuantepec. 



On the opposite side the rivers flowing to the Pacific are obstructed by similar 

 formations. The large lagoon of Tilema, which lies just south of the narrowest 

 part of the isthmus, and towards which converge numerous watercourses, has only 

 from 7 to 10 feet of water on its bar, according to the seasons, and it is often inac- 

 cessible, even to vessels of light draft. One of the caravals built by Cortes for the 

 purpose of surveying the coast was wrecked at this point. 



The mouth of the Rio Tehuantepec, which reaches the coast west of the great 

 lagoon, is completely closed by sands for a great part of the year. Shipping has 

 then to ride at anchor either in the open roadstead well named La Ventosa, or 

 '* Windy," or near the dangerous granite reefs of the Morro de Tehuantepec, or 

 else far from the alluvial lands of the isthmus in the Salina de Cruz inlet, terminus 

 of the railway, and now sheltered by a breakwater. 



