NUEVO LEON. 103 



waters descending from the sierra flow northwards through a gorge in the range 

 to the San Juan affluent of the E,io Bravo. Saltillo was founded in 1586 by the 

 Spaniards, who placed here a garrison of TIaxcaltecs to defend it against the sur- 

 rounding wild tribes, and from that time it continued to be the chief town of the 

 province, to which they had given the name of New Estremadura. 



Some six miles farther south, the highway enters an aiigosfiira, or " narrow 

 pass," between elevated hills, where stands the famous farmstead of JBiiena Vista. 

 From this place are named a large number of localities in the United States 

 in memory of the two days' battle fought in 1846 by the Americans against the 

 Mexican defenders of the pass. 



Monterey, capital of the State of Nuevo Leon, is one of the old cities of 

 Mexico, its foundation dating from the last years of the sixteenth century. The 

 cirque of which it occupies the centre, and which is watered by the little Rio Santa 

 Catalina, an affluent of the San Juan, is surroiinded by mountains of a forbidding 

 aspect, with bare rocky flanks and craggy peaks. Southwards is continued the 

 chief range of the Sierra Madre ; west^-ards is developed the Silla or " Saddle " 

 ridge, while to the north the system terminates in a bluff which, from its peculiar 

 shape, takes the name of the " Mitre." The grey, yellow, and red flanks of the 

 surrounding hills rise to a height of from 1,600 to 2,600 feet above the whole town, 

 which is encircled by a zone of orchards and orange groves. Monterey lies still 

 within the hot zone 1,600 feet above the sea, with long sultry summers and mild 

 winters free from. snow. Its annual fair, held in the month of September, is much 

 frequented both by Mexicans and Americans. 



The well-cultivated plains of the irrigat(^d zone in Nuevo Leon yield heavy 

 crops of maize, besides wheat, beans, sugar, oranges, and all kinds of fruits. From 

 Monterey and the other agricultural centres of the state, such as Cadereyta Jimenez, 

 Monteniorelos, Linares, and Doctor Arroyo, Tamaulipas and the other surrounding 

 regions draw their supplies of alimentary produce, giving in exchange horses and 

 cattle. Thanks to the industry of the peasantry, Nuevo Leon, though not always 

 favoured with a sufficient rainfall, has flourished, and the local population has 

 increased rapidly. Its present density is about eight persons to the square mile, 

 that is to say, four times more than that of the other states of North Mexico. 



Monterey forms the bulwark of the republic towards its north-west frontier : 

 hence in the war of 1846 the Americans began operations by seizing this strate- 

 gical position. Two railways converging at Monterey connect it on the one hand 

 through Nuevo Laredo on the Rio Bravo with the L'nited States system, on the 

 other with the riverain towns of Mier, Caiuargo, Reinosa, and Matamoros. Thanks 

 to this line Monterey has become the Mexican emporium for the lower valley of the 

 Rio Bravo. Each of the stations on the right bank confronts another on the left 

 through which the American traders introduce their wares, either by legitimate 

 traffic or by smuggling. The two lines converging at Monterey are continued 

 through the republic by the grand trunk line of Mexico. 



Of all the towns in the State of Tamaulipas, Matamoros lies nearest to the 

 mouth of the Rio Bravo. Allowing for the winding of the river, it is 48 miles 



