GUANAJUATO. 



109 



All the other more populous and flourishing towns of the state, such as Eio 

 Verde, Sauf a Maria del Rio, Ciiidad del Maiz, are situated on the south-eastern 

 slopes of the plateau facing towards Tampico. The mining town of Guadalcazar, 

 which lies in a limestone district to the north-east of San Luis, is a decayed place, 

 while Salinas, to the north-west, as indicated by its name, abounds in salt-mines 

 and saline lagoons, the most actively worked in the republic. 



Guanajuato, Jalisco and Tepic, Colima, M:choacan. 



The political divisions of the different states are far from coinciding with their 

 natural limits. This is largely due to the fact that the present frontiers were 

 fixed by the Spanish administration according to the distribution of the tribes 



Fior. 43. — San Luis Potosi— Government Palace. 



and languages, religious or executive considerations, and especially the interests 

 of the great European or Creole landed proprietors. 



Nevertheless a certain accidental coincidence may occur between the political 

 boundaries and physical conditions of the various provinces. Thus the four States 

 of Guanajuato, of Jalisco with the Tepic territory, of Colima and Michoacan, 

 constitute a sufficiently distinct natural region, comprising the basins of the Rio 

 Lerma and other streams, which flow from the western slope of the Anahuac 

 plateau down to the Pacific. These regions, where the hot, temperate and cold 

 climates are disposed in vertical order one above the other, possess a great 

 abundance of different products. But they do not yet enjoy the same facilities 

 of communication as the eastern slope of the Mexican tableland, the seaports on 

 the Pacific side not being yet connected with the general railway system. The 



