MICHOACAN. 115 



first deliberative assembly of the revolted populations. The national council was 

 later transferred to Zifacnavo, on the uplands between Morelia and Toluca. 



The capital of the state also bears a name which recalls the great deeds of the 

 struggle against Spain. Under the old regime it took the designation of Valladolia 

 from the famous Castillan city ; but it is now better known as Moreda, from 

 Morelos, one of the heroes and martyrs of the insurrection. Situated at an altitude 

 of 6,200 feet, on the plateau in the basin of I^ake Cuitzeo, Morelia lies between 

 two streams in a fertile valley commanded on the west by the superb Mount 

 Quinceo, 8,950 feet high. The city, which stood aloof from the great highways 

 of communication, is, nevertheless, one of the best built and cleanest in Mexico ; 

 it is adorned with beautiful public grounds, and a fine cathedral with two towers 

 in simple and correct taste. 



The branch line connecting Morelia with the Mexican railway system is one 

 of the most picturesque on the plateau ; it skirts the shores of Lake Cuitzeo, which 

 is everywhere encircled by hills, grassy slopes, and woodlands. West of this 

 mao^nilicent lacustrine basin, the reo'ion between the mountains and the E.io Lerma 

 is dotted over with other lakes, one of which mirrors in its clear waters the houses 

 of Funiandiro. South-Avest of Morelia the railway is continued in the direction of 

 Patzcuaro, which was the capital of the country from the time of the conquest to 

 the year 1541, when the Spaniards founded Valladolid. Patzcuaro had itself 

 succeeded in 1520 to Tzintzonfzan or Iluitzizila, the " Humming-bird Town," resi- 

 dence of the native ruler, which was said to have a population of 40,000. Bishop 

 Vasco de Quiroga removed the Christians from the old to the new town, which 

 stood on a neiffhbourino; terrace, whence a view was commanded of Lake Patzcuaro 

 about three miles off. Tzintzontzan is now a mere village, whereas Patzcuaro has 

 become a populous city The mounds scattered about the district are said to 

 conceal the ruins of temples and pp,laces. Lake Patzcviaro still stands at an alti- 

 tude of 7,260 feet ; but from this point the traveller soon reaches the edge of the 

 plateau, whence the route descends rapidly to the coast through the towns of 

 Tacamharo, Ario, Untapan, and some other places situated in the lateral valleys 

 of the Rio Mexcala. Near Ario, at an elevation of over 6,700 feet, apd within 

 sight of the summit of the Tancitaro volcano, stands the A-illage of Caninzio, till 

 recently inhabited by a group of French settlers, who acclimatised in the district 

 numerous species of fruit trees, flowering, and other ornamental plants. The wiiïe 

 made in the colony of Francia, or " Little France," was famous throughout 

 Mexico. But the invasion of the country by the French troops in 1864 excited the 

 natives against the foreign settlers, who were obliged to disjDerse. The so-called 

 ayacates, or sepulchral mounds, erected by the ancient Tarascans are scattered in 

 hundreds round about Ario. 



QUERETARO, HlDALGO, MeXICO, FeDERAL DISTRICT. 



The various states occupying the Anahuac plateau properly so called, and 

 draining through fissures in the mountains to both oceans, but mainly to the Gulf 

 of Mexico, constitute collectively the most productive, the riche-st and most 



