HIDALGO. 117 



These enter j)rising English specuhitors have introduced some very powerful 

 machinery, which enables them to supply the Mexican mint with the largest part 

 of the metal it now coins. Pachuca lies about midway between the two ancient and 

 powerful cities of the Toltec people, Ttdancigo and Tula. The former, that is, 

 " Little Tula," which is said to be the oldest, stands at the foot of a volcano east 

 of the present capital, near the eastern verge of the plateau. Before the conquest 

 the natives worked into all kinds of cutting instruments the obsidian collected on 

 the neighbouring Cerro de las Navajas, or " Mountain of Knives." These 

 quarries and workshops seem to have sufficed for the wants of the whole of the 

 Anahuac plateau from prehistoric times down to the arrival of the Spaniards. 

 Tula, the ancient Tollan, is now a mere village, situated in the charming district 

 traversed by the railway running from Mexico to Queretaro, Here, also, are found 

 the remains of animals, arrowheads, and other implements in great abundance ; but 

 a more interesting discovery is that of the ancient buildings brought to light by 

 M. Charnay, on the summits of mounds or hillocks commanding an extensive 

 view of the surrounding plains. The ruins are supposed to represent all that now 

 remains of several ancient temples, and of a palace. It is noteworthy that the 

 architects of Tula emj)loyed the most diverse materials, wood, stones, pebbles, 

 cement, mortar, and even the true baked brick, but not the adobes, or sun dried 

 bricks, which were so extensively used by the Aztecs. 



The State of Mexico has been shorn of its former proportions, and in a sense 

 dismembered, by the detachment of Hidalgo in the north, and Morelos in the 

 south. Moreover, the " Federal District " which encircles the capital forms a 

 distinct enclave within the state, being administered, like the district of Columbia, 

 in the United States, directly by Congress. But although thus reduced to less 

 than half its original size, it still constitutes an extensive territorj^ which might 

 even admit of further subdivision by separating the districts lying south of the 

 snowy range on the slope which drains through the Bio Mexcala to the Pacific. 

 Nearly all the mountainous parts are uninhabited, except in the mining regions, 

 such as the environs of Ixtlahuaca. Nevertheless, the population is relatively 

 very dense, especially towards the eastern extremity of the state, which, so to say, 

 forms the suburbs of the federal capital. Tohtca, the state capital, is not an 

 important place, its development having been retarded by its great elevation of 

 8,600 feet, rigorous climate, and lack of communications. Lerma, some eight 

 miles farther east, on a lake traversed by the head stream of the Rio Lerma, 

 occupies a position analogous to that of Toluca. Bound the corn-growing 

 " valley " rises an amphitheatre of hills, dominated southwards by the Nevado 

 de Toluca volcano, whose long slopes are flecked or draped in snow towards the 

 summit. The pass running east of this mountain is guarded by the town of 

 Tenango, near which is a romantic waterfall. On the opposite slope the chief 

 places are Tenancingo, or " Little Tenango," Tejupilco, and TemascaUepec. 



Mexico, capital of the rejaiblic, still bears its Aztec name, which has been 

 variously interpreted by etymologists, but which is usually derived from one of 

 the appellations of the war-god Mexitli. Nevertheless, the city was more com- 



