DISTRICTS OR INTENDANCIES. 357 
cholic, and taciturn ; forming a striking contrast to 
the negroes, who for this reason are preferred by 
the Indian women. Long habituated to slavery, 
they patiently suffer the privations to which they 
-are frequently subjected ; opposing to them only a 
degree of cunning, veiled under the appearance 
of apathy and stupidity. Although destitute of 
imagination, they are remarkable for the facility 
with which they acquire a knowledge of languages ; 
and, notwithstanding their usual taciturnity, they 
become loquacious and eloquent when excited by 
important occurrences. It is unnecessary to speak 
of the negroes, of whom there are very few in Mexi- 
co, their character being the same as in other coun- 
tries where slavery is permitted. 
No city of the New Continent, not even except- 
ing those of the United States, possesses more im- 
portant scientific establishments than Mexico. Of 
these Humboldt mentions particularly the School of 
Mines, the Botanic Garden, which has however 
fallen into a state of neglect, and the Academy of 
Fine Arts. The influence of this institution is per- 
ceptible in the symmetry of the buildings which 
--adorn the capital. 
New Spain is divided into 15 districts, which 
he arranges as follows :— 
I. In the Temperate ZonE—82,000 square 
leagues ; 677,000 inhabitants, or 8 to the square 
league—(1,059,193 square miles ; inhabitants ;% to 
the square mile). 
A. Northern Region, in the interior. 
J. Province of New Mexico, along the Rio del Norte, to the 
north of the parallel of 31°. 
