POLITICAL DIVISIONS AND BOUNDARIES OF MEXICO. 13 



and maladies of the tropics, are classed under this head. The 

 tierra fria comprises the mountainous districts rising above the 

 level of the capital up to the limit of constant snow ; while the 

 tierra templada embraces those milder middle regions not com- 

 prehended in the two other sections. Classing them by elevation 

 in feet j we may suppose that the tierras calientes extend to between 

 3,000 and 4,000 feet above the level of the sea ; the tierras tem- 

 pladas to between 4 and 8,000 feet ; and that the tierras frias 

 embrace all the remaining portions up to the region of eternal ice. 



Political Divisions and Boundaries of Mexico. 



It is, perhaps, more of historical or antiquarian interest, than 

 of actual present value, to recur to the ancient divisions of 

 the viceroyalty of New Spain. Nevertheless, there are readers 

 who are naturally anxious to trace the territorial aggrandizement 

 as well as the recent curtailment of Mexico, and we have, there- 

 fore, thought it proper to present a picture of the limits and 

 apportionment of the country at several periods. 



The territorial limits of that region generally called New Spain, 

 were comprised between the degrees of 15° 58' and 42° of north 

 latitude ; and between 89° 4' and 126° 48' 45" west longitude from 

 Paris, — calculating from the easternmost point of Cape Catoche, 

 in Yucatan, to the extreme western limit of the land at Cape 

 Mendocino, in California. The Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean 

 Sea bounded this country on the east and south-east ; the Pacific 

 Ocean on the west ; Guatemala on the south ; and the United 

 States, on the north. There was a multitude of islands compre- 

 hended under this territorial dominion. On the east coast of 

 Yucatan were the isles of Holvas, Comboy, Mugeres, Cancun, 

 Cozumel and Ubero ; — in the Gulf of Mexico, the island of 

 Bermejos and several smaller ones ; — in the Pacific, the isles of 

 Revilla-gigedo, of Maria, Cedros, San Clemente, Santa Catalina, 

 San Nicolas, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Bernardo, San 

 Miguel ; — and in the Gulf of California, or Cortez, the isles of 

 Cerralvo, Espiritu Santo, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Carmen, Tor- 

 tugas, Tiburon, Santa Inez, and numerous insignificant islets or 

 keys. 



The limit between the United States and New Spain w T as defined 

 by a treaty negotiated between the Chevalier de Onis, then Spanish 

 minister at Washington, and John Qumcy Adams, American Sec- 

 retary of State, after long and learned historical as well as legal dis- 

 cussions of territorial rights and limits, which the student will find, 



