RIVERS OF MEXICO. 



17 



Rivers and Lakes of Mexico. 



I. On the Eastern Coasts. 



1st. The Rio Grande del Norte, or Rio Bravo, which is the 

 largest of all Mexican streams, and rises, in about 40|° north lati- 

 tude, and 100° west longitude, from Paris, in the lofty sierras 

 which are a continuation of the gigantic chain that forms the spine 

 of our continent. It pursues a southeasterly direction towards the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and traverses a distance of nearly eighteen hun- 

 dred miles. 



2d. The Rio del Tigre, rises in the state of Coahuila, and 

 passes, in a southward and easterly direction, through the states of 

 New Leon and Tamaulipas, and finally, after traversing about three 

 hundred miles, debouches in the Gulf of Mexico. 



3d. The Rio de Borbon, or Rio Blanco. The sources of this 

 stream are in New Leon, whence it runs towards the east, and, 

 crossing the state of Tamaulipas, falls in the Laguna Madre. 



4th. The Rio de Santander, rises in the state of Zacatecas, 

 crosses the state of San Luis Potosi, passes by Tamaulipas, 

 winds to the north, and falls, near the bar of Santander, into the 

 Gulf. 



5th. The Rio de Tampico, is formed by the union of the rivers 

 Panuco and Tula. The upper source of the Panuco is in the 

 neighborhood of the city of San Luis Potosi, the capital of the state 

 of that name. Near half a league north north-east of this city, in 

 the valley de la Pila, rises a spring which is protected by a basin 

 of fine masonry, and conveyed by an aqueduct to town. Several 

 other streams, coming from the south-west, unite with this source 

 and form the Panuco. West of the first of these streams, swells 

 up the mountainous ridge which divides the waters of Mexico 

 between the Pacific and the Atlantic. The Panuco courses east- 

 wardly, — and, passing rapidly through the Laguna Chairel, 

 unites with the Tula. This latter stream mingles the waters of 

 the rivulets Tepexi, Tequisquiac, and Tlantla, in the northern part 

 of the state of Mexico ; and receiving, by the canal of Huehuetoca, 

 the water of the Rio Quautitlan, it winds onward through the 

 valley of Tula, and near the limits of the states of Queretaro and 

 Vera Cruz, until it joins the Panuco. These united rivers receive 

 in the state of Tamaulipas, the name of the Rio de Tampico, 

 which debouches, finally, in the Gulf of Mexico. 



6th. The Rio Blanco rises in the state of Vera Cruz, near 

 Aculzingo, at the foot of Citlaltepetl, or the mountain of Orizaba, 

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