TAMAULIPAS— BOUNDARIES RIVERS LAGUNES. 205 



THE STATE OF TAMAULIPAS. 



This State was known, previous to the revolution, as the Iten- 

 dencia de San Luis Potosi, and included the colony of Nuevo 

 Santander. It is now bounded on the north by the North American 

 State of Texas ; on the north-west by the Mexican State of Coa- 

 huila; on the west by the States of New Leon and San Luis Potosi; 

 on the south by San Luis Potosi and Vera Cruz ; and, on the east, 

 by the Gulf of Mexico. The breadth of the State varies from 

 twelve to fifty-five leagues. 



The coast of Tamaulipas is more than three hundred and fifty 

 miles in length, and is fringed with lagunes, varying from four to 

 eighteen miles in width, which are divided from the gulf by barriers 

 and banks of sand. The shallowness of the shores along the whole 

 of this coast, and the dangerous bars which choke the mouths of 

 the rivers, render the navigation difficult and dangerous for vessels 

 of almost all classes. In the northern part of the State, in the 

 neighborhood of the Rio Grande, the country is comparatively level. 

 South of these high plains, however, and some distance in the 

 interior, the land is varied by a succession of mountains, hills and 

 vallies, which gradually slope eastwardly until they are lost in the 

 flats and sands of the sea coast. The Cerro de Martinez, the Cerro 

 de Xeres, the Cerro del Coronel, and the mountain ridges, or sierras, 

 de la Palma and del Carico, are the most remarkable elevations. 

 The land is well watered. Fine vallies extend along the Rio del 

 Norte or Rio Grande, the Tigre, Borbon, Panuco and Dolores. On 

 the coast are found the lagunes of La Madre, Morales and Tampico. 



The climate of the interior of Tamaulipas is mild and healthy; 

 but on the coast an intense heat prevails during the greater part of 

 the year, and, combined with the rank vegetation and moisture, 

 produces diseases similar to those which scourge the adjacent shores 

 of Vera Cruz. As soon as the northers begin to blow, all nature — 

 animal and vegetable — is refreshed by the grateful change; but the 

 hot season generally recommences in March, and soon spreads 

 miasma and death throughout the whole of the low lands. 



The population of Tamaulipas, — consisting chiefly of Meztizos 

 and Indians, — was estimated by the Mexican Calendar of 1833, at 

 166,824, who were divided among three departments and eleven 

 districts or cantons. In 1842 the population, as stated in the 

 estimate for a congress, was 100,068 ; and if to this we add ten per 

 cent, for the estimated increase in seven years, we shall have 

 110,074 in 1850. 



