WEST 



CHAPTER III. 

 COAST OR PACIFIC STATES. 



OAJACA EXTENT BOUNDARIES GEOLOGY VALLEY INDIANS 



DEPARTMENTS POPULATION MINES PORTS PRODUC- 

 TIONS CATTLE TOWNS ANCIENT REMAINS MITLA THE 



PALACE TOMBS ANTIQUARIAN SPECULATIONS CONNECTION 



OF MEXICAN REMAINS QUIOTEPEC, OR CERRO DE LAS JUNTAS. 



THE STATE OF OAJACA. 



This rich and beautiful State lies, for 118 leagues, along the 

 Pacific Ocean. On the north-west, it is bounded by the State of 

 Puebla, on the north by Vera Cruz, and east by the State of Chiapas 

 and the republic of Central America or Guatemala. It extends 

 from east to west about 115 leagues, and from north to south 322 

 leagues, containing an area of 5,046 square leagues. 



We pass now from the hot and sickly sands and marshes of the 

 eastern coast to a region which has been considered by many 

 writers and travellers as the most delightful in Mexico. Beauty of 

 natural scenery and salubrity of climate, fertility of soil and richness 

 of productions, combine to render Oajaca valuable, not only in a 

 commercial aspect, but as a residence in which it would be agree- 

 able to pass a life time. Nor is this the opinion only of the present 

 inhabitants, for the remains of antiquity still found within the limits 

 of the State, prove it to have been the seat of Indian civilization 

 long before the arrival of the Spaniards. The geological structure 

 of this State is different from that of Puebla and Mexico ; and the 

 vegetation is quite as vigorous as that of other prolific regions, 

 without the rankness which produces rapid decomposition and 

 miasma. The rains are generally abundant from May to October. 



In our general description of the geological and geographical 

 characteristics of Mexico, we have already shown that the great 



