CHAPTER VIII. 



STATE OF MECHOACAN BOUNDARIES ELEVATIONS VOLCANO 



OF JORULLO THEORIES OF HUMBOLDT AND LYELL PRESENT 



CONDITION RIVERS OF MECHOACAN CLIMATE HEALTH 



INDIANS DEPARTMENTS AGRICULTURE TOWNS MINES 



JALISCO BOUNDARIES POPULATION RIVERS LAKES 



DIVISIONS MANUFACTURES AGRICULTURE FACTORIES 



GUADALAJARA TOWNS SAN JUAN DE LOS LAGOS TEPIC 



SAN BLAS MINES ISLANDS MINING REGION INDIANS 



CHARACTER AND HABITS CHURCH AND SCHOOL EDUCATION 



BISHOPRIC TERRITORY OF COLIMA EXTENT CLIMATE 



PRODUCTIONS TOWNS, 



THE STATE OF MECHOACAN. 



* The State of Mechoacan is the old Spanish Intendencia of Val- 

 lodolid, and includes a great part of the ancient Indian Kingdom 

 of Mechoacan, or Mechoacan of the Tarascos. It is bounded on 

 the north by Guanajuato, north-easterly of Queretaro, south-easterly 

 by Mexico, westerly by Jalisco, and south-westerly, for a short dis- 

 tance, by the Pacific. 



This State lies chiefly on the western slope of the Cordillera, and is 

 cut up by hills and genial vallies. The highest point within its limits 

 is the Peak of Tancitaro, which, in all probability, is an extinct vol- 

 cano. East of this, and south of the village of Ario, the Volcano of 

 Jorullo burst forth on the night of the 29th of September, 1759. 



The great region to which this mountain belongs has been 

 already described in our account of the geological structure of 

 Mexico. The plain of Malpais forms part of an elevated platform, 

 between 2,000 and 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and is 

 bounded by hills composed of basalt, trachyte, and volcanic tuff, 

 clearly indicating that the country had previously, though probably 

 at a remote period, been the theatre of igneous action. From the 

 era of the discovery of the New World to the middle of the last 

 century, the district had remained undisturbed, and the space, now 

 the site of the volcano, which is thirty leagues distant from the 

 nearest sea, was occupied by fertile plains of sugar cane and indigo, 

 and watered by the two brooks, Cuitimba and San Pedro. In the 

 month of June, 1759, hollow sounds of an alarming nature were 

 heard, and earthquakes succeeded each other for two months, until, 

 in September, flames issued from the ground, and fragments of 

 burning rocks were thrown to prodigious heights. 



