316 TOWNS ZACATECAS AGUAS CALIENTES, ETC. 



The town itself is not visible until the traveller approaches within 

 a mile and a half, when it is seen below following the turns of a 

 deep barranca or ravine, of which the mountain of la Bufa y with a 

 chapel on its crest, forms one side. The streets are narrow and 

 dirty, and swarm with uncleanly children, whose appearance, like 

 that of their squalid parents, is by no means prepossessing. But 

 the distant view of the city is picturesque from the number of reli- 

 gious edifices which rise above the roofs of the other buildings. In 

 the vicinity of the plaza there are some fine houses^ and the market 

 place presents a curious and busy provincial scene. 



Aguas Calientes is situated upon the banks of a stream of the 

 same name, in a broad and rich valley, at the distance of 25 leagues 

 south of Zacatecas. The neighborhood is famous for its warm 

 thermal springs ; the chief of which, El Bano de la Cantera, lies a 

 league south-west of the town. Aguas Calientes contains several 

 thousand inhabitants and is celebrated for its woollen manufactories, 

 among which the one belonging to the family of Pimentel employed 

 about 350 men and women at its looms. 



Fresnillo is a mining town, and capital of its district, 14 leagues 

 north-west from Zacatecas, in the wide plain which divides the 

 mountains of Santa Cruz and Organos from the mountain ranges 

 about Zacatecas. It lies at the foot of the isolated knoll of Proano, 

 in which its mines are situated. The neighborhood of the town is 

 pretty, but the region which intervenes between it and Sombrerete 

 is a waste and sterile moorland. 



Sombrerete is a mining town, and capital of its district, 25 

 leagues north-westward of Fresnillo, lying at the foot of the moun- 

 tain of Sombreretillo, or " little hat," whose name is derived from 

 a singular formation of rock on its summit which resembles that 

 article of dress. In its vicinity are the once renowned and rich 

 mines of La Veta Negra and El Pavellon. 



Upon the table lands between Sombrerete, Fresnillo, and Catorce, 

 in the State of San Luis, are several towns or villages deserving of 

 notice, and the hacienda of Sierra Hermosa, a cattle estate, which 

 is one of the most remarkable in the Republic for its extent and pro- 

 duction. It covers an area of 262 sitios or square leagues, and sup- 

 ports immense herds of horned cattle, horses, mules, goats and 

 sheep. The latter, alone, are estimated at 200,000 head, about 

 30,000 of which are annually disposed of. The wool yielded by 

 these animals amounts to from 4,000 to 5,000 arrobas yearly. 



The other towns and villages of note are Asientos de Ibarra, 

 Xeres, Villanueva, Mazapil. 



