326 TOWNS MINING REGION. 



six handsome churches, three convents, and one hospital. Its 

 population may be estimated at 35,000. 



Guad alcazar, is the capital of the partido or district of that 

 name, 18 leagues north-west of San Luis Potosi, in 22° 31' 25" 

 north latitude and 102° 59' 30" west longitude from Paris, 5,132 

 feet above the sea, in a valley south of a mountain group which was 

 once extremely productive in mineral riches. 



Rio Verde is the capital of the Department of Rio Verde, 34 

 leagues east of San Luis. The town of Valles, with 3,500 in- 

 habitants, lies on the left bank of the Rio Montezuma, in the tierra 

 caliente, on the boundary of the State of Vera Cruz. Its neighbor- 

 hood is rich in sugar plantations and in tropical productions gen- 

 erally. 



Venado, 29 leagues north of San Luis, is the chief town of its 

 Department ; it lies on the road from the capital of the State to 

 Catorce, and contains about 8,000 inhabitants. 



In the partido Ojocaliente lies the town of that name, 28 

 leagues north-west of the city of San Luis, and 10 leagues south- 

 east of the capital of Zacatecas, 6,714 feet above the sea. 



Catorce is a mining town, likewise in the department of Venado, 

 and is sometimes known by the sounding title of " Real de la 



PURISIMA CONCEPCION DE ALAMOS DE LOS CATORCE." The 



name is supposed to be derived from the slaughter of fourteen Span- 

 ish soldiers who are said to have been killed in its vicinity by a 

 tribe of savages inhabiting these wild mountain regions before the 

 discovery of the adjacent mines. 



Nothing can be more dreary, bleak and desolate than the aspect 

 of the Cordillera of Catorce. A few narrow mule paths, or the worn 

 bed of a mountain torrent alone break the monotonous coloring of 

 the mass ; and the town placed at the great height of 8,788 feet 

 above the sea, is completely hidden from below by the bold brow of 

 the mountain, 1 There is neither a tree nor a blade of grass on the 

 steep and sterile flanks of these rocky elevations, though seventy 

 years ago the whole district was covered with wood which might 

 have endured for centuries had not the improvident and wasteful 

 spirit of the first adventurers wantonly destroyed these valuable re- 

 sources. Forests were burnt to clear the ground, and the larger 

 timber which was required for the mines when they were wrought 

 again after the revolution, was brought from a distance of twenty- 

 two leagues. 



1 Ward assigns Catorce an elevation of over 7,760 feet. The statement given in 

 the present work is on the more recent authority of Muhlenpfordt. 



