NEW LEON BOUNDARIES, CHARACTER, RIVERS, CLIMATE. 327 



On reaching a high ridge above the adjacent valley, the town of 

 Catorce is immediately perceived at the feet of the traveller, lying in 

 a hollow beyond which the mountain steeps again rise precipitously 

 above a thousand feet, — the course of the Veta Madre, or great 

 " mother vein," being distinctly traced upon it by the buildings be- 

 longing to the mines and miners. The site of the town is extremely 

 singular, as it is intersected by deep ravines, or barrancas, upon the 

 ledges of which many of the dwellings are erected. Some of these 

 strange edifices, like those of Edinburg, have one story on one side, 

 and two or three on the other ; and most of them are surrounded by 

 massive fragments of rock, amongst which the laborers shelter 

 themselves from inclement weather. 



In this region the most valuable mines of the State of San Luis 

 Potosi have been found and wrought. 



Within a few years past a profitable quicksilver mine was discov- 

 ered, south of the capital, in the jurisdiction of the Hacienda de Vil- 

 lela. This mine, in the months of August and September, 1843, 

 produced 1,068 pounds of the metal en caldo. 



THE STATE OF NEW LEON, 



This fine portion of the present Mexican Confederacy was colo- 

 nized at the end of the sixteenth century by the Viceroy Monterey, 

 and was then known by the proud title of El Nuevo Reyno de 

 Leon, or, the New Kingdom of Leon. The modern State is 

 bounded on the east by Tamaulipas ; on the north by Coahuila ; on 

 the west by that State and Durango ; on the south-west and south 

 by Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi, 



The geological formation of this State is generally mountainous. 

 It lies among the first spurs and ridges of the Sierra Madre, south 

 of the Rio Bravo, or Grande del Norte, and is interspersed with 

 wide plains and fruitful valleys which produce good crops under 

 careful cultivation. The rivers, all of which flow eastwardly towards 

 the Gulf of Mexico, are the Rio Tigre, the San Juan, the Rio Blanco 

 or Borbon, and the Sabinas, which passes into this State from Coa- 

 huila, and falls into the Rio Bravo near Revilla. There are numer- 

 ous other small streams and brooks, of no geographical but of con- 

 siderable agricultural importance. The climate is generally warm, 

 except among the higher ranges of mountains ; and, in summer, 

 it is usually extremely hot, though healthy. The population is esti- 

 mated at about 130,000. 



