ENGINEERING EEPORTS. 
43 
Our surveys of this portion of the route were completed 
March 24th, when we commenced running northerly from Mt. 
Sarabia. 
The line of survey crosses the elevated ground separating the 
valleys of the Malatengo and Sarabia rivers, with a maximum 
grade of fifty feet per mile, and light work ; advancing thence, 
it runs in a southwesterly direction a distance of one and a half 
miles, to the crossing of the Sarabia ; then curving to the right, 
its course is N. 18° W. for a distance of five miles ; thence it is 
continued for about three miles in a direction N. 11° W. ; ad- 
vancing thence, and curving to the right, the course is 10° E. 
for a distance of four and a half miles ; then curving to the 
left, it is continued about four miles in a direction BL 23° W., 
and in about one mile further, is brought upon the ridge which 
separates the waters of the Jumuapa and Jaltepec rivers ; 
thence the course of the line averages about 'N. 16° E. for a 
distance of some five miles, to the crossing of the Jaltepec 
Eiver, making a total distance, from the terminus of our survey 
to the south, of forty-one miles. 
The crossing of the Sarabia River will require a bridge of one 
hundred and seventy-five feet span, with an elevation just suffi- 
cient to clear high water, the extreme rise of which is about 
eighteen feet. The stream has here a rapid current, and a hard 
gravelly bed. The river-bottoms at this point are about three- 
fourths of a mile in width, and with the exception of a few 
patches under cultivation, are heavily timbered. The country 
lying immediately north of the Sarabia Eiver, for an extent of 
about four miles square, is entirely destitute of timber, and 
beautifully rolling (being very similar in character to the plains 
of Xochia23a) : though quite undulating, they are at no point 
elevated more than one hundred and twenty feet above the 
level of the Sarabia Eiver. These prairies furnish pasturage 
for large droves of horses and mules. 
There is an elevated ridge of ground, extending from near 
the point of crossing the Sarabia to the Paso de la Puerta, the 
summit of which is traversed for a great portion of the distance 
by the mule-road leading from Boca del Monte and San Juan 
Guichicovi to the Paso. Our line of survey lies to the east of 
