34 
ENGINEERING REPORTS. 
conusco, and two miles south the village of Oluta. Paso 
San Juan is situated about twenty miles from Acayucam, in 
a direction W. S.W., and is accessible from the latter place 
by a good mule-road, traversing, for a great part of the dis- 
tance, the dividing ridge separating the head-waters of the 
Monzapa from the Huasuntan. 
From near Jaltipan, to a point two or three miles westward 
of Acayucam, the soil is a stiff clay ; thence to Paso San 
Juan it is gravelly, with a formation of sandstone. This latter 
place is the port or outlet for most of the trade of Acayucam 
and the neighboring villages. The San Juan River at this point 
carries about the same volume of water as the Coatzacoalcos 
at Paso Sarabia, and is navigated by boats of considerable size. 
The villages of Cosuliacaque, Otiapa, Chinameca, Jaltipan, 
and Tesistepec, are built on the summit of an irregular, broken 
ridge, which may be traced continuously from Mina-titlan to 
near the San Juan River, in the direction of the Paso. 
These villages are generally located on the highest points of 
this ridge, and are elevated from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred feet above the Coatzacoalcos River. 
A large portion of the country comprised between the villages 
of Cosuliacaque, Jaltipan, and Tesistepec, on one side, and the 
Coatzacoalcos on the other, is subject to periodic overflow ; the 
limit of flowage being, however, quite irregular. On either 
side of the Ocosoapa Creek, the highlands reach nearly to the 
Brazo Mistan ; while between Jaltipan and Tesistepec, and also 
to the west of the latter place, the flowage extends eight or ten 
miles back from the river. 
From all the information I have been able to obtain, I should 
judge that the best line for the location of the railroad would 
coincide nearly with the following general route, viz. : 
Commencing at Mina-titlan, thence running to the left of the 
mule-road leading to Cosuliacaque, so as just to skirt the river- 
bottoms, and passing from one-half to one mile south of the 
latter village ; thence to a point two or three miles south from 
Jaltipan ; thence to near the south end of Lake Otiapa, and 
thence to a point near the western extremity of Mt. Encan- 
tada, passing from two to three miles eastward of the Hacienda 
