32 
ENGINEERING REPORTS. 
and commanding a fine view of the surrounding country. The 
sandstone above referred to is of a grayish-white color, and 
about the weight and consistency of chalk ; it is distinctly 
stratified, the prevailing strike being S. 15° W., and the dip 11° 
W. This formation extends from three to eight miles on all 
sides of Tesistepec, the soil found in connection with it being 
clay, of the same nature as that already described. 
We were told by the natives that wherever this rock oc- 
curred the soil was much more productive than that of other 
portions of the country. The porosity of this sandstone is 
great, and the inhabitants are supplied with water from a large 
number of wells sunk to depths of thirty or forty feet into the 
substance of the rock. 
The Hacienda of Almagro lies to the southwest of this 
place, distant about thirteen miles by the roads. Our route 
thence, for the first two miles, lay over high, broken ground ; 
we then came, down upon a level prairie, bordering a small 
sheet of water called Lake Otiapa. This lake is about three 
miles in length, by half a mile in width, and quite shallow ; 
in the rainy season, however, its depth is increased six or eight 
feet by the back-water of the Coatzacoalcos. 
Soon after leaving this lake we crossed the main branch of 
the Monzapa Biver, and at about three miles further, the most 
southern branch of the same stream : thence to the Hacienda of 
Almagro is a distance of some two miles. This is situated 
in a beautiful rolling prairie, of three or four miles in length, 
by one mile in width. Between Tesistepec and this place we 
found the timber much larger and of better quality than any we 
had before seen. The soil was generally a stiff clay, with occa- 
sional beds of sand. South of Lake Otiapa we found the surface 
of the country quite smooth and uniform, with the exception of a 
narrow ridge separating the two branches of the Monzapa, and 
which may be turned by keeping a little further to the east. 
Mt. Encantada is distant from the Hacienda of Almagro about 
ten miles, in a southeasterly direction, and is situated in the midst 
of extensive potreros, which are flowed in times of high water to 
a depth of from three to twelve feet. The base of the mountain 
extends nearly two miles in a direction W. 1ST. W. by E. S. E., and 
