98 
HYDROGRAPHIC REPORTS. 
dinj season, down to the Alto Major, and there sawed into lum- 
ber of every size and description, and in quantities sufficient for 
the supply, if need be, of the whole Gulf coast of Mexico. Of 
the facilities for transportation below the point in reference, it is 
unnecessary to speak. 
Between the Alto Mayor and Mai Paso, the river is exceed- 
ingly winding, but pursues a mean course of 6° "W., although 
some of the extreme bends diverge as much as 22° to the south- 
ward of east and west. The water, however, is deeper and the 
river broader, with frequent high barrancas of red clay on either 
hand ; but the fall is very apparent, and the number of rapids 
fifteen. The current under these circumstances is swift, es- 
pecially in the bends and reaches approximating in direction to 
the general course of the river, the geological features of which 
are exhibited in the form of granite, limestone, and slate, accom- 
panied by indications of what I supposed to be anthracite coal. 
Lastly, with regard to the greatest rise of water in the Rio 
del Corte : At a point opposite Santa Maria Chimalapa, the 
average height, during the rainy season, is between thirty-eight 
and forty feet, and at Mai Paso between seventeen and eighteen. 
These figures cannot, however, be depended upon as exhibiting 
the maximum point at all times, for from repeated careful ex- 
aminations of the river banks at both places, there are indica- 
tions which induce the belief of an overflow even beyond the 
points named. This opinion is further confirmed by information 
derived from the fishermen on the river, who state that in the 
month of September, 1827, a greater portion of the country bor- 
dering the upper Coatzacoalcos was entirely submerged, that 
the water rose upwards of sixty feet in the river near Santa 
Maria Chimalapa, and twenty-nine feet at Mai Paso. Subse- 
quently, in 1835, another cresciente occurred, but of a more 
mitigated form. 1 have sought in vain for information by which 
these freshets might be referred to certain periods, and to ascer- 
tain if indeed they are periodic at all. To what extent the re- 
currence of similar floods may affect the line of country between 
the Sarabia and the Jaltepec, is a question which should not be 
lost sight of in the future location of the railroad, whether it be 
east or west of the Coatzacoalcos. 
