TOWNS, PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY, ETC. 233 
The number and variety of mounds found near San Jose render * 
it a place of considerable interest. These are scattered over 
various points, and are generally composed of chalky earth, al- 
ternated by various colored clay, beneath which are the frag- 
ments of ancient vessels. In excavating some of these mounds, 
several copper hatchets and other antiquities have been dis- 
covered. The banks of the arroyos exhibit great quantities of 
plumbic ochre, and usually intersect strata of variegated clay, 
suitable for purposes of pottery. The abundance of clay iron- 
stone is remarkable, and lead is also reported by the inhabitants 
as existing in certain localities. San Jose, however, derives its 
chief interest from the central position which it occupies, being 
midway between Acayucam and Tobasco, and the ferrying point 
for large quantities of cacao and tobacco, which annually pass 
by land to Vera Cruz, and thence to the towns of the interior. 
In the year of 1847, no less than 2000 heavily laden mules passed 
through this estate on their way to the capital. At present, con- 
siderable trade is carried on with Tobasco, and the family of 
Don Juan Urgell have the privilege of collecting tolls, the legal 
rate of which is two reals for a mule and cargo, and one real 
for each arriero, or passenger ; this includes ferriage across the 
river. The woods and forests present an innumerable variety 
of valuable building timber, dye-woods, gum-trees, &c, &c. ; 
and the land appears admirably adapted to the cultivation of 
cacao, cotton, tobacco, sugar, rice, and maize. The potreros are 
incomparably rich, and the cattle (numbering upwards of 8000) 
are unequalled on the Isthmus. The limits of this estate are, 
however, not very clearly defined, and at present the greater 
part of it is a wilderness. The Hacienda proper, which con- 
tains a population of 100, is accessible on the west through the 
Arroyo de los Urgells, one of the tributaries of the Uspanapa, 
by which canoes ascend to El Paso, from whence a tolerable road 
exists to -the settlement. The camino real, from Tobasco, via 
Huimangillo, Moloacan, and Ishuatlan, also passes through 
San Jose. 
Mina-titlan next claims attention, not only from its being the 
present head of ship navigation on the Coatzacoalcos, but also 
as the only existing outlet on the north for the surplus produc- 
