12 



HISTORY OF MEXICO. 



eft. The river Papaloapan, which the Spaniards call 

 Alvarado^ from the name of the firft Spanifli captain 

 who failed into it, has its principal fource in the moun- 

 tains of the Zapotecas, and after making a circuit 

 through the province of Mazatlan, and receiving other 

 fmaller rivers and dreams, is difcharged into the Gulf 

 by three navigable mouths, at thirty miles diftance from 

 Vera Cruz. The river Coatzacualco, which is alfo 

 navigable, comes down from the mountains of the Mix- 

 es^ and crofFmg the province of which it takes the name, 

 empties itfelf into the ocean nigh to the country of Ono- 

 hualco. The river Chiapan begins its courfe from the 

 mountains called Cuchumataneo^ which feparate the dio« 

 cefc of Chiapan from that of Guatemala, crolTes the 

 province of its own name, and afterwards that of Ono- 

 hualco, where it runs into the fea. The Spaniards call 

 it labafco^ v/hich they alfo called that traft of land 

 which unites the peninfula of Yucatan to the Mexican 

 continent. They called it alfo the river Grihalva^ from 

 the commander of the firft Spanifli fleet who difcovered 

 it. 



Amongft the rivers which run into the Pacific Ocean 

 Tololotlan is the moft celebrated, called by the Spaniards 

 Gmdalaxara^ or great river. It takes its rife in the 

 mountains of the valley of Toloccan, croflTes the king- 

 dom of Michuacan and the lake of Cbapallan, from 

 thence it waters the country of Tonollan^ where at pre- 

 fent the city of Guadalaxara, the capital of New Galli- 

 cia, ftands ; and after running a courfe of more than fix 

 hundred miles, difcharges itfelf into the ocean, in the 

 latitude of 22 degrees. The river Tecuantepec fprings 

 in the mountains of the Mixes, and after a fliort courfe 

 empties itfelf into the ocean in the latitude of 15^ de- 

 grees. 



