59 
Ecclesiastically this portion of the Isthmus is dependant on 
the diocese of Oajaca, and in addition to the parish of Tehuan- 
tepec it has five Kectories. 
INHABITANTS. 
The whole of the southern territory of the Isthmus contains 
about 31,000 inhabitants, as may be seen in the Appendix C. 
The population of this division is composed of Europeans, 
Huaves, Zapotecos, Mijes, Soques, and Zambos. 
The Europeans, as regards numbers, constitute an insigni- 
cant part of the population, and are disseminated over various 
localities. 
The Huaves are in all little more than three thousand, and 
occupy the four villages of the coast called San Mateo, Santa 
Maria, San Dionisio, and San Francisco. 
These natives are easily distinguished by their aspect, 
which differs materially from that of the other inhabitants of 
the Isthmus. They are generally robust and well-formed; 
some among them evince a high degree of intelligence, but 
the majority are grossly ignorant. 
The Huaves of both sexes are habitually in a state of al- 
most complete nudity. Their industry consists of little else 
than fishing, and even this they can only do by means of 
sweepnets : with the produce of their fisheries, however, they 
carry on an extensive trade, although not possessing proper 
vessels to venture into deep water, and being ignorant even 
of the use of the oar, they only frequent those spots which, 
from their shallowness, offer little danger, such as marshes, 
and the margin of the lakes and of the sea. It is a singular 
fact that although the Huaves are chiefly fishermen, very few 
among them know how to swim. 
The Zapotecos constitute the greater part of the southern 
population of the Isthmus, and almost exclusively that of six- 
teen villages out of twenty-four. 
The aborigines of Tehuantepec are by their civilization in- 
comparably superior to those of any other part of the Repub- 
lic; their intellectual qualities are of no mean order, and 
