Presidio of San Francisco. Encampment of the New York Volunteers, Monterey, Upper California, ......... Colonel Fremont, Christopher Carson, Battle of San Pasqual, ............. Battle of San Gabriel, Indian atrocities in New Mexico, Ornamental Tailpiece, Ornamental Headpiece,.......................................... General Scott going on board the Commodore's Ship, Plan of Vera Cruz and San Juan de Ulloa, Colonel Totten, ...... • 474 476 Colonel Harney's Dragoon Fight,........................ ........................................................... • 477 Ornamental Tailpiece, General Twiggs,- General Pillow,.. Plan of the Battle of Cerro Gordo,. General Twiggs at Cerro Gordo, General Scott complimenting Colonel Harney, General Shields wounded, Colonel Baker,. ......... Tuspan, Puebla,... Ornamental Headpiece, National Bridge, .................... Mexican Cavalry menacing a Train of Wagons, .............. Ornamental Tailpiece, Ornamental Headpiece, City of Mexico, from the Convent of San Cosme, ............................... 480 ........ 481 .......... 482 • 484 485 487 ............. 488 Routes of Worth's and Quitman's Columns from Chapultepec to the San Cosme and Belen Gates 580 Ornamental Tailpiece, Ornamental Headpiece,. Grand Plaza in the City of Mexico,... City of Mexico. Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl in the distance, Ornamental Tailpiece, 590 ................................. ........... 615 ........................................................ 619 Ornamental Headpiece, Ornamental Tailpiece, ...................... 620 621 ............................ 630 Ornamental Headpiece, Hauling Mining Machinery.. Junction of the Pecos River with the Rio Grande.. Near Jalapa... Indian Huts.. Catorze Valley.. Silver Mines of Real del Monte and Falls of Regla.. The Mineralogist.... Flowering Maguey... The Maguey, prepared for extracting Pulque..... ............... ................... 643 647 656 663 664 665 667 Portrait of Maximilian. 671 Portrait of Duke de Morny... 674 The Surprise at Puebla.. Portrait of Marshal Bazaine... 681 Execution of Emperor Maximilian and Generals Miramon and Mejia.. HE line of separation between Mexico and Guatimala is extremely irregular, commencing on the east side with the river Sarstoon, which it follows to its source, whence it runs north to north latitude 17° 30' and then takes a course west and south-west until it reaches latitude 15° 45', when it changes its direction to north-east. On the west and south-west the Pacific washes its shores, while its boundaries on the north and west are the United States and the Gulf of Mexico. The disorders of the government, and the lawless state of the population, have hitherto prevented our acquiring any thing like an accurate account of the country or its population; and, until very recently, the accounts of Baron Humboldt were the only reliable sources of information respecting it. The portion lying south of the Tropic of Cancer, is by far the most rich and populous, but the numbers of the population decrease as we go northward, some of the so called states of the republic being occupied almost wholly by unsubdued savages. Mexico differs from almost all other countries in the great variety of its climate, a feature arising not so much from its extent in latitude as from the diversity of its surface. The northern extension of the Andes, if the Cordilleras may so be called, enters the country on the south, and diverges, following the line of the coasts on each side of the country. The eastern arm finally subsides into the great plains of Texas, but the other preserves its character until it joins with the Rocky Mountains in the United States. Between these two arms of the Cordilleras is comprised an immense central table-land, nearly three-fifths of the whole surface of the republic, known as the Plateau of Anahuac. The elevation of this plateau, varying from six thousand to eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, causes it to have a temperate climate, notwithstanding that a considerable portion of it is within the tropics. The surface of this table-land is diversified by some very high mountains, and a few well-defined ridges subdivide it into smaller plateaus, to which various names have been given. It is not traversed by many valleys, however, and a road, fourteen hundred miles in length, connects the capital with the city of Santa Fe, with little deviation from a level. The most remarkable tract in the Pla teau of Anahuac, is the plain in which the capital is situated, known as the Plain of Tenochtitlan. This plain is fifty-five miles long and thirty-five broad, containing an area of seventeen hundred square miles, surrounded with porphyritic and basaltic rocks. One hundred and sixty square miles of it are covered with water, which is deposited in five principal lakes, situated on different levels. Southeastwardly from the city is the Lake of Chalco; north-westwardly, that of Tezcuco, and north of that, those of San Christoval and Zumpango. The largest of these lakes is that of Tezcuco, which covers an area of seventy square miles, and has an elevation but three feet lower than the great Square of Mexico. The lakes San Christoval, Chalco, and Tonanitla, are five feet higher than Tezcuco, while Zumpango, the smallest of all, has a level thirty feet higher than that of Tezcuco. The head of water which could be poured over the city by these lakes may be readily perceived. In 1629, the city of Mexico was almost wholly inundated, and preparations were being made for the foundation of a new capital, when an earthquake fortunately drew off the excess of water. An immense artificial canal, the Desague of Huchuetoga, was then commenced, for the purpose of draining these lakes, but it was not finished until the year 1789. The length of the cut is about twelve miles, it is one hundred and fifty feet deep, |