TERRITORY OF TLASCALA- HISTORY, POSITION, SIZE. 231

THE TERRITORY OF TLASCALA.

The history of Mexico has ever held in sacred regard the region of this ancient republic, whence Cortéz and the Spaniards derived such eminent assistance in the conquest of the Aztec Empire. Immediately after that event it was erected into a province, under which character it was always regarded until the political emancipation of Mexico from Spain, and even after that event up to the period of the adoption of the Acta Constitutiva, when Tlascala was raised to the dignity of a State, as an integral part of the Mexican Republic. The constitution, sanctioned on the 4th of October, 1824, deferred defining absolutely the political character of this region; but on the 24th of November of the same year, it was constitutionally declared to be a Territory of the Confederation. When the Central Government was subsequently adopted, it was added, under the denomination of a district, to the Department of Mexico; but when the federal system was restored by the movement of the 6th of August, 1846, which was afterwards nationalized by the decree of the provisional government on the 22d of August of the same year, and confirmed by the sovereign congress on the 18th of May, 1847, Tlascala re-entered the federal association in its original character of a territory.

Tlascala comprehends within its limits a superficial extent of four hundred square leagues, and contains one city, one hundred and nine villages, eighteen settlements, one hundred and sixty-eight haciendas or large estates, ninety-four ranchos or small farms, eight grist mills, two iron works, and one woollen factory. It is divided into the three partidos of Tlaxco, Huamantla and Tlascala, the latter of which contains the capital town of the same name about seven leagues north of Puebla. The territory is of an oval form, lying between forty minutes and one degree thirty-three minutes east longitude from Mexico, and nineteen degrees, and nineteen degrees fortytwo minutes of north latitude. Its climate is mild and healthful, and its population, which in 1837, was rated at about eighty thousand, has been found to increase, on comparison of a number of years, about one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight annually, of which nine hundred and thirty-seven are males, and nine hundred and forty-one females.

The productions of Tlascala are chiefly of a cereal character, but its genial climate and soil are capable of yielding the fruits of the tierras calientes, frias, and templadas.

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The capital town of TLASCALA is situated between two mountains, in 19° 16' of north latitude, and 58' east longitude from Mexico, near the only stream of importance in the territory, known as the Rio Atoyac or Papagallo, under which name it passes through the State of Puebla on its way to the Pacific. The ancient numerous population of Tlascala is no longer found within its limits, and perhaps not more than four or five thousand individuals now inhabit it. But the town is nevertheless handsome;-its streets are regular; its private houses, town hall, bishop's palace and principal church are built in a style of tasteful architecture, while on the remains of the chief Teocalli of the ancient Tlascalans, a Franciscan convent has been built, which is perhaps one of the earliest ecclesiastical edifices in the republic. In the town itself and in its vicinity many relics and ruins of the past glory of Tlascala are still found by antiquarians, but they have hitherto been undisturbed by foreign visiters and remain unnoticed by the natives. Huamantla and Tlaxco are the chief towns or villages in the partidos which bear their names.

TOLUCA CASCADE OF REGLA TOWNS

NAVACA ACAPANTZINGO-ITS INDIAN ISOLATION-MINES IN THE STATE.

SALT-WORKS

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FESTIVAL

TEZCOCO

TACUBA

VALLEY OF CUER

THE STATE OF MEXICO.

This State, which includes the national capital and the federal district, lies between 16° 34' and 21° 7' of north latitude and 100°, 17, 30'' and 105°, 7', 30" W. longitude from Paris. It is bounded, west by the States of Guanajuato and Michoacan; south-west by the shores of the Pacific for 87 leagues; north by Queretaro; east by Puebla; and north-east by Vera Cruz. Its greatest breadth from east to west, from Chilapa on the boundaries of Puebla, to the haven of Zacatula, is, 104 leagues, and its extreme length from north to south, from Berdosas on the confines of Vera Cruz, to the west coast in the neighborhood of Acapulco and the boundary of Puebla in that direction, is, 124 leagues. The area of the State is 5,842 square leagues, more than two-thirds of which are covered. with mountains and spurs of mountains, interspersed with vallies lying between 6,500 and 7,500 feet above the level of the sea. The Nevada de Toluca is the only mountain of extraordinary elevation in the State of Mexico, which breaks the uniformity of its lofty table lands. Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, on the eastern limit of the Valley of Mexico, belong, it will be recollected, to the State of Puebla.

The political divisions consist of eight districts, with 38 partidos, or cantons, and 183 ayuntimientos or municipalities, subdivided into about 450 cities, towns and villages, as well as into a great number of haciendas, and minor dependencies.

1st. The district of Acapulco, with the cantons of Acapulco, Técpan, Chilapa, Tixtla, and 13 municipalities.

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POPULATION -FEDERAL DISTRICT-VALLEY.

2d. The district of Cuernavaca, with the cantons of Cuernavaca, Ciudad Morelos or Cuautla de Amilpas, and Xonatepec, and 17 municipalities.

3d. The district of Tasco, with the cantons of Tasco, Axuchitlan, Teloloapan, Texupilco, Sultepec, Temascaltepec, and Zacualpan, with 18 ayuntimientos or municipalities.

4th. The district of Toluca, with the cantons of Toluca, Ixtlahuaca, Tenango, Tenancingo, and 25 municipalities.

5th. The district of Tlalpam, with the cantons of Tlalpam, Chalco, Tezcoco, Teotihuacan, Zumpango, Tlanepantla, Quautitlan and 49 municipalities.

6th. The district of Tula, with the cantons of Tula, Huichapan, Actopan, Xilotepec, Ixmiquilpan, Zimapan, and 25 municipalities. 7th. The district of Tulancingo, with the cantons of Tulancingo, Pachuca, Apam, and 15 municipalities.

8th. The district of Huejutla, with the cantons of Huejutla, Mextitlan, Zacualtipan, Yahualica, and 21 municipalities.

The population in these districts was estimated in 1842, according to Mühlenpfordt, at:

The call for congress in that year estimated the population of the State at 1,389,502, to which if we add 10 per cent. for increase since that period, we shall have a population at present of about 1,528,452.

The Federal District includes the city of Mexico, in the valley of that name, together with the towns and villages of Tacubaya, Chapultepec, Santa Fé, Tacuba, Guadalupe, Azcapotzalco, Los Reyes, St. Angel, Mixcoac, and Mexicalcingo. Its inhabitants may be estimated at 450,000,-about 200,000 of whom reside in the capital.

The Valley of Mexico is in the midst of the ridges of the Mexican Sierras, at a height of 7,500 feet above the level of the ocean. It is oval in shape, and hemmed in on all sides by porphyritic mountains and eminences, from which the volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, shoot up beyond the region of eternal snow.