six handsome churches, three convents, and one hospital. Its population may be estimated at 35,000.
Guadalcazar, is the capital of the partido or district of that name, 18 leagues north-west of San Luis Potosi, in 22° 31' 25" north latitude and 102° 59' 30" west longitude from Paris, 5,132 feet above the sea, in a valley south of a mountain group which was once extremely productive in mineral riches.
Rio Verde is the capital of the Department of Rio Verde, 34 leagues east of San Luis. The town of Valles, with 3,500 inhabitants, lies on the left bank of the Rio Montezuma, in the tierra caliente, on the boundary of the State of Vera Cruz. Its neighborhood is rich in sugar plantations and in tropical productions generally.
Venado, 29 leagues north of San Luis, is the chief town of its Department; it lies on the road from the capital of the State to Catorcé, and contains about 8,000 inhabitants.
In the partido Ojocaliente lies the town of that name, 28 leagues north-west of the city of San Luis, and 10 leagues southeast of the capital of Zacatteas, 6,714 feet above the sea.
Catorcé is a mining town, likewise in the department of Venado, and is sometimes known by the sounding title of " Real de la purisima Concepcion de Alamos de los Catorcé." The name is supposed to be derived from the slaughter of fourteen Spanish soldiers who are said to have been killed in its vicinity by a tribe of savages inhabiting these wild mountain regions before the discovery of the adjacent mines.
Nothing can be more dreary, bleak and desolate than the aspect of the Cordillera of Catorcé. A few narrow mule paths, or the worn bed of a mountain torrent alone break the monotonous coloring of the mass; and the town placed at the great height of 8,788 feet above the sea, is completely hidden from below by the bold brow of the mountain.[1] There is neither a tree nor a blade of grass on the steep and sterile flanks of these rocky elevations, though seventy years ago the whole district was covered with wood which might have endured for centuries had not the improvident and wasteful spirit of the first adventurers wantonly destroyed these valuable resources. Forests were burnt to clear the ground, and the larger timber which was required for the mines when they were wrought again after the revolution, was brought from a distance of twentytwo leagues.
- ↑ Ward assigns Catorcé an elevation of over 7,760 feet. The statement given in the present work is on the more recent authority of Muhlenpfordt.
