166 MEXICO. mez, whose band long infested the mountains which separate Mexico from La Puebla, and often cut off all communication between them. It is not my intention to follow in detail the events of this period. A short sketch of the career of the principal chiefs is all that my limits will allow of. Those who are desirous of a nearer acquaintance with their military exploits, will find them traced in the pages of Robinson,* and Don Carlos Bus- tamante,-|- with a minuteness which does not suit the charac- ter of my present work. Robinson, though deficient on many points, gives a spirited sketch of what he saw ; and most of the facts related by him may be depended upon. After the dissolution of the Congress by Teran, (22nd De- cember, 1815,) that general was engaged, for some months, in the sort of desultory warfare which was universal, at the time, throughout America. In this he was usually success- ful, but his efforts were cramped by the want of arms ; and with a view to obtain a supply of these, he determined to undertake a march to the Coast with a part of his force, with the intention of occupying the mouth of the river Giiasa- coalco, where he was to be met by a vessel from the United States. This hazardous attempt was made in July 1816, and, (though unsuccessful) appears to have been conducted in a very masterly manner. Tcran set out with an escort of only 300 men. The rest of his corps he left in the fortress of Cerro , Colorado, (a movmtain in the vicinity of Tehuacan,) which he had fortified with extraordinary care, and where he had established a cannon-foundery, and a manufactory of powder. Surprised by the rainy season, he projected, and executed in ten days, with the aid of the Indian population of Tustepec, a military road across the marsh leading to
- " Memoirs of the Mexican Revolution, and of General Mina, by
W. D. Robinson. f " Cuadro Historico de la Revolucion de la America Mexicana." Su autor Don Carlos Maria Bustamante.
