Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/510

4/0 MEXICO. . «  it was immense, and in every place where they were thus congregated, a demand was created for Agricultural produce, which rose, as the importance of the mines increased, and called gradually into existence a cultivation, of which no trace was to be found before. Such has been the progress of civilization, and of Agricultural industry, throughout New Spain. With the exception of the Capital, which, as the seat of Government, derived its importance from other sources, and the towns of La Puebla, Guadalajara, ValladolTd, and Oaxaca, which were selected as the seats of the great Epis- copal establishments of the country, there is hardly a single town in Mexico, that does not derive its origin, directly or indirectly, from the Mines ; while, in like manner, cultivation will be found to extend in a long line from South to North, with occasional inclinations to the East and West, (following always, in its direction, that of Mining discoveries,) the course of which may be easily traced upon the map. The most fertile portions of the Table-land are, the BaxTo, which is immediately contiguous to Guanajuato, and com- prises a portion of the States of ValladolTd, Guadalajara, Queretaro, and Guanajuato : the valley of Toluca, and the Southern parts of the State of V alladolid, which supply both the Capital and the Mining districts of Tlalpujahua, El Oro, Temascaltepec, and Angangeo : the plains of Pachuca and Apam, extending on either side, to the foot of the mountains, upon which the mines of Real del Monte and Chico are situ- ated : itzmiquTlpan, which owes its existence to Ziraapan : Agiiascalientes, by which the great Mining town of Zaca- tecas is supplied : a considerable circle in the vicinity of Sombrerete and FresnTllo : the valley of the Jaral, and the plains about San Luis PotosT, which town, again, derives its name from the mines of the Cerro de San Pedro, (about four leagues from the gates,) the supposed superiority of which to the famous mines of PotosT, in Peru, gave rise to the appellation of PotosT. A little farther North we find the dis-