mouth of the Tampico, on the banks of which, a few miles from the sea, the town of that name is situated. The Tampico, like the other Mexican rivers, has a bar at the mouth, with only from seven to nine feet water. Our ship could not pass the bar, and we were obliged to be conveyed on shore with our effects in smaller vessels. Small vessels pass the bar, and go up to Tampico; but on their return they often have to wait for days together for a favourable wind to pass the bar without danger. Frequent accidents, however, occur, which are very prejudicial to the trade of Mexico. I think with sorrow on the bar of Tampico, for if not upon it, yet in consequence of the obstacles it opposes to navigation, I lost a highly esteemed friend, M. W. Spangenberg of Cassel. He had spent several years in Mexico, where, by his activity and talents, he had acquired the regard of the Europeans and natives, had gained valuable knowledge in mining and geology, and interesting communications were to be expected from him. In the spring of 1832 he embarked at Tampico, to return to Europe by way of New Orleans, but was detained many days by unfavourable winds. A smaller ship, called the Mexico, passed his vessel, intending, as it drew little water, to pass the bar. M. Spangenberg, weary of long waiting, left his ship with an English merchant from Mexico, and went on board the Mexico, which indeed crossed the bar in safety, but was never more heard of, and probably perished in one of the storms from the north, which are so dangerous and fatal in those seas.

"The place of our destination was Tlalpujahua, on the western slope of the Cordilleras, in the state of Michoacan, about 35 leagues from Mexico, and 120 leagues from Tampico, so that we had a pretty long journey by land. The road passes through the villages of Tauloyuca, Tlacolulo, Zagualtipan, Atotonilco el Grande, Real del Monte, Pachuca, eighteen or twenty leagues north of Mexico, Tula and Gilotepec; besides these places, there are in general only single houses, very rarely several together, ranchos, the dwellings of agricultural Indians and Creoles. This road is very mountainous, and not passable by carriages; our whole company was therefore obliged to obtain horses and beasts of burden before we left Tampico. It was not easy to procure horses and mules for thirty persons; as we wanted at least seventy or eighty mules for our baggage, the greater part of which we were forced to leave behind to be sent after us.'

The company being so numerous, very great precautions were taken that they might not be distressed on the road by want of provisions and of water, as well for themselves as their cattle.

"The difficulty of finding water, accommodations, and provisions, makes it absolutely necessary, in travelling in Mexico, to ascertain, before you set out, the nature of the road you are to take, and the proper places to stop at, unless you will uselessly expose yourself to great privations and to the loss of your cattle. There are hardly any special maps which might afford the traveller some preliminary information. Besides the special maps of M. von Humboldt and P. Tardieu, I know of none like that of the state of Mexico by F. von Gerolt

This want

and C. de Berghes, and Mr. Ward's map of his route. induced me to collect all the materials I was able for composing such a map; and I have embodied them in the map, Plate I. The roads, streams, single houses, farms, villages, and towns are laid down as determined by a travelling compass, corrected by many observations of the latitude. I was seldom able to make any observations of the longitude, which is marked in the map to the east and west of Mexico, which city, according to Humboldt, is in longitude 101° 25′ 30′′ west of Paris. It extends from the gulf of Mexico to the southern ocean, and from 17° 40′ to 23° 50′ north latitude. I have noted many single houses and farms (haciendas), which, properly speaking, are too small, and should not be inserted in it; but, as they are the only inhabited places which the traveller meets with in long tracts, and which mark his route, I have thought it better to note than to omit them, especially as they frequently indicate my own road."

M. Burkart's account of their mode of travelling is lively and picturesque, but does not present any thing so striking or novel as to induce us to copy it. We extract a few remarks.

"In Mexico they distinguish these regions according to the temperature, which depends on the elevation above the level of the sea; they are the hot region, tierra caliente; the temperate, tierra templada ; and the cold, tierra fria. In the first you find in general the temperature of the torrid zone, in which all the productions of the southern countries flourish,--sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton, &c.—and the elevation of which is but little (8 or 900 feet) above the level of the sea. In the second region the heat is not so great, but severe cold is unknown. It is undoubtedly the most agreeable and salubrious climate that you can find. Xalapa, Tasco, Chilpanzingo, &c. are in the tierra templada; their elevation above the level of the sea seems to be between 4000 and 5000 feet. Those mountain plateaux which are above this elevation are in the cold region; but between the tropics the temperature in these tracts, at an elevation of 7000 feet, is still very agreeable. The mean temperature by day is 13° or 14° of the centigrade thermometer; and it is but seldom that, a little before sunrise, the mercury falls below zero. Even in more elevated mountain tracts, Real del Monte, Zacatecas, &c. the climate is much milder than in the north of Germany; the weather, however, is variable and damp, and the thermometer in winter often below zero, but in general several degrees above it. With respect to the temperature, I will only add, that people travelling to the interior of Mexico must not be misled by the notion that the lightest clothing is too heavy and warm, in the torrid zone, to leave all woollen clothing behind; it will often be found very comfortable.

"Guautla, in the tierra templada, is a pretty large village, almost entirely inhabited by Indians. As in most Indian villages, there is a separate house of two rooms, called the casa real, destined for the reception of travellers, which was immediately given up to us on application to the Alcalde. We found nothing but the bare walls; however, as we in

tended to rest here the following day, which was Whitsunday, we thought it worth while to employ the Indians, who were ready to give their services for a trifling remuneration, to look for a table and a couple of benches, which, after a long search in the village, they at length found, so that we were able for once to eat our dinner in a convenient position.

"The country about Guautla is beautiful and picturesque; cultivated fields alternate with fine woods and some delightful pastures; excellent fruit is raised in the neighbourhood, and we saw in great abundance in the market on Sunday: I here tasted better pine-apples than I ever met with before or afterwards, and paid half a real apiece for them.

The market was crowded with Indians, who were come from all the surrounding country to attend mass on the holiday. The complexion of the Indians in Mexico is reddish brown, more rarely blackish brown. They are not tall, generally of the middle size, have projecting cheekbones, the eyes set rather obliquely, the inner corner a little turned upwards, broad but not swollen lips, serious and rather gloomy countenances. Their hair is always black, smooth and lank; they have but little beard. I often observed that in walking they keep the feet parallel, and sometimes even turn in the toes, which gives them a tendency to be knock-kneed."

Leaving Guautla on Whitsunday, the travellers took the road through the mountain defile of Tlacolula.

"This defile (cañada) extends seven leagues beyond the Indian village of that name. Lemons and many beautiful kinds of cactus grow here. The inhabitants weave a great quantity of the coarse cottons which the Indians use for clothing. The pastor of the place, of the same dark colour as his parishioners, received several of us very hospitably in his parsonage-house; the majority, however, were obliged to seek accommodation in the casa real.

"This cañada affords the geologist an admirable opportunity of observing elevations and depressions. Limestone in strata of from 6",

to 5' thick, alternating with a few not very thick strata of flint slate, extends through the whole of the above tract of nearly seven leagues to the Indian village of Chapula. This limestone is almost always compact, flat, conchoidal, seldom splintery in the fracture, passing from grey colours to black, which often beautifully mark it, in ribbonlike stripes an inch broad. It is often crossed by fragments of white calcareous spar.

"A full league above Chapula, we left the cañada of Tlacolula, and ascended the Cerro de Pinolco, which took us almost two hours, though the distance is not great. The mountain is very steep; the road, however, is well kept, and affords from many points a fine prospect of the Tierra Caliente, which became the more extensive in proportion as we ascended. The Cerro de Pinolco is the highest that we had yet ascended, and is overgrown with fine oaks and pines.

"From Pinolco to Zagualtipan the road rather descends; the dis

tance is only three leagues, the country fertile, and better cultivated than we have yet seen. Zagualtipan is a considerable place; most of the buildings are spacious, and of stone. We met with a very hospitable reception in the house of a native merchant, with whom our principal had been formerly acquainted. He invited the whole party to his house and his table, and here I saw, for the first time, that the richer class in Mexico is not destitute of all the conveniences of life; as was the case with the lower class, the poor Indians, who subsist by agriculture, with whom alone we had been hitherto acquainted."

The road from Zagualtipan, by way of San Bernardo, to the hacienda of the Rio Grande, was through a barren, desolate country, where there was scarcely a plant to be seen. After a day's journey through this barren tract, the valley of the Rio Grande appeared like a large garden, enclosed by picturesque eminences. The whole valley is only half a league broad, but entirely cultivated; the corn fields are divided by stone fences, generally intersecting each other at right angles, and well watered by ditches from the river. At Atotonilco el Grande, situated on the plateau which is divided to the south and west by the mountains of Real del Monte from the plateau of Mexico, our travellers put up at the inn (mezon), where they learnt what conveniences a traveller may look for in the inns of that country. They are generally only one story high, consisting of a large space in the centre, with rooms for the guests round it. These rooms very seldom have any windows, receiving light through the door only. In many of them the traveller finds nothing but the bare walls; in the better ones are a table, a bench, and an elevation of brickwork for the bed, which the traveller must bring with him. As there are seldom any provisions in the house ready dressed, poultry, eggs, and black beans (frijoles), which are often very palatable, are generally called for, as they do not take much time in cooking.

At Atotonilco el Grande, the second division of their company joined them, and they proceeded together on the following day, by way of Omitlan and Real del Monte, to Pachuca: with the two latter places we are already acquainted, from the work of M. von Humboldt. From Pachuca, M. Burkart and part of the company went to the estate of San Xavier, belonging to the Count de Regla, where they were very hospitably received. The majority of the company took the shorter road, through Tula to Tlalpujahua. M. Burkart, on the way to Mexico, saw several of those estates, on which are large plantations of the American aloe. The juice of this plant, called pulqua, is the favourite beverage of the Mexicans, and the sale of it often produces to the owner of such an estate a revenue of five or six thousand piastres. The village of Santa Maria de Ozumbilla, seven leagues further, is re

markable for the fences of its gardens and the roads passing between them. They are formed by the cactus cylindricus, which, planted close together, and growing to the height of eight or nine feet, forms a hedge, the long thorns of which deter all animals from attempting to break through. The huts of the poor Indians are hid behind these fences, and only here and there a more considerable house meets the eye.

M. Burkart remained only two days in the city of Mexico, and of course could have nothing new to communicate. On the 8th of June he and the rest of his fellow-travellers, whom he joined again on the road, reached Tlalpujahua, the place of their destination, where the whole were soon comfortably accommodated; and on the following day divine service was performed with great solemnity, to return thanks to Heaven for their safe arrival, and to implore its blessing on the enterprize which they were about to

commence.

The author now gives a very detailed geological description of the mining district of Tlalpujahua, at the end of which he states the causes which led to the dissolution of the Company in the year 1828, the undertaking having proved a complete failure.

Speaking of El Chico, Real del Monte, and Pachuca, M. Burkart says that those three places were formerly very flourishing, when the mines in their vicinity were fully worked, but they have fallen into decay during the war for the independence of Mexico. Several foreign mining companies have since resumed the working of the mines, and these towns have in some degree recovered, but not fully attained their former prosperity. Real del Monte, in particular, has derived great advantage from the works carried on, since 1824, by the English Mining Company, which has executed many great and important works, and expended large sums, but hitherto without having been so fortunate as to obtain any important result. M. Burkart details at considerable length the proceedings and the disappointments of the Real del Monte Company. Up to the end of the year 1832, the sum paid by the Company amounted to £873,235, and the value of the silver and gold obtained to about £184,000. But he is of opinion that the Company need not despair, for, after many years' dear-bought experience, it seems now to be in a fair way of entering on a course of profitable operation, which it is to be hoped may repay the expenses already incurred, and reward the present shareholders for their perseverance.

In his description of Tlalpujahua and its inhabitants, M. Burkart gives various particulars of the present state of Mexico, and the increasing influence of European manners. Tlalpujahua, though inconveniently situated on the declivity of a steep eminence, is