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what architects denominate the ers, executed in mosaic, the design Jent Etruscan vases. Six unfinished at have been found here, are the only ered among the monuments of America,

TE OF TABASCO.

comprising an area of 14,676 square miles, tants, extends from the Rio Coatzacualco Yucatan on the east. Its coast line, on the evoie length of the state and on the south it Chapas. The surface of Tabasco presents two

the low lands, on the seaboard, are like those ng on the gulf, sandy, arid, and extremely uneg used for the purposes of tropical agriculture. ane, cotton, tobacco, and a great variety of fruits .:ite. In the more southern and interior parts, us are covered with dense forests of mahogany, ve-woods, medicinal plants, and drugs, for which Le and it is here that the Mexican tiger, and other aeght hideous with their eternal howlings.

cation of this state is very extensive. Bounded by ves, and traversed by magnificent streams, which ne country, it possesses many advantages over the other The Rio Tabasco and the Usumasinta are the largest route much to the prosperity of this as well as the adjoinpas; and if the contemplated communication across the artepec be ever completed, Tabasco will reap essential readertaking, and her prosperity would become identified es of the commercial world. In this relation it may be De lands on the high plateau are fertile in the extreme, and er the cultivation of cereals and other products of temperate senever required, to supply the shipping that may one day pass seen boundary, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

VILLA HERMOSA, the capital, lies on the west bank of the Rio So, pout 60 miles from its mouth, and is a town of some 5,000 inhabiRONINRA DE TABASCO is situated on the opposite side of the river, at Co.), and constitutes the principal port of the district. TONALA, in the Cg the fi reus calientes, is also a respectable place, and is the centre These towns, however, have little of the grandeur of the more & nor are the people endowed with any great degree of civi

lization. The inhabitants are chiefly Indians, and their occupations consist in cutting woods, breeding cattle, and other farming and agricultural labors. The state of Tabasco was formerly a province of the intendency of Vera Cruz, but on the adoption of the constitution, in 1824, was elevated to the dignity of a state.

THE STATE OF CHIAPAS.

THIS state lies immediately south of Tabasco and between that and the Pacific Ocean; its western boundary is the State of Oaxaca, and its eastern the Rio Pasion, (which separates it from the province of Vera Paz,) and the line between the two republics of Mexico and Guatemala. The Sierra de la Madre intersects it from east to west. The country along the coast of the pacific is a fertile region, and is very level; it partakes, however, of the same characteristics that distinguish the climate of the low lands on both North of the mountains the country has a different aspect, and is chiefly covered with forests, but has many fertile and highly cultivated spots. The only river of any consequence in Chiapas is the Tabasco, which runs through the central valley.

oceans.

The

Chiapas is celebrated as the seat of ancient empire and civilization. The ruins of Palenque, Ocosingo and other places, attest the former existence of a race now extinct, whose advancement in the arts of life must have been far superior to that of the Indians of the present day—who, however, were not themselves in a state of barbarism when discovered. Indians of Chiapas, indeed, formed a state which was independent of the Emperors of Mexico, and second only to Tlascala in regard to civilization. They defended themselves with courage against the Spaniards. Happily for them the soil was not rich in mines, a circumstance which has secured to the natives the preservation of their liberties. At this day even they enjoy a completely independent existence, and it is almost impossible to say that this state belongs either to Mexico or Guatemala; both nations claim it, but any authority they may assert over it is merely nominal, and has no practical result.

CIUDAD REAL, formerly Chiapa dos Espagnos, though nominally the capital of the country, numbers only a few families, and the total population is not more than 3,000.

CHIAPA DOS INDIOS is a much larger place, and is advantageously placed in a valley near the Rio Tabasco, 39 miles W. N. W. of the capital. It is chiefly inhabited by the Indians, whence its name, of whom there are said to be 4,000 families. It is the largest town in the state, the chief trade of which it engrosses. Its principal exports are mahogany, logwood, and cochineal, which are sent down the river to the gulf of Mexico; but a good deal of sugar is also grown in its neighborhood. Its inhabitants are said to be rich, and the town enjoys many privileges. There are many other large villages chiefly inhabited by the natives, who are in general pretty good mechanics.

The area of this state is 18,750 square miles, and the total population about 150,000. Mr. Stephens, the American traveller and archæologist, has written a fine work on this and the adjoining countries, but it is especially confined to antiquities.

THE STATE OF YUCATAN.

UNDER the old Spanish regime this country formed a Captaincy-General, and was under the dominion of the Viceroy of New Spain. The geographical position of Yucatan is favorable in a commercial point of view. It is in the form of a peninsula stretching out nearly four degrees into the Gulf of Mexico and directly opposite the city of New-Orleans. It adjoins the states of Chiapas and Tabasco, which border on the Huasacualco river, in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the proposed line of a ship canal and railroad to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. With these advantages it only requires energy and capital to build up a magnificent state; but it is impossible to foresee the fate of this country, surrounded as it is at present by difficulties of no little weight.

Yucatan is situated between the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Honduras, and between the 180 and 21° N. latitude, and the meridians of 870 and 91° W., having the territory of British Honduras on its southeast coasts. Length from north to south about 250 miles; average breadth 200 miles; area 79,500 square miles. The population is stated at 580,984. The central part of the peninsula is occupied by a ridge of high ground, which becomes gradually lower as it advances to the north; at the northern extremity its elevation is about 3,000 feet, but near Cape Catoche, it sinks to a few hundreds. The ridge in the west is skirted by an extensive plain, which towards the north is about 100 miles wide, and becomes narrower towards the south. Its surface, however, is so sandy and arid, that from the Bay of Campeaché to Cape Catoche there is not a single spring of fresh water along the coast. To the south of Cape Catoche, on the eastern side of the peninsula, and also on the west coast to the south of Rio Francisco, near Campeaché, as far as the mouth of the river Usamasinta, the country is undulating and even hilly. The soil, except on the very shores, is less sandy, and the country is chiefly covered with lofty forest trees. The climate is hot and very unhealthy along the coasts, but in the interior the atmosphere is said to be salubrious and the heat more tempered. The great productiveness of this region has been a matter of eulogy in the newspapers of the United States; but whether a mistaken notion or political bias has invested it with this property, we cannot decide. Mr. Ward, a keen observer and faithful delineator, has thus daguerreotyped its capacities. "Yucatan," says he, " is one of the poorest states in the federation. On parts of it maize, cotton, rice, tobacco, pepper and the sugar cane are produced; with dyewoods, hides, soap, &c. But the scarcity of water in the central parts of the peninsula, where not a stream of any kind is known to exist, and the uncertainty of the rainy season, render the crops very variable; and years frequently occur in which the poorer classes are driven to seek a subsistence by collecting roots in the woods, when a great mortality ensues in consequence of their exposure to a very deleterious climate. Yucatan has no mines. An active intercourse was formerly carried on with Havanna, which Yucatan supplied with Campeaché wood, salt, hides, deer skins, salted meat and the jenequen, a plant from which a sort of coarse thread was made and wrought up into sacking, cordage and hammocks. This trade was cut short by the war; and as few foreigners have been induced to settle in Yucatan, the inhabitants have derived but little advantage from the late change of institutions." (Ward's Mexico, II. p. 399-'1.)

The state is divided into 15 departments or provinces, each of which are under special officers. The principal towns are Merida, Campeaché, Bacalar, Valladolid, Vittoria, &c.

MERIDA, the capital, a very respectable city, with a splendid cathedral, is situated on the arid plain, about 24 miles from the north coast. It carries on some trade in agricultural produce by means of the small harbor of Sisal, which is formed by a sand bank and has little depth of water. Population is stated by some at 15,000, and by others at 26,000.

Campeaché is a fine handsome town, completely fortified on the west coast, and has a population of 18,000. Considerable quantities of beeswax and of the dyewood which goes by its name are exported hence. The harbor is insecure, and the adjacent waters too shoal for the convenience of the larger class of shipping.

BACALAR is a town on a small lake near the Rio Hondo, north of Balize. Considerable quantities of logwood, mahogany, dye-woods, with some valuable drugs and medicinals, form its exports, which are carried down the river to the Bay of Honduras, and principally shipped to England and the United States. VITTORIA lies on the coast near the south-west extremity of the peninsula. VALLADOLID is an inland town on the north, and has a communication by river to the Carribbean Sea.

Yucatan presents many evidences of having been the abode in former times of a race of highly civilized people, but whence they came and whither they have gone will ever remain unknown. There having existed is proved by numerous ruins of towns and villages, which exhibit much architectural beauty. The Indians of the present day are incapable of such works, nor indeed was their existence known to them previous to the researches of the European and American archeologists, whose works have created such a lively interest. In the eastern part of the state, and particularly to the south of Merida, there are the remains of several ancient stone structures; one of which, called by the natives OXMUTAL, is still in good preservation; it is about 600 feet square. The rooms, corridors and pillars are adorned with figures, in half relief, of serpents, lizards, &c., in stucco. There are also figures of men in the attitudes of dancers, and resembling in every respect those which are found in the ruins of Palenque, which proves that the same race has swayed the destinies of all the lower province of Mexico as well as Yucatan. Where are the builders?

Previous to 1821, Yucatan was, like Mexico, a Spanish colony; and on the consummation of the independence of Mexico, it became an integral portion of that nation. From the dissolution of the empire, founded by Don Augustin Iturbide, until the formation of the pact which bound together the United Mexican States, in October 1824, Yucatan maintained an inde pendent position, administering her own government, in the meantime, on republican principles. The compact of the confederation having been accepted by her, she became incorporated in the Mexican Republic, and so remained until the consolidation of the states by Santa Anna in 1835, when a quasi separation took place, Yucatan standing aloof from all connection with the central power. In 1840 an actual secession was consummated, and Yucatan was proclaimed an independent republic, and the people soon after formed for themselves a constitution or fundamental law. Mexico in vain endeavored to persuade or coerce Yucatan into submission; but finally the new republic wrested from that government a peace on its own terms. This peace was based on the convention of 14th December, 1843, which secured to Yucatan

many advantages she had not before enjoyed, and relieved her from many oppressions from which she had, since her first incorporation, severely suffered. By the conditions of this peace she became again incorporated with Mexico, and so remained until 1st January, 1846, when she again solemnly renounced the connection and declared anew her independence. The chief cause which led to these results was the violation by Santa Anna of the convertion of December, 1843, causing, by a decree of 21st February, 1844, the ports of the republic to be closed against the productions of Yucatan, and subjecting that state to many harrassing vexations. Another cause was the refusal of the Chamber of Deputies to recognize the convention as of any effect. These proceedings, and a renewal of the hardships she had before endured, roused Yucatan to fling off the yoke of the supreme government, and to convoke a Congress for the purpose of taking measures to secure the consolidation of her independence.

Since this period it is impossible to hazard a conjecture relative to the ultimate determination of the state. It may revert to Mexico,* remain independent, be annexed to the United States, or fall into the hands of some foreign power as a colonial dependency. Each has been projected, and the violence of party has led to many civil commotions, which have not been confined to the ruling castes, but have extended to the Indian population. All is commotion, and the destiny of the country hangs by a thread. Savage warfare desolates the land, the cities are being sacked and burnt, and the helpless women and children are slaughtered like beasts by the Indians. The whole country is now a wreck. A treaty of peace, indeed, has lately been signed between the whites and Indians, but with little prospect of its terms being adhered to by either party.

THE TERRITORY OF LOWER CALIFORNIA.

BAJA CALIFORNIA is a long narrow peninsula, extending between the parallels of 220 48 and 320 N. latitude, and separated from the western main-land by the Gulf of California. It is about 700 miles long; the breadth varies from 30 to 100 miles. Area, 57,000 square miles. The population has been estimated at 33,439.

The peninsula is traversed north and south by a chain of rocky hills, not more than 5,000 feet high. The surface of the country is much broken, and except in the sheltered vallies and on the margins of the streams, incapable of cultivation. There are some tolerable harbors, but in the present position of things they are useless, except as a refuge for whale ships. Lower California is said to be rich in minerals, but no mines, except those of San Antonio, about the 24th parallel, are worked, and even these produce comparatively little. The climate is excessively hot and dry; unlike Mexico, the rains, except in the most southerly part of the peninsula, occur during the winter months; summer rains seldom occur north of Loretto, in latitude 26 N. Violent hurricanes are frequent, but earthquakes seldom occur. Timber is very scarce, and except near the missions, which occupy the choicest spots, but little is done in agriculture. At these missions they

* Since the above was in type this state has again joined the confederation.