Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/283

Rh for many miles in the heart of the mountain, and is filled with some of the most curious and gigantic stalagmites and stalactites on our continent.

is a village between the vallies of Cuautla and Cuernavaca; and is celebrated for the excellence and quantity of its tropical fruits. Zapotes, bananas, anonas, guayavas, pomegranates, pine apples grow luxuriantly, with the least care or labor, and at least thirty thousand dollars worth of sweet oranges are annually sent from it to the market of Mexico.

, or, is a town in the valley of that name, and made the staunch and memorable resistance to the Spaniards, under the heroic Morelos, during the revolutionary war. It lies 24 leagues S. S. East from the Valley of Mexico,—13 east from Cuernavaca, and is 4,019 feet above the level of the sea. Its climate and productions resemble those of Cuernavaca, but it has never recovered from the effects of the deadly siege.

Passing in a south-westerly direction from the Valleys of Cuautla, Cuernavaca, Mexico and Toluca, we enter the rich metallic region of Tasco which lies upon the declivities of the Sierra Madre, sloping towards the Pacific. In this district we find the town of, which grew up in the midst of a mining country, formerly rich in the production of silver, but now almost abandoned for such purposes. The North Americans were induced to adventure largely in the mines of this district immediately after the revolution, but their capitals were entirely lost in works which were found to have been abandoned by the Spaniards as valueless, long before they were sold by speculators to companies from the United States. The climate of Temascaltepec is mild and agreeable; and, when the mines were productive, it must have been an agreeable residence. The inhabitants, who have abandoned their former mineral speculations, now devote themselves to the manufacture of cotton shawls and rebozos.


 * La Plata; are villages in the vicinity of Temascaltepec.

is a mining town and capital of the canton or district of that name, 5,853 feet above the sea. The village itself is not important, but is nevertheless worthy of note as the oldest mining region in the confederacy. Soon after the conquest it was wrought.