Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/385

Rh knolls, and an occasional group of hills or small mountains. The agricultural productions are of course suitable to such a geological structure; but in the Haciendas de Ganado, or cattle farms, immense herds are constantly raised by the thrifty vaqueros of this region. As the country is unusually dry, water tanks, algibes, and norias are established on all the estates, and are watched with the greatest care. There is no river of any note whatever in Zacatécas. The Arroyo de Zacatécas, the Rio Xeres, the Rio Perfido, del Maguey, and Bañuelos, are but slender streams.

Zacatecas is divided into eleven partidos or districts. 1st. Zacatécas, 2d Aguas Calientes, 3d Sombrereté, 4th Tlaltenango, 5th Villa Nueva, 6th Fresnillo, 7th Xeres, 8th Mazapil, 9th Pinos, 10th Nieves, and 11th Juchipila; possessing in all 3 cities, 5 market towns, 34 villages and mining works, 139 agricultural and cattle farms, 562 smaller similar establishments, 683 ranches, 11 convents for monks, 4 for nuns, and four hospitals. The population has been calculated at about 350,000; and it is remarkable that, according to reliable statistical data, 14,937 more individuals were born than died in this State during the year 1830.

The most valuable agricultural district lies in the district of Aguas Calientes. The best cultivation begins at the hacienda of San Jacinto, 12 leagues from the town of Zacatécas, and in this region it is reckoned that the farmers annually gather from their harvests, 140,952 fanegas of Corn (of 150 lbs.); 4,719 cargas (of 300 lbs.) of wheat; 7,293 fanegas of frijoles or beans, and 4,291 arróbas (of 25 lbs. each,) of chile.

The mainspring of the wealth of Zacatécas is its mineral production. The vein of the Veta Negra of Sombrereté has been the most productive in the new or old world. El Pavellon, La Veta Grande, San Bernabé, and the isolated hill of Proaño at Fresnillo constantly yielded in former times the most extraordinary results for the labor bestowed in working them. Their present value may be estimated from the chapter on Mines in the preceding book.

The chief cities, towns and villages of this State are the capital,, containing from 25,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. It lies in 22° 47' 19" of north latitude and 164° 47' 41" west longitude, at an elevation of 7,976 feet.