Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/399

Rh On reaching a high ridge above the adjacent valley, the town of Catorcé is immediately perceived at the feet of the traveller, lying in a hollow beyond which the mountain steeps again rise precipitously above a thousand feet,—the course of the Veta Madre, or great "mother vein," being distinctly traced upon it by the buildings belonging to the mines and miners. The site of the town is extremely singular, as it is intersected by deep ravines, or barrancas, upon the ledges of which many of the dwellings are erected. Some of these strange edifices, like those of Edinburg, have one story on one side, and two or three on the other; and most of them are surrounded by massive fragments of rock, amongst which the laborers shelter themselves from inclement weather.

In this region the most valuable mines of the State of San Luis Potosi have been found and wrought.

Within a few years past a profitable quicksilver mine was discovered, south of the capital, in the jurisdiction of the Hacienda de Villela. This mine, in the months of August and September, 1843, produced 1,068 pounds of the metal en caldo.

This fine portion of the present Mexican Confederacy was colonized at the end of the sixteenth century by the Viceroy Monterey, and was then known by the proud title of, or, the New Kingdom of Leon. The modern State is bounded on the east by Tamaulipas; on the north by Coahuila; on the west by that State and Durango; on the south-west and south by Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi.

The geological formation of this State is generally mountainous. It lies among the first spurs and ridges of the Sierra Madre, south of the Rio Bravo, or Grande del Norte, and is interspersed with wide plains and fruitful valleys which produce good crops under careful cultivation. The rivers, all of which flow eastwardly towards the Gulf of Mexico, are the Rio Tigre, the San Juan, the Rio Blanco or Borbon, and the Sabinas, which passes into this State from Coahuila, and falls into the Rio Bravo near Revilla. There are numerous other small streams and brooks, of no geographical but of considerable agricultural importance. The climate is generally warm, except among the higher ranges of mountains; and, in summer, it is usually extremely hot, though healthy The population is estimated at about 130,000