Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/362

 322 MEXICO. facility of their communication with the coast, of being as well provided with all necessary supplies as the Capital itself. Similar advantages have been dealt out to the whole Mexi- can territory, by the Congress, with no sparing hand. The long line of coast, from the extremity of the Peninsula of Yiicatan, to the boundary of the United States, is already frequented by foreign vessels; and, in due succession, from South to North, the ports of Sisal, Campeche, Isla del Car- men, Guasacoalco, Alvarado, Veracruz, Tuspan, Pueblo VTejo de TampTco, TampTco de las TamaulTpas, Soto la Marina (or Santander), Refugio, San Bernardo, and Gal- veston, have been thrown open to the trade with Europe, and serve as a medium of communication with the Table-land. This, again, has led to the establishment of depots, un- connected with the Capital, in the more Central and North- ern Provinces, which receive their supplies direct from the nearest port. Thus, San Luis Potosi has become the depot for TampTco and Soto la Marina, from which it is about as far distant as Mexico is from Veracruz, (one hundred leagues,) whereas goods received through Veracruz and the Capital, would have to pay a land-carriage of two hundred and twenty leagues before reaching San Luis. Catorce is supplied in like manner, from Soto la Marina ; SatiUo, Monterey, and Monclova, from Refugio ; and Texas, from the Bay of Galveston, and the port of San Bernardo, between which places and New Orleans a communication by steam-boats is already organised. On the Western coast, Giiadalajara serves as a depot to San Bias; Culiacan, Alamos, Cosala, and the other mining towns of Cmaloa, with Durango, (on the Table-land,) to Mazatlan; and the Villa del Fuerte, Arispe, (in Sonora,) Jesus Maria, and Chihiiahua, to Guaymas, a magnificent harbour in Lat. 28, about the centre of the Gulph of Cali- fornia.