Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/41

Rh as the Republic is distributed, under the present system, into States, of which the Federal government is composed. These states are nineteen in number, and commence to the South, with the Peninsula of Yŭcătān or Mērĭdă to the East; and Tăbāscŏ, Las Chĭāpăs, and Ŏăxācă to the South and West; which are followed in regular succession towards the North by Vĕrăcrūz, Tămăulīpăs, San Luis Pŏtŏsī, Nuevo Lĕōn, Cŏăhūilă, and Tēxăs, which comprise the whole territory to the frontiers of the United States, on the Gulph side: La Pūēblă, Mēxĭcŏ, Vāllădŏlīd, Guădălajāră, Sŏnōră, and Cĭnăloă, the Western extremities of which border on the Pacific; and Qŭerētărŏ, Guănăjūātŏ, Zăcătēcăs, Dŭrāngŏ, Chĭhūāhuă, and New Mexico, which occupy the centre of the country, and extend, between the two oceans, towards the Northern frontier. Beyond these again, are Old and New California, (which in some maps is called New Albion,) and the Indian territory, the extent and inhabitants of which are almost equally unknown. The two Californias and New Mexico are not yet admitted to the rank of independent States, their population not entitling them to be represented in the Congress. Each of the others returns a quota of deputies, in proportion to the number of its inhabitants.

As it is the general character of the country, and not that of particular States, that forms the subject under consideration in the present chapter, I shall reserve for another part of my work the statistical