Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/348

332 plumage of the birds appears more variegated. Itzmiquilpan was once a place of considerable importance, as a manufacture of Pita was carried on there, from which most of the great mining districts were supplied with ropes: since the Revolution the demand for this article has diminished, and the inhabitants have turned their attention almost entirely to agriculture, for which they possess great local advantages from the facility of irrigation and the mildness of the climate. The town contains at present about three thousand Vecinos, or a population of between nine and ten thousand souls: should the mines in the neighbouring districts recover their former importance, Itzmiquilpan will participate in the advantages of the change, as it is the great line of communication between Zĭmăpān, El Cărdŏnāl, Lă Pĕchūgă, and the Capital.

We passed the whole of the 14th at Itzmiquilpan, in order to rest our horses, which were much fatigued with the exertions of the preceding day. On the 15th we proceeded to Zĭmăpān.

From the moment that we quitted the immediate vicinity of Ītzmĭquīlpăn, we began to ascend, and continued to do so almost uninterruptedly for nearly five leagues. The chain of mountains which it is necessary to cross, is rugged and barren. There is hardly a tree of moderate size to be seen. A sort