Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/496

478 precarious; but this was an event of which there had not been an example for upwards of twenty years. It is to the low price of grain in general that the preference given to breeding estates in the North must be attributed. Most of the Haciendas of San Luis are vast sheep-walks, and Dŭrāngŏ, Zăcătēcăs, and Chĭhūāhuă produce a large proportion of the mules and horses with which the Southern States of the Federation are supplied.

One of the most fertile districts of the old Intendancy of San Luis Potosī, now divided into four sovereign States, was the Valle del Maīz, on the Eastern declivity of the Cordillera, which separates the Tierra Caliente from the Table-land. It was entirely in the hands of Old Spaniards, most of whom perished during the war, and is at present abandoned; but should the project now before the Congress for rendering navigable the River Tămĭū ever be carried into execution, the Valle del Maiz might recover its former importance, as a channel would be opened for the conveyance of its produce to the coast.

We passed one whole day at San Luis, (Nov. 25,) in order to make acquaintance with the principal inhabitants, and to collect statistical information, as well as to repair the damage sustained by our travelling equipage, both in the passage of the mountains of La Tlăchĭquēră, and during a violent storm