Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/669

Rh followed each other in endless succession; and the Table-land, with its usual characteristics, extended once more around us.

We breakfasted at the village of Puente Grande, a magnificent bridge with twenty-six arches, thrown over the River Lerma, or Rio Grande de Santiago, six leagues from Guadalajara, and four from Zapotlan. The breadth of the river at this point is very considerable, and the volume of water in the rainy season great; but during six months of the year the greater part of the bed is dry; and from this uncertain supply, as well as from the masses of rock brought down by the waters during the periodical rains, I should conceive that any attempt to render the Rio Grande navigable would be attended with much difficulty. Many, however, regard it as the future medium of communication between the Băxīŏ and the Pacific, and look forward confidently to the time when Mexican flour, exported by this channel, will replace that of Chile in the markets of Lima and Gūyăquīl. Without deciding upon the practicability or impracticability of this plan, it is only necessary to say, that Mexico must be in a very different state from that in which it now is, before its execution can be attempted. The work must be the work of a highly prosperous and populous country, and not of one in which the elements of prosperity are only beginning to develop themselves. It, therefore, certainly does not belong to the period embraced in my present work, although, in 1927,