Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 2.djvu/699

Rh the disease called Quiricua, a sort of leprosy, which discolours the face and body with large blue splotches, without otherwise affecting the health of those attacked by it. The principal seat of the disorder is in the valleys between Tĕmăscāltĕpēc, Huĕtāmŏ, and the Coast, where nearly the whole population is composed of "Pintos;" the affection is said to be contagious, and spreads gradually towards the interior, so that a mottled race may probably be propagated into the very vicinity of the Capital.

The Tierra Caliente at the foot of the Cordillera, which is fertilized in part by the Rio Balsas, is rich in all the ordinary productions of the tropics; and even in the more elevated valleys, sugar was grown before the Revolution to a very considerable extent. The best sugar lands are now about twelve leagues South of Pāscuărŏ, where the proprietors of almost all the sugar estates reside; but only a small portion of the machinery destroyed during the war has been yet replaced. At the foot of the mountain of Jŏrūllo, there are some plantations of cacao and indigo belonging to General Michilena, but they have not yet attained any considerable value, or extent.

Nearly all the public edifices, not immediately connected with the Government, in Valladolid, are due to the munificence of the bishops of that See, most of whom have contributed to enrich, or adorn, the town. The cathedral, the hospitals, and the aqueduct, are all the works of the Church. The first is a magnificent building, and wealthy, though