Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/478

 464: MEUSE MEXICO France, the Mouzon and the driers; in Bel- gium, the Lesse, the Sambre, and the Ourthe ; in Holland, the Waal, the Leek, and the west- ern Yssel. The chief cities on its banks are Verdun, Sedan, M6zieres, and Charlemont, in France ; Namur and Li6ge, in Belgium ; Maes- tricht, Venloo, Dort, and Rotterdam, in Hol- land. The river is over 550 m. long, and it is navigable to Verdun, 430 m. from the sea. MKl SK, a N. E. department of France, in the old province of Lorraine, bordering on Belgium and the. departments of Meurthe-et- Moselle, Vosges, Haute-Marne, Marne, and Ar- dennes; area, 2,368 sq. m.; pop. in 1872, 284,- 725. The Faucilles mountains traverse it from S. E. to N. W., and send off numerous ramifica- tions. The chief rivers are the Meuse, Aisne, Aire, and Orne. Cotton and iron are manu- factured. It is divided into the arrondisse- ments of Bar-le-Duc, Commercy, Montm6dy, and Verdun. Capital, Bar-le-Duc. MEW, or Sea Mew, a name given in Great Britain to some of the smaller gulls, and espe- cially to the common European species (larus canus, Linn.), called also winter mew. MEXICAN PICTURE WRITING. See HIERO- GLYPHICS. MEXICO (ESTADOS UNIDOS DE MEJICO ; Aztec, Mexitli), a federal republic occupying the S. W. portion of the continent of North America, between lat. 15 and 32 42' N., and Ion. 86 34' and 117 7' W. It is bounded N. and N. E. by the United States ; E. by the gulf of Mexico .and the Caribbean sea ; S. E. by Balize ; S. by Guatemala; and S. and W. by the Pacific. Its maximum length from the Guatemala frontier to the extreme N. W. limit is 1,990 m. ; its maximum breadth, about lat. 26 K, is 750 m. ; the breadth in lat. 19, between Vera Cruz on the Atlantic and Manzanillo on the Pacific, is but 540 m., and the minimum distance between the two oceans, 140 m. from N. to S., is on the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The republic is divided into 27 states, one federal district, and one territory, which, with their areas, popula- tion, and capitals, according to statistical re- ports of 1869 and 1873, but chiefly the former, are as follows : STATES. Area in q. m. Population. Capitals. 81022 109 888 Tabasco 12,Tlfl 88,707 San Juan Bautista. Tamaulipas Tlaxcala 28,659 1 498 108,778 121 665 Ciudad Victoria. Tlaxcala Vera Cruz 27,483 459,262 Vera Cruz Yucatan Zacatecas 82,658 26,585 422.865 897945 Merida. Zacatecas Federal District .... Lower California (ter- ritory) 85 59,033 275,996 21,645 Mexico. LaPaz. Total 761,640 9,169,707 STATES. Area In q. m. Populati.-n. Capitals. Aguas Calientes.... Campeachy Chiapas....... 2,216 26,088 16,769 105,295 61,050 2,898 42,643 11,180 24.226 8,480 48,967 9,598 21,609 1,898 14,863 K,880 9,598 M29 28,889 25,927 160,680 80,866 198,987 179,971 95,897 68,383 1S5.077 874,043 800.029 404,207 924,5SO 650,663 618,240 147,039 174,000 646,725 697,783 153,286 476,500 1 (53.095 Aguas Calientes. Campeachy. Chiapas. Chihuahua. Saltillo. Colima. Durango. Guanajuato. Guerrero. Pachuca. Guadalajara. Toluca. Morella. Cuernavaca. Monterey. Oajaca. Puebla. Queretaro. San Luis Potosi. t uli:ir;iii. Chihuahua. Coahuila Colima Durango Guanajuato Guerrero. Hidalgo . . . Jalisco . Mexico Michoacan Nuevo Leon Oaiaca . . . 1'iicbla Ourn'-taro San Luis Potosi Sinaloa. . . In the tables for 1873, giving a total of 9,400,- 000, the population of some states was exag- gerated. The most densely populated regions are the table lands and the slopes of the Cor- dillera. There are in the republic 18 cities or towns whose population exceeds 20,000; in 12 of them it is above 30,000, and in 5 more than 50,000. In regard to geographical position, Mexico is highly favored. It lies between two great oceans, has a northern frontier of 1,400 and a southern of 345 m., and a seaboard of 6,086 m., 1,677 m. of which are on the gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea, and 4,408 m. on the Pacific, including 2,040 m. of shore washed by the gulf of California. The coasts, being deeply indented, especially in the penin- sula of Lower California, with numerous bays and gulfs, and fringed with capes, points, and promontories, are extremely irregular in out- line. The principal gulfs are those of Mex- ico and California, the first of which ranks among the largest in the world. The more noteworthy bays are those of Caborca, San Juan Bautista, La Bruja, and Teguece, on the coast of Sonora ; Campeachy and Tehuantepec, washing respectively the N. and S. shores of the isthmus of Tehuantepec; San Luis, Las Animas, Malaga, Santa Marina, Magdalena, San Francisco or San Sebastian, and Moleje, in Lower California ; La Asuncion, Espiritu San- to, and Chetumal, in Yucatan. The principal capes are Catoche in Yucatan, Rojo in Vera Cruz, Corrientes in Jalisco, and Pulmo, San Lucas, San Lazaro, San Eugenio, and San Quentin, in Lower California. All the coasts washed by the Caribbean sea and the gulf of Mexico are low, flat, and sandy, except near the mouth of the Tabasco river, where the heights of San Gabriel extend N. E. and S.. "W. for about 30 m. ; but the majestic moun- tains of Vera Cruz, visible many leagues to seaward, form a picturesque background which relieves the monotony of the shore region of that state. On the Pacific side the coasts, though generally low, are here and there rough- ened by spurs extending from the Cordillera toward the ocean. Off the K E. coast of Yucatan are some islands ; that of Cozi mel, called by the primitive inhabitants of the pen- insula the island of Swallows, and by the Spanish conquerors Santa Cruz, has an area of about 300 sq. m., abounds in forests of pre- cious timber, and is celebrated as the shrine to which the ancient Mexicans made pilgrimages