The State of Chihuahua has suffered and still suffers greatly and constantly from the incursions of the barbarians who ravage her frontiers and descend boldly into the very heart of the settlements. The uncertainty of life and insecurity of property have, of course, prevented the development of a region so valuable for its mineral and agricultural resources; nor is it likely that any sensible progress will be made until the four warring tribes of Gileños, Mesclaros, Mimbreños and Lipanes, are destroyed by the advance of the civilized nations from the north as well as from the south.
A recent Mexican author, in describing the condition of Chihuahua, declares that at "present every hacienda must be converted into a castle of the middle ages, every shepherd into a soldier:—proprietors of estates enjoy no security of their possessions, and the common people gather themselves into villages to escape from the exposed country in which they must become the victims of the bloodthirsty savages and robbers from the wilderness."
There is a singular geological formation in the northern part of Mexico, lying on the road between the cities of Chihuahua and Monterey, and extending northwardly from the towns and haciendas of Mapimi, San Juan, San Lorenzo and San Sebastian towards the Rio Grande, called the Bolson de Mapimi, or Pouch of Mapimi. Leaving Mapimi, the road continues about three miles to the eastern mountain chain, and then winding nearly two miles through a cañon, or gorge, it leads to a very open level valley, which is the commencement of the Bolson. Towards the right of the road, eastwardly, at the distance of from three to five miles, a steep, high mountain chain of limestone, rises precipitously, while another chain towers up to the left, at the distance of about twelve miles. Both chains gradually diverge, but especially the eastern arm, which stretches north-eastwardly and then bends to the south-west, at an angle, leaving a deep cul de sac or depression in the middle from which the country has probably derived its name. All around is an immense chapparal plain, while in the distance the Rio Nasas runs towards the north into the immense basin, and forms the large Laguna de Tlagualila, usually set down on maps and mentioned in geographical works as Lake Cayman. The Nasas is said by Dr. Wislizenius to be the Nile of the Bolson. Coming about 150 leagues from the western part of Durango, from the Sianori mountains, it runs north-westwardly and northerly towards this Pouch, and the wide and level country along the river is yearly inundated by the floods, and owes its fertility to this circumstance. The limits of the Bolson de Mapimi have never been clearly defined either geographically or politically for its immense wilderness has been neither fully explored or occupied in consequence of the danger of encountering the robber hordes by whom its recesses are infested. The northern portion is supposed to belong to the State of Chihuahua, and the southern to Durango. Nor are its general physical properties clearly known, though the common and perhaps erroneous impression in the country is that it is a low, flat, swampy country and a mere desert. The two terminating points of Dr. Wislizenius's transit through the Bolson are Mapimi, where he entered it, and El Paso, or a point between Paso and Parras, where he left it. At Mapimi, the elevation above the sea was 4,487 feet; in the valley of the Nasas, at San Sebastian, 3,785; at San Lorenzo, 3,815; at San Juan, 3,775; and towards the eastern edge of the Bolson, at El Paso, 3,990, and at Parras, 4,987. We perceive, therefore, that the valley of the Nasas, which may be called the vein and centre of the Bolson has a mean elevation of 3,800 feet; and though from 500 to 1,000 feet lower than the surrounding county, it nevertheless occupies a considerable elevation above the sea.
The soil in the Bolson is less sandy and of a better quality than in the higher country. Besides wheat and corn, a quantity of cotton is raised in the valley of the river, and wine has been successfully tried. The climate is represented to be so mild, that the root of the cotton plant is seldom destroyed in winter, and thrives for many years.
We have dwelt upon the character and qualities of this extraordinary depression among the mountain ridges of northern Mexico, because we believe that when it is finally explored, the savages exterminated, and the country opened to the advance of civilization, El Bolson de Mapimi may become one of the most important and perhaps fruitful basins among the temperate lands of Mexico.
CONCLUSION.
We have completed the proposed task of sketching the history and geography of Mexico, accompanied by notices of its social and political condition, and of the remains of antiquity sprinkled over its territory. We acknowledge the imperfection of the work, and its unsatisfactoriness even to ourselves. But we have diligently searched the best authorities that could be obtained at home and abroad, and, while we have omitted nothing that might be relied on for the purpose of displaying the physical and intellectual character of the country and people, we have endeavored to indicate clearly those historical antecedents and geographical peculiarities upon which the future progress or decline of the nation is to be founded.
Perhaps no countries are more difficult for full and minute description, in their present social state, than Mexico and the South American nations. Mexico, as we have seen, is a mountain country, with very few navigable streams opening the interior to travellers, and with badly constructed roads, which were scarcely adequate for the most needful transportation required for the subsistence of the people. As soon as the way-farer left the coasts of the Gulf or of the Pacific he penetrated the glens of lofty mountains, or slowly toiled along the inclined plains of their precipitous sides. Wide levels opened in the interior, at considerable distances, but these were separated by ridges of the Cordillera which were, in fact, ramparts capable of defending a warlike people almost without the aid of military improvement. Until within a few years, the back of a horse or of a mule; an old fashioned Litera swung between two beasts
