The highest mountain in New Spain, or indeed in all the known parts of North America, is in this province; as Popocatepetl; more elevated than any summit of Europe, its height being 17,716 feet above the level of the sea; it is constantly in action, throwing out smoke, ashes, and fire; and its figure is that of a truncated cone with a large crater; but no great eruption has hitherto taken place.
Iztaccihuatl is the next greatest elevation of the chain of Puebla, and is situated near the former on the north-west of it, and close to the boundaries of the province of Mexico; this mountain is part of the Sierra Nevada; its height is 15,700 feet above the level of the sea, and it appears to have been an active volcano; and between these two, Cortez and his wondering army passed when he marched to attack the capital; they are both constantly enveloped in snow on their upper peaks.
The whole of Puebla is under the torrid zone; the western part is a mere desert, and the east, from the above named volcano to the borders of Vera Cruz, where there are beautiful plains filled with fields of maize, corn, sugar, cotton, fruit, &c., is the most populous, containing 813,300 souls. It is on this ridge or plain, that the most ancient monuments of the former state of the Mexicans exist, of which the greatest and most astonishing, is the pyramid or temple of Cholula, 177 feet high, with a base of 1420 feet in breadth. It is divided into four stages; on the top the Spaniards have erected a temple to the Virgin, in which mass is constantly performed. This pyramid is built of layers of brick and clay, and has been injured by part of it having been destroyed to form a road, which has, however, shown that it was a place of burial, as in the Egyptian pyramids; the faces of this structure are directed to the four quarters of the globe, and as in the others before-mentioned, vestiges, though not very perfect, are found of smaller pyramids around it. It had an altar on its summit dedicated to the god of the air, who was one of the most ancient Mexican lawgivers, and is represented to have disappeared suddenly, promising to return to resume the reins of government; the Mexicans imagined that Cortez and his Spaniards were the descendants and messengers of this mysterious being.
The view from the summit of this pyramid is very superb; the volcanoes of La Puebla, the Pico de Orizaba, and the stormy summits of the Sierra de Tlascala being distinctly visible from it. It is covered with vegetation, which renders an accurate examination of its superficies impossible.
There are some great salt works in Puebla, and some fine quarries of marble.
Puebla contains six cities and 600 villages.
The Tlascalan part of Puebla has been lately united to Mexico; the chief town Tlascala, being governed by a cacique who is the kingʼs lieutenant, and four Indian judges; and the municipal body is composed entirely of Indians.
Cholula, Tlascala, and Huexotzinco, are famous as having been the three republics which so long resisted the power of the Mexican kings; Tlascala for having been the ally of Cortez, and Cholula, as a holy city.——Three distinct languages are spoken by the Indians; the Mexican being one, which is spoken only by the Indians of the towns of Tlascala, Puebla and Cholula.
The town of most note after the capitals Puebla and Tlascala, is Cholula, which has a population of 16,000 souls. In ancient times this was one of the first of the Mexican cities, containing an immense number of inhabitants, and was deemed the sacred town of the empire; it contained more than 400 temples and places of worship. Cortez was astonished at the sight of this city, and described it with admiration in his letters to the king.