Huexotzinco, now a small place, was formerly the capital of the republic of that name, and a very populous city; as was also—
Atlixco, celebrated for its pure air, and excellent fruits, with many others which the limits of this work forbid us to enumerate.
The great mining undertakings of New Spain are not paid so much attention to in this province as in many others; however, it is not deficient in ores; but the fertility of the soil renders agriculture and other branches of commerce to be the more attended to; and where tillage once takes place in America, the produce of the interior of the earth is not so greatly sought after.
The principal river of the Intendancy of Puebla, is the Rio Yopez, which rises in the mountains near La Puebla, and throws itself into the Pacific just below the boundary of Valladolid; there are also several others on the Pacific coast, but of no material moment.
INTENDANCY OF VERA CRUZ.
This Intendancy lies almost entirely along the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, and may consequently be denominated the eastern maritime province of New Spain; it contains, indeed, the most celebrated port in the viceroyalty, from the name of which that of the province is derived.
Vera Cruz lies wholly within the tropics, and its coast is consequently subject to violent heats, which render it unhealthy: but in the interior the high mountains and the declivity of the table land, or plain of the ridge of Anahuac, ameliorates the climate, and renders it suitable for European constitutions.
The length of this province, from the salt water lake of Terminos to the mouth of the great Panuco River, is 210 leagues, and its breadth twenty-six. It is bounded, on the north by San Luis Potosi, or New Santander; on the east by the Gulf of Mexico and Yucatan, or Merida; west by Puebla, Oaxaca, and Mexico; and south by Oaxaca, or Guaxaca, and the kingdom of Guatimala.
Vera Cruz comprehends within its limits the former province of Tabasco.
M. de Humboldt has given a very animated picture of the sensations excited in a traveller when he ascends the acclivity leading from the coast of Vera Cruz, the capital, to the Plain of Perote. Here, he says, nature may be observed in the course of a few hours in all her variety; suffocating heat prevails on the coast; ascending, the air becomes gradually more pure and less heated; the face of the country sensibly changes; the productions of the torrid zone first meet the eye, then those of the temperate, and the eager step of curiosity advancing may place it amid the region of ever during snow and ice. The mountains covered to a certain height above and below with a belt of oaks, of bananas, and trees of the liquid amber, denote that the climate is conducive to health; the hardy pine ascends the higher regions, and becomes more and more stunted in its growth, till it is lost in fields of snow. The majestic features of the volcanoes, the vast expanse of the ocean, the verdure of the forests, and the fall of the cataracts, rushing from the mountains, cause the most wonderful and gratifying variety in the coup dʼœil of this singular province.