This intendancy, the last of the viceroyalty of New Spain, to the south-west, is esteemed one of its most fertile districts, producing excellent chocolate and cochineal, sugar, cotton, rice, plantains, cassia and indigo. The mountainous parts abound in mines of gold, silver, lead and crystal; and many of its rivers have particles of gold in their sands. The inhabitants are, however, not very industrious, and there are but two manufactures of indigo, and five hundred looms in employ for the weaving of cotton. It has also a manufacture, in its chief city, of black wax. Oaxaca may be stiled the western maritime province of New Spain, as it embraces a great extent of coast along the Pacific ocean.
The capital is Oaxaca, in 17° 30ʹ north latitude, at the opening of three large plains, one of which runs as far as Guatimala. This city stands on a river, which runs into the sea, near Vera Cruz, and aqueducts supply it with pure and wholesome water from the mountains on the north-east of the town. The form of Oaxaca is an oblong square, being two miles long, and one and a quarter wide, and surrounded by gardens and plantations of the cactus, which feeds the cochineal insect; and it is at this city that the most abundant gatherings of that valuable insect take place.
The streets are wide, uniform and well paved, and the houses mostly built of stone, two stories high. From a distance, the beautiful spires and numerous houses of stone, give it a magnificent appearance, and nothing seems to be wanting to render it a delightful abode, but superior industry; for the air is clear and healthy, and here reigns a perpetual spring, refreshed by westerly breezes in the evening, and the east winds in the morning. The temperature of the climate causes the fruits of Europe to flourish luxuriantly in the gardens; and thus, with the native trees, they have a constant succession for the luxuries of the table.
The town house is a stone building, in the middle of one of the sides of the great square, and has not been long built; the stone of this edifice is of a green colour, and has a pretty effect; the cathedral and bishopʼs palace occupy two of the other sides of the square; which is surrounded with arcades. There are many monasteries and churches of handsome architecture, and magnificently ornamented.
The population, including mulattoes, Indians and negroes, which form the greater portions, (the whites not being very numerous) is estimated at 24,000.
The governor of the province resides here, as well as the diocesan. Yet this beautiful city, so delightfully situated, in such a temperate clime, so fruitful a soil, and with such beautiful decorations, is sometimes visited by that tremendous scourge, an earthquake; and has a few years back suffered very much from the effects of one which was felt over all this part of the continent.
The other towns of the greatest importance, in the province of Guaxaca, are Tehuantepec, a sea-port town, situated on the shore of the great bay of Tecoantapeque, at the foot of a mountain, whose summit is a volcano, in 16° 20ʹ north latitude, 95° 1ʹ west longitude, with a population of 2600 families of Indians, and fifty of whites.
Aguatulco, or Guatulco, is a sea-port of Guaxaca, with a large and well frequented harbour, in the Pacific, in 15° 44ʹ north latitude, famed as having been plundered by Sir Francis Drake.
Embarcadero is situated on the western side of the province in a small harbour of the Pacific.