Thomas A. Smith of Virginia was appointed from Georgia a second lieutenant of Artillerists, Dec. 15th, 1803; became first lieutenant, Dec. 31st, 1805, and captain of Rifles, May 3d, 1808; he was a brigadier general in 1814, resigned Nov. 10th, 1818, and died in a few weeks.
[III'-24] In the orig. ed. this weather diary occupied an unpaged leaf following p. 278 of the main text of Pt. 3, being thus pp. 279, 280. I leave it in the same relative position, and pass it without further remark.
[IV'-1] Chapter IV., which I introduce to accommodate Pike's Observations on New Spain, as the article may be briefly entitled, consists of the leading piece of the App. to Pt. 3 of the orig. ed., pp. 1-51; it had no number, but as it came first and was followed by a piece presented as No. 2, it is of course to be taken as No. 1, pro forma. The original heading was: Geographical, Statistical, and General Observations made by Capt. Z. M. Pike, on the Interior Provinces of New Spain, from Louisiana to the Vice Royalty, and between the Pacific Ocean, Gulph of California and the Atlantic Ocean or Gulph of Mexico. This was by far the most important article in the whole work, bringing news of great public interest in 1810. Much of it was original; how much of it was borrowed without acknowledgement could only be said after careful examination of prior works on the same subject. It should be compared with Humboldt and Bonpland's Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, with a Physical and Geographical Atlas, etc., 2 vols., 4to, with atlas, folio, of 20 plates. Pike's two maps of Mexico will be best understood in connection with the same source of information: see [Memoir], anteà.
[IV'-2] Nueva España (New Spain) is a term whose geographical and political connotation has varied much. As the colonial name of what we call Mexico it was first applied to Yucatan and Tabasco by Grijalva, in 1518, and next extended to all the Cortesian conquests. The kingdom of New Spain proper was a region under the audience of Mexico, which corresponded closely to the modern states of Yucatan, Campeche, Tabasco, Vera Cruz, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Colima, Mexico, Morelos, Tlascala, Puebla, Guerrero, Oajaca, and Chiapas. The viceroyalty of New Spain, dating from 1535, when the first viceroy, Mendoza, entered in possession, was much more comprehensive, as it embraced all the Spanish possessions in Central and North America, from the S. boundary of Costa Rica, as well as the West Indies and the Spanish East Indies. Its political composition was the five audiences of Mexico, Guadalajara, Guatemala, Santo Domingo, and Manila, and the captaincy-general of Florida. During the eighteenth century the East Indies and Guatemala were excluded from the viceroyalty. The viceroyalty of New Spain, as the term was most generally used, long consisted of the three "kingdoms" of New Spain, New Galicia, and New Leon. This corresponded to modern Mexico, plus then undefined territories of Texas, New Mexico, and California, now parts of the United States. On the separation in 1793 of the Provincias Internas or Internal Provinces, the viceroyalty of New Spain corresponded to the present Mexico, plus the Californias, but minus southern Coahuila, Durango, Sinaloa, Chihuahua, and Sonora. Spanish viceroyalty ceased in 1821, but "New Spain" was not finally "Mexico" till 1824 (during the Empire under Iturbide, 1822-28). The term "Provincias Internas" was vaguely used, as early as the seventeenth century, for the northern parts of New Spain or Mexico. "In 1777 (by order of Aug. 22, 1776) a new government was formed under this name, completely separated from the viceroyalty of New Spain, and comprising Nueva Vizcaya ([New Biscay] Durango and Chihuahua), Coahuila, Texas, New Mexico, Sinaloa, Sonora, and the Californias. The Capital was Arizpe in Sonora, and the audience of Guadalajara retained its judicial authority; the governor was also military commandant. In 1786 and 1787-93 the government was again subordinate to the viceroy. When the final separation was made in 1793, California was attached to Mexico," Cent. Cyclop., 1894, s. v., p. 828. This last "New Spain" is Pike's; and the present article is mainly devoted to the Provincias Internas of this New Spain—excepting that nothing is said of the Californias.
[IV'-3] El Reino de Nueva Galicia, or New Galicia, was a prime division of colonial New Spain, whose limits fluctuated, like those of most Mexican political divisions, but for most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries corresponded nearly to the modern states of Jalisco, Aguas Calientes, and Zacatecas, plus a small part of San Luis Potosí. The audience of Guadalajara, originating in 1548, had jurisdiction over this Nueva Galicia; in 1786 the latter became the intendency of Guadalajara; and after 1792 the Provincias Internas were judicially subordinate to the audience of Guadalajara. Pike's "administration of Guadalaxara" corresponds inexactly to the present State of Jalisco or Xalisco. This lies on the Pacific coast, bordered by the states of Sinaloa, Durango, Zacatecas, Aguas Calientes, Guanajuato, Michoacan, and Colima; area, 27,261 sq. m.; pop., 1,280,500; capital, Guadalajara. The situation of this city is lat. 21° N., long. 103° 10´ W.; it was founded in 1542, and is now the second largest city in Mexico, pop. 95,000. That "one of the Gusman family," who Pike says built it "in 1551" was probably Nuño or Nuñez Bertrande Guzman, b. Guadalajara (in Spain) about 1485, d. there 1544; he was the enemy of Cortés, and the conqueror of New Galicia. Rio Grande de Santiago is the largest river in the state, and Lago de Chapala, which lies mostly within its limits, is the largest lake in Mexico; area, over 1,300 sq. m.
[IV'-4] Valladolid was the name of an old Castilian province in Spain, and of the capital of that province; it was applied to a political division in Mexico which has entirely disappeared, though corresponding to some extent to the present State of Michoacan. The capital of this was also called Valladolid until 1828, when it was changed to present Morelia, in honor of the patriot priest José Maria Morelos y Pavon, b. there Sept. 30th, 1765; joined the revolt of Hidalgo, 1810; was captured Nov. 15th, 1815; executed Dec. 22d, 1815, near the City of Mexico.
[IV'-5] This administration has been so changed and subdivided that it is not easily compared in a word with existing divisions which represent its former extent. In general terms it was a south central portion of Mexico with an extensive Pacific coast line, but cut off from the Atlantic by Vera Cruz and Puebla, and bordered on the N. by San Luis Potosí, etc. The present State of Mexico is an area of somewhat over 9,000 sq. m., bounded by Querétaro, Hidalgo, Tlascala, Puebla, Morelos, Guerrero, and Michoacan. Its capital is Toluca; for the City of Mexico, capital of the republic, is in a small Federal District set apart from the rest of the state (like our District of Columbia), with an area of only 463 sq. m. The pop. of the present State of Mexico is about 830,000; the capital city of the republic has a pop. of 330,000; its situation is lat. 19° 25´ 45´´ N., long. 99° 7´ 18´´ W., at an alt. of about 7,500 feet.
[IV'-6] The present State of Oajaca has an extensive Pacific coast-line on the S., Guerrero and a small part of Puebla on the W., Puebla and Vera Cruz on the N., Vera Cruz and Chiapas on the E.; area, about 28,800 sq. m.; pop. about 816,000. The capital city of the same name is on the Rio Verde or Atoyac, about 200 m. S. E. of the City of Mexico; pop. 29,000.
[IV'-7] Vera Cruz is the long, narrow maritime state of Mexico, with the Gulf on the E., Tamaulipas on the N., and then bordered on the W., S., and E., successively, by San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Puebla, Oajaca, Chiapas, and Tabasco. The land is low along the Gulf, or in the tierra caliente, but soon rises to the mountainous tierra fria of most of the state. The whole area is 27,450 sq. m.; pop. 642,000. The long-famous seaport of Vera Cruz is the principal city, pop. 24,000, in lat. 19° 12´ N., long. 96° 9´ E. This was founded near the present site by Cortés in May, 1519, by the name of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz; site changed to the Rio de la Antigua in 1525; to present position in 1599; became City of Vera Cruz in 1615; was taken by the French in 1838, by the Americans in 1848, by the Allies in 1861. The celebrated Picacho of Orizaba, 10 m. N. of Orizaba, alt. 18,314 feet, is on the boundary between Vera Cruz and Puebla. This is the highest mountain of N. America, except Mt. St. Elias.
[IV'-8] Present State of Puebla is entirely cut off from the sea, being wedged in among Vera Cruz on the E., Oajaca on the S., Guerrero on the S. W., and Morelos, Mexico, Tlascala, and Hidalgo, on the W.; area 12,740 sq. m.; pop. lately, 845,000; capital, La Puebla de los Angeles, so called from a pious taradiddle; pop. about 110,000; it is a very old city, founded about 1530, and was taken by the French in 1863. The famous peak of Popocatepetl, or Smoking mt., a volcano about 17,800 feet high, is on the boundary between this state and Mexico, 45 m. S. E. of the city of the latter name; and N. of that peak is another volcano, Ixtaccihuatl or the "Woman in White," over 16,000 feet high.