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nydus/Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol. 2 of 2Public
Page 373 of 678
Table of Contents

CHAPTER IV.

PUEBLA—DIVISIONS—PRODUCTIONS—FACTORIES.—RIVER—STREAMS—PUEBLA DE LOS ANGELES—CATHEDRAL—TOWNS—MINES, QUARRIES—MOUNTAINS—POPOCATEPETL—ATLIXCO—OLIVARES—ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN—THE CRATER—ELEVATION.—PYRAMID OF CHOLULA—VISIT TO THE PYRAMID CORRECT DIMENSIONS.—TERRITORY OF TLASCALA—HISTORY—POSITION—SIZE—PRODUCTIONS—TOWNS.

THE STATE OF PUEBLA.

Nearly all of this State lies in the torrid zone, occupying a portion of the table land, and stretching westwardly down the slopes of the Sierra Madre to the Pacific Ocean, between the parallels of 16° 17´ and 20° 40´ north latitude. From the mouth of the river Tecoyáme to Mextitlan, it is 126 leagues long, and from Tehuacan to Mecameca, 53 leagues broad. It contains an area of 2,700 square leagues. On the north it is bounded by the State of Queretaro, north-easterly by the State of Vera Cruz, easterly by Oajaca, westwardly by Mexico and south-westwardly, for 28 leagues, by the Pacific Ocean. The last enumeration of inhabitants to which we have access, assigned 954,000 individuals to the State of Puebla, in the year 1832; but the estimate made for the basis of a call of congress in 1842, gave it only 661,902.

This State is divided into 25 partidos, or districts, the chief of which are Atlixco, Guauchinango, Ométepéc, Puebla, Tepéaca, Tehuacan de las Granádas, Tlapan, and Zacatlan. It possesses 5 cities and towns, 126 parishes, 590 villages, 412 haciendas or plantations, and 857 large and small ranchos or farms. The surface of this State is divided between mountains,

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