during this season, the country is torn by high winds which nearly every day begin to blow at sunset. The population of the State is estimated at about 97,000. Large bodies of Indians inhabit the lonelier regions of Coahuila; and, in the north, beyond the Rio Grande, the country swarms with ferocious tribes of Lipans and Cumanches. Agriculture is not flourishing though the soil of large portions of the State is good and capable of production. The remote position of Coahuila, and the thinness of its population, have probably obliged the inhabitants to congregate in towns and villages where they might afford each other mutual protection against the frontier savages; and thus they have been induced to abandon agriculture for the wilder life of vaqueros or herdsmen. Wheat, corn, beans and vegetables are easily raised in the best parts of the State, and in the vicinity of Parras extensive vineyards have been planted which produce an excellent wine. Horses, mules, wine and corn form the home commerce of the State; while in the neighborhood of Santa Rosa, and of two or three other villages, a small number of persons are engaged in the exploration of mines.
The principal town of Coahuila is Saltillo, or, as it is sometimes called, Léona-Vicario, situated in the south near the boundary of Nuevo Leon, twenty-five leagues westward of Monterey, at the foot of a hill in the midst of a fruitful region. Its geographical position, according to Wislizenius, is about 25° 25´ of north latitude, and 101° west longitude from Greenwich. It is a well built town, whose straight streets radiate at right angles from the public square, in the middle of which a tasteful fountain constantly supplies the population with excellent water. The population exceeds 20,000; and the town is celebrated for the production of woollen blankets and serapes or ponchos, which are in demand all over the Republic.
San Fernando, or, La Villa de Rosas, is a town and military post in the north of the State, south of the Rio Grande, containing about 3,000 inhabitants.