Monclova, is a town of 3,700 inhabitants on the Coahuila, an affluent of the Rio Tigre.
Parras lies west of Saltillo, on the east bank of the lake of the same name, and some years ago was estimated to contain nearly 17,000 inhabitants, including the adjacent farmers, planters and their laborers. It is celebrated for its grapes and wine, as we have already remarked.
The other villages and settlements worthy of note are Villa Longia, Viesca y Bustamante, Santa Rosa, Guerrero, Cienegas, Abasoto, Nadadores, S. Buenaventura, San Francisco y San Miguel Aguayo, Capillania and Candela.
THE STATE OF DURANGO.
Durango is bounded on the north by Chihuahua; on the west by Sinaloa; on the east by Coahuila, and on the south by Zacatécas and Jalisco.
This State is penetrated, from near its centre, in a north-westwardly direction by the main artery of the great Cordillera; and whilst the north-eastern section of Durango slopes gradually downward towards the waters of the Rio Grande, its south-western part lies high up among the table lands and mountain spurs that lean towards Sinaloa and the Pacific coast. The climate of this mountainous State is healthy and cool, and its agricultural productions are similar to those of other Mexican States whose geological formation resembles it.
Durango is divided into twelve partidos or departments:—Durango, San Juan del Rio, Nombre de Dios, San Dimas, Mesquital Papasquiaro, Oro, Indee, Tamasula, Cuencamé, Mapimi, and Nasas;—comprising 38 municipalities, 4 cities, 5 towns, 54 villages, 52 mineral works, 48 parishes, 111 haciendas, 48 estancias, and 521 ranchos. The population is estimated at about 300,000.