STATE OF CHIHUAHUA—POSITION—BOUNDARIES—EXTENT—CHARACTERISTICS—RIVERS—LAKES—INDIANS—DIVISIONS—CLIMATE—PRODUCTIONS—CATTLE ESTATES—MINT—MINES—PRINCIPAL TOWNS—CHIHUAHUA—EL PASO DEL NORTE—MILITARY IMPORTANCE—EL PASO WINE, ETC.—ANTIQUITIES—INDIAN RAVAGES—THE BOLSON DE MAPIMI—MEXICAN MODES OF TRAVELLING AND TRANSPORTATION—LITERA—MULES—ARRIEROS—CONDUCTA—COACHES—FREIGHT WAGONS—MEXICAN HABIT OF HOME-STAYING—WANT OF EXPLORATION—MODERN ADVANCEMENT.
THE STATE OF CHIHUAHUA.
The State of Chihuahua, containing an area of 17,1511/2 square leagues, or 119,169 English square miles, and reaching from 26° 53´ 36´´ to 32° 57´ 43´´ north latitude, is bounded on the north by New Mexico, east by Coahuila and Texas, south by Durango, south-west by Sinaloa, and north-west by Sonora. The great mountain chain of Mexico, which is the connecting link between the Rocky Mountains of the north and the Andes of the south, is here known as the Sierra Madre, and occupies chiefly the western part of the State, where its elevations attain a vast height, and at length, descend abruptly, cut by deep barrancas or ravines, until they are lost in the plains of Sonora and Sinaloa. Mexican authorities state the highest point of the Sierra Madre, at the Peaks of Jesus Maria, to be 8,441 feet above the level of the sea. The greater portion of Chihuahua consequently lies, like Durango, upon the plateau of Mexico, and only a small part upon the western slope of the Sierra Madre. The loftier