Page:Mexico, Aztec, Spanish and Republican, Vol 2.djvu/29

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RIVERS OF MEXICO.
19
Rio Conil. Rio de la Ascension.
Rio Bolino. Rio San José.
Rio Nuevo. Rio Hondo,
Rio Bacalar.

Many of these streams are, in fact, not entitled to the name of rivers, though a few of them are important, whilst all are valuable to some extent for agriculture, transportation, irrigation, or occasional water power.

III. Rivers on the West and South Coast of Mexico.

1st. Rio de Chimalapa, sometimes called also, Rio de Chicapa, rises in the forests and mountains of Tarifa in about 16° 43’ north, 96° 33' west from Paris, and debouches in the Pacific, after passing the village of Tehuantepec. The rivers Obstula, Niltepec or Estepec,de los Perros or Juchuitan, Arenas, Lagartero, Otates, are small coast streams falling into the lagunes that border the ocean.

2d. The Rio de Tehuantepec is formed by the union of two streams, one of which rises about fifty leagues west north-west of Tehuantepec, near the village of San Dionisio, whilst the other springs from the mountains of Lyapi and Quiégolani, in the lands of the Chontales. The two unite seven leagues north-west of Tehuantepec; and, passing by the village of that name, this river finally pours into the Pacific, near the small port of Las Ventosas.

3d. The Rio Verde rises in the Upper Misteca, eight leagues north of Oajaca, and falls west of the Cerro de la Plata and of the Lagunas of Chacahua, into the Pacific. On the coast of Oajaca there are many smaller streams and rivulets, such as the Chacalapa, the Manialtepec, the Colotepec, the Santa Helena, the Caputita, the Comun, the Ayutla, the Chicometepec and the Tecoyama,—the last of which is the boundary between the states of Oajaca and Puebla.

4th. The Rio de Tlascala, or Rio de Papagallo, has its source in the vicinity of the town of Tlascala, in the mountain Atlancatepetl; passes through the state of Puebla, receives the Rio Mezcala, out of the state of Mexico, and enters the Pacific south of the village of Ayulta.

5th. The Rio de Zacatula, or Rio Balsas, originates in the valley of Istla, in the state of Mexico, and after winding west south-westerly, it receives the Rios Zitacuaro, de Churumuco, and del Marquez out of the state of Michoacan, and passes into the Pacific.

6th. Rio de Aztala rises two leagues south-west of the village