GUANAXUATO, an intendancy of New Spain, lies between the 20° 55' and the 21° 30' North Lat. and is wholly situated on the ridge of the Cordillera of Ana huac. Its length, from the lake of Chapala to the north east of San Felipe, is fifty-two leagues, and its breadth, from the Villa de Leon to Celaya, is thirty-one. Its prin cipal cities are, Guanaxuato, or as it is also called Santa Fe de Gonnajoato, in 21° 0' 9" North Lat. built by the Spaniards in 1554, surrounded with mines, and containing; 70,600 inhabitants ; Salamanca, a neat little town, situated in a plain ; Celaya, in which are sL..veral splendid buildings, and particularly a magnificent church of the Carmelites; Villa de Leon, in the midst of a highly fruitful district; and San Miguel el Grande, celebrated for its industrious inhabitants, who are employed in cotton manufactures. The province, which is part of the old kingdom of Me choacan, was first cultivated by the Europeans in the six teenth century,' who expelled the Indian tribes of hunters and shepherds, and supplied their place with colonies of Mexican or Aztec Indians. During a considerable period agriculture made ,greater progress thammining, and dur ing the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most of the mines were entirely abandoned. But, during the last forty
years, the mines of Guanaxuato have yielded a greater metallic produce than Potosi, or any other mine in the two continents; and it is now the first mining district in Ame rica. Of the situation and pmfucts of its mines, a minute description is given by Al. Humboldt, both in the histori-' cal account of his travels, and in his Political Essay on New Spain, vol. iii. p. 169. One of these mines alone, that of Valentiana, which has been known only for forty years, has sometimes furnished, in one year, as much sil ver as the whole kingdom of Peru. This fine province also is, relatively, the most populous in New Spain. Its superficial extent is only 911 square leagues, and it con tains 517,300 inhabitants, which gives 586 to every square league. The principal natural curiosity in this proyince, are the hot wells of San Jose de Comangillas, which issue from a basaltic opening, and of which the temperature was found to be of Fahrenheit. See Humboldt's Politi cal Essay on New Spain. (q)