Merida, the capital of Yucatan, is situated about the twenty-first degree of north latitude, and is elevated some twenty-five feet above the level of the sea. The thermometer ranges at about eighty of Fahrenheit, and the maximum length of the days is nearly thirteen hours. The city was built upon the ruins of an Indian town, which was destroyed by the Spaniards in their superstitious zeal, so madly manifested in the destruction of every thing throughout Mexico that was found belonging to the people whom they had conquered. The present population is calculated at twenty thousand, the majority of whom are Indians and half-breeds. The city was founded in 1542. From the few scattered facts which have been handed down to us by history, we gather that, prior to the Spanish conquest, there existed in Yucatan a people of an origin remote and unknown, who were under the subjection of rulers, with fixed principles of law and order; had passed through the ordinary vicissitudes of nations, and finished their career by losing, at once, their liberty and their dominions. The triumphant forces of the Spaniards having obtained full possession of the country, the Church came in to execute its part; and their language, manners, customs, and religion, were disseminated by the steady and persevering arm of Catholic power and management. To complete the work, every thing that had a tendency to remind the vanquished of the past was obliterated, in accordance with the grovelling policy or the blind fanaticism that marked the times. Ancient pictorial and hieroglyphical manuscripts were burnt; their idols, images, and planispheres, were destroyed, and their temples and cities were razed to the ground. It is melancholy to reflect that a chasm has thus been made in the early history of the country, which the historian must despair of ever seeing filled up. Merida, since it was rebuilt, has not rendered itself in anywise historical. Its remote and isolated position has prevented its participation, to any extent, in the political struggles which have marked the history of the city of Mexico; and the inhabitants appear to have availed themselves of their peace and political composure by a cultivation of letters, and general mental cultivation, to an extent certainly unsurpassed in any province of Mexico.