OCCUPIED the southern portion of the present government of Vera Cruz, and was 100 miles long and 60 miles broad. The soil is not very fertile, neither is the air healthy, as the country is in general flat and marshy, filled with small lagoons or lakes; and as it rains during greater part of the year, the climate is very damp. The coast is subject, from September to March, including both those months, to dreadful storms, the northerly gales prevailing during that period, which renders navigation dangerous and difficult. In February, March and April, the heats prevail, which are insupportable, and accompanied with infinite swarms of mosquitoes and other venomous insects. Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, the inhabitants have good farms, well stocked with cattle, in which their principal traffic consists. To Vera Cruz they also export maize and cocoa nuts, and the Spaniards having brought vines, lemons, oranges and fig-trees here, they are now found in abundance, and thrive very well in most parts of the country. The natives reap from three to four harvests of maize in the year, and have rice, barley, European garden herbs and fruits, as well as those common to America. The cacao tree grows so well in Tabasco, that they formerly paid their tribute to the Mexican emperors in chocolate. The woods, which are principally of Brazil-wood and cedar, with thickets of bamboos, mangroves, &c. are infested with serpents, tigers, bears and apes; and the rabbit, the deer, the squirrel, &c., find covert and shelter every where. The marshes and lakes are well stored with fish. The chief town, and one of the oldest of New Spain, is _Tabasco_, in 18° 34ʹ north latitude, 93° 36ʹ west longitude, called also _Neustra Senora de la Victoria_, on account of a great victory which Cortez gained here on his first landing. It stands on an island at the mouth of the Rio Grijalva, which divides itself near the gulf into two arms; the west arm falls into the Rio Tabasco; and the other continues its course till within twelve miles of the ocean, where it again divides, and separates the island on which the city stands, from the continent. The town is not very extensive, but strongly and well built, and owes its prosperity to a sort of annual fair at Christmas. The island of Tabasco is about thirty-six miles in length, and seven or eight broad; near it, on the continent, are great plains abounding in cattle, sheep, &c., and a wild animal called the mountain cow, or tapir, which subsists on the moss that accumulates on trees near the great rivers, in marshy situations. _Villa Hermosa_ and _Tlacotalpan_, formerly the principal Indian town of Tabasco, are the only remaining towns of note.