The cities of Guanaxuato are three in number, with four towns, thirty-seven villages, and numerous settlements. _Guanaxuato, or Santa Fé_ is the capital; it was founded in 1554. It is surrounded closely by the silver mines, six principal ones of which have been enumerated. The height of Guanaxuato is 6836 feet above the sea; some of the mines have their entrance shafts even higher, the one called _Valenciana_, having its mouth as high as 7856 feet above the level of the ocean. In the city, and mining villages surrounding it, the population is estimated at 70,600; the other towns of most note are-- _Salamanca_, at the height of 5762 feet, _Silao_ or _Celaya_, which has a very fine church, still higher, and _Villa de Leon_, celebrated for its neighbourhood producing fine maize and corn. _INTENDANCY OF MEXICO._ THIS province is the most important, though not the most extensive of those which form the viceroyalty of New Spain; its historical relations, its splendid capital, extraordinary and beautiful appearances and situation, give it, independently of its chief place being the metropolis of New Spain, an advantage over the other states of this widely extended region; we shall accordingly enter more at large into its history and description, than what the limits of this work will allow to be allotted to the other provinces. Mexico is bounded on the north by the intendancy of San Luis Potosi, on the east by the province of Tlascala, or Puebla, and Vera Cruz, on the west by Mechoacan, or Valladolid, and Guanaxuato, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. The government of the royal audience, in the capital, is the richest and most extensive of the three royal audiences established in North America. Mexico was formerly an empire of no great extent, but numerously peopled, and covered with towns; it was surrounded by several other states, either in alliance with it, or under its dominion. Of these the most noted were the Michuacan, Tlacopan, and the Acolhuacan kingdoms, the Cholollan, Huexotzincan, and Tlaxcallan republics, with several others of inferior note.