above it, and commands a fine prospect both up and down the stream. Since Sonora and Cinaloa have been incorporated into one of the Federal States of the Mexican Republic, this place has been made the seat of Government, the residence of the Governor, the Congress, and Tribunal of Justice. The Governor of the Mitre likewise resides there. This is the point where the Spaniards rested in their conquests to the north for many years, and established a fort on an eminence between the town and the river, which gave its name to the town: it contains at this day at least four thousand inhabitants.[1]
At length the pieces of native gold and silver, and the gold dust, which the Indians brought down to trade and barter with their new neighbours, induced the Spanish Government to push their conquests farther, and the country was occupied as far as the Rio Colorado. The name given to the district by the first settlers was Señora, which has been corrupted to Sonora. In El Fuerte there is a good church, and a fine square, round which there are some excellent houses, very spacious, and built of stone. The Congress consists of eleven members; five from Upper, and six from Lower Sonora, who hold their sittings in a large hall in a private house, which has been furnished them. As in Alamos, every thing is dear and scarce. It was proposed, in 1825, to build a mint, in order to coin the metals produced in the State, but the contract has not yet been carried into effect. The heat in El Fuerte is extreme in summer, from March until July. Continued winds prevail at this season from the south-east, and after passing over the whole of Cinaloa, which is a whitish sand, penetrate into the houses, and render it impossible to sit still even in a cloth coat. To avoid as much as possible this inconvenience, they place the doors and openings for windows fronting the north, when the situation will admit of it. The only comfort a person finds at this season, is to eat melons, which are abundant and cheap, and to bathe in the river in the morning before sunrise, and in the evening. Hitherto I had seen no rain in Sonora, but on
- ↑ Cortez, on his voyage up the Gulf, made no establishment north of San Blas.
