Tabasco

Tabasco, a state of Mexico, bounded N. by the Gulf of Mexico, E. by the state of Campeche and Guatemala, S. by Guatemala and Chiapas, and W. by Vera Cruz. Area 10,072 sq. m. Pop. (190o) 159,834. The surface is generally low and flat, largely covered with lagoons, watercourses and swamps. In the S. and S.E. there is an area belonging to the rough higher formation of Chiapas. Dense forests cover the whole region, and there are valuable fine woods and dye-woods. There are several large lagoons on the coast, two of which are called Sant' Ana and Tupilco bays. Two large rivers, the Grijalva and Usumacinta, traverse its territory. The Grijalva, also called Tabasco, the upper course of which is known as the Chiapas, has its most distant sources in western Guatemala and flows N.W. across Chiapas to the frontier of Oaxaca, thence N. to the frontier of Tabasco, and thence N.E. to the coast; it is navigable for 93 m. The Usumacinta likewise has its sources in western Guatemala. It forms the boundary between Guatemala and Chiapas until the frontier of Tabasco is reached, where its N.W. course turns to the N. and then N.W. to a junction with the Grijalva - the two rivers having a common outlet. The Usumacinta, including its head streams, is about 500 m. long; excluding them about 330 m. long; for about 270 m. it is navigable, for about 180 m. for large steamers. There are no railways and no good roads, and these rivers and the navigable channels of the Cuxcuchopa, Soledad, Cocohital, Tular, and Tortuguero, are the principal practical thoroughfares in the state. The capital is San. Juan Bautista (pop., 1900, 10, J48), formerly called Villa Hermosa, on the Grijalva river, about 70 m. above its mouth. The next most important town is Frontera (pop., 18 95, 6 794), a port 3 m. within the mouth of the Grijalva.