146 APPENDIX. 



sparse, low, shrubby vegetation, entwined with numerous creepers, is encountered on 

 the hills which lie close to the sea-coast. The grassy plains at Santa Fe, at an altitude 

 of 200 feet, become covered, a mile further on, at Boca del Potrero, with a dense wood, 

 which extends as far as Tolome without any rising of the ground. This wood is com- 

 posed chiefly of Mimosa, Acacia, Bombax, Pachira, Citrus, Acrocomia, and Combretum. 

 The ground, which has hitherto been sandy or marshy, now changes its character, and is 

 succeeded by numerous hills formed of horizontal strata of a hardened marl mixed with 

 sand ; over these hills are scattered great blocks of rounded black porphyritic rocks 

 from the distant crater of Orizaba. On this fruitful but almost uncultivated land maize 

 produces 400-fold, and the sugar-cane grows as tall as the best kind in Havana. Thick 

 woods of Acrocomia aculeata and the Palma real (Oreodoxa) &c. cover the country 

 here. 



From Paso de Ovejas to Hacienda Mirador, a distance of thirteen leagues, the ground 

 rises imperceptibly in a monotonous stony slope or grass savana, on which grow low 

 thorny species of Mimosa, groups of the white Convolvulus arboreus, yellow Bignonia, 

 and Cochlospermum. At an altitude of 3000 feet six or seven species of oak are found, and 

 six species of Chamcedorea, including climbers as well as standards. Here, in a temperature 

 of 70°, and favoured by the long rainy season of eight or nine months' duration, the 

 richest vegetation of Mexico exists, and orchids reach their maximum with some two 

 hundred species, some terrestrial, but mostly epiphytal. The basaltic porphyry, which 

 extends from this altitude (3000 feet) to the very summit of the volcano, is covered by 

 a strata of hard red clay containing iron, which extends up to above 11,000 feet. From 

 Mirador the country becomes more mountainous ; great ridges run north and south, 

 intersected by deep ravines produced by earthquakes, extending west and east, and 

 forming natural watercourses. At San Antonio, Huatusco, and San Bartolome oaks 

 reach their highest development, not only in the number of species (no less than twenty 

 species being found), but also in their size, which is greater than anywhere else in 

 America ; and one group with acorns 8 to 9 inches in circumference is limited to this 

 district. The highest limit of coffee and cotton cultivation is reached at an altitude 

 of between 4000 and 5000 feet ; while the sugar-cane, though losing much of its 

 strength and sweetness, is cultivated up to 5500 feet. Associated with the oaks here are 

 Laurinese, Myrtaceae, Anacardiacese, Malpighiaceae, and Anonaceas, with an undergrowth 

 of Melastomaceee, tree-ferns, Citrosma, Mimosa, Acacia, Yucca, reed-like bamboos, 

 Triumfetta, Jatrojpha, Croton, Magnolia, Composite, Symplocos, the red Msculus, 

 Aralia, &c. IAquidambar styraciflua has a very distinctly defined vertical area, lying 

 between 3500 and 5500 feet ; and Platanus mexicanus is still more limited, only growing 

 by running water at 4500 to 5500 feet. 



The town of San Juan Coscomatepec, at about 6000 feet, lies at the foot of the 

 Cordilleras; and a league and a half further, at the town of Santa Maria Alpatlahua, 

 the ascent of the volcano begins. This fruitful region has, for 300 years, uninterrupt- 



