MEXICAN RESOURCES. 



CONFIGURATION OF THE COAST. 



Although the plains of the coast-region are low, the greatest portion of Mexico 

 lies high above the sea. Of its 6,000 miles of coast-line, about 1,600 pertain to 

 the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico; and 4,200 to the Pacific and Gulf of California. 

 Very few bays indent the coast. These are, Ascension, Espiritu Santo, and Chet- 

 mul on the Yucutan Peninsula; Manzanillo, on the Pacific; and Magdalena and 

 others in Lower California. But the east coast is broken by extensive lagoons, like 

 that of Terminos, and the great Gulf of California separates the peninsula of that 

 name from the main portion of Mexico. Of secure harbors, there are none on the 

 east coast, and but very few on the west, — Acapulco, San Bias and Guaymas, being 

 the only inlets with deep water and protecting shores. The ports of Mexico, open 

 to foreign commerce, are : on the Pacific, Acapulco, Guaymas, La Paz (Lower 

 California), Mazatlan, Manzanillo, Puerto Angel, Salina Cruz, San Bias, Soconusco 

 and Tonala. Open to coastwise trade, only : Altata, Bacorchuis, Cabo de San 

 Lucas, Mulege, Navachiste, Navidad, Puerto Escondido, Tecoanapa, Topolovampo, 

 Valle de Banderas, Yavaros and Zihuatanejo. On the Gulf of Mexico, open to 

 foreign commerce, are : Anton Lizardo, Campeche, Carmen, Goatzacoalcos, Frontera, 

 Progreso, Tampico, Tuxpan and Vera Cruz. To the coasting-trade : Alvarado, 

 Dos Bocas, Nautla, Soto la Marina, Santecomapan and Tecolutla. 



The only peninsulas are Lower California and Yucatan ; which latter belongs to 

 Mexico politically, but physically is widely separate from it. Several islands, 

 though of little importance, lie off its coasts. 



PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE PLATEAUX, 



Generally speaking, the main body of the Mexican territory is a vast table-land, 

 a distinct geographical region, traversed by mountain-chains of great length, and 

 rising to extraordinary heights. Leaving out Yucatan and contiguous country, we 

 may describe Mexico as consisting of a series of plateaux, lying mainly above a 

 height of 6,000 feet ; extending from the confines of Guatemala, to the northern 

 limit of its boundary-line ; falling abruptly towards the coast on either hand, and 

 descending gradually to the plains of Texas and Arizona in the north. 



In the south, we have the Valley of CXixaca, 4,500 feet ; next of Pueblo, about 

 7,000 feet; of Anahuac, 7,500 feet; and, going north, along the axis of this table- 

 land, find Durango at an altitude of 6,600 feet; Chihuahua, 4,600 feet; El Paso, 

 3,800 feet, while Santa Fe, New Mexico, again lies at 7,000 feet above the sea. 

 The extent of the plateaux is about 1,500 miles in length, by 500 miles in breadth. 

 Of the vast mountain system, forming the escarpment to this elevated region, the 

 Sierra Madre, of the Pacific coast, the great " Mother Range," is the longest con- 

 tinuous chain, extending from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to Arizona. The 

 eastern Cordillera, or chain, runs more directly northward, from its initial point, 

 and at a lesser mean elevation, of, perhaps, 6,000 feet ; while the western carries an 

 altitude of nearly 10,000 feet. 



Traversing this longitudinal system from east to west, are several cross-ridges, 

 due to igneous action, and containing some of the highest volcanoes in North 

 America. Of the numerous mountains that rise conspicuously above the plateaux, 

 there are twenty above 4,000 feet in height, and nine that surpass even 10.000 feet. 



