MEXICO. 



651 



movals, 6,909 ; withdrawals, 2,936 ; deaths, 

 1,070; chapels, 1,811 ; other preaching-rooms, 

 chapels huilt during the year, 40; chap- 

 els enlarged, 10. 



'1 ho Chapel Committee reported to the An- 

 nual Assembly that 86 chapels had boon built 

 r enlarged, and 18 school-rooms built at a 

 total cost of 62,740, of which 84,920 had 

 bfi-ii rnvived. 



Imports were made to the Annual Assembly 

 of tho condition of other benevolent funds as 

 follows: Beneficent and superannuation funds, 

 total amount of capital, 19,676 ; increase dur- 

 ing the year, 1,816. Children's fund : income, 

 1,549 10*. 5(7. ; disbursements, 1,5404*. 4d. 

 Theological Institute : income, 871 18*. 2<7. 



The receipts of the Book-Room for business 

 done were reported to have been 6,059, from 

 which a benefit had been derived of 1,125. 



The Annual Assembly of the United Meth- 

 Free Churches met at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 

 July 29th. Tho Rev. Joseph Garside was 

 chosen President. 



Tho anniversary of tho Missionary Society 

 of the United Methodist Free Churches was 

 held in London, April 28th. The Lord-Mayor 

 of London presided. The report of the treas- 

 urer showed the receipts of tho society for the 

 year to have been : from home resources, 9,601 

 14*. 10(7. ; from foreign local contributions, 

 5,046 19*. 7<7. : total, 14,548 14*. 5d. This 

 amount showed an increase of 625 4*. over 

 the receipts of the previous year. 



XVII. WESLEYAN REFORM UNION. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of tho statistics of the 

 churches of the Wesleyan Reform Union : num- 

 ber of chapels and preaching-places, 256 ; of 

 preachers, 500 ; of preachers on trial, 85 ; of 

 ministers, 16 ; of leaders, 502 ; of members, 

 7,687 ; of members on trial, 422 ; of Sunday- 

 schools, 181 ; of Sunday-school teachers, 3,128 ; 

 of scholars in Sunday-schools, 18,615 ; of day- 

 schools, 4. 



XVIII. BIBLE CUEISTIANS. The statistics 

 of this denomination are as follows: Number 

 of itinerant preachers, 272 ; of local preachers, 

 1,747 ; of chapels, 873 ; of members, 25,690 ; 

 of persons on trial for membership, 1,132; of 

 Sunday-school teachers, 9,529; of Sunday- 

 school scholars, 49,407. These returns show 

 a considerable increase in all the departments. 



MEXICO (ESTADOS UNIDOS DK Mfejico, Az- 

 tec, Mexitli), a federal republic occupying the 

 southwestern portion of the North American 

 Continent, comprised between latitude 15 and 

 32 27' north, and longitude 86 84' and 117 

 west. Its boundaries are : North, by the United 

 States (California, Arizona, New Mexico, and 

 Texas) ; east by the Gulf of Mexico, the Carib- 

 bean Sea, and Balize ; south by Guatemala ; 

 and south and west by the Pacific Ocean. 



The present territorial division of the re- 

 public is into twenty-seven States, one Federal 

 District, and one Territory, which, with their 

 areas, population (in 1871), and capitals are as 

 follows : 



More recent tables, compiled from returns 

 sent in by State Governors, carry the number 

 of inhabitants up to 9,400,000 ; but it is to be 

 presumed that these figures are too high, owing 

 to an exaggerated estimate of the population 

 of some of the States. The population of the 

 republic is made up nearly thus : About 6,000,- 

 000 Indians of unmixed blood, nearly one-half 

 of whom are nomadic savage tribes of the 

 mountainous districts of the north ; about 

 500,000 whites or Creoles, chiefly descended 

 from the early Spanish colonists ; perhaps 

 25,000 Africans or hybrids possessing some 

 negro blood, whether mixed with the European 

 or the Indian element ; and mestizoes or half- 

 breeds derived from the union of the whites 

 and Indians. Of the Indians there are 25 

 tribes, speaking as many different tongues, and 

 nearly 150 dialects. 



The city of Mexico, the capital, has an esti- 

 mated population of 250,000. 



The President of Mexico is Sefior Don Se- 

 bastian Lerdode Tejada, elected November 21, 

 1872 ; the Minister of the Interior, Sefior Don 



C. G. Perez ; tho Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

 Sefior Don Jos6 Maria Lafragua ; of Finance, 

 Sefior Don Francisco Mejia ; of War, General 

 of Division Ignacio Mejia ; of Justice, Public 

 Instruction, and Public Worship, Sefior Don J. 



D. Covarrubias ; and of Public Works, Sefior 

 Don Bias Balcarcel. 



The Treasurer-General of the republic is 

 Sefior Don Manuel Izaguirre ; the President of 

 the Supreme Court of Justice (whose oflBco 

 is equivalent to that of Vice-President of the 

 Republic) is General Porfirio Diaz ; and the 

 Postmaster-General is Seflor Don Pedro Garay 

 y Garay. 



The Mexican minister plenipotentiary to tho 

 United States is Sefior Don Ignacio Mariscal ; 



