MEXICO 



serai-desert conditions are found. 

 Trade winds, from N.E. to S.E., 

 prevail on the Atlantic coast, but 

 may be replaced between Oct. 

 and March by the tempestuous 

 '"northers." The prevalent winds 

 on the Pacific coast are N. W. during 

 winter, and S.W. to S.E. from April 

 to Oct., when storms are common. 



The low coastal plains, behind 

 the bare sand-bars, carry tropical 

 forest, which merges into sub- 

 tropical and temperate types as 

 the plateau is ascended. The dry 

 N. has a steppe vegetation if any ; 

 farther S. the land is fertile. The 

 porous limestone of Yucatan carries 

 a scrubby natural vegetation. 

 Among larger wild animals the 

 puma, jaguar, bear, and boar are 

 found. Poisonous snakes are not 

 uncommon, and there are many 

 harmful insects ; the mosquito, 

 breeding in the coastal lagoons 

 and marshes, carries malaria and 

 yellow fever. 



The population may be in the 

 neighbourhood of 15,000,000. Per- 

 haps a sixth, or less, of these are 

 Creoles, pure whites born in 

 Mexico and mostly of Spanish 

 descent ; a full half are mestizos or 

 half-castes. The Indians are indi- 

 genous ; they fall into a number of 

 divisions according to " tribes," 

 languages, and characters, but for 

 the most part they attain no high 

 standard of civilization. The foreign 

 white population includes Ameri- 

 can, British, Spanish, and German 

 elements ; during the Great War 

 many Germans entered from other 

 parts of the Americas. Chinese and 

 Japanese are fairly numerous, and 

 there are certain other well- 

 marked " colonies," as the Syrians 

 (Maronite Christians), who form a 

 strong trading class in Yucatan. 

 Staple Food Crops 



The most important food crop is 

 maize, from which is made a staple 

 of food, the flat cake called tortilla. 

 The country is not, as a rule, self- 

 sufficing in either maize or wheat. 

 The frijol and other beans are 

 grown and eaten ; oranges, bananas, 

 vines, agaves from which the 

 drinks of the common people, 

 pulque and mezcal, are distilled, 

 sugar and coffee are cultivated for 

 home consumption and export. 

 Fibre plants are specially impor- 

 tant ; among these, most of all, the 

 henequen or sisal hemp of Yucatan. 

 Cotton is grown in central Mexico ; 

 the guayule of the north and other 

 wild plants yield rubber, which is 

 also cultivated. Among vegetable 

 gums, the chicle of the S.E. low- 

 lands is the basis of chewing gum. 

 Cattle ranching is important in the 

 N. half of the country. 



The mineral wealth 'of Mexico 

 is immense. Silver, gold, copper, 



538O 



iron, lead, and zinc are the most 

 important metals, and coal and 

 salt are found. The richest mineral 

 region, broadly speaking, is the 

 slope of the Sierra Madre Occiden- 

 tal. The oil fields are among the 

 most important in the world. Of 

 these the chief are in the Gulf coast 

 lands, (a) in the south of Tamauli- 

 pas State and northern Vera Cruz, 

 behind the ports of Tampico, 

 Puerto Lobos, and Tuxpan, and 

 (6) in southern Vera Cruz behind 

 the port of Puerto Mexico. Both 

 mining and oil interests are largely 

 in American and British hands. The 

 unsettled condition of the country 

 has affected mining operations seri- 

 ously in recent years ; the working 

 of the oil fields, less so, though work 

 ceased on some of the latter. British 

 and Canadian interests are exten- 

 sively involved in the development 

 of water power, which, at Boquilla, 

 and elsewhere, has been applied on 

 a large scale to the generation of 

 electricity for lighting, heating, and 

 traction in towns, and power in 

 mines and factories. 



Mining and Manufacturing 



Among manufactures, there are 

 a few large metallurgical works, as 

 the iron and steel foundries at Mon- 

 terey and in Hidalgo. The largest 

 cotton factories are in and about 

 Orizaba, Puebla, and Mexico City, 

 and those for wool at Tlalnepantla. 

 Jute, silk, and leather goods, cigar- 

 ettes, soap, and glycerine are other 

 important manufactures. 



Inasmuch as mining and manu- 

 facturing have been set on foot 

 mostly by foreign organization and 

 capital, the constitution of 1917 

 sought to limit these interests, and 

 to give preference to native enter- 

 prise. The same document imposes 

 detailed conditions as to labour, 

 which, especially in the hot lands, 

 is neither plentiful nor efficient. 



Exports, under normal condi- 

 tions and before the Great War, 

 reached 30,000,000 in value, and 

 imports about 18,000,000. The 

 most distinctive items among the 

 former are silver, petroleum, gold, 

 and sisal hemp. 



The chief Atlantic ports are Tam- 

 pico (for the northern oil fields) at 

 the mouth of the Panuco, Vera 

 Cruz with a good artificial harbour, 

 Puerto Mexico at the mouth of the 

 Coatzacoalcos on the N. side of the 

 isthmus of Tehuantepec, and Pro- 

 greso in Yucatan, on an open road- 

 stead, from which sisal hemp is 

 shipped. The chief Pacific ports are 

 Salina Cruz on the S. side of the 

 isthmus of Tehuantepec (connected 

 with Puerto Mexico by a trans- 

 isthmus railway), Acapulco, Man- 

 zanillo, and Mazatlan. The ship- 

 ping is mainly American and 

 British. 



MEXICO 



The rlys. have not been systema- 

 tically laid out, but excepting cer- 

 tain parts the country, under nor- 

 mal conditions, would be fairly well 

 served. The lines have mostly been 

 taken over by the government, and 

 have been much damaged in recent 

 disturbances. The total mileage is 

 somewhat over 15,000. Roads are 

 bad and unmetalled excepting a 

 few ; they are distinguished as the 

 " horse-tracks," narrow paths of 

 the sierras, and " carriage-roads," 

 wider trails on the plateau, and in 

 the coast-lands. The best are the 

 Spanish roads, those built during 

 Diaz's regime to supplement the 

 railways, and those built to connect 

 mines with railways. There are 

 some 25 wireless stations in Mexico ; 

 the largest (range 1,550 m.) is that 

 of Chapultepec, a suburb of Mexico 

 City. There are fairly complete 

 land telegraph and postal systems. 



Federal Legislation 

 Mexico is (nominally) a federa- 

 tion of 28 states, two territories, 

 and a federal district ; the states 

 are free in respect of internal affairs. 

 The federation has a legislative 

 paid congress divided into a house 

 of representatives and a senate, 

 both elected. The federal executive, 

 is vested in an elected president, 

 whose eligibility and powers are 

 hedged about in the constitution 

 with limitations which are habitu- 

 ally disregarded. Each state has a 

 republican form of government, 

 and is under an elected governor. 

 There is an elaborate legal system, 

 in which the judges of the supreme 

 court are appointed by Congress 

 from among nominees by the states. 



O. J. R. Howarth 



ARCHAEOLOGY. The material re- 

 mains of early Mexico pertain to a 

 wide region dominated by the 

 Maya, Zapotec, and Aztec peoples. 

 It extended from the Anahuac 

 tableland to Costa Rica, where it 

 impinged on the Chibcha region. 



For many centuries before our 

 era the arid tablelands of middle 

 America were occupied by primi- 

 tive peoples cultivating maize and 

 producing crude pottery and woven 

 fabrics, the humid lowlands being 

 inhabited by lowlier hunting and 

 fishing tribes. By the 2nd century 

 B.C. there began to emerge in the 

 Maya lowlands an advanced civili- 

 zation marked by stone sculpture, 

 rubble architecture, pictography, a 

 chronological system and complex 

 religious rituals. The similarity of 

 these arts and institutions to some 

 in the Old World, and the lack of 

 organic links between them and 

 the primitive aboriginal culture, 

 have led competent authorities to 

 postulate the arrival by sea of 

 cultural ideas. 



