540 



METHODISTS. 



MEXICO. 



African coast. At the former place were 3 

 ministers, 11 local preachers, and 234 members 

 of the church. The colonial work was in Aus- 

 tral ia and Canada. In the latter country were 

 61 stations and 97 missionaries, with 8,137 

 members. 



The sixty-third Annual Conference of the 

 Primitive Methodist Connection met at Shef- 

 field, June 7th. The Rev. Joseph Wood was 

 chosen president. Measures were approved for 

 securing a more solemn and becoming observ- 

 ance of the ordinance of baptism, and to im- 

 press on the societies the obligations of the 

 Church in relation to the baptized ; also for 

 securing a better attendance at Sunday-schools 

 of the children who have been baptized in the 

 chapels and by the ministers. A scheme for 

 the formation of a Connectional Temperance 

 League was referred, to be matured by a com- 

 mittee and considered by the next Conference. 

 The Missionary Committee was authorized to 

 give higher salaries to its missionaries on home 

 stations that are regarded as especially impor- 

 tant fields of labor, and where heavy respon- 

 sibilities have to be accepted. 



IX. METHODIST NEW CONNECTION. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the statistics of this 

 Church as they were reported to the Confer- 

 ence in June: Number of chapels, 512 ; of so- 

 cieties, 467 ; of circuit preachers, 186 ; of local 

 preachers, 1,278; of members, 28,631 ; of pro- 

 bationers, 4,512 ; of Sunday-schools, 465, with 

 11,210 teachers and 80,897 scholars. The in- 

 crease of members was 861, and of Sunday- 

 school scholars, 1,429. An increase of 40 

 members was reported in China, and of 32 

 members in Ireland. 



The Conference of the Methodist New Con- 

 nection met at Batley, in June. The Rev. W. 

 Longbottom was chosen president. 



X. UNITED METHODIST FEEE CHURCHES. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of these churches, as they were reported to 

 the Conference in July : Number of itinerant 

 preachers, 392; of supernumeraries, 40; of 

 local preachers, 3,385; of leaders, 4,186; of 

 members in the society, 74,142; of probation- 

 ers, 9,905; of chapels and preaching-rooms, 

 1,533; of Sunday-schools, 1,354, with 23,892 

 teachers and 199,382 scholars. The increase 

 of members was 1,363, and of Sunday-school 

 scholars, 3,425. 



The annual meeting in behalf of the Home 

 and Foreign Missions was held April 23d. The 

 income of the society for the year had been 

 16,480. The society conducted twenty-four 

 home missions, which were under the charge 

 of twenty -two missionaries, and had in its 

 foreign missions, in China, East Africa, and 

 West Africa, fifty-one missionaries, with 7,772 

 church-members, 917 on probation, and 7,752 

 Sunday-school scholars. 



The Annual Assembly of the United Meth- 

 odist Free Churches met at Bristol, July 19th. 

 The Rev. Arthur Hands was chosen president. 

 The present being the twenty-fifth year since 



the amalgamation, in 1857, between the Wes- 

 leyan Association and the Wesleyan Reform- 

 ers, by which the present union of churches 

 was formed, measures were taken to celebrate 

 the anniversary by raising a commemorative 

 or thanksgiving fund of 25,000 to be appro- 

 priated between the Connectional funds and 

 local objects ; and the Connectional Commit- 

 tee was authorized to prepare the details of a 

 scheme for accomplishing this object, to be 

 submitted to the next Assembly. 



MEXICO (ESTADOS UNIDOS DE MEXICO, OR 

 REPUBLICA MEXIOANA). Mr. J. Y. Sargent, in 

 an article, " Mexico and her Railways," in the 

 London "Fortnightly Review," February 1, 

 1883, expresses himself about Mexico in the 

 following terms : " Mexico occupies the south- 

 ern portion of the North American Continent, 

 narrowing southward to the Isthmus of Tehu- 

 antepec, and broadening toward the northwest 

 and east with the breadth of the continent, 

 through about fifteen degrees of latitude, until 

 it reaches the boundary of the United States. 

 This is an imaginary line, stretching from 

 about San Diego, on the Pacific, to Matamo- 

 ros, on the Gulf of Mexico. This line, run- 

 ning nearly 2,000 miles, divides Mexico from 

 California, Arizona, and Texas. For the whole 

 length of the Texan frontier it follows the Rio 

 Grande River down to its mouth. Less than 

 fifty years ago Mexico included California, 

 Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colo- 

 rado, Southern Wyoming, and Texas ; continu- 

 ing, in fact, the high plateau which occupies 

 the central part of Mexico, and which, widen- 

 ing northward, embraces the mesa of the 

 Rocky Mountains as far north as the latitude 

 of Salt Lake, where it is now crossed by the 

 trunk line of the Union Pacific. This great 

 table-land, although diversified with mountains 

 and valleys, yet lies at an average altitude of 

 about 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Eastward it slopes gradually across the prai- 

 ries, to the level of the Missouri and Missis- 

 sippi. In Mexico proper it sinks by successive 

 steps and steep escarpments to the lowlands 

 that border on the Gulf of Mexico and Cali- 

 fornia, and the Pacific. 



" Being narrowed in the area of the Mexican 

 States, and nearer the equator, the land pre- 

 sents in a smaller compass all the variety of 

 climate and produce of the tropic, the temper- 

 ate, and the colder zones. Hence the well- 

 known division of Mexico into the tierras 

 calientes, tierras templadas, and tierras frias. 

 A glance at the map will show that the States 

 nearest the capital are the most thickly peo- 

 pled. Tlascala, Morelos, Hidalgo, Queretaro, 

 Guanajuato, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi 

 are studded with names of towns which be- 

 come more sparse toward the north and north- 

 west." 



AREA AND POPULATION. Mr. Lorenzo Cas- 

 tro's hand-book, entitled "The Republic of 

 Mexico in 1882," contains the statistics of area 

 and population as follows : 



