544 



MEXICO. 



days), touching on the way at Havana, in Cuba, 

 and Progreso, in the Mexican State of Yucatan, 

 and on alternate weeks also at Cainpeachy, in 

 the State of the same name, and Frontera, in 

 the State of Tobasco. The distances by this 

 route are as follow : 



Miles. 



New York to Havana 1,200 



Havana to Progreso 425 



Progreso to Cainpeachy 123 



Cainpeachy to Frontera 133 



Frontera to Vera Cruz 200 



Total 



From Havana there are also British, French, 

 and German steam lines running to Vera Cruz, 

 to any of which a traveler may shift his passage 

 if he desires. Or he may go from New York to 

 Havana by the " Ward " line of steamers, which 

 start from pier 16 East River weekly, on Sat- 

 urdays, and there shift his passage to Vera 

 Cruz either to an Alexandre boat or to one of 

 these foreign lines. 



All the Ward and Alexandre steamers from 

 New York are commodious those of recent 

 build especially so and are run with reasona- 

 ble regard to the comfort of passengers. Their 

 size in general is about 2,500 tons old measure- 

 ment. 



There is also an Alexandre steamer from New 

 Orleans for Vera Cruz once in three weeks. 

 This steamer touches, between New Orleans 

 and Vera Cruz, at the Mexican ports of Bag- 

 dad (at the mouth of the Rio Grande, where 

 passengers are taken from or left for Matamo- 

 ros) and of Tampico and Tuxpan. 



The distances from New Orleans to Vera 

 Cruz by this route are as follow : 



Miles. 



New Orleans to Bagdad 578 



Bagdad to Tampico 225 



Tampico to Tuxpan 90 



Tuxpan to Vera Cruz 125 



Total 1,018 



There is also a " Morgan " line steamer from 

 Morgan City, formerly called Brashear City 

 (reached by rail in a few hours from New Or- 

 leans), for Vera Cruz twice a month, touching 

 on the way only at Galveston, in Texas. This 

 is an iron boat, flat-bottomed, and a "side- 

 wheeler." All the other boats above mentioned 

 are propellers. It has lately been published 

 that all the Morgan steam lines, including this 

 one, have been purchased in an interest con- 

 nected with the Central Pacific and Southern 

 Pacific Railroads and with a Mexican " conces- 

 sion," as yet unimproved, for a railroad toward 

 the Mexican capital, starting from the Texas 

 frontier at a point on the Rio Grande north- 

 west of Laredo. 



In its issue of January 16, 1883, the Mexican 

 correspondent of the London "Times" thus 

 expresses himself about railroads in Mexico : 



Eailroads are naturally expected to do much for Mex- 

 ico, where absence of navigable rivers and water for 

 canals has hitherto necessitated the tedious movement 

 of all goods by ox- team or on the back of the useful 

 burro. Already charters have been granted for some 

 5,000 miles of road, which will cost on an average for 



construction and equipment $25,000 per mile. The 

 United States and foreign countries are finding the 

 money, which would augur that the Mexicans have 

 either very little enterprise, or are doubtful of the suc- 

 cess of such undertakings. Nearly 1,000 miles have 

 already been built. The line from the seaport of Vera 

 Cruz to the city of Mexico, covering with its branches 

 365 miles, has been opened since 1873. The tardiness 

 of the people of Mexico to take advantage of improved 

 transport facilities is illustrated by the fact that the 

 increase of business since the road was opened has 

 been about one per cent per annum, while, although 

 possessing a monopoly and a Government subsidy, the 

 company earned no dividend until last year, when 5 

 per cent was declared. If the road from the capital 

 of the republic to its principal seaport has taken eight 

 years to develop profitable traffic, there is poor pros- 

 pect of much profit from lines running though more 

 sparsely populated, poorer regions. Years must elapse 

 before there is much agricultural, manufacturing, or 

 mineral produce to be carried by Mexican railroads, 

 or before the amplified wants of the masses will fill 

 many freight-cars. Before railways can prosper the 

 country, moreover, must become more peaceful and 

 settled. It seems almost incredible that on the Vera 

 Cruz road a car full of soldiers accompanies each train, 

 and at every station soldiers are drawn up awaiting the 

 arrival of each train. These precautions are adopted 

 regularly, even when no specie is being transported. 

 On the Mexican Central, running south from Paso 

 del Norte, 225 miles, to Chihuahua, the traveling offi- 

 cials are all armed, but no military accompany the 

 train. Government subsidizes several Mexican lines 

 to the extent of about one third of the cost of construc- 

 tion, but this, although enabling the road to dispose 

 of its bonds advantageously in foreign markets, is ham- 

 pered by unfavorable regulations as to freight charges 

 and transport of Government officials and munitions 

 of war. 



< I have not visited the southern portions of the repub- 

 lic, the Mexican Gulf shores,where tropical produce can 

 be raised, whence much tobacco is brought, and where 

 malarial fevers abound. I have not seen the fertile, 

 extending coffee plantations, still free from parasitic 

 attacks, nor the great silver-mines, nor the larger cities. 

 My observations have been confined to the northern 

 portion of the country, which has obviously been the 

 basin of a great sea, in the midst of which towered the 

 old granitic mountains, standing out then as shallows 

 or islands, now mapping the region into great vallevs, 

 some of them 100 miles long and five to 50 miles wide ; 

 several of the later-drained flats for miles covered 

 with so much saline deposit as entirely to prevent 

 vegetation. The Mexican Central Railroad, from its 

 northern start on the borders of Texas, for upward 

 of 150 miles passes through a poor sage-brush country, 

 diversified by immense sand-hills and barren alkaline 

 plains, broken with mesas, and flanked by a succes- 

 sion of gneissic mountains 1,000 feet to 2,000 high, 

 from the fastnesses of which Indians and white des- 

 peradoes were wont to sally forth and rob and murder 

 occasional travelers, railroad surveyors and construct- 

 ors. The Caudelero Pass was pointed out to me, 

 where, twelve months ago, twenty- seven Mexicans in 

 pursuit of a marauding band of Apaches, were in- 

 veigled into a defile and cut down to a man. On the 

 waysides, along many a mountain -path, are crosses 

 where prospectors and cattle-men have been shot for 

 plunder or revenge. No wonder that the population 

 invariably carry fire-arms, and always have them 

 handy by night as well as by day. Toward Chihuahua 

 there is less alkali and sand and more water, settle- 

 ment, irrigation, cultivation, and stock-keeping. The 

 town contains about 7,000 people, and consists of one 

 and two storied adobe houses, with flat roofs, cheaply 

 and quickly built, keeping out both heat and cold, but, 

 unless some attention is paid to cleanliness, affording 

 harbors for centipeds, tarantulas, and other vermin. 

 An imposing cathedral and several churches of the 

 same simple" material were erected nearly 300 years 



