cording to the story 

 of the natives it 

 rose above the 

 plain in a single 

 night of terrific ac- 

 tivity, late in 1759. 

 Most of the Mexi- 

 can volcanoes are 

 extinct, but some 

 of the famous ones 

 still show signs of 

 life, sending out 

 constant jets of 

 steam and gas 

 which melt the 

 snow around their 

 crater mouths. 



The two peninsu- west - 



las of Mexico are very different in character. 

 Lower California is an arid, sandy region, with 

 a backbone of mountains which reach a con- 

 siderable height ; while Yucatan is very flat and 

 level, throughout most of its extent not far 

 from 100 feet in altitude. 



Waters. Once upon a time Mexico had a 

 great river, the Rio Grande, entirely within its 

 borders; but when a large stretch of territory 

 was given up to the United States after the 

 Mexican War in 1848, this river was made the 

 boundary line between the two republics, and 

 now the river belongs in part to each. So much 

 of its water is drawn off to irrigate the dry land 

 through which it flows that through part of the 

 year it is little more than a sand bed. Of other 

 rivers there are few of any importance, the 

 great plateau with its bordering mountains 

 making streams of any length impossible. Oc- 

 casional rapid torrents descend to the sea from 

 the plateau, but the unequal distribution of 

 the rainfall throughout the year and the ab- 

 sence of forests make of them flood streams at 

 certain seasons and dry gullies at others. It 

 may be said almost literally, therefore, that 

 Mexico has no inland water transportation. 



The country is not much better supplied 

 with lakes, though some of the plateau valleys 



Below 3,000 ft.. 

 Between 3,000 and6y500 

 Between 6500 and 12,500 



drying up, and the 

 coast regions have 

 in places tide-water 

 lagoons. The only 

 lake of any consid- 

 erable importance 

 is Chapala, which 

 has a length of 

 eighty miles and a 

 breadth of from 

 ten to thirty-five 

 miles. It is one of 

 the favorite resort 

 regions for wealthy 



ELEVATION ACROSS MEXICO Mexicans, whose 



The irregular black line across the lower map is the attractive country 



path of the cross section shown above from ocean to 



ocean, from Vera Cruz on the east to Manzanillo on the nouses line its 



shores. 



Climate. Parts of Mexico, in the moist, 

 fever-breeding lowlands along the coast, have 

 a very unhealthful, as well as disagreeable, 

 climate, but throughout much of the country 

 climate conditions are exceedingly attractive. 

 Since the country stretches through seventeen 

 degrees of latitude, it presents considerable 

 variations in climate, but it is altitude rather 

 than latitude that causes the differences. There 

 are three distinct zones of climate which de- 

 pend upon elevation. Along the coast, and 

 extending to a height of about 3,300 feet, are 

 the tierras calientes, or hot lands, which have 

 an average yearly temperature of from 77 to 

 82, and rarely reach lower than 60. Next 

 are the tierras templadas, or temperate lands, 

 from 3,300 to 5,600 feet above sea level, which 

 have an average temperature of from 62to 70 

 and produce the crops of subtropical regions 

 as well as those of temperate climes. Above 

 these are the so-called tierras jrias, or cold 

 lands, but in reality they are not cold at all, 

 as they seldom experience a frost. It is in the 

 lower regions of these cooler lands that the 

 population is densest. 



The rainfall is extremely uneven, much of 

 the plateau having only from twenty-five to 

 thirty inches in a year, while the coastal regions 



have chains of lakes, which seem slowly to be of the east have as high as 120 inches. 



