﻿m 



MEXICO. 



MEXICO. 



731 



flHthar north it widam to about ISO milaa; aa it approaoliea the 

 aotVbm limit of the Republic the land riaea rapidly, towarda the 

 itttoior attaining an elevation of 2500 or 3000 feet at a distance of 

 onlr 50 milea flrom the lea. 



This tract ia oomprehendsd in the Tierraa Callentes, or 'Hot 

 Countries.' The aeaaoni are dirided into the winter, or the aeaaon of 

 the north wind* ; and the aammer. or aeason of the breezes. The 

 winter lasts from October to April, during; which time the north winds 

 (loa nortas) are praralent, and fivqueotly blow with the force of a 

 burricaDe, ■ometimas far days together. They an the terror of 

 naTigatora on these ahona. Dur^ this period the coast is healthy, 

 and the romito pristo, or yellow ferer, owises The mean heat of this 

 season is 71° of Fahrenheit, but during the north winds the thermo- 

 meter sometimes desoends to 60*. Rain is not lare during this season, 

 but the showers are only of short duration. During the summer the 

 heat is great : the mean temperature is about 81°, and in July and 

 August it is about 82*. The rains are not heavy before Junp, but in 

 that month they desoend in torrents nearly erery day for several hours. 

 Toward! the end of the summer, in September and October, the vomito 

 prieto is preraleot in the lower part of the country, iwd very desiruc- 

 tive among the white inhabitants. The mean annual heat of this tract 

 is 77*. It is well adapted for the cultivation of all tropical products, 

 and as its soil, with the exception of the sandy shores, is possessed of 

 a conaiderable degree of fertility, it produces rich crops of maize and 

 rice where it can be irrigated. Btuianas, pineapples, oranges, and 

 manioc are also cultivated. The products adapted for exportation are 

 chiefly coSee, sugar, and cocoa, and a small quantity of cotton ; vanilla 

 and jalap are collected in the woods, with which a great part of this 

 region, especially that near the steep ascent, is thickly covered. 



The steep ascent which bounda this tract on the west rises in some 

 places in temees which lie between the declivities, and in such places 

 the ascent occupies a considerable space ; but in other parts it risea 

 from 5000 to 6000 feet in a distance generally not exceeding 10 miles 

 in width, and frequently much less. The acclivity is go steep that on 

 the whole line, nearly 600 miles, there are only two places where it is 

 practicable for carriages, namely, at Xalapa, near Vera Cruz (19° 

 H. lat.), and at Santillo, vrest of Monterey (26° N. lat.). The rocks 

 are generally too steep to maintain any vegetation beyond a few plants, 

 bat in the narrow ravines which intersect the acclivity a vigorous 

 Tegetation is found ; in the lower part there are many oak-trees, and 

 in the higher large pines. 



The steep ascent just described constitutes . the outer edge of the 

 elevated plains of Anahuac, which extend westward to a great distance. 

 The edge itself is lined by a continuous series of hills rising in general 

 ooly to a moderate elevation above the table-lands, but some of thi^m 

 attain a great height, as the CofiVe de Cerate, near the road leading 

 from Vera Cruz to Mexico, which is 13,415 feet aburo the sea-level, 

 and 5723 feet above its base ; and the peak of Orizdva, which attains 

 a height of 17,373 feet. The heights which line the margin of the 

 tabte-und do not form a continuous chain, but appear rather isolated 

 in the aouthem district& 



The elevated plains of Anahnao are divided into two parts by a 

 lange of mountains which traverses them in a general eastern and 

 western direction, and is called Sierra Madre. This chain begins not 

 tkr from the eastern edge, near 21° N. lat, west of Tlacolula, with the 

 moontaina of La Encamafion, whence it continues in a west.by-north 

 direction to San Felipe (21° 40' N. lat), which town is situated in a 

 oompatatively small plain inclosed by two branches of the range. 

 Here aa elevated and wide ofSiet branches off to the southward, and 

 ■tratohes over the plain for about 50 miles, terminating with the group 

 in which the mines of Guanaxuato are sitnated. 



West of San Felipe the range declines to the north-north-west, and 

 its continuity is broken into isoUted ridges, as the Sierra de Altamira, 

 about 20 miles east of Agues Calientes, and the group of mountains 

 which contain the mines of Zsoatecaa. But at no great distance west 

 of Zaeatecas the Sierra ICadre re-appears as a mountain range, and 

 ooeopiea a width of 100 milea from east to west The moimtains of 

 La ISDoamafion rise more than 10,000 feet above the sea, and about 

 4000 feet above thehr base ; those inclosiog the plain of Sou Felipe 

 •rsnobably as high. 



Ttw elevated plains which spread out west of the steep ascent 

 ceeapy the greaint pwt of the snrfcce of Mexico. They are widest 

 "* *"•« » 1»* end 20* N. lat, where they occupy 860 miles from east 

 ^•■■^ TUm extensive tract of country however is not one plain, but 

 divided into four pUins unequal in extent, and separated from each 

 •^ by ""«* <rf Wlla which rise firom 600 to 2000 feet above their 

 Maa. The moat aastern tilain has the town of Tlaaoala nearly in its 

 oantra. lU sorfaoa, which U pretty level, ia from 7000 to 7500 feet 

 •hove the sea ; and it oocupies the space between 97* and 98" SO' W. 

 Vwfrjl** SO" and JO* K. Ut Two lofty, but isoUted peaks, the Cerro 

 da Ftairo and lloaat M s Hnche, are near the road which leads from 

 tte aM to Mexioo. The parU of thU plain which are contiguous to 

 the aa atorn edge of the table-land are very sterile, the ground being 

 eoTMwd with IsTa, and produoing only a coarse grass, on which sheep 

 paatore. This sterile trsct, known as ' lil Mai Pafi,' occupies about one- 

 third of the plain. Farther wast the soil impruves, and in many places 

 tha gnoad ia ooTarad with maixe, wheat, and barley, or Uid out in 

 tilaol«Ua*u of Americas aloea. The cbiin of hilh which divide the 



flain of Tlascala from that of Tenochtitlan contains the peak of 

 staeoihuatl (15,704 feet above the sea), and the volcano of Popooa- 

 tepeU (17,884 feet), which Uut is the highest mountain in Mexico. 

 The plain of Tenochtitlan, lying west of that of "naacala, is between 

 19' and 20° N. Ut, 98* 30' and 99* 30' W. long, and about 7480 

 feet above the sea. Farther west is the plain of Toluca, which extends 

 to 100° W. long., and is somewhat smaller in extent than that of 

 Tenochtitlan, but likewise surrounded by chains of hills. In Uie 

 southern chain is the Nevodo de Toluca, which is 15,160 feet above 

 the sea, and through the northern chain the Rio de Lerma forces its 

 course. The surface of this plain ia in many plaoes uneven and broken, 

 but it contains also extensive levels. As it is neariy 9000 feet above 

 the sea-level it is too cold to produce wheat, and it serves chiefly as 

 pasture-ground. The most western of these extensive plains is that 

 of Michoacan, which between 19° and 20* N. lat extends from 100* 

 to 104° W. long., and approaches the Pacific within about 30 milea. 

 Its surface in the eastern districts is about 6500 feet high, but towards 

 the west it sinks down to 5500 feet This plain exhibits several 

 broken and high ridges of hills, which inclose valleys of moderate 

 width and great fertility. The mountains are covered with a fine 

 growth of timber. The level country is fertile, and produces abund- 

 antly every kind of grain ; but its elevation above the sea is too great 

 to admit the cultivation of tropical products. Nearly in the centre of 

 this plain ia the Lake of Patzcuaro, fiunous in the history of the 

 ancient kingdom of Michcacan, whose capital, TxintEontzan, was built 

 on its banks. Towards the western extremity of the plain is the lofty 

 peak of Tancitaro. 



From the western edge of the table-land of Michoacan, on which the 

 small town of Zapotlan is built, the country declines rapidly to the 

 plain of Colima, which seems to resemble in most respects the low tract 

 along the Oulf of Mexico. On this plain Uie isolated volcano of Colima 

 rises to a Rreat height This country is fertile, and is capable of 

 producing all the tropical plouts ; but it is badly cultivated. 



On the north the tablelands just mentioned border on others of a 

 similar description. On the south the country desoends rapidly and 

 with a very irregular surface, except where it borders on the plain of 

 Tlascala. This plain is joined on the south by that of Mixtecapan, 

 which stretches from about 18° 30' N. lat southward to the very 

 shores of the PaciBc, where it terminates with high mountains, leaving 

 only a narrow tract between them and the sea, firom the plain of 

 Tehuantepec on the east to the mouth of the Kio Yopez on the west, 

 a space of 300 mUes. This whole region, with the exception of a few 

 depressions and the low tract on the coast, forms a broken table-land 

 about 5000 feet above the sea. Maize and other grains are. grown in 

 abundance, and a great quantity of cochineal is collected. 



The table-land of Mixtecapan, stretohinij south and north, and 

 extending westward to 98° 30' W. long., forms nearly a right angle 

 vrith the table-land which stretches east and west over the Mexican 

 isthmus, between 19° and 20° N. lat The countries which ail up 

 this angle are covered with numerous narrow ridges running generally 

 east and west, with intervening valleys sometimes wide enough to be 

 called plains. Both the ranges and the valleys grow lower as they 

 approach the shores of the Pacific. Sugar plantations occur at Istla 

 (3100 feet) and at Cuautla y Amilpaa, not more than 30 or 40 miles 

 south of the table-land of Tenochtitlan. Farther south the deaoent 

 is less rapid, as the valleys, which are only 30 or 40 miles from the 

 Pacific, are still about 2000 feet above it The deeoent again becomes 

 more rapid near the shore*, on the margin of which is a narrow level 

 tract intersected vrith salt logunea. This region is traversed from east 

 to west by a river of considerable magnitude, but too rapid to be 

 navigable, the Rio de iSacatula, whose course exceeds 200 miles, its 

 source being near the western edge of the plain of Mixtecapan. 

 Towards the northern margin of this region is the volcano of JoruUo, 

 which stands in the middle of a plain 2890 feet above the sea, 

 thd volcano itself being 4114 feet above the sea. This volcano was 

 formed on the 29th of September, 1769, in a violent eruption, by 

 which a surface of between 24 and 30 square milea was raised several 

 feet above the level of the plain. The volcano is surrounded by 

 numerous conical hills of moderate elevation, from which smoke is 

 continually issuing. From the mouth of the Rio de Zaoatula west, 

 ward a low level extends along the Pacific, wliich joins that of Colima, 

 and spreads about 30 or 40 miles inland. It is a tierra oaliente reaem- 

 bling in climate, fertility, and productions the low coast oIour the 

 Oulf of Mexico, and, like the latter, it is very unhealUiy ; but the 

 yellow fever, or vomito prieto, does not visit the shores of the Paoi9c. 

 The mean annual temperature of tliese shores is considerably higher 

 than that of the shores of the Oulf of Mexico, the thermometer even 

 during the cold season hardly descending below 82°, and nearly all the 

 year round maiutainicg itself in the day-time between 86° and 95". 

 The gales by which it is visited rather resemble hurricanes, and blow 

 during the months of July and August from the south-west : some- 

 times tliey occur as late as September and October. From October 

 to May the air is in general calm, and the sky cloudless; but the suu 

 is nearly invisible on account of a foi;, of an olive colour, which 

 covers the whole sky in its upper regions, and does not affect the 

 hygrometer. 



North of 20° N. lat is the table-land of Queretaro, which extend < 

 to the rid;;o of the Sierra Madre, on the CAiit to about 21° N. lat., but 



