﻿MEXICO. 



MEXICO. 



736 



on the west to 21° 30'. That portion of it which lies east of 100° W. 

 long. i3 in general about 6500 feet above the sea-level. Its surface is 

 broken by single groups or short ranges of hills, which rise from 1000 

 to 1500 feet above the plain ; but still there occur many level tracts of 

 considerable extent and gi'i at fertility. This region contains numerous 

 productive mines. The western and greater portion of the table-land 

 (between 100° and 102° W. long.) is nearly a plain, rarely inteiTUpted 

 by hills. The central part of it is occupied by one of the richest 

 agricultural districts on the Mexican isthmus, known under the name 

 of Baxio. It is 100 miles long and 30 miles wide, and covered with 

 corn-fields, which, being irrigated by canals, yield rich crops of maize 

 and wheat. In the other distiicta many sterile tracts occur, which are 

 either covered with stouea, and then called ' pedregal,' or with lava, 

 when they always receive in Mexico the name of ' mal pais.' The 

 remainder is rather fertile, but by far the greater part of it cannot be 

 irrigated, and is used only as pasture-ground. On this table-land there 

 are many ' ban-ancas,' or depressions in the level country, having a steep 

 declivity, and defending frequently 1000 feet below the general sur- 

 face of the country. 'These depressions are sometimes 3 or 4 miles 

 wide, and still longer: they are covered with trees of a vigorous growth, 

 which form a striking contrast with the bare surface of the table-land. 

 Their climate is considerably milder than that of the country about 

 them, and approaches in some cases to that of the tierras calientes. 

 Vegetation follows the course of a small sti-eam which runs in the 

 centre of the barranca. Several small towns are built in these depres- 

 sions of the table-laud. 



The plain of Queretaro descends very gradually to the west, but 

 with a broken surface, so as to present a succession of hills and valleys 

 with some intervening plains, usually of no great extent ; the plains 

 in some places occupy the summit of the higher country, and are 

 called ' sneaa' (table-land). The descent terminates about the meridian 

 of ZapoUan, or 2!apotlandjo (102° 30'), where the productions of the 

 tierras calientes appear, and the general level of the country extending 

 to the shores of the Pacific may be estimated at about 4000 feet above 

 the sea. This region, called the Plain of Xalisco, has a very uneven 

 surface, being in many places intersected with bills, which frequently 

 rise to a great height, with a steep ascent ; though extended flat 

 tracts are numerous, among which that about the town of Ouadalajara 

 ia distinguished by fertility. Maize and wheat constituto the prin- 

 cipal articles of agriculture. In this country is the lake of Chapdla, 

 which is about 90 miles long and from 12 to 18 miles broad: the 

 surronnding hills rise to a considerable elevation, and descend rapidly 

 to the water's edge. The lake contains the island of Mescdla, on which 

 a number of Indians resisted the arms of the Spaniards from 1811 

 to 1314. 



The Rio Santiago, or Rio Grande, the largest of the rivers of the 

 Mexican isthmus, principally traverses the regions just mentioned, 

 having iU mouth at S. Bias (21° 32' N. lat., 105° 18' W. lonj;.). This 

 river rises in a lake situated at the base of the range which divides the 

 table-land of Toluca from that of Tenochtitlan, and in an extonsive 

 monm surrounding the small town of Lerma, whence it is called, in 

 the upper part of its coarse, Rio de Lerma. Its course is rather gentle, 

 until it bre.iks through the range of hills which separates the table- 

 land of Toluca from that of Queretaro. It flows through the Baxio, 

 and its watsrs are abundantly tised for irrigation. Where it leaves 

 the plain of Queretaro it is closely hemmed in by precipitous moun- 

 tains, full of rapids and bars, and runs quickly over a stony bod. On 

 approaching the Lake of Chapdla it« course again becomes gentle, 

 and before it enters the lake it passes through an extensive level tract, 

 which is inundated by the river during the rains, and is swampy all the 

 year round. It issues from the lake on the north side not far from 

 the town of Ocotlan, where it ia 200 yards wide, and flows with an 

 even and uninterrupted course to the Puente del Rio Orande, near 

 Guadalajara, where there occur in the space of leea than three miles 

 between 50 and 60 falls. Farther down, though less obstructed, it is 

 still very rapid, and is not used fur navigation. Its entire coutm 

 considerably exceeds 400 miles. 



The eastern part of the table-lands is drained by the river Panuco, 

 which rliea in the Lake of Zumpaugo, on the table-land of Tenoch- 

 titlan. The watera of this lake are carried by the canal called the 

 Dengue de Hiiehuetoca to the Rio de Tula, or Moctezuma, which runs 

 in »porthem direction, inclining a little to the east, to Tamasinchali, 

 where it is called the Rio de San Juan. From this place it passes in 

 the same direction to Sliraflores, San Juan, aud Tanquichi. In this 

 latter part of its course the river, which near its source is extremely 

 rapid, becomes more gentle, aiirl canoes may asceud it to San Juan ; 

 but above Tanquichi the rapids are numerous and violent. Five miles 

 above Panuco a ledge of rocks runs across the river, which, except in 

 the rainy season, has only four feet of water on it, and thus prevents 

 loi^e TeaseU from ascending it farther. Schoonen sail up to Panuco, 

 which ia 80 miles by water and about 40 miles by land from the sea. 

 The oonrse of the river below Panuco is exceedingly winding. It 

 inverses a low and frequently swampy tract, covered with extensive 

 forests, in which mahogany and different kinds of dye-wood are cut. 

 At it* mouth the river forms the harbour of Tampico. 



The climate of these table-lands varies in proportion to their eleva- 

 tion above the sea. In those of Tenochtitlan and Tlascala, which are 

 nearly equal in this respect, the mean aauual temperature is 62°. In 



0100. Div. Tor, III. 



winter the thermometer generally ranges between 45° and 47°, and 

 sometimes, though rarely, descends below 32°. In summer it never 

 exceeds 75° in the shade. On the table-land of Toluca, which is the 

 mo3t elevated, the air ia so cold during the greatest part of the day 

 that the thermometer generally varies between 42° and 46°. On the 

 table-land of Valladolid, Mixtecapan, and Michoacau, which are con- 

 siderably lower than Tenochtitlan, the mean annual temperature 

 probably varies between 66° and 63°. All these countries, being more 

 than 5000 feet above the sea-level, are called by the inhabitants 

 Tierras Frias (Cold Countries). The seasons on the table-lands are 

 ouly two, that of the rains (estacion de las aguas) and the dry season, 

 or summer (el estio). The rains commence in June or July, and 

 terminate in September or October; the rainy season consequently 

 lasts only four months. The rains occur earlier in the countries 

 approaching the eastern shores, and extend afterwards farther west. 

 They are accompanied by thunderstorms, which are experienced suc- 

 cessively at Mexico, Guadalajara, and on the western shores. Though 

 the rains are much less abundant ou the table-lauds than on the coast, 

 they would be sufficient to maintain a vigorous vegetation but for the 

 rapid evaporation, and the peculiar nature of the soil, which covers 

 rocks of a porous nature. Consequently all these table-lands have 

 rather an arid soil, which can only be employed in the cultivation of 

 grain where it caU' be watered ; and even many of the rivers disappear 

 in fiasuri-'s of the rocks. The plains are entirely destitute of trees, 

 but are covered with several kinds of cactus. For want of the means 

 of irrigation, perhaps nine-tenths of the table-lauds are only used as 

 pasture ; and the grass is sufficient for that purpose to the months of 

 March and April, when the south-east wind, called Viento de la 

 Mistica, begins to prevail, which, being very dry and hot, withers the 

 smaller plants and grass. The elevated table-lands of Mexico, like 

 those of Tibet and Central Asia, which are still more arid, have also 

 a large portion of their surface covered with muriate of soda and 

 other saline substances in the dry season, like a hoar-frost, which 

 considerably diminish the productive powers of the soil. The 

 countries which are elevated from 2500 to 4000 feet above the sea, 

 such as the broken region lying between the t.ible-lands of Tenoch- 

 titlan, and Toluca and Michoacau on one side, and between the table- 

 laud of Mixtecapan on the other, and the uneven plain of Xalisco, are 

 called Tierras Templadas. Their mean aiinual temperature amounts 

 to between 75° and 78°, and they enjoy nearly a continual spriug, as 

 the difference of the temperature in the colder and hotter season does 

 not exceed 8°, or at the utmost 10°. These tracts produce the tropical 

 fruits and the sugar-cane in abundance, aud, as well as the table-lands 

 themselves, enjoy a very healthy climate all the year round, whilst 

 the inhabitants of the low tracts along the coast are subject to 

 dangerous diKases. 



We pass to the countries lying to the north and east of the Sierra 

 Ma Ire. The country, which is bordered by this range on the south 

 and west, is a plain nearly 700 miles long, aud from 1 00 to 300 miles 

 wide, terminatiug on the north-east ou the banks of the Rio del 

 Norte, and at the Sierra de las Espuelas, the most northern offset of 

 the Sierra Madre. Of the southern portion some districts, being 

 possessed of the means of irrigating the land, are distinguished by 

 fertility, as the country about San Luis de I'otosl, aud the Valla del 

 Maiz, which lies on the banks of the Rio Tamoiu, a tributary of the 

 Rio Panuco. A great portion of the country serves as pasture-grouml 

 for numerous herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. The rains are less 

 abundant than farther south, and fall mostly in October and Novem- 

 ber ; the heat in summer is less and the cold in winter greater than 

 ou the table-land of Queretaro. 



The northern portion of the plain is still less favoured by nature. 

 It suffers greatly from the scai-city of rain, which in the southern 

 districts is far from being abundimt, and north of 27° N. lat. is very 

 rara It is consequently badly supplied with water, the springs being 

 few in number, and the water of a very disagreeable taste, owing to 

 the soil containing a great portion of carbonate of soda. The plain 

 contains numerous dry salt-lakes, whence large quantities of carbonate 

 of soda are collected and token to different parts of the republic for 

 the manufacture of soap. All the rivers which water this plain rise 

 along the eastern declivity of the Sierra Madre, and, running north- 

 ward, are lost in some lake having no communication with the sea, 

 with the exception of the Rio Conchos, which rises with several 

 branches between 26° and 28° N. lat., and falls into the Rio del Norte 

 near 31° N. lat. In the southern districts are the Rio Grande de las 

 Nieves, which runs about 300 miles, and loses itself in the Lake of 

 Parraa ; and the Rio Nasas, which after a course of about 200 miles 

 enters the Lake of Mapimi. In the uoi-thern districts are the liio do 

 San Buenaventura, and the Rio de las Casas Grandes, which run hardly 

 more than 100 miles, and fall into the lakes of Santa Maria and of 

 Guzman. The cultivable land of this plain is limited to the river- 

 bottoms, which extend from two to four miles along the banks, and 

 produce maize and other grain. In the valley of the Rio Nasas cotton 

 is grown, and in the neighbourhood of the Lake of Parras are extensive 

 vineyards, from which a good wine is obtained. All the extensive 

 tracts which separate the river-bottoms from one another are level, 

 and consist mostly of a firm soil, the sandy or stony tract being rare 

 and of comparatively small extent ; but they are quite destitute of wood 

 or eyeu shrubs, and in certain seasona even dry grass is rare. Gales 



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