io Geoarapbical IRotes on flDejico, 



most of the country and who could, therefore, most clearly realize the 

 difficulty of knowing it thoroughly. From this it can be readily under- 

 stood how difficult it would be for a foreigner, without any previous 

 knowledge of the country and ignorant of its language, to know it by 

 a few days' sojourn there. Yet many travellers who have been in 

 Mexico only a few days write about it on their return home, just as if 

 they knew it perfectly, making necessarily many serious and sometimes 

 laughable mistakes. 



The natural beauties of Switzerland are well known ; but to me that 

 country is hardly to be compared with Mexico, as everything in Mexico 

 is on a much grander scale. In the latitude in which Switzerland is 

 situated the snow line is quite low, and, therefore, most of the peaks of 

 the Swiss mountains, while not so high as the Mexican mountains, are 

 covered with perpetual snow, which embellishes the country, and which, 

 melting in summer, supplies the beautiful lakes of that country with 

 fresh water. Therefore, only in the beauty of many snow peaks, 

 beautiful fresh-water lakes, good roads, and fine hotels has Switzerland 

 the superiority over Mexico. 



Historians, travellers, and writers of the present day compare Mexico 

 with Egypt. There is no doubt that between the legends and romance 

 with which the history of each of these countries abounds there is a 

 striking resemblance. The pyramids and ancient relics in the form of 

 buildings, images, and undeciphered hieroglyphics on stones, coins, 

 etc., found in both countries, all contribute to the general belief that, 

 centuries ago, the people of Mexico and Egypt were connected by 

 some tie, were in some way of the same race and had the same ideas. 

 To-day in Mexico, the manner of living, of cultivating the soil, and 

 many other peculiarities in the manners and customs of the Mexican 

 people forcibly remind the traveller of Upper and Lower Egypt. 1 



1 In a very bright article about Mexico by Mr. Charles Dudley Warner, published 

 in Harper's Illustrated Monthly Magazine for June, 1897, 1 find the following sentence 

 supporting my assertion : 



" In the cities he is reminded of Spain, and often of Italy (since the Catholic Church 

 prevails), but in the country and in small towns the appearance is Oriental, or rather 

 Egyptian. This resemblance to Egypt is due to the color or colors of the inhabitants, 

 to the universal use of the donkey as a beast of burden, to the brown adobe walls and 

 mud huts covered with cane, to the dust on the foliage, the clouds of dust raised 

 in all the highways, and to a certain similarity of dress, so far as color and rags can 

 give it, and the ability of men and women to squat all day on the ground and be 

 happy." 



Mr. Theodore W. Noyes, of Washington, in a descriptive article on Mexico, pub- 

 lished in December, 1895, makes the following parallel between Mexico and Egypt : 



44 . . . The Egyptian shaduf finds its counterpart in the well sweep of Irapuato 

 where strawberries are grown and sold every day in the year, and where irrigation is 

 resorted to, systematized, and on a grand scale. In the absence of trees and rocks 



