iv Untrofcuction. 



the State of Chiapas, in southeastern Mexico, bordering on Guatemala, 

 and I concluded to settle there and apply myself to coffee and india- 

 rubber culture. 



In the meanwhile, coffee raising had attained considerable develop- 

 ment in Guatemala, the Guatemalan coffee being very highly esteemed 

 in foreign markets, and I determined to make a tour of inspection in 

 Guatemala and examine the principal coffee plantations, in order to 

 learn what was the best way to make a plantation and keep it produc- 

 tive. I, of course, tried, during this time, to collect all the information 

 I possibly could about these two branches of agricultural industry. 



Finally I undertook to make a coffee plantation in the high lands of 

 Soconusco located from four to five thousand feet above the level of 

 the sea as, in my opinion, a temperate zone is the proper one for that 

 tree ; and another for india-rubber in the lower lands of the district, 

 which are warm, damp and marshy. I acquired some experience by 

 these experiments and I made a study of the subject, not only in coffee 

 plantations in Mexico and Guatemala, but in other countries where I un- 



doctors call brain anaemia, and which, if the patient does not cease working or leave 

 the city, it generally has an early and fatal termination. 



" After having worked very hard in Washington during the French intervention 

 in Mexico, from 1861 to 1867, as the official representative of my country, I was called 

 by President Juarez, on my return home on the i$th of January, 1868, to the Treasury 

 Department, and I remained in that office up to June 10, 1872, working as hard, if 

 not harder than any of my predecessors, so that I am surprised that I did not succumb 

 to the severity of my labors. It is true I was then young, and, owing to my regular 

 habits, I was physically vigorous ; but the labor imposed upon me was enough to kill 

 anybody. In the early part of 1872, I could not sleep, nor digest and assimilate my 

 food, and altogether I was in such a condition that a few months more of such work 

 would certainly have ended my life. I found myself under the necessity, therefore, 

 of retiring from the Cabinet, which I did, availing myself of the close of the session 

 of the Mexican Congress, especially dedicated to approve the appropriations for the 

 following fiscal year and to vote the taxes to defray them. I also desired to afford 

 President Juarez an opportunity to appoint new men to his Cabinet, as he had inau- 

 gurated a new Presidential term on the ist of December", 1871, and it was customary 

 to make on such occasions a total or partial change of Cabinet. 



" I realized that to restore my health it would be necessary for me to lead for some 

 years a hygienic life and to avoid excessive mental labor, and as this would not have 

 been possible had I remained in the City of Mexico, I made up my mind to live in the 

 country, devoting my time and energies to agricultural pursuits, since, having no for- 

 tune, I had to earn my living by my own work. I visited several desirable places in 

 Mexico, and finally decided to settle in a place quite remote from the Capital, because 

 I did not desire to return to public life, for which I had never had any inclination. 

 I selected the town of Tapachula, the county seat of the District of Soconusco, in the 

 State of Chiapas, adjoining Guatemala, located on the Pacific slope, because it was 

 one of fine agricultural resources and of great promise ; and, early in 1873, I settled 

 there, bought some public land and started a coffee plantation in the high lands, and 

 one of india-rubber in the low ones, and did some commercial business, buying coffee 

 for export, and importing agricultural implements and commodities." 



