Climate, 35 



We are blessed with quite a number of mineral springs, although 

 very few of them are used, most of them being at places not easily ac- 

 cessible ; but in this regard I do not think we have any cause to envy 

 any other country. 



CLIMATE. 



By looking at the map it will be perceived that Mexico, being inter- 

 sected by the Tropic of Cancer and stretching across eighteen parallels 

 of latitude, must, from its position alone, necessarily enjoy a great 

 diversity of climate. But from its peculiar configuration this feature 

 is affected far more by the altitude of the land than by its distance 

 from the pole or the equator. This is especially true of the more 

 fertile and populous section lying within the torrid zone, where three 

 distinct climatic regions are distinguished, not according to their hori- 

 zontal, but according to their vertical position. The warm climate 

 has the heat of the torrid zone and prevails on the sea-coast in the 

 sandy and marshy tracts fringing the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific 

 Ocean, in other low places below 3000 feet above the level of the sea, 

 and in some of the valleys higher than that, but protected entirely from 

 the winds. But the night breezes refresh the temperature in the even- 

 ing and make it bearable during the day, the heat never being so 

 oppressive as it is in summer in the more northern latitudes. This 

 region is also much refreshed in summer by the rains, which are 

 abundant and fall regularly during that season. The heat of the sun 

 increases considerably the evaporation from the sea, and when the 

 evaporation reaches the cool atmosphere of the sky, it is naturally con- 

 densed into water and falls in this region. The rains begin generally 

 in June, increase considerably in July, and end in November, although 

 this varies in different regions, the rains lasting longer in those near 

 the sea than in the inland districts. They are so abundant that they 

 form the main reliance of the agricultural industry, and there are few 

 regions which use water for irrigation, depending entirely upon the 

 rainfall ; therefore, when in a year by some atmospheric phenomena, 

 the rains are late or very scarce, we had a famine in Mexico, which 

 can now be averted by importing cereals through our railroads, as was 

 the case in 1893. The rains fall regularly and at fixed intervals, that 

 is, about from one to three hours every day, and after the rain is over, 

 the atmosphere is clear and pleasant, and in well drained places the 

 ground becomes dry, so that it causes no inconvenience to the in- 

 habitants. 



The rains have such a decided effect on the atmosphere that in 

 most of the country the seasons are divided into the rainy and dry 

 season, and very few realize what spring and fall mean. As our climate 

 is so even, the trees do not lose their leaves at any given time, but one 



