Climate* 37 



and it has several cities Jalapa and Huatusco in the State of Vera- 

 cruz, Chilpancingo in Guerrero, Ameca in Jalisco, and many others too 

 numerous to mention here. As these places are generally located on 

 the slopes of mountains and not far removed from the ocean, the 

 evaporations from the sea form clouds which are detained in their 

 course by the high peaks and are precipitated into rain. In this 

 region the semi-tropical productions are abundant, and with them are 

 often combined the products of tropical and cold regions. I have 

 seen in my own native place, the city of Oaxaca, located in the 

 temperate region, a farm where wheat and sugar-cane were growing on 

 the same piece of ground. 



The cold region is located from 7000 feet above the sea-level up- 

 wards, and has a mean temperature of from 59 to 63 degrees, 

 Fahrenheit. Most of the grand central plateau is located in this region, 

 except in such places as are in a great depression of ground and in 

 deep ravines, where a warm temperature and tropical products are 

 found. The rainfall is about five times less than in the temperate zone. 

 This region, of course, produces all the growths of the cold latitudes, 

 as wheat, oats, apples, etc., etc. 



The portion of the country that is most thickly inhabited lies in 

 the central plateau, and is quite high above the level of the sea, and 

 so sheltered from the winds and storms by the mountains as to make 

 the climate even, temperate, and delightful. The impression pre- 

 vails in the United States that Mexico, lying to the south and run- 

 ning towards the equator, must be much warmer than this country ; 

 but this is not so. Even in warm places, like the lowlands on the 

 coast, we do not have the extreme hot weather that is experienced 

 in summer in the United States. The sea breezes refresh the atmos- 

 phere at night and cool it considerably, making, therefore, a very 

 great contrast with the summer heat in this country. The medium 

 climate of the Valley of Mexico, for instance, which is the one that 

 has been best observed and understood, varies comparatively little 

 between summer and winter, its greatest variations being between day 

 and night on the same day. 



The climatic conditions of Mexico are undergoing great changes on 

 account of the destruction of the forests. The country had formerly 

 a great deal of rain and much humidity in the atmosphere, being 

 covered with thick forests ; but with the difficulty of transporting the 

 coal already found, the population has had to depend entirely for their 

 supply of fuel upon charcoal, and this has in the course of time 

 denuded the mountains, changing very materially the climatic con- 

 ditions of some regions in the country. But in the lowlands, being 

 thinly inhabited, the case is different, and the country is still so thickly 

 wooded that it is impossible to pass through it, unless an open path 



