250 Statistical IRotes on 



Mexico, in a conversational form, and would be glad to answer any 

 question that might be put to me by those attending the meeting who 

 felt the desire to have further information and more details. 



Accordingly, the evening of the i6th of January, 1888, I attended the 

 meeting of the club and spoke for about an hour on the geographical 

 position of Mexico, its physical conditions, its natural resources, and 

 other matters connected with the situation of the country, but carefully 

 avoiding to touch any political question, especially of an international 

 character. 



With a view to leave a record of what I intended to say, I had with 

 me a stenographer to take down what I would say, and although his 

 notes were not complete, by using them, and those taken by reporters, 

 some extracts of my conversation were prepared and published the 

 next morning. 



Speaking of the geographical position of Mexico, I naturally stated, 

 what is a fact, although not generally realized, that while the main 

 portion of the territory of Mexico is located in North America it 

 occupies a considerable portion of Central America, although politically 

 it is considered as wholly situated in North America. On this subject 

 I made the following remarks, taken from the newspapers, but which 

 were correct: 



" The isthmus of Panama divides the New World into two continents, one sit- 

 uated on the northern and the other on the southern hemisphere, but as the position 

 of that isthmus does not correspond with the line of the equator, and lies considerably 

 north of that line, a large portion of South America proper lies in the boreal hemi- 

 sphere. North America proper is divided by the isthmus of Tehauntepec in two sub- 

 divisions Central America from Panama to Tehauntepec, and North America from 

 Tehauntepec to the North Pole. 



"Central America in its present political organization includes the following 

 States : Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, but from a geo- 

 graphical standpoint it has a much larger area, since it begins at the isthmus of Panama 

 and ends at the isthmus of Tehuantepec. Taking this view, Mexico exercises sov- 

 ereignty over a large portion of Central America, larger still than any single State of 

 the five which are generally considered as the only components of the same, and 

 representing a third of the total territorial area of Central America. 



" The Mexican State of Chiapas and a part of Oaxaca, on the Pacific ; of Yuca- 

 tan, Campeche, and Tabasco, and a portion of the State of Vera Cruz on the Gulf of 

 Mexico, are situated in geographical Central America. 



" The following resume" of the territorial area and population of the several sec- 

 tions of Central America, taken from the Statesman's Year Book, London, 1887, shows 

 that Mexico is a Central American as well as a North American power : 



FIVE STATES OF CENTRAL AMERICA. 



Area in sq. miles. Population. 



Guatemala 46,800 1,224,602 



Salvador 7,225 634,120 



Honduras 46,400 458,000 



Nicaragua 49, 500 275,815 



Costa Rica 23,200 213,785 



Total.. 173,125 2,806,322 



