69 
liquor, so called from the district where it is chiefly produced, 
and an important plant of the state of Jalisco. 
At Zapotlan, the usual base for the ascent of Colima and 
Nevado, we had lunch at the Chinese restaurant, and, continuing 
our journey through the very dusty plain, we reached Tuxpan 
and the valley of the Tuxpan River, where the splendid scenery 
begins, reminding one of the ascent of the eastern slope below 
Jalapa. The railroad has only recently been completed through 
to the Pacific, at an immense cost, passing through tunnel after 
tunnel and crossing scores of barrancas of great depth which 
join the great cafion formed by the river. The lowest rock seen 
was limestone, but there is much igneous rock and lava, the 
different strata showing very distinctly at many points along 
the cafion, where they reach a total thickness of 500 to 1,000 
feet. The plain above the cafion, well shown at Platanar, rises 
in two terraces, each 300 feet or more in height, while the 
Volcan de Colima and the snow-capped El Nevado, its extinct 
twin, in the background, reach an elevation of 12,000 to 14,000 
feet above the sea. 
Shortly before reaching Colima, the capital of the very small 
state of Colima, the train leaves the rugged Tuxpan Valley and 
crosses over to the fertile region drained by the Colima River, 
where there are broad plantations of sugar-cane, corn and rice. 
The town dates from 1523, and its population of 20,000 shows a 
good percentage of Spanish blood. It is situated at an elevation 
of 1,500 feet, on a gentle slope facing the Pacific, which is about 
thirty miles distant. 
We spent only four days at Colima, the season being too dry 
for fleshy fungi. One forenoon was spent in a large orchard in 
the suburbs and the afternoon in an abandoned ranch near the 
A barranca at Balcon, three miles to the east, reached by 
a beautiful calzada, was also visited. This entire stretch of road- 
way was shaded by magnificent fig-trees, alive with parrots, and 
enclosed on both sides by high lava walls, on which hundreds of 
iguanas were sunning themselves. In this barranca we found an 
interesting species of climbing cactus, which appears to be unde- 
cribed. Cuttings of it were brought home for propagation. We 
