34 



MEXICO, CEXTEAL AMEEICA, WEST INDIES, 



miles along the base of the Guanajuato Mountains, and which is covered with a 

 friable black clay, resulting from the disintegration of the basalt rocks. 



In these regions, comprised in the triangular space which is enclosed by the 

 two converging sierras, the mean elevation of the pedestal exceeds 6,600 feet, and 

 here nearly all the towns stand at this altitude above the sea. Morelia, situated 

 in a low valley at the northern foot of the volcanic range, lies only about 200 feet 

 lower. Toluca is 8,500 feet, the neighbouring village of Tlaluepantla 9,180 above 

 the sea-level, and Mineral del Monte, in the province of Hidalgo, 65 feet lower. 

 Lastly, the farmstead of Tlamecas, which is inhabited throughout the year, lies 



Fig. 15. — CoXVEEGENCE OP THE TWO SlEEHA MaDEES. 

 Scale 1 : 4,800,000. 



20° 



&t 







'-'^^^ Zi; "'^ao^Jâcyyt?^ 



V/estoF breenwich 



120 Miles. 



on the flanks of Popocatepetl at an altitude of 12,560 feet, an altitude at which 

 the natives of the lower regions sometimes find it difficult to live. 



The uplands, which form a south-eastern extension of the Anahuac plateau, 

 present no kind of symmetry in their general design. They may be regarded as 

 the remains of an ancient plateau carved into irregular masses by the running 

 waters. These waters have eroded the rocks on .both slopes, leaving erect the 

 harder masses, which form irregular ridges disposed in various directions, some 

 parallel with, others transverse to the border ranges. By the old Aztecs, these 

 highlands wore called Mixtlan, or " Cloud Land," and the Spaniards still call 

 them Mixteca Alta, that is, Uj^lands of the Mixtecs, or " Cloud-dwellers." 



Xorth of Oaxaca, the Cerro San Felipe del Agua, which may be regarded as 



