428 Miscellaneous. 



dering the Gulf of Mexico. They are about twenty-five miles in 

 width, extending back to the Plan del Rio by a gradual ascent of 

 thirty feet per mile, with but few elevations or depressions, except 

 at the river Antigua, and other small streams which pass through 

 them in a north-easterly direction. Beyond the Plan del Rio the 

 ascent increases over a regular succession of hills and plains, until 

 you reach the foot of the range of mountains in which the peaks of 

 Orizaba, Perote and others are situated. This range forms the rim 

 or eastern boundary of the plains of Anahuac, which are more com- 

 monly known as the tierra templada, and are about thirty-five miles 

 in width. The sides and top of this mountain-range are called the 

 tierra fria, immediately beyond which lie the great table-lands of 

 Mexico. 



The table-lands extend, with little or no variation in their general 

 level, to the Cordilleras bordering the Pacific Ocean, though they are 

 divided into several plains by ranges of volcanos and porphyritic 

 rocks. 



The tierra caliente is bordered on the Gulf of Mexico by low 

 sand-hills, from four to six miles in width, not bare, as has been re- 

 presented, but covered with a thick chapparel, or thicket of Cacti 

 and thorn -bushes, to within reach of the water. Great numbers of 

 freshwater and land shells are found on these hills and on the 

 beach, thrown up from the Gulf, which may be referred to living 

 species. 



After passing these hills a few miles, I noticed at one locality a 

 layer of limestone. It is covered by a coarse conglomerate of vol- 

 canic and porphyritic rocks, which extends over the whole upper part 

 of the tierra caliente, rendering the surface rough and stony. At the 

 Puenta Nacional it is exposed to the depth of 200 feet, interstra- 

 tified irregularly with veins of fine sandstone. Deep gullies are worn 

 through it to the rivers, by the drainage of the plains during the wet 

 season. The rivers are the only source of irrigation, receiving no 

 supplies in their course from the mountains to the coast. 



The greater part of the plains is covered with a dense growth of 

 vegetation, so thick that it would seem almost impossible for the soil 

 to support more, and the trees and bushes are loaded with an innu- 

 merable variety of parasitical plants and vines, interlacing and bind- 

 ing them together in such a manner as to render them absolutely 

 impenetrable. On other parts, particularly between the conglomerate 

 and the coast, the chapparel is more open, dotted with clumps of low 

 dwarfish trees and Cacti, and aflfords grazing to herds of half- wild 

 cattle, in which the property of the inhabitants principally consists. 

 To the south of Vera Cruz the cultivation of cotton has been intro- 

 duced ; it is of white fine quality, but perhaps, from want of proper 

 cultivation, the staple is very short, so that when worked it requires 

 to be mixed with other varieties. 



The inhabitants live mostly on the small bottom lands of the rivers, 

 their crops consisting of corn, chili, and frijoles. They are a puny 

 and sickly people, being subject to intermittent and typhoid fevers 

 during the months after the close of the wet season. Though the 



