14 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



(Cold Land), and in some regions each of these has an 

 arid and a humid strip. The change from luxuriant 

 forests to open thorny deserts is often very sudden. 

 On the high plateau or Tierra Fria the natural warmth 

 of the latitude is largely overcome by the altitude. In 

 the Valley of Mexico snow falls only at rare intervals, 

 yet chilling winds are common in the winter. Much 

 of the plateau from Mexico south into Guatemala is 

 open farming land well suited to the raising of maize 

 and wheat where water is sufficient. The shoulders of 

 the mountains bear forests of pine and oak while the 

 highest peaks are crowned with perpetual snow. 



A description of the mountains, rivers, and lakes will 

 help towards an understanding of the problems that 

 are before us. The broad plateau, crossed by irregular 

 ranges of mountains, that occupies the states of New 

 Mexico and Arizona continues far south into Mexico. 

 On the western rim the Sierra Madre lifts a great pine- 

 covered barrier, beyond which the land drops off 

 quickly into the hot fringe of coastal plain bordering 

 the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of California. The 

 highest mountains of the western Sierra Madre are El 

 Nevado and Colima, the first a snowy peak 14,370 feet 

 high and the second an active volcano 12,278 feet high. 

 On the eastern. rim of the central plateau the second 

 Sierra Madre is less continuous but it culminates in the 

 loftiest peak of all Mexico — the wonderful cone of 

 Orizaba. This mountain rises from the tropical jungles 

 well into the region of perpetual snow and attains an 

 elevation of 18,314 feet above the sea. Its name in 

 Aztecan is Citlaltepetl, which means Star Mountain. 

 Two other famous peaks of Mexico are Popocatepetl 

 and Iztacchihuitl, both names being pure Aztecan. 

 The first means Smoking Mountain and the second 

 White Woman. These volcanic crests rise into the 



