MEXICO AND MEXICANS 



477 



frightened it makes a dash for the par- 

 rot tree, where it assumes a position 

 which makes it look like the fruit itself. 

 So close is the resemblance that their 

 enemies, the hawks, occasionally fly by a 

 tree on which a dozen or more of these 

 birds are sitting, apparently unaware of 

 their presence. 



Another remarkable tree is the "Arbol 

 de Dinamite" — dynamite tree — whose 

 fruit, if kept in a warm place, bursts with 

 considerable force and a loud report, 

 scattering its flat seeds to a surprising 

 distance. 



THE papaya TREE 



One of the most interesting fruits in 

 Mexico is known as the melon zapote, 

 or papaya. It grows w T ild and attains a 

 height of as much as 25 feet. The 

 dark-green leaves are from 20 to 30 

 inches long and grow at the top of 

 an otherwise leafless trunk. The fruit 

 would seem a cross between a cantaloupe, 

 a pumpkin, and a watermelon. The tree 

 begins to bear fruit when a year old, pro- 

 ducing from 20 to 100 melons at a time, 

 a single one of which may weigh as 

 much as 20 pounds. 



The melons contain considerable pep- 

 sin, which reacts against both acid and 

 alkaline conditions of the stomach, and it 

 is said that a diet which includes papaya 

 precludes dyspepsia. Both the fruit and 

 tne leaves possess the singular property 

 of rendering tough meat tender. When 

 the pulp of the fruit is rubbed over a 

 piece of tough meat the juice attacks the 

 fiber and softens it. 



The trees are well defined as to sex, 

 and where they are cultivated but one 

 male tree is permitted to grow in a 

 grove of fifty or more females. 



Mexico abounds in orchids, and some 

 of the most beautiful species known in 

 the plant kingdom are there to be found. 



As one journeys through the country 

 from the Tehuantepec Railroad to the 

 Vera Cruz and Mexico City line he sees 

 dozens of species of orchids on the 

 forest trees, some of which would bring 

 top prices in the New York market. 



MEXICAN RAILROADS 



X T o other country in the X T ew World, 

 south of the Rio Grande, is so well sup- 



plied with railroads as Mexico. Prior 

 to the Madero revolution it had 20,000 

 miles of up-to-date American railroad. 

 At six different points lines crossed the 

 frontier from the United States, and 

 Laredo, Eagle Pass, and El Paso gate- 

 ways handled much traffic to and from 

 Mexico. The Mexican railroads carried 

 11,000,000 passengers annually at that 

 time, and handled about 1 1 million tons 

 of freight. Their total revenues amount- 

 ed to about $40,000,000. 



The government owns a controlling in- 

 terest in the major portion of the mileage 

 of the railroads, and is the owner of the 

 Tehuantepec road and of the Vera Cruz 

 and Isthmus line. A plan was on foot a 

 few years ago to extend a branch of the 

 Tehuantepec road to Yucatan, to connect 

 up with the United Railways of that 

 province. This would give every section 

 of the country railroad communication 

 with every other section. 



Besides the Tehuantepec route there 

 are two or three other transcontinental 

 lines. The Pan-American Railway ex- 

 tends from the Tehuantepec route to 

 the Guatemalan frontier, and this gives 

 through railroad connection from Can- 

 ada to Guatemala city. But having trav- 

 eled over this route, let me advise the sea 

 trip as one far more comfortable, even 

 to those who are not good sailors. 



From an American standpoint the 

 Tehuantepec route is by far the most in- 

 teresting of the Mexican railroads, be- 

 cause it is the principal prospective com- 

 petitor of the Panama Canal. This road 

 is built on the line of the proposed Eads' 

 ship railway, from Coatzacoalcos to 

 Salina Cruz. It is approximately 200 

 miles long, and crosses the continental 

 divide above Rincon Antonio. 



Eads' dream 



How Eads could see a ship railway 

 across those mountains is more than I 

 can imagine. When you journey across 

 a mountain on a railroad that is well 

 located, and yet on which the curves 

 have to be so sharp that the rear plat- 

 form of your car and the headlight of 

 your locomotive point in the same direc- 

 tion, and when this happens not once, 

 but a dozen times, and in a 20-car mixed 

 train, you cannot imagine, in your wildest 



