A NATURALIST'S JOURNEY AROUND 

 VERA CRUZ AND TAMPICO 



By Frank M. Chapman 

 Curator of Ornithology in thic American Museum of Natural History 



With Photographs by the Author 



WHILE fully aware of the high 

 percentage of error most sweep- 

 ing assertions contain, I never- 

 theless venture to claim that the country 

 lying between the cities of Vera Cruz and 

 Mexico City possesses more varied nat- 

 ural attractions than any other area of 

 similar extent in the world. 



From the moment when, on the Gulf, 

 one sights the still distant Sierra, until 

 one reaches the site of Tenochtitlan itself, 

 one's attention is held by a variety of 

 interests which make the trip from coast 

 to table-land, and the snow-peaks rising 

 from it, an epitome of a journey from 

 equatorial to boreal regions. 



If one is in search of supremely beauti- 

 ful scenery, it is here to and beyond the 

 limit of human appreciation. If one 

 would test the climates of the world, he 

 may go in a day from perpetual summer 

 to everlasting snow, and at the' same time 

 pass from belts where rain falls almost 

 daily to others where it is rarely known. 

 With these extremes of temperature and 

 humidity there is, of course, a corre- 

 sponding diversity in flora and fauna, 

 which makes the region of exceptional in- 

 terest-to the botanist and zoologist, and 

 particularly, as I shall endeavor shortly 

 to show, to the student of the distribution 

 of life. 



For the archeologist there are ruins 

 which evince a high degree of aboriginal 

 culture ; and for the ethnologist, natives 

 who, in retaining their tribal customs, 

 offer problems of fundamental impor- 

 tance in connecting the present with the 

 past. 



The historic period opens with the in- 

 comparable romance of Cortez and Mon- 

 tezuma, of Aztecan and Tlaxcalan, and 

 passes through three centuries of Spanish 

 government, the war of independence, the 



short-lived empire of Maximilian, and 

 the campaign of Scott, to the astonishing 

 era of material development under Diaz, 

 and the no less disastrous years of dis- 

 integration once his iron grip was loos- 

 ened. 



Thus, omitting all reference to natural 

 resources and commercial possibilities, 

 whether one be a student of nature or of 

 man, or merely a tourist in search of 

 the novel and beautiful, this portion of 

 Mexico will appeal to him with a force 

 and fascination which makes a journev 

 through it one of the memorable experi- 

 ences in a lifetime of travel. 



Entejr from the: gulf 



Be one student or tourist, there can be 

 no question that one should enter Mexico 

 from the Gulf. Were it not for customs- 

 house formalities, the northern boundarv 

 might be crossed unawares at many 

 points ; but to follow for days in the wake 

 of the Conquistadores produces a mental 

 condition which prepares one properly to 

 enjo}'- a definite arrival in Mexico near the 

 landfall of Cortez. .V journey from the 

 coast to the capital follows a natural suc- 

 cession of climatic zones as well as the 

 sequence of early historic events. 



Furthermore, steamers so arrange their 

 schedules that they reach Vera Crnz in 

 the morning, and we begin our day, there- 

 fore, alert and eager for the experiences 

 incident to travel in a land where the eye 

 is greeted by strange sights, the ear by 

 unfamiliar sounds. 



The day, indeed, should begin at sun- 

 rise, some hours before disembarking at 

 Vera Cruz, with a hope that one may 

 have the rare good fortune to see the first 

 rays of the sun touch the summit of Mt. 

 Orizaba, the first, as it will be among the 

 most lasting, of one's impressions of 



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