480 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



BURDEN-BEARERS, 'CARGADERES, ON AVE N IDA CINCO DE MAYO, CITY OF MEXICO 



Note comparisons with automobile and carriage, and the ropes passing over the forehead, 

 supporting much of the weight. The strength and endurance of the Mexican peon is almost 

 beyond belief (see page 500). 



TOPOGRAPHY OF MEXICO 



The mountain ranges of southwestern 

 United States continue into Mexico, and 

 that country may be described as a high 

 plateau, inclosed east and west by Cor- 

 dilleras, which approximately parallel the 

 sea-coasts, from which they are separated 

 by relatively narrow littorals. 



The country is divided hypsometric- 

 ally into the "tierra caliente," "tierra 

 templada," and "tierra fria," the first 

 comprising hot lands bordering the Gulf 

 of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the 

 Pacific Ocean ; the second forming the 

 main plateau, bounded by the Sierras, 

 whose more elevated portions are the 

 third division. It is these mountain 

 ranges, or offshoots of rugged topogra- 

 phy from them, with intervening desert 

 stretches, that have made communication 

 difficult between portions of the Repub- 



lic and interfered with railroad construc- 

 tion to cross the country transversely. 



Among the mountains of Mexico are 

 numerous volcanoes, all extinct or dor- 

 mant except Colima, near the Pacific 

 coast, which is active. In the central and 

 southern part of the country earthquakes 

 are of sufficient frequency to encourage 

 the maintenance of an elaborate govern- 

 ment seismographic laboratory. 



The Sierras approach each other near 

 the City of Mexico, and the adjacent 

 States, although largely mountainous, 

 maintain a population whose density is 

 greater than in other portions of the 

 Republic. 



These mountains continue eastward, 

 with Popocatepetl, Ixtaccihuatl, Orizaba, 

 and Perote as prominent features, but 

 are so reduced in height at the Isthmus 

 of Tehrantepec that the railroad connects 

 the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mex- 



