FIRST LETTER. 
Foreword — From New York to the Border — Over the Alkali Plains — 
Native Food — Mexican Opals — The Nochistongo Canal — Arrival at Mexico 
City — Journey South of the Capital — Adventures at Achotal — On Horse- 
back Over Forest Trails — The Demarest and Newmark Estates — Arrival at 
“La Buena Ventura.” 
M Y journey to the Tierra Caliente , or “hot country,” in Mexico, 
was taken with the sole object of seeing for myself cultivated 
rubber planted by both individuals and stock companies. I 
selected typical plantations as far as I could, most of them in the state 
of Vera Cruz, on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The states of Tabasco 
and much of Oaxaca and Chiapas I was forced to leave out of my 
NATIVE HUT IN THE STATE OF VERA CRUZ. 
itinerary, although they too have large and successful plantings, which I 
hope to visit later. I left New York quietly and alone, paid all my own 
expenses for the whole trip, and carefully avoided exploiting either 
myself or those who had shares or land to market. This statement seems 
necessary, because, since my return, I have been asked in all seriousness 
whether this or that company had me “under its wing,” to use later for 
advertising purposes. I wish also to add a word of thanks for the 
courtesy, the generous hospitality, and the frank, helpful cordiality 
extended to me by the planters whom it was my good fortune to visit. 
May I add that, of the conclusions drawn from my visit — while they 
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