METHODIST REVIEW.

JULY, 1885.

ART. I. THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO.

MEXICO, called by the Aztecs Mexitli, and by the Spaniards Estados Unidos de Mexico, extends from the Gulf of Mexico on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west, and from the southern boundary of our own country-latitude 33° north, to the fifteenth parallel, where it abuts on the Central American States. Its coast line on the Pacific, reckoning both sides of the Gulf of California, is over 4,000 miles, and on the Gulf of Mexico 1,600 miles. The total superficial area is about 763,804 square miles. Its population in 1880 was 9,577,279.

Geologically, Mexico is a vast table-land of comparatively recent upheaval. Most of the so-called Cordilleras are merely cumbres, or escarpments of this plateau, and which rise only at intervals above its mean level. The principal central cross ridge of mountains culminates in the snow-clad cones of Popocatepetl (17,853 feet high) and Iztaccihuatl (15,795). To the east of these is Citlaltepetl, or the Peak of Orizaba, rising to the altitude of 17,176 feet. Formerly a region of tremendous igneous activity, Mexico's volcanoes are now dying out. Earthquakes are infrequent and rarely destructive, being rather temblores, or tremblings, than terremotos, or shakings. Electric storms and water-spouts seldom occur, except in certain localities on the coast. The dry season comprises the months from June to September inclusive, and the rainy season extends over most of the remainder of the year. The rain-fall is heaviest at an elevation of from 3,000 to 8,000 feet. The rivers are few, flow mainly in deeply cut beds, and are unnavigable.

31-FIFTH SERIES, VOL. I.

The

diminished size of the Anahuac and other lakes shows a process of gradual desiccation, probably due to the destruction of upland forests by European settlers.

The Mexican table-land, consisting chiefly of metamorphic formations, is remarkable for the abundance and variety of metalliferous ores, and particularly those of copper, silver, and gold. In the period between 1821 and 1880 it yielded no less than $950,000,000 in silver and gold. Magnetic iron ore, tin, sulphur, platinum, cinnabar, bismuth, and other metals, are also found in profusion. Three distinct climatic regions invest this section of the American continent with peculiar interest. Their limits are not sharply defined, and depend wholly upon altitude. From the sea-level to a height of 3,000 feet on the scarps and terraces of the central plateaus is the first climatic zone, known as the tierras calientes, or "hot lands," of which the mean temperature is from 77 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit. The unhealthiness of this section, especially in the prevalence of yellow fever and the black vomit, is somewhat compensated by the presence of magnificent tropical vegetation, virgin forests of valuable timbers and dye-woods, and endless varieties of medicinal and useful plants. The tierras templadas, or "temperate lands," comprise all the higher terraces and central plateaus between the altitudes of 3,000 and 8,000 feet, with a mean temperature of from 62 to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Its climate is one of the very finest on the globe, and, together with the manifold beauties of the country, makes it an earthly paradise. The tierras frias, or "cold lands," embrace all the highlands from 8,000 feet upward, where, on the glittering crests of the sky-piercing mountains, the snow and ice are perpetual.

The foreign commerce of Mexico is of considerable impor tance. The "Statesman's Year Book" for 1885 states that "the total imports of Mexico in the year 1876 (the last for which detailed official returns are published) were of the esti mated value of $28,485,000, or £5,697,000, and the value of the exports, $25,435,000, or £5,087,000. It is officially stated that the imports of 1882 exceeded £6,000,000, the average total of imports and exports on recent years being £12,000,000." "In 1882-83 the total value of the exports was £8,360,000, including

*New York: Macmillan & Co.

£3,412,753 of the precious metals." About one third of the trade of Mexico is with the United States. That the commerce of the country will shortly attain much greater proportions than it has hitherto assumed is, to say the least, exceedingly probable.

In addition to numerous indigenous plants, Mexico has acquired those which have their native habitat in Europe; also, some of Asiatic growth; and it probably now has the richest economic flora of any country on the globe. On the coast, and up to a height of 5,000 feet, cocoa-nuts, cacao, vanilla, cotton, cloves, nutmegs, peppers, and the other spices of commerce are produced, besides all the fruits of tropical countries, east and west. From about 4,000 feet upward begins the cultivation of the cereals of the Old World, the oleaginous plants, and garden vegetables, with grapes, and every kind of European fruit. The mulberry-tree is naturalized in districts between 3,000 and 6,000 feet above the sea. Humboldt, at the beginning of the century, estimated the value of field products in Mexico to be nearly four times that of its mines. Such is its diversity of climates that there is scarcely a plant that grows, or a fruit that ripens, or a grain that matures its seed, that may not find a congenial home within the soil and climate of Mexico.

The industrial possibilities of the republic are almost without limits. Her flora comprises inore than ten thousand known species, many of them of the rarest beauty and the richest odors! She has all the useful timber trees of the North, and nearly all the precious woods of the South. Pastures are abundant and nutritious, and afford sustenance to countless herds of cattle and horses and flocks of sheep. The large estates intended for agriculture are known as haciendas de labor; those for cattle raising as haciendas de ganado. The owners of both classes are principally Creoles and Mestizoes, and they constitute the most independent order in society. The herdsmen of the cattle and horse-breeding estates are among the boldest and most skillful riders in the world, and, when properly officered, make efficient irregular cavalry.

In 1876, according to the great government report of Mexico-Estadistica de la Republica Mexicana-there were more than 5,700 haciendas and 13,800 ranchos within its territory. The value of landed property, based simply on its valuation