Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/231

Rh MEXICO 217 Michoacan, and elsewhere ; iron in immense masses in Michoacan and Jalisco, and in Durango, where the Cerro del Mercado is a solid mountain of magnetic iron ore ; lead associated with silver, especially in Oajaca ; tin in Michoacan and Jalisco ; sulphur in many craters ; platinum recently found in Tlaxcala and Hidalgo ; cinnabar also recently in Morelos and Guerrero ; &quot; steppe salt &quot; in the sandy districts of the north ; &quot; bitter salt &quot; at Tepeyac ; coal in limited quantities at various points ; bismuth in many parts ; marble, alabaster, gypsum, and rock-salt in great abundance throughout the plateau and the sierras. In 1882 there were open altogether 569 mines : 541 silver, 14 gold, 4 copper, 4 lead, 3 salt, 2 coal, and 1 mercury. 1 Climate Intersected about midway by the Tropic of Cancer, antl and stretching across seventeen parallels of latitude, Mexico, from its position alone, necessarily enjoys a great diversity of climate. But from its peculiar configuration this feature is affected far more by the relief of the land than by its distance from pole or equator. This is especi ally true of the more fertile and populous section lying within the torrid zone, where three distinct climatic regions are distinguished, not according to their horizontal, but according to their vertical position. The temperature falling steadily with the elevation of the land, which here rises rapidly from sea-level to nearly 18,000 feet above the surrounding waters, the low-lying coast-lands, up to about 3000 feet on the scarps and terraces of the central plateau, are comprised within the first zone of tie-was calientes, or &quot;hot lands.&quot; Within this zone are included all the sandy and marshy tracts fringing the Gulf of Mexico, the lower slopes facing eastwards and exposed to the hot and moist winds from the Caribbean Sea, and most of Yucatan and the Tehuantepec isthmus, besides the narrow strip between the uplands and the Pacific which broadens northwards along the east side of the Gulf of California. Here the mean temperature varies from 77 to 82 Fahr., seldom falling below 60, but often rising to 105, and in the sultry districts of Vera Cruz and Acapulco to 110. The extreme north-western parts of this region come almost within the rainless zone, and the Californian peninsula itself is subject to excessive droughts, rendering it almost uninhabitable. But farther south the climate on both seaboards may be described as humid, hot, and extremely unhealthy, especially for Europeans. Yellow fever and black vomit are here endemic. But these scourges are at least compensated by a magnificent tropical vegetation and extensive virgin forests abounding in valuable timbers, dyewoods, and medicinal and other useful plants. Of the 114 species of trees and cabinet woods, 17 of oil-bearing plants, and over 60 of medicinal plants and dyewoods indigenous to Mexico, and often differing specifically from kindred varieties in Central and South America, by far the larger part are repre sented in the tierras calientes. Amongst the most im portant of these forest plants are mahogany, rosewood, 1 Lorenzo Castro, Mexico in 1882. According to this authority the total- yield of the Mexican mines between 1537 and 1880 was 776,276,000, while another estimate based on a report of the Mexican mint gives it at 930,786,000. Of this a large amount has been coined in Mexico, where there were eleven mints at work in 1876, with a total annual yield of about 5,000,000. The total coinage since the conquest has been estimated as high as 600,000,000, not more than 5 per cent, of this being gold. With regard to coal, the ex istence of which in Mexico has been recently denied by Mr Bigelowin Harper s Magazine., official returns for 1882 give a list of over twenty places where it has been found, though nowhere as yet in large quan tities. Petroleum also appears to be very abundant in several localities. Amongst other natural products mention should be made of amber, found on the Yucatan coast. Mineral springs are very numerous everywhere on the plateaus and terrace-lands. The most famous are El Penon and N. Seiiora de Guadelupe near the capital, and Aguas Calientes farther north. copal, caucho (india-rubber), jalap, sarsaparilla, and vanilla. Here also maize, supplying the staple food of the people, yields prodigious returns, multiplying from two hundred to four hundred fold, and affording two, three, and even four successive crops within the year. Rice, indigo, cotton, tobacco, and coffee all thrive well, while sugar, cocoa, the banana, and several varieties of beans are largely cultivated. The tobacco of Vera Cruz and Tabasco, the coffee of Colima, and the cocoa of Oajaca and Chiapas are of unrivalled excellence. To the &quot;hot lands&quot; succeed in vertical position the tierras templadas, or &quot;temperate lands,&quot; which comprise all the higher terraces and the central plateaus themselves between about 3000 and 8000 feet. With a mean tempera ture of from 62 to 70 Fahr., and oscillating between such moderate extremes as 50 and 86, this region enjoys one of the very finest climates on the globe. The Puebla and Anahuac table-lands are described by enthusiastic travellers as &quot; terrestrial Edens,&quot; with a perennial spring symbolized by the evergreen oak, cedars, and many analogous plants, which here attain their greatest perfec tion. The transition from the lower zone is often very gradual ; and, while endemic fevers cease altogether at altitudes of 2700 and 2800 feet, the tropical flora invades many parts of the terrace lands, and even of the plateaus to heights of 4000 and 5000 feet. 2 A certain uniformity is thus imparted to the Mexican landscape by the wide range of the maize, wheat, tobacco, vine, coffee, and other plantations, as well as by the palms, evergreens, mango, olive, orange, lemon, yucca, and an endless variety of the cactus family, one species of which forms hedges 20 feet high on the Anahuac uplands. The central zone is on the whole drier than the southern lowlands, although the scarps facing seawards are often wrapped in the fogs and mists of the intercepted moisture-charged atmospheric currents. The heaviest recorded rainfall (90 to 100 inches) occurs in the healthy Huatusco district of Vera Cruz, at an altitude of 4380 feet. In the highest zone of tierras frias, or &quot;cold lands,&quot; embracing all the highlands from about 8000 feet upwards, the rainfall is five times less than on the tierras templadas. Hence snow rests throughout the year only on the four most elevated peaks of Popocatepetl, Orizaba, Nevada de Toluca (15,000 feet), and Ixtaccihuatl. Characteristic both of the tierras frias and templadas is the maguey (Agave mexicana), whose fruit is edible, and whose fermented juice has from time immemorial supplied the famous pulque, or national beverage of the Mexicans. From the fibre of the heniquen, an allied species, is pro duced the &quot; Sisal hemp &quot; of commerce, which has in recent years become the staple export of Yucatan. Speaking generally, the four seasons are clearly marked north of 28 N. lat. only. South of that parallel they merge in the estacion de las ayuas, or rainy season, from May to October, and the estacion seca, or dry season, which prevails for the rest of the year. The rains generally begin on the east coast, gradually moving westwards. In the Pacific the moist atmospheric currents are deflected northwards, whence the striking contrast between the 2 On the Amilpas plateau, which stretches south of Popocatepetl at a mean height of 5000 to 5400 feet, &quot;coffee, sugar, and indigo are culti vated, and most of the tropical fruits grow luxuriantly &quot; (Egloffstein, p. 17). The same authority gives the limits of vegetation in this region at 12,614 feet, and the snow-line at 14,960 feet. He observes that &quot;nothing is more surprising to the traveller than the varieties of climate under this zone, which vary according to the different elevations above the sea. In a few hours we descended from the cold regions of the fir and the oak, on the heights of Ozumbn, to a hot climate, tierra caliente., where we found the most luxuriant vegetation, passing in that short time through successive changes of the most diversified species of trees, plants, birds, insects &quot; (p. 22). XVI 28