Page:Mexico (1829) Volumes 1 and 2.djvu/61

 

From the account which I have given in the preceding pages of the peculiar structure and climate of Mexico, the infinite variety of its productions may be inferred. The fruits of the most opposite regions are not only assembled there, but are often to be met with in singular approximation. I remember having followed once, during a whole day's journey, (between Tĕmāscāltěpēc and Angǎngēŏ) the course of a ravine, which we crossed and recrossed several times, always finding the fruits of the Tropics in profusion on the banks of a little stream, which wound down the centre of the Barranca, while the hills on either side were covered with the beech, the oak, and the fir. These changes are, as I have observed in the first section, of almost daily occurrence, and render it impossible to assign to any particular production a particular parallel, or district, or to attempt any other classification than that of the fruits of Tierra caliente, and those of the Table-land.

Indeed, I do not consider it essential to make even this distinction, as the simplest mode of conveying an idea of the agricultural wealth of Mexico, will be to give a prècis of the most important productions, mentioning the characteristics of each, and the parts of the country in which its cultivation has been most attended to.

I shall begin with those which are essential to the