Page:The Native Races of the Pacific States, volume 2.djvu/106

88 the waters,' taking its name from the lakes that formerly occupied one tenth of its area. Anáhuac, with an elevation of 7,500 feet, may be taken as representative of the tierra fria. It has a mean temperature of 62°, a climate much like that of southern Europe, although dryer, and to which the term 'cold' can only be comparatively applied. The soil is fertile and productive, though now generally presenting a bare and parched surface, by reason of the excessive evaporation on lofty plains exposed to the full force of a tropical sun, its natural forest-covering having been removed since the Spanish conquest, chiefly, it is believed, through artificial agencies. Oak and pine are prominent features of the native forest-growth, while wheat, barley, and all the European cereals and fruits flourish side by side with plantations of the indigenous maize, maguey, and cactus. From May to October of each year, corresponding nearly with the hot season of the coast, rains or showers are frequent, but rarely occur during the remaining months. Trees retain their foliage for ten months in the year, and indeed their fading is scarcely noticeable. Southward of 18°, as the continent narrows, this eastern table-land contracts into a mountain range proper, presenting a succession of smaller terraces, valleys, and sierras, in place of the broader plateaux of the region about Anáhuac. Trending south-eastward toward the Pacific, and uniting with the western Sierra Madre, the chain crosses the isthmus of Tehuantepec at a diminished altitude, only to rise again and expand laterally into the lofty Guatemalan ranges which stretch still south-eastward to Lake Nicaragua, where for the second time a break occurs in the continental cordillera at the southern limit of the territory now under consideration. From this central cordillera lateral subordinate branches jut out at right angles north and south toward either ocean. As we go southward the vegetation becomes more dense, and the temperature higher at equal altitudes, but the same gradations of