Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/443

* MEXICO. 405 MEXICO. is assigned ; and Alcatras Island, near the coast of JMichoacan. There are no good natural harbors on the Gulf of ilcxieo coast, but this impediment to com- merce has been partly relieved by the expenditure of large sums. Jetties at the entrance to the port of Tampieo have increased the depth from y to 24 feet ; and breakwaters at Vera Cruz have turned that dangerous roadstead into a safe and commodious harbor. The best natural harbors are on the Pacific coast, those of Acapulco, ilan- zanilla, Guaynias, and La Paz, the chief town of Lower California, being most conspicuous. That of Acapulco is one of the finest natural harbors in the world. These excellent Pacific coast ports have, however, the disadvantage that they are shut off by mountains from the busiest parts of the republic, and therefore do not have a large share of the country's trade. The eastern and western edges of the great central tableland are bordered by two Cordilleras or high mountain ranges. The eastern range (Sierra iladre Oriental) extends from 10 to 100 miles back of the Gulf of Mexico, the land gently sloping from the foot of the mountains to the sea. The cordillcra on the Pacific side (Sierra Madre Occidental) is on the whole nearer to the coast; and in the south, in the States of Michoacan and Guerrero, extends a coastal range, a broad and fertile valley stretching between it and the main cordillcra which trends toward the east. The most continuous range is the Sierra !Madre Occidental of the Pacific which extends from Arizona to Oaxaea with a mean elevation of over 10,000 feet. The inland faces of the two border ranges descend somewhat gently to the central tableland, while their seaward sides are more precijiitous. presenting many scarps and cliifs and furrowed with deep chasms or gorges. The border ranges gradually approach one an- other toward the south and the narrowing plain between them terminates, south of the City of ilexico, in a labyrinth of mountains culminating in giant peaks, such as Popocatepetl and Orizaba. They include an irregular line of mountains, known to the Jlexicans as the Cordillera de Anahuac, extending east and west across the country without forming a continuous chain, but embracing most of the active volcanoes. The numerous volcanoes of ilexico, active and extinct, which are confined to the southern half of the country between the 22d parallel and ths Isthmus of Tehuantepec, are the most elevated features of the topography. Ten of them are more or less active, though a number may be called dornuint, as their exhalations consist only of aqueous or sulphurous vapors. The loftiest among them is Orizaba (CitLaltepetl). Star Mountain, 1.S.'250 feet in height, situated to the north of the line of the railroad between Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico. It has not been in violent eruption since the middle of the six- teenth century, and has been nearly quiescent since the middle of the nineteenth century, though vapors and sulphurous jets are still ejected from its crater, which, however, is usually filled with snow. Popocatepetl (Smoking Jlountain), 17.- .'520 feet, the most widely known of the Mexican volcanoes, is comparatively easy of ascent. Its yawning crater is over a half a mile in circum- ference and 2.50 feet deep, and thrnigh the melted snow aroind the orifice frequent jets of gas emerge, Orizaba and Popocatepetl are among the most perfectly formed of volcanic mountains. Ixtaccihuatl (White Woman), 10,960 feet, rises to the north of Popocatepetl, and is now extinct, though many legends relating to its ancient activity are still repeated. The extinct Xevado de Toluca ( 14,tl50 feet) rises to the south of the town whose name it bcar.s, a lake from melting snows partly filling its 'crater with pure cold water in which fish of a jt^culiar species are found, ilalinche (13,400 feet) rises in isolated majesty from the middle of the Tlaxcala plateau. On the verge of the central plateau bordering the Sierra iIadre Oriental is Cofre de Perote ( 13,- 400 feet), another great eruptive summit now extinct, which owes its name 'coft'er' to the quad- rilateral form of its summit, and is famous for the China-camote cavern on its western side, said to be over 30 miles in length, but difiicult of ac- cess because its floor is strewn with large rocks. Colima (12,970 feet). not far from the Pacific and the most active ^■olcano in ilexico. is in au almost incessant state of ebullition. The view from its summit, during its periods of quietude, is xm- rivalcd, embracing the ocean, widespread plains, and the glittering snow crown of Popocatepetl far to the east. The forested Tancitaro volcano ( 12,o0 feet) is in the same latitude as Colima, but nearer to the Sierra Madre. As the limit of perpetual snow is a little under 15,000 feet above the sea, only three of these lofty sunnnits, Orizaba, Popocatepetl, and Ixtaccihuatl, have an enduring crown of snow; and considerable glaciers develop only on Ixtaccihuatl. The small volcano of Jorullo" (4330 feet) is said by the natives to have suddenly risen above the culti- vated plain in a single night near the end of 1759, though its period of construction did not end till 1763. Humboldt made it famous by the description he received from the natives of its terrific energ;^-. Columns of superheated air still rise from its crater. The wide tableland or plateau of Anahuac (q.v,), fringed by these mountains, slopes from soutii to north, being from 5000 to 9000 feet high in the States of Mexico and Puebla and falling to 3600 feet at El Paso, on the United States border. Its surface is covered with long- continued outpourings from the volcanoes and the detritus worn away from the mountain slopes, which, according to Heilprin, filled the original depressions, the valleys of to-day having been imposed upon this new surface. The mountains of the plateau, nearly buried by the accumula- tions of past ages, still rear their heads above the general level, and here and there are continuous ridges or ranges which divide the surface into well-defined basins such as the Valley of Mexico, nearly 8000 feet above the sea and completely inclosed by mountains. The rivers of the plateau have cut deep valleys and canons, some of which are 1000 feet below the general level, extending the warmer influence of the coast lands into the plain. These barrancas, as they are called, are watered by small streams and contrast, by the luxuriance of their vegetation, with the dry and often barren plateau above them. The most fa- mous of the barrancas extend from the neighbor- hood of Guadalajara throigh the western moun- tains to Colima and Tepic. On the whole, the sTirface of the plateau is so level that there was little difliculty. even before there were wagon roads, in traveling by carriage between the City of Mexico and Santa Fe.