Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/213

Rh sequence of our line of travel, the results of my observations in the coffee district. The coffee region of Mexico is much more extensive than is generally supposed, extending from the coast into the hills, even so high up as five thousand feet above the sea. Though the plant grows well along the coast, (as witness Liberia, where it springs up almost at the water's edge,) it flourishes best at an altitude of from one thousand to three thousand feet. This is in sections that are well supplied with rains, for warmth and moisture, so necessary to all vegetation, are required by the coffee in a greater degree than by other plants. From the fact that the elevated districts are more salubrious than the lower, and that the best coffee is produced at the highest altitudes,—within a certain limit,—we find the largest groves among the hills and mountains.

Very fortunately, at the commencement of my investigations, I fell in with an extremely well-informed gentleman, Mr. Hugo Finck, who had resided here nearly twenty years, a naturalist of deep and inquiring mind, speaking four languages, thoroughly acquainted with the whole coast and mountain country of the Gulf, and an old "coffee raiser," besides. His plantation lies about two miles from town, reached by a road in a not exactly delightful condition. I might remark here that the roads of Mexico are, as a rule, in a horrible state. The government relies so much upon the railroads to connect all important places that the carriage roads and bridle paths are neglected. Take one of our country lanes, cut ditches across it, dig deep pits in it, demolish a stone wall and cast into the centre of it, run a few streams through it, and slush the whole over so that one can hardly keep his footing on it, and you have a Mexican country road in the rainy season.

But when we reached the outskirts of the town, and the road lay between tall hedgerows of flowering trees and tangled vines, we found the air perfumed with spicy odors, and enlivened by the chirping of birds. After crossing a couple of streams, we finally reached the plantation, and walked between long rows of coffee plants. They varied in age from one year to ten, but all above two years were well laden with fruit.